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EMAILS THAT WE HAVE
RECEIVED ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
Sponsored link.
Introduction:
Many visitors to this web site send us E-mails which discuss homosexuality. That is to be expected, because surveys have shown that equal rights for homosexuals (including the right for same-sex couples to marry) and abortion access are the two moral topics of greatest concern to church goers.
We thought that some of the questions that they raise, and our responses, might be of general interest. So we have stripped some of these E-mails of any identifying information, and listed some of our responses below. We will add to this essay as additional thought provoking E-mails arrive.
You may wish to send us your views on this much-debated topic. We will try to respond to your E-mail. However, we cannot engage in continuing E-mail exchanges.
Attacks on our homosexual essays:
Homosexuality is a very controversial topic at this time. Part of the population favors equal rights for gays and lesbians. Others feel that same-sex behavior is a profoundly evil sin hated by God, a threat to society, and an activity which should be criminalized. Our site is unusual in that we try to explain all sides to the topic.
For the record, none of the five of us at this office have a bisexual or homosexual orientation.
A surprising number of social and religious conservatives ignore our gay-negative essays -- the ones which describe the traditional position -- and concentrate on our essays which are gay-positive. Some have commented:
 | "I hope all you faggots die of cancer or worse!!!!!" |
| "please do not call your self or any HOMOSEXUALS Muslims. No homosexual can really be a Muslim for Islam rejects them in black and white pages of the holly book....Islam is the only religion that is clear about homosexuality and its punishment. no one died for our sins in Islam, only you the "homosexual" will, in places that use the law of Islam to punish the sinner. My lovely country of IRAN being the best at that...bye you rejected -God and the Qur'an rejects you and you still wanna belong? |
| "YOUR CONCLUSIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF HOMOSEXUALITY ARE WITHOUT MERIT AND UNBIBLICAL;" |
| "Quit trying to pervert the right ways of the Lord." |
| "It seems your site mistakenly tries to say it is ok for Homosexuals to be alive. As if that error isn't idiocy in itself (read the bible). You seem to attempt to make argument it is ok for them to be Christian. Again folks I ask you to read the Bible. Please remove the error ASAP! Thanks! |
| "You promote the SODOMITES AND GOD WILL JUDGE YOU FOR IT." |
| Homosexuality is an abomination unto God and you're promoting it. That makes you wrong according to God's word. Period. |
We occasionally get Email attacks from visitors who have concentrated on our gay-negative essays but seem completely oblivious to our gay-positive essays.
| Subject: religious finatics [sic]. "If you people would read something other than bible fairy tales maybe you cound [sic] understand other people of sexual oriantation. [sic] You all sound like fallwell [sic] or even baker." |
| Never have I'd been so disgusted as I have when I mistakenly came across your site. How dare you ignorant a--holes write such bulls--t on homosexuality. You have no real facts no concrete evidence, all you have are jaded and ignorant views on a subject you know nothing about. And how dare you rummage God's good name through open lies and words of hate! God loves everyone and has created everyone EQUAL!! For you to sit on your asses and create these stories...I only pray God punishes you all for taking his word and twisting it to suit your personal views. BURN IN HELL YOU TWISTED F--KS!!! |
And then, we do get some Emails from people who have actually read our essays:
| "You take a very scholarly approach to the [homosexual] issue which is very refreshing I commend you on your work " |
Finally, we receive a different type of Email once every few years. They are too personal to repeat here. They typically describe how they grew up in a religiously devout family learning to hate gay and lesbians. They later discovered during their teen years that they are homosexual. They turned all this hatred onto themselves and eventually became suicidally depressed. After reading our essays and studying further, they pulled themselves out of their depression, and became convinced that they are not garbage because God does not make trash. Such letters do not arrive very often, but they are very encouraging to us when they do.
The Bible is clear about homosexual behavior:
Incoming E-mail: The Scriptures are quite clear that God condemns homosexuality. There is no need to pray to God to assess his will on the matter.
Response: The writer appears to be referring to our essay which describes the result of a pilot study that we made on assessing the will of God about same-sex marriage.
We suggest that the Bible is not at all clear about loving, committed same-sex relationships:
| Within the most conservative wings of the Christian community, there is a near consensus that the Bible is God's inerrant word, written by men who were inspired by God to be totally accurate. They feel that the message of the Bible on same-sex behavior is obvious: God condemns all homosexual activity, no matter what the circumstances. In fact, in one location, Leviticus 20:13, the death penalty is called for. | ||||||||||||
| But many followers of the Progressive Christian
movement, and other religious liberals, interpret the dozen or so biblical
passages about same-sex behavior as referring to:
They feel that the Bible is silent about loving, committed, same-sex relationships. | ||||||||||||
| Mainline denominations, like the Episcopal Church, USA, the Presbyterian Church (USA, and the United Methodist Church are severely divided on the topic, with part of their memberships taking the conservative approach, and others following the liberal beliefs. There is even talk of a schism in some mainline denominations because of an inability to reach a compromise on this topic.. |
So, within a particular wing of Christianity, there is little debate about the Bible's position on same-sex behavior. But within Christianity as a whole, there is no consensus on what the Bible actually says.
Your numbers are way off:
Incoming E-mail: Your article regarding the sexual orientation of Jesus is grossly inaccurate. There are way more than 5% of males in the US that are homosexual. It's more like 15-30%..Do your research before you mislead people and misrepresent facts please.
Response: Trust me. We have done the research.
It all depends on how you define "homosexual."
| If you define any person as being a homosexual who has had an orgasm with another person of the same sex after puberty, the percentage is about 35% according to Kinsey. |
| If you simply dial a whole bunch of random numbers and ask the person who answers point blank whether they are homosexual, then you will find that about 2% are homosexual. |
| But if you contact a random selection of adults, gain their confidence, and determine their sexual orientation, you will find that about 92% are heterosexual, 5% homosexual and 3% bisexual. |
Of course, some people do not recognize that a bisexual orientation exists.
Gay-positive organizations have often used a 10% figure, particularly in the
past. But there is a near consensus that this is an inflated number.
Religious conservatives often quote the 2% figure based on some meaningless
phone surveys.
I have never seen a group claim in excess of 10%. Can you tell me where the 15%
to 30% came from? It would certainly be true of some sections of some cities.
But as a general estimate, I think that it is grossly excessive.
Sponsored link:
Homosexual behavior is a "detestable sin."
Incoming E-mail: The Bible says "Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin." That seems as clear as a bell to me.
Response: Conservative Christians -- those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, need to make a fundamental decision: is the it the original text in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek that is inerrant, or is it a particular English translation inerrant?
You appear to be quoting Leviticus 18:22 as it appears in the New Living Translation of the Bible. You are correct; there is little ambiguity here. The passage does not condemn a person because they have a homosexual orientation. However, it clearly says that all same-sex behavior is wrong, whether it is done by a homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual, and whether it is done by two women, or two men.
But consider the following thoughts:
| The New International Version translates this same verse as "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." There is no reference to two women engaging in sexual behavior here; only two men. Further examination of this verse shows that the New Living Translation is clearly a mistranslation -- possibly done intentionally. The translators of this version may have ignored the clear meaning of the original Hebrew text in order to project their personal views against homosexual behavior. This is one reason why parallel translations of the Bible are so useful. They display various translations side-by-side. A reader can more easily see whether some translators are overlaying their own viewpoints on the original text. |
| In ancient Israel, men and women had very different, rigidly defined roles. Positions of power in the government and temple were reserved for men. Women were often considered as property, to be owned first by their fathers and later by their husbands. During sexual intercourse, the man was to take the active role, and the woman was passive. In some forms of homosexual behavior by two men, one man takes the passive role. This was considered to be ritually impure -- the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated as "abomination." In today's world, we allow women and men to take an active role in everything from management to driving trucks. Although this verse might have been valid in ancient times, it can be argued that it is no longer meaningful. |
| The history of ancient Israel consists of a long series of battles with Pagan neighbors. In such an environment, a high birth rate is of critical importance. A well populated army was a necessity for survival. Homosexual behavior would be oppressed in such a society because it did not end in procreation. One can raise the argument that the proscription against homosexual activity made sense in ancient times. But today's world is different. The future of the human race is threatened by uncontrolled population expansion. It can be debated that this verse, like those prohibiting the eating of pork or of having a tattoo, or of wearing clothing made from a polyester-cotton blend, no longer applies today. |
| The writers of the Bible lived in a pre-scientific era. They were unaware of the science of genetics and human sexuality. They believed that the male's sperm provided the female with ready-made babies which the woman need only nurture. Sex was something like planting a seed in the earth: the seed provided all of the genetic information and life; the soil only provided moisture and nutrients. So, the woman only supplied a nurturing environment for the baby to grow. Any form of sexual activity that could not produce a baby was considered a form of murder and was forbidden. |
| The National Gay Pentecostal Alliance (NGPA) has translated the original Hebrew literally as: "And with a male thou shalt not lie down in beds of a woman; it is an abomination. In modern day English this could be translated as: "Men may not engage in homosexual sex while on a woman's bed; it is an abomination" Rather than forbidding male homosexuality, it simply restricts where it may occur. More details. |
Is homosexuality OK just because it is genetic?
Incoming E-mail: Many in our society seem to think that homosexuality should be accepted because it is genetic. Yet most of the same psychologists, physicians, and other researchers who promote that view also say that pedophiles and alcoholics are born that way. If a behavior is genetically determined, is it automatically acceptable?
Response: There is a method by which researchers can try to determine whether a certain trait is determined by genetics or by the environment. They study identical twins -- people with essentially identical DNA -- who were separated at birth and raised apart. Such studies show that left-handedness, right handedness, skin color, the potential for alcohol addiction, eye color, blood type, the potential for homosexuality and many other traits and physical factors are all either directly caused by genes, or are set up by genes and later may triggered by factors in the environment. Pedophilia may also be determined genetically.
Just because something is determined genetically does not mean that it is automatically moral or immoral. However, knowing the cause does help us understand more about its nature.
It is important to differentiate between desires and actions. Unfortunately, words like homosexuality, heterosexuality, alcoholism, and pedophilia are often used to refer to both. In the original use of the word "pedophilia," it meant feelings of sexual attraction by an adult towards a pre-pubertal child. This may well be genetically determined. But whether to act on those feelings and sexually molest a child is a decision made by the adult. A person may have inherited the potential to have an uncontrolled desire for alcohol. But if they are aware that they might have inherited this from a parent, they can decide to avoid the problem by never taking their first drink of an alcoholic beverage. If a person has inherited the trait of being sexually attracted to members of the opposite gender -- i.e. if they have a heterosexual orientation -- then they can decide whether to remain celibate for life or seek to become sexually active. So too, if a person has a homosexual orientation, they can decide whether or not to act upon it. Genes may result in a desire to engage in a certain behavior, but the desire does not necessarily need to be acted upon.
Some people base the morality of an action on humanistic concerns: whether the behavior harms people, or not. To such individuals, pedophilia, as a desire without any resultant action, is not immoral because it is unchosen. However, they view abusive pedophilia involving sexual molestation as immoral because it has the strong potential to very seriously hurt a child for the rest of her/his life. Similarly, they would feel that a homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual orientation is morally neutral, because feelings generated by the orientation are beyond the control of the individual. They might believe that homosexual, bisexual, and/or heterosexual behavior may be moral or immoral, depending upon the specifics of the action and the relationship between the parties, including the safety of the specific practice, the degree of commitment within the relationship, whether coercion is involved, the age of the individuals, etc.
Other people base the morality of an action on a religiously-derived moral code. Often this code is found in a holy book, like the Bible. If the behavior is one of the prohibited actions, then it is automatically immoral; otherwise it may be morally neutral or good. Unfortunately, persons from various wings of various religions have conflicting views about what their holy book says about specific behaviors. Some Christians, for example, might believe that the Bible views all same-sex activity as an abomination, regardless of the nature of the relationship. Other Christians might conclude that the Bible condemns homosexual rape, homosexual behavior in Pagan temples, homosexual prostitution, molesting boys, and heterosexuals engaging in homosexual sex. They see the Bible as being silent on same-sex, consensual behavior within a loving relationship. They conclude that homosexual sexual activity is not necessarily immoral.
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Copyright © 2003 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2003-JUN-29
Latest update: 2007-AUG-07
Author: B.A. Robinson
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