gnosys:
If you ask me, heterosexual adulterers represent a far greater threat to family life, yet nowhere near the same level of vicious condemnation is directed against them.
Doesn’t everyone (or at least almost everyone) understand that heterosexual adulterers are wrong? It’s becoming a lot more difficult to find people who understand that homosexual acts are a sin, so I think that may be why the topic is more emotional. Both sides have strong feelings and the topic is also controversial.
As for “vicious condemnation,” I think that’s a bit harsh. I don’t condem any homosexual person, let alone viciously.
gnosys:
I’m curious – how many people who are posting against homosexuality here can say they know one or more gay people fairly well? I only ask, because it seems to me that generally understanding tends to develop alongside familiarity (which does not mean your basic values change; a sin is a sin, but one can have more or less empathy toward the sinner.)
I have posted about this before (not on this thread) and will try to explain where I am coming from. As someone who was not raised Catholic, I never understood why there were people who thought there was something wrong with being homosexual. I had gay friends, and in my view they were just ordinary people who sought love with members of the same sex.
I had heard that the Bible mentioned something about homosexuality being wrong, but I was sure that either the Bible was being misinterpreted or it was clouded by the beliefs of the people who wrote it - I had also heard it said some pretty sexist things about women.
The Church’s teaching on homosexuality was BY FAR the most difficult teaching for me to deal with. I went to Mass weekly and started an RCIA program in college, and I thought seriously about dropping out of the program for this very issue. I walked out of a daily Mass because I was crying after a priest talked about the sin of homosexuality.
I didn’t want to think that my friends were doing something that harmed them. Even worse, I didn’t know how to help them if they were.
The priest at my college is an excellent man. He called me on the phone the same day I walked out of daily Mass and offered to talk with me about the issue. He didn’t try to talk me into believing, mostly he just listened and answered my questions. I was surrounded by this priest and others in the Catholic community, and I saw that they were not bigots who had never met a homosexual. They were the kindest, most compassionate people I had ever known. They spoke plainly about their problems with same-sex marriage. I began to listen after that priest listened to me.
I began to see the connection between the fact that all sexual acts outside of marriage are sins and the importance of the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. It was also important for me to see that the Catholic Church did not deny access to people with same-sex attractions - it merely called them to live chastely, as it called all of its members to live chastely.
It is much harder for me to understand that homosexual acts are a sin than it was to ignore this harsh reality. My best friend from high school recently told me that she has decided to “try being gay,” even though she thinks it might be, in her definition, a “phase.” Even now she says she is confused about her sexuality, although she goes to the gay club every weekend, has had a serious girlfriend and has dated a lot of other girls. I have seen some of the causes of her growing same-sex attraction - her father’s inappropriate behavior, her parents’ impending divorce, her flawed romantic relationships with men and encouragement from her peers to be gay.
She is struggling, she is hurting and the push from her friends is to continue to be homosexual even though I have never seen her so confused or depressed. It is not about her not being accepted for her homosexuality either because she is overwhelmingly accepted.
God bless.
