Honest questions about homosexuality and religions which consider it to be a sin

[Magna]

These are questions for anyone who cares to respond and who is either part of a religion that condemns the practice of homosexuality, or perhaps belonged previously to such a religion or believes they're knowledgeable on this subject:

According to your religion or religions that you are aware of that condemn the practice of homosexuality, how does homosexuality as a whole affect people who are not homosexual? For example: If a person is heterosexual, how does a practicing homosexual person who lives somewhere in the same community affect the heterosexual person? Equally, what is the rationale that the heterosexual person can or should mandate the life of the homosexual person?

I ask this because I have a relative that I talk to now and again and every time I talk to the person they rail against homosexuality and how according to their religion (Catholic), it's a grave sin, etc. Every time I talk to this relative I find myself trying to think of ways that other people's sexual orientation directly affects or hurts this relative. I can't come up with anything.

 

[BrokenBoy]

I met a gay Christian yesterday. He's celibate but still said I was beautiful.

 

[Raggamuffin]

To me - sexuality is like religion; each to their own, but I'd prefer it if people kept it to themselves. Being overbearing with either is fatiguing for me.

Ed

 

[Greatshield17]

These are questions for anyone who cares to respond and who is either part of a religion that condemns the practice of homosexuality, or perhaps belonged previously to such a religion or believes they're knowledgeable on this subject:

According to your religion or religions that you are aware of that condemn the practice of homosexuality, how does homosexuality as a whole affect people who are not homosexual? For example: If a person is heterosexual, how does a practicing homosexual person who lives somewhere in the same community affect the heterosexual person? Equally, what is the rationale that the heterosexual person can or should mandate the life of the homosexual person?

I ask this because I have a relative that I talk to now and again and every time I talk to the person they rail against homosexuality and how according to their religion (Catholic), it's a grave sin, etc. Every time I talk to this relative I find myself trying to think of ways that other people's sexual orientation directly affects or hurts this relative. I can't come up with anything.

I’ll reply to this later, I have a lot to do today and I also promised to respond to another thread of mine first.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Nature dictates, opinions are irrelevant.

 

[Ken]

There are a few gay members of my extended family. A gay couple bought a house and is living in my neighborhood. I have worked with gay people at work. I have even had some gay friends. I am totally heterosexual. Their effect on me is absolute zero. They are just people. I just hope my effect on them is also zero.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I have a cousin who is gay stayed in closet for most of his life. his parents did not know until they passed away, found out he was kicked out of PhD program in England in the sixties, due to him being gay. know that he is no longer in closet he is very accepted by all his cousins a lot of use are angry at how he was treated.

 

[Aspychata]

I grew up in a city famous for it's gay celebrities and gay members. Their sexual orientation is their business. Not mine. Religion doctrine is black and white thinking, with no acceptance for other lifestyles. We have evolved as people but some religion doctrines have not kept up with the times.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

What they did to Alan Turing, was a crime against humanity.

 

[Luca]

I’m Unitarian Universalist and openly part of the LGBTQ+ community. It is accepted in my religion and if I wanted to marry a woman, I could.

 

[Human Avatar]

Your question is the exact reason why some Old world and Ancient religions have trouble fitting into modern society.If society has evolved in many things and the religion does not ,you have conflicting ideologies.Religion itself can be looked at as set policy of ancient cultures.Self imposed and imposed by Tyrants . But not all of them .

Even though attraction to same sex is older than religion. What changes is how society perceive this. It was not so good in the past .
I could get into the history of religions . But that would take a few hours for a small fraction of information.

 

[LadyS]

Religion is often used as an easy scapegoat to discriminate against certain groups of individuals. So while it may say in the Bible that it is a sin, the overwhelming backlash the LGBTQ community receives for their apparent "sin" seems disproportional to the backlash to other extremely common sins like a "lying tongue" and "shedding innocent blood" and "spreading mischief among brothers". Where are THOSE picketers and protesters?

This leads me to believe that it's more than just "spreading God's word" but an easy reason to hate and discriminate, a way to assert one's own moral superiority (virtue signal), and to fear something that's different. It's so easy to rail against something that doesn't affect you directly. To be fair though, we all virtue signal to some extent. Sometimes we see something going wrong from a distance that doesn't affect us, and we say "tsk tsk" and then go about our day like we've done our part.

 

[Greatshield17]

These are questions for anyone who cares to respond and who is either part of a religion that condemns the practice of homosexuality, or perhaps belonged previously to such a religion or believes they're knowledgeable on this subject:

According to your religion or religions that you are aware of that condemn the practice of homosexuality, how does homosexuality as a whole affect people who are not homosexual? For example: If a person is heterosexual, how does a practicing homosexual person who lives somewhere in the same community affect the heterosexual person? Equally, what is the rationale that the heterosexual person can or should mandate the life of the homosexual person?

I ask this because I have a relative that I talk to now and again and every time I talk to the person they rail against homosexuality and how according to their religion (Catholic), it's a grave sin, etc. Every time I talk to this relative I find myself trying to think of ways that other people's sexual orientation directly affects or hurts this relative. I can't come up with anything.

I'm still thinking about and putting into words my full response, however, there a few things I can say:

First and foremost, I don't know your relative and what specifically he or she is saying in regards homosexuality, but if he or she truly "railing" and getting caught-up in this issues, perhaps you should advise him or her to focus on his or her own Sanctification and spiritual life, or on other societal sins like sins against the First Three Commandments which I personally think are much worse (although there is a bit of connection between them and sexual sins which I'll get into later); or at the very least, spend more time praying for homosexuals than railing against them. Also on practical level, I personally suspect porn does much more harm to people than homosexuality, and I think we would be better off banning or greatly restricting pornography before we focus on homosexuality; but this is only my 100% fallible opinion and may also be influenced by the fact that I've struggled with a porn addiction. (and a sexual perversion or fetish on top of that.)

I'll get save the other part for later as I'm about to do my meditation, I'll return after that, but hopefully this is a good and practical start.

 

[Streetwise]

the assembly of God church is obedient to the scripture a man must not lie with a man like with a woman ,but while we're scapegoating christianity got any more chips on shoulder to blame christians for come get it all out surely we've caused all evil that ever occurred

 

[Magna]

the assembly of God church is obedient to the scripture a man must not lie with a man like with a woman ,but while we're scapegoating christianity got any more chips on shoulder to blame christians for come get it all out surely we've caused all evil that ever occurred

You sound defensive.

I don't believe that Christians caused all the evil that ever occurred.

Anyone or any organization that takes a position in relation to morals, politics, etc should expect to explain their/its position as to why they believe it superior, "right", etc to other viewpoints if they're making such a claim. I don't see why that would or should be an issue.

Also, @Streetwise my intent isn't to attack religion or your own personal faith beliefs. Questioning something isn't necessarily an attack against something. Influential beliefs no matter what they are should be open to questions and scrutiny. I think of all the different scientific theories; scientists expect (or should expect) questions and scrutiny of the theories they believe in. It would be puzzling if a scientist became defensive or considered questions about the theory as a personal attack.

 

[Greatshield17]

the assembly of God church is obedient to the scripture a man must not lie with a man like with a woman ,but while we're scapegoating christianity got any more chips on shoulder to blame christians for come get it all out surely we've caused all evil that ever occurred

I don't believe that Christians caused all the evil that ever occurred.

I've come across many people who act like this, it actually shocks me sometimes the things that people will say, really? You're that narrow/shallow-minded about these things? It's again, one of the reasons why I have such a huge devotion to the Canadian Martyrs.

Anyone or any organization that takes a position in relation to morals, politics, etc should expect to explain their/its position as to why they believe it superior, "right", etc to other viewpoints if they're making such a claim. I don't see why that would or should be an issue.

I'll get save the other part for later as I'm about to do my meditation, I'll return after that, but hopefully this is a good and practical start.

I'll get to the rest of my explanation and response in a bit.

 

[Greatshield17]

sins against the First Three Commandments which I personally think are much worse (although there is a bit of connection between them and sexual sins which I'll get into later)

Sorry it took me so long, I'll finally get to this particular part and what I wanted to say about it. Now as you can see in the quote above, I said that there is a connection between sins against the First Three Commandments and sexual sins, what is the connection between these things? Well in both the Old and New Testament, God describes His relationship with His followers as being like a marriage, why is that? Well in both sex and adoration (to use the Catholic term that most people refer to as "worship") there is a complete giving over of oneself to another, with adoration, it's God or a deity, with sex it's another human person. This is the key reason why Latin-Rite priests, and religious brothers and sisters make vows of celibacy, and why Our Blessed Mother was a Perpetual Virgin, it shows that they have given themselves completely over to God and won't be giving themselves to anyone else.

Of course there are plenty of other examples of links between sex and worship, the word "fetish" was originally a religious term and referred to the belief that certain objects had magical or preternatural properties, below is a video by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Jonathan Pageau, in which he discusses the meaning of fetish in both its religious and sexual meaning:

So now that we've discussed the relation (pun not intended) between worship and sex we can now explore the reason as to why someone would be concerned with someone having relations with another person of the same sex. Ironically just as many people would say that we shouldn't be concerned with whom another person has sex with, so too will many people also argue that shouldn't be concerned about whom another people adores or worships. But is that really the case with either of these acts? I'm not advocating for anything violent or oppressive, but is that the case, is it not rather actually, a pretty big deal that people in our communities (myself included) are engaging in these great acts giving themselves completely over to others, be they other human beings, or spirits, or both? I think I'll leave it this question here for now, instead of going further.

 

[Slime_Punk]

I used to be a part of a religion like that; it's a way to keep everybody in line, beaten-down and somewhat oppressed. As for the people who are totally obsessed with the sexual habits of others, it's likely a deep dissatisfaction with their own life seeping outward like a poison; the polar opposite of love thy neighbor as thyself.

I'm still cool with the concept of god, I just think (s)he needs a facelift and the dogma needs to chill a little bit. If using the word of god to spite others isn't taking his name in vain, I don't know what is. It's a shame so many people have somehow forgotten what love actually means.

 

[Magna]

but is that the case, is it not rather actually, a pretty big deal that people in our communities (myself included) are engaging in these great acts giving themselves completely over to others, be they other human beings, or spirits, or both?

Why would this be a big deal to anyone who is not practicing their own personal religion that there are other people that do practice their own personal religion? Are you saying that people think it's a big deal when a person has their own personal spirituality or faith they practice for themselves? If so, where do you see that?

 

[Greatshield17]

Why would this be a big deal to anyone who is not practicing their own personal religion that there are other people that do practice their own personal religion? Are you saying that people think it's a big deal when a person has their own personal spirituality or faith they practice for themselves? If so, where do you see that?

Have you ever heard of the Latin phrase, Lex Orandi, lex credendi lex vivendi?