Related Reading:
Mormon Church:
"We want to help these people, to strengthen them, to assist them with their problems and to help them with their difficulties. But we cannot stand idle if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation. To permit such would be to make light of the very serious and sacred foundation of God-sanctioned marriage and its very purpose, the rearing of families"
Catholic Church:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
Southern Baptist Church:
We affirm God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy – one man, and one woman, for life. Homosexuality is not a "valid alternative lifestyle." The Bible condemns it as sin. It is not, however, unforgivable sin. The same redemption available to all sinners is available to homosexuals. They, too, may become new creations in Christ.
United Methodist Church:
We affirm the sanctity of the marriage covenant that is expressed in love, mutual support, personal commitment, and shared fidelity between a man and a woman. We believe that God's blessing rests upon such marriage, whether or not there are children of the union. We reject social norms that assume different standards for women than for men in marriage. We support laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
A sampling of official stances issued by a few of our major churches – all saying the same thing: marriage is between one man and one woman. It's how they sat it that we have to ask, "Are they expressing legitimate moral views or hate speech?"
Throughout history, man has used the Bible to separate “us”, the good guys, from “them”, the bad guys. It helped man to make sense of the world and, more importantly, helped to civilize the world.
We don’t need to rehash the historical abuses of the Book, though. From the Crusades to the witch-hunts to slavery, the Bible guided the good people in fighting evil and defining the world. If the Bible is Eternal Truth, history begs the question: why don’t we kill non-Christians until they convert? Why don’t we burn witches at the stake or drown them in the lakes? Why did we ignore Noah’s Curse and abolish slavery?
For almost four centuries, many mainstream Churches defended the practice of slavery through Scriptural reference. When society abolished slavery, many of these same Churches justified segregation through Scriptural references. Not until recently, within the past thirty years or so, have these Churches abandoned their discriminatory practices, at least in official edicts if not in practice. They no longer preach that the races were meant to be separate in society and marriage.
As the Churches slowly evolved and adopted the belief that all people, regardless of race, are God’s children and deserve equal respect and as they adopted policies that the races could marry, many who could not accept the new teachings – or even the silent acceptance of racial equality – splintered off into new, and old, hate groups. The KKK and the World Church of the Creator, two well known hate groups, still use the Bible to justify their belief that God meant for the races to be separate.
The Churches now face a new challenge: homosexuals.
As our knowledge in the sciences and genetics grew and the general populace moved from superstitious beliefs to rational thinking, changing our belief that non-Whites were heathens not worthy of God’s love to our belief that all people of all color are God’s children and all are descendants of Adam and Eve was relatively simple. It took almost five hundred years, but the Churches did change their interpretation of the Bible.
Homosexuality, though, issues new challenges. Despite all the evidence that homosexuality is most probably genetically linked, Church leaders cling to the notion that it is a choice. At most, they might concede that God gave homosexuals a “special challenge” in life to overcome by living a life of chastity. Depending on their view of the causes of homosexuality, mainstream Churches view homosexuals as deviant child molesters to loving human beings deserving all the love and respect afforded everyone else.
So when does the Churches’ official stance on homosexuality cross the line of sound, moral teachings as guided by the Bible to a form of hate speech?
The defining line depends on who you are. Look at the official Church standings above. Mormons view homosexuals as immoral, selfish sinners. The Catholics view homosexuals as “intrinsically disordered”. Southern Baptists view homosexuality as an “invalid lifestyle”. The Methodists ignore homosexuals all together and simply state that marriage is “one man, one woman”.
If you believe homosexuality is a choice, you see no problem with any of the wordings. If you see homosexuality as genetic, then you probably see a lot of problems with some of the wording. And if you have a child, family member, or close friend who is gay, you may be struggling with your own beliefs and may be having problems sorting out what is hate speech and what is not or what is intolerant and what is not.
The most interesting thing to observe with many Christians who condemn homosexuality is how they justify it. They don’t hate homosexuals. In fact, they have a friend or work with someone who is gay and they’re all right people. They just hate the sin. It’s not that they don’t think homosexuals should live together under some civil union arrangement. They just believe marriage is God ordained and is reserved for one man and one woman.
Now contrast that rationalization with the racist groups’ philosophy. They don’t hate Black people. In fact, they have a friend or work with someone who is Black and they are all right people. They just take pride in their race. It’s not that they think Black people should be separate from Whites. They just believe that Whites are God’s chosen people and are not meant to mix with the races.
If you’re in doubt if anything the Church leaders say is hate speech, substitute yourself or a group you belong to in place of the words gays or homosexuals. Doing so, you might get a better feel how homosexuals feel when they hear this speech.
Of course, if you believe homosexuality is a choice, then you’ve read this far for nothing. You may choose to ignore the overwhelming evidence, the majority opinions of the medical, psychological, and social work professionals, and the almost every homosexual, who can unequivocally tell you he was born that way. As everyone else comes to understand and accept homosexuality as a normal facet of human sexuality and the Churches come to accept them as God’s children and equals, you can always splinter off into your own group, or old ones, who believe otherwise. And you can add Faggot to their list of Niggers, Jews, Spics, and Gooks to hate.
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