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Christianity and homosexuality
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by generaldecay | April 23, 2009 at 11:17 am
87 views | 22 Recommendations | 2 comments
I'm continuing the theme here of religion and how it is reconciled (or not) with other aspects of contemporary society. This piece explores how Christians are still very divided over homosexuality. One only has to read about the recent furore surrounding Miss California's Q+A in the Miss USA contest (1) (2) (3) to see what a hot topic this continues to be.
The piece below describes a particularly bizarre irony around some current 'Christian' attitudes towards homosexuality. Basically, it's alright just so long as you don't act on it! Yes, the mind does rather boggle! [And yes, ‘Christian’ is purposefully in quotes for I frequently shudder at the absolute unchristian attitudes and behaviours of many Christians.]
Many denominations now accept that homosexuality is not simply a lifestyle choice and therefore advocate acceptance and pastoral care towards gay men and lesbians. However, this is usually only as long as they don’t ‘practice’ their homosexuality. In other words, it’s okay to be a homosexual but not to express your love physically or sexually with the person you love. This is quite ironic when most Christian denominations believe that celibacy is a higher state that not many are called to and yet they expect all gay men and lesbians to live their lives in this way.
The author goes on to say that perhaps the best attitude for Christians is to love all of those around us, particularly those at the margins. This message seems to be rather the opposite of what many religious figures say about homosexuality. I've not been bothered much with religious sentiments for many years, but I’m still a fan of the 'love thy neighbour' thinking.
We are told that to be a Christian all we need to do is accept Jesus as God’s son and proclaim him with our lips. Naturally, when a person does this then they try to follow Christ’s teachings. As Christ never said anything about homosexuality we have to look at how he treated people and how he expected us to treat each other. Christ welcomed people from the margins, people who had been excluded and rejected by mainstream society. However, when he called these people he didn’t then say they had to start behaving like the Pharisees and Sadducees. All he asked for was that we treat each other with love as he loved us.
And finally, a good point on religion and legality.
What is even more distressing is that the religious view on homosexuality often informs the implementation of laws. Consequently there are still far too many countries where homosexuality is not just considered a sin but is also illegal and punishable with life imprisonment and even the death penalty. This treatment is often justified by religious beliefs.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 03:24 on April 24th, 2009
In my humble opinion as a former "Christian", ignorance is the name of the game. Homophobes are by definition ignorant. "Christians" rely on current and prior teachings of the church, not just the Bible and Jesus, not unlike "radical" Islamists. If one seeks to be learned and shed ones ignorance then one eventually realizes that the source material is dubious at best and the teachings of the church or the Madrasahs are likewise of dubious authenticity and thus lack authority on God, the Scriptures, and our lives. But as a wise man once said, "ignorance is bliss".
at 09:57 on April 27th, 2009
Thank you for sharing. I think you make an excellent point about the importance of blindly accepting the 'teachings' of the Church. Any church. One must always question.