Religion and homosexuality

Contents
1 Overview

1.1 Organized religions
1.2 Aspects of the conflict

2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Overview

Main article:
Religion and homosexuality
Buddhism
Christianity
Confucianism
Greco-Roman Religion
Hinduism
Islam
Judaism
Neopaganism
Shinto
Stoicism
Taoism

Religious views of homosexuality have varied widely. Some religions view same-sex love and sexuality as sacred. That was true in the past of the Greek religion and other pre-Christian faiths, and continues to be true of many of the various native shamanistic religions that have survived the spread of organized religion. See Mythology of same-sex love

Among the major organized religions, at one end of the spectrum some denominations (Unitarian Universalism, for example) embrace individuals who love others of the same sex, and facilitate same-sex marriages. At the other extreme there are denominations (notably Islamic groups in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa) that advocate and sometimes practice execution of gay men and lesbians for violating their denomination's creed. Some prominent modern American Christian preachers, including Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell are noted for their vocal opposition to homosexuality. According to some creeds and denominations, sexual relations between people who are not of the opposite sex are forbidden and regarded as sinful. Other denominations and creeds, especially in recent decades, regard them as unobjectionable: others even regard them as a positive grace from God. Within many religions there is intense debate over translations and interpretations within sacred texts regarding homosexuality.

Sometimes — and most commonly among Christian polities — male homosexuality is more strongly disapproved of than lesbianism.

Some people allege that some or all religous condemnation of homosexuality is a rationalization for a pre-existing negative social attitude, or conversely, that religious condemnation of homosexuality induces popular antipathy.

Organized religions

John Boswell, in Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality (1980) first extensively studied the history of these attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West. The documents he adduced challenged the widely current official view of the Catholic Church's past relationship to its gay members, among whom were priests, bishops and even canonized saints. Boswell's research ranges from the Greeks to Thomas Aquinas in legal, literary, theological, artistic, and scientific sources. According to Chauncey et al (1989), the result "offered a revolutionary interpretation of the Western tradition, arguing that the Roman Catholic Church had not condemned gay people throughout its history, but rather, at least until the twelfth century, had alternately envinced no special concern about homosexuality or actually celebrated love between men." Setting the study within the broader context of tolerance made this an essential study of European social history.

Some religions, such as the majority of schools of Buddhism, do not believe same-gender sexual acts are inherently wrong. Buddhism in particular has no concept of sin.

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Consecration of the Anglican Communion’s first openly gay Bishop, Gene Robinson on November 2, 2003, in Durham, New Hampshire, United States.

Neo-Pagan religions are almost unanimous in their acceptance of same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual ones. Another New Age perspective, however, is that of Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now. Starting with the idea that "the realization that you are 'different' from others may force you to disidentify from socially conditioned patterns of thought and behavior", he claims that being gay can help in the "quest for enlightenment", but only so long as one does not "develop a sense of identity based on... gayness".

Aspects of the conflict

Some religions believe that non-heterosexual behavior as well as orientation are sinful; others emphasize that it is only the bodily act or the act of deliberately cultivating fantasy that are sinful: in other words, only an engagement of the will. Religious opponents of equal rights for non-heterosexuals believe that supporting "pro-gay" legislation would constitute approval of homosexuality and bisexuality, by promoting willful acts of homosexuality. They say that such approval is incompatible with their faith.

Opposition to equal rights protections, same-sex marriage, and hate crimes legislation is often associated with conservative religious views. This opposition is shown by individuals active in the human rights movement as being part of a pattern of religiously-based (and Biblically rationalized) resistance to expansion of the sphere of human rights.

For example, the Unitarian Rev. Dr. Barry M. Andrews, in a recent essay [1], commends efforts to legalize gay marriage, and compares resitance to it to the resitance to abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the end of anti-miscegenation laws. As he says, ... we know that these civil rights were opposed at one time by a majority of Americans, including churches and the government.

In another instance of this pattern, the Southern Baptist Convention was against abolition of slavery in the 1800's (that was the reason the SBC came into existence, in 1845), supporting its stance by citing the Biblical texts codifying an approved methodology of slave ownership. In the 1900's it declared against universal suffrage, citing ample Biblical support for man's ascendancy over woman. Presently the SBC is in the forefront of the battle against gay rights.

See also

References

External links

See also: Religion and homosexuality, 2003, Africa, Anglican Communion, Buddhism, Central Asia, Civil rights, Durham, New Hampshire, Eckhart Tolle