It may be a naturally occuring sexual orientation, but we have many different naturally occuring sexual desires, homosexuals and hetrosexuals, do you feel as a hetrosexual that anything you desire is good for you? or okay to act on? that because you desire something it isn’t immoral to act on it? should we all be giving into our every desires? is giving into every sexual desire how people live a healthy life?
One of my moral rules means that I should not force my morals onto other people. I am responsible for my own actions in my own life; I am not responsible for the actions of others. Christianity has the idea of collective punishment, where a whole group is punished for the actions of a few: all humanity is being punished for Adam and Eve’s transgression. Noah’s flood, Sodom, Egypt’s first born and other examples. Buddhism has nothing like that, we are only responsible for our own actions. It gives a different perspective.
What sexual activities do you see as immoral or disordered? are any sexual activities immoral or disordered accoding to you?
Any activity that involves harm to the other or lacks consent is unwise and will lead to suffering. There is an obvious grey area around consensual BDSM.
however homosexuality is not the same as hetrosexuality
But is it sufficiently different to require separate treatment in law. Interracial marriage used to be treated differently in law, but it was decided that the difference was not justified. We are seeing a similar change going on at the moment. Yes they are different, but that difference is not seen as justifying different treatment in law.
e.g. The bishop who was fined $5000 for saying that the acts of homosexuality were immoral in his mass.
I would need to see more details on that one.
And the Christian adoption agency who suffered massive financial penalties for refuse to adopt out to homosexual couples.
If we are thinking of the same case, then the agency was contracted to the state to provide adoption services in a non-discriminatory manner. Since the agency did not perform according to the contract, then the contract was withdrawn. This was an agency of the church acting as a private business, not as a religious organisation, and it was required to follow standard commercial law and to abide by its contract.
Your right, therefore if our religion becomes a minority, than we will be required to convert to the ways of the majority or we will be persecuted, but we are not a minority yet.
You will not be persecuted. You will be required to act within the law when you are acting as a non-religious body. The church can discriminate against women when choosing priests. It cannot do so when acting as an ordinary employer, for example when picking a gardener to look after a cemetery.
That means they will lose their Jobs or be shut down or sued, because they refuse to submit to such a law.
Should somebody who illegally discriminates against Catholics be shut down or sued?
What if we don’t want them to learn a lie about a false equality between homosexuality and hetrosexuality?
A Catholic school is free to teach Catholic doctrine. It should also teach non-discrimination. Surely that is part of “love the sinner, hate the sin”?
And those in public schools who cannot afford to send their kids to private schools, will they have an available option to learn that homosexuality and hetrosexuality are very different and shouldn’t be seen as equal?
There are these people called “parents”, who can teach children. Why do you expect schools to teach everything?
B) The greatest role models or influences in a Child’s life are their parents, not what they say, but what they do. (Example when a parent say’s to their Child “Don’t Smoke” the chances of that Child smoking are greatly increased simply because the parents smoke)
You might say that if A) is behind closed doors than there is nothing for them to observe and mimic, but even if they kiss their partner or act in a way that a hetrosexual couple would, than it’s no longer behind closed doors.
Therefore a homosexual couple raising a child would have a detrimental effect on a poor child’s development and this is where we are heading with same sex marriage.
There are far more divorced/separated couples than there are gay married couples, and not all gay couples have children. All of those children only have a parent of one sex living with them most of the time. All of those children will have access to adults of both sexes in school, as teachers, and when visiting their friends in the neighbourhood.
In the case of orphans I suggest that it is better to be with a gay couple than to be in an orphanage. It may not be ideal, but it is an improvement.
rossum