H
hartep
Guest
I am not persuaded that various scriptural references to homosexual practices are relevant to discussions of homosexual identity and practice in the current time. Each scriptural reference fits within the historical context that the writer was immersed in, and I do not find that any of those contexts replicates our contemporary situation.
Beyond issues of scripture, however, a key notion at work in some of the current official Catholic stance on homosexuality and other issues is the very strange notion that Every sexual act must be open to conception. I have never seen any convincing reasons to support this idea. If one throws out this idea, all kinds of new perspectives on sexuality become possible. For one, it voids many of the arguments against the use of contraception. Abandoning of the rather bizarre notion that contraception is an evil would give an impressive set of tools to deal with abortion, which is indeed an evil. But also, throwing aside the notion of every sexual act open to abortion opens a door to an understanding of how the fact of homosexuality need not be understood as, per se, unnatural or perverse, and to an understanding that homosexuality can have legitimate sexual expression and how gay marriage might be good. Needless to say, such an approach still requires one to ask about what kind of sexual behavior are appropriate to Christians. But it does reframe the dialogue.
Beyond issues of scripture, however, a key notion at work in some of the current official Catholic stance on homosexuality and other issues is the very strange notion that Every sexual act must be open to conception. I have never seen any convincing reasons to support this idea. If one throws out this idea, all kinds of new perspectives on sexuality become possible. For one, it voids many of the arguments against the use of contraception. Abandoning of the rather bizarre notion that contraception is an evil would give an impressive set of tools to deal with abortion, which is indeed an evil. But also, throwing aside the notion of every sexual act open to abortion opens a door to an understanding of how the fact of homosexuality need not be understood as, per se, unnatural or perverse, and to an understanding that homosexuality can have legitimate sexual expression and how gay marriage might be good. Needless to say, such an approach still requires one to ask about what kind of sexual behavior are appropriate to Christians. But it does reframe the dialogue.