I take offence that you call those presenting the teaches of the Church prejudice, It is obvoius in your wisdom it comes without education to use such a word. Many on these threads that support and promote the Churches teachings on homosexuality have first hand knowledge on the subject (many have lived the âgayâ lifestyle, but now reject it) and even myself, though currently an unPC hetersexual, was once the president of a left wing anti-war, anti nuke, peace and justice group in college. My involvement included working with other activist groups in the areas of civil rights, animal rights, eviromental issues and low and behold gay rights. The only real comdemnation comes from oneself in light of the truth as one rejects the truth. When one makes a judgement as in the statement you made, be prepared to accept the standard in which you judge. If you reject the facts, becuse they go against the way you feel, or becuase of your desires are in conflict with the presented truth, then who is the one that holds prejudice?
What facts? That God exists and that such a thing as hell exists? And youâll go there unless you follow the rules that he decided? That he wrote all these rules down in a Bible (with punishments, I might add, which arenât talked about very much)? And that one of those rules included a ban on homosexual expression?
Those things are based on *faith *and I donât think you can call them facts. Beliefs is a more accurate term.
Now, the only facts that have any real weight in this discussion are facts you have alluded to numerous times - things like slightly higher rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide attempts, and other similiar things in homosexuals. I agree that those things are distressing, but it disturbs me greatly that you (and others) read into those facts that homosexuality is immoral. Nevermind the fact that all sorts of religious, racial, and ethnic minorities have higher or lower rates of those same things, and no sane human being would attribute that to the innate immorality of those minorities. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of psychologists and psychiatrists around the world attribute those higher rates of depression, etc, to negative reactions from family, friends, and society at large - and that often includes family members who would otherwise find homosexuality to not be immoral or objectionable. That couldnât possibly be the cause for slightly higher rates of self-destructive behavior, would it? Itâs *got *to be because homosexuality is unnatural, right? Oh, and nevermind the fact that adopted children raised by gay parents are
no different in any significant, measurable way to heterosexual families, according to study after study after study.
I wonder what the rates of depression and suicide are for those teens and adults who have been told all thier lives that homosexuality is something to be hidden, ashamed of, and can never, ever be expressed - lest they risk the fires of hell because of it. Itâs too bad it will be pretty much impossible to gather such numbers, because of the intense taboo placed on coming out of the closet - even if itâs coming out of the closet as a celibate same-sex-attracted person. Iâd imagine, though, that rates of depression are much higher among those sorts of people.
And about the whole sexually transmitted diseases issue, I might point out that it is *behavior *that determines your risk for getting a sexually transmitted disease. Iâm not advocating a promiscious lifestyle by any means. Indeed, another unfortunate consequence of the taboo on homosexuality is that the organizations that would be *most *likely to advocate and provide role models for positive heterosexual, monogamous relationships are those that would condemn *any *homosexual relationships - even the healthy monogamous ones. Thus, there is a significant lack of role models for gay people who donât wish the strict celibacy that you demand of them.
Now, all that said, Iâm quite certian you have very strong reasons for your condemnation of homosexuality. I respect that. But the objective evidence against it just isnât there and isnât conclusive enough. On the contrary, it seems to be the taboo against homosexuality itself that is the cause for the vast majority of the problems you and others have attributed to openly gay people.
