Fear-based devotion is nothing new. Bad people, you've probably been told, are evil and are put on Earth to test your faith and to ultimately teach you a good moral lesson. Bad people go to bad places when they die. Apparently, in the eyes of some, all homosexuals are stupid heathens. Even though that's a big horrible lie, this premise survives, I believe, because it's fertilized by agreement.
Agreement is a friend of fear and the enemy of independent thought.
And if anyone has doubts as to the power of agreement or fear, they need only study a man named Adolf Hitler to see how dangerous agreement without bravery and consideration can be. Most thinking individuals believe in diversity of religion and believe that diversity should be celebrated. They are secure enough in their own beliefs that the thought of someone having a different opinion or sexual preference doesn't threaten them. They go about their religious lives focusing on their own spirituality and are kind and smart enough to recognize that I, and people like me, can make our own choices as to spirituality and morality. I don't believe for a minute that Falwell or Robertson love me, as they claim.