As political debates about same-sex marriage make headlines, opponents justify their views based on Bible verses.But many times the Bible is used to argue against gay rights with stories that are not even about homosexuality. Here is an example:

Most know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two ancient cities burned by God for their wickedness, commonly thought to be homosexuality. However, the story, as Biblical scholars will argue, is actually about hospitality.

In the Book of Genesis, Abraham looks up from his tent to see God and two angels standing near him.”My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant,” said Abraham.

God then tells Abraham that the two angels have been investigating Sodom and Gomorrah, and He plans to destroy the cities because of the evil that has occurred there.”Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham asked God.They make a deal: God will only spare the cities if 10 righteous people are found.

The angels make their way to Sodom, and Abraham’s nephew Lot, an immigrant, sees them sitting at the city gate. “Please, my lords,” said Lot.”Turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night.” The angels reluctantly agree.

“Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them to us, so that we may ‘know’ them,” said the men of Sodom.Lot pleads with them not to gang rape his guests, as they have come under the shelter of his roof, and he instead offers the crowd of men his virgin daughters (hospitality was important).

“This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge!” the men decry, vowing to deal even worse with Lot. And as the men attempt to break in the door, the angels blind them. The angels save Lot and his two daughters, who would later rape their father for procreation, from the raining sulfur. Lot’s wife disobeys God by looking behind at the ruins and becomes a pillar of salt.

Yes, that story is commonly used to oppose gay marriage.Popular conservative, Christian author and pastor John Hagee recently said that Sodom and Gomorrah was God’s pilot study for punishing societies that accept homosexuality.

“So here’s the measuring rod,” said Hagee during his weekly broadcast titled Hagee Hotline. “It’s not if the government approves it – it’s if the people accept it. And if the righteous accept it, judgment will come.”

The Bible would disagree with Hagee. Ezekiel, a later prophet grappling with Jerusalem’s destruction by Assyrians, insists that “pride, excess of food and prosperous ease,” but no help for the poor and needy, were the real sins of Sodom. Not even Ezekiel mentions homosexuality.Even Jesus connects hospitality to Sodom and Gomorrah.

“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave,” said Jesus in Matthew. “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.”

There is also an almost identical story in the Hebrew book of Judges, except the men of Sodom are Benjamites, an ancient tribe of Israel, and the victim a female slave, who is later dismembered. That story does not garner similar attention.

So how should the Bible’s complex stories be interpreted? Well, as the 19th century abolitionist Daniel Goodwin said when arguing against Biblical passages used to uphold slavery, “all these negative arguments from the New Testament in favor of the law and practice of slavery, vanish away as smoke before the general spirit and tendency of its teaching,” said Goodwin.

The teaching is basically to love Christ and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” For Christians, that is what the Bible’s stances on marriage should be measured against.

As Jennifer Wright Knust, a religion professor at Boston University and ordained Baptist pastor, wrote in her recent book, “Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire,” the Bible does not offer a consistent message regarding sexuality and marriage.

“Whatever the Bible says about homoerotic, sexual intimacy is folded within a verylarge Biblical conversation about sexuality and gender in general,” she told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross last year. “So to pull out a particular verse and say, ‘This solves our position on gay marriage’ is such a mistake, given that the Bible says a lot of things about sexuality and many of those things we would reject today.”