For comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and labeling the alternative lifestyle as equal to spiritual disease and demonic, Newcastle Knights NRL footballer Ryan Stig is harvesting a social media backlash.

He initially uploaded a letter on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as a rant about homosexuality and gay marriage. It was in response to the approval last week by the legislature of the Australian Capital Territory of the same-sex marriage law.

Stig wrote, "Satan has worked so hard throughout culture and society to remove the belief in a creator because without the understanding of a creator we become unaware of our design."

"When we lose this understanding of design we become susceptible to deception and distortion. Same-sex marriage laws starting to be passed in our country is a good indicator of this," he added.

Stig's stand comes from his association with the Luis Palau Christian community, which he helps promote such as the group's Cityfest.

YouTube/LuisPalayCityFestAUS

Although there were likes, those who disagreed with his rant were quite vocal about it.

Hannarhbourkepr said while everyone is entitled to their beliefs, the halfback's tweet on Oct 22 only bred hatred.

Pocohontes called the athlete "an absolute dickhead mate."

Even other Christians disagreed with Stig's view.

tweetledumbledore wrote: "Jesus would not be cool with Ryan Stig's blind hatred of gay people - it contradicts his main teaching 'love one another,' while Geoffrey Ahern tweeted: "I'm a Christian and I think it's fine to be gay. Tired of being represented by ignorant bigots like Ryan Stig."

Newcastle, in a statement, said, "The Newscastle Knights does not discriminate against any person or race whether they are a player, supporter or employee within our organisation. We offer equal opportunities for any person to play a role in our Club and do not support the views of Ryan Stig."

"These comments are the personal opinion of Stig, based on his own beliefs and do not reflect those of the Club."

In an opinion piece published on Thursday, News.com.au reporter Matt Young said he found it amusing that "the Church feels the need to dictate how society and government should live their lives in this modern day and age."

At the same time, he noted that the Church, which was designed to be a "beacon of peace has turned into its own demonic beast; spewing out bigotry and fierce rhetoric, teaching its members that there is no colour in this discussion; simply black and white."

For the footballer, his admonished the Aussie athlete to "focus on the problems within your code before you go knocking on someone else's backdoor." He specifically suggested for Stig to teach his rugby co-players to treat women with respect, the meaning of "banned substance" and what it means to be a role model.

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