The first of Merritt’s two-part interview with Peterson covered the release of his newest book, his walking away from public life, and his thoughts about the fear of death. In the second interview, Merritt asked Peterson, who is best known for his popular paraphrase of the Bible “The Message,” about his stance towards gay and lesbian Christians and same-sex marriage.

Merritt’s first question centered on the morality of same-sex relationships. Peterson answered by talking about gay people he had pastored over the years. Then he added, “I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do.” He ...