Catholic Church Homosexuality

In the past ten years, the nonstop discussion and stress has been over the question of homosexuality. Are homosexuals to be excluded from the community of faith? Article writers, Richard B. Hays and Walter Wink explain their perspective and answer the ongoing talk.

Opposition to gay marriage has increased since the summer and a narrow majority of Americans also oppose allowing gays and lesbians to enter legal agreements that fall short of marriage. Moreover, despite the overall rise in tolerance toward gays since the 1980s, many Americans remain highly critical of homosexuals ­ and religious belief is a major factor in these attitudes.

Throughout history, gay people have been discriminated by religious groups on a global scale. In the Room for Debate article “Have Christians Created a Harmful Atmosphere for Gays,” the issue being discussed refers to how poorly Christians discriminate against homosexuality. This Room for Debate article is mainly referring to Evangelical Christians, who are the main contributors to discrimination against homosexuality. Despite being taught to “love one another as Jesus has loved us,” there are still a majority of Evangelical Christians who preach Leviticus, the book in the Bible that condemns gay people. While a great majority of Christians condemn homosexuality, there’s also a minority of Christians that feel that homosexuality is an acceptable behavior. The statistics of Christians that oppose gay marriage versus Christians who support it vary between each Christian denomination. However, a religion’s set of beliefs are defined by generally running true for a majority of believers. There may be a minority of Evangelical Christians who support gay marriage, but many more Evangelical Christians oppose gay marriage. As a result of this majority, Christians have created a negative environment for gay people by denying homosexuality as an ethically accepted behavior, pressuring gays not to be themselves, and threatening them with eternal damnation.

Tillman, William M, Jr. "The church's response to homosexuality: biblical models for the 21st century."

It was not until the twelfth century that homosexuality started to be condemned. This condemnation proved to live through then until now. Due to the fact that America incorporated these early views into its early laws, even the most bland of today's sex acts were seen as unlawful (“Homosexuality and Mental Health”). Since then, these laws have changed, however, there is still a primarily negative connotation on homosexuals when coming from a church or legal standpoint concerning the masses of America.

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

The most difficult part of any modern theological debate is choosing the authority. With the variety of Christian denominations, individual thinkers, and outside influences, and it is often difficult to reach a general agreement. In her essay, “Homosexuality: A Case Study in Moral Argument,” Catholic theologian Lisa Cahill examines four major authorities and different ways to determine how they work together to produce a cohesive Christian ethic. Though she fails to give a definitive, quantifiable method of describing the interactions between the authorities, her final judgment, approval of some aspects of homosexuality, indicates that she values modern cultural context and general

Same-sex couples are becoming increasingly popular in our society and advocates have been pushing for social justice to abolish sexual discrimination. America has been misled by opponents of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts who claim a business' right to religious freedom to turn away gay customers is discrimination and bigotry, and we need to return to the biblical view of homosexuality as what it really is: sin. This paper will cover religious freedom and the advancement of gay rights in society today as it pertains to the opposing arguments of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed recently in Indiana.

The second chapter, “Writing the Homophile Self”, describes the struggles many homosexuals face in Christianity. White analyzes the relationship, or lack thereof, some individuals have with religion due to the damning nature of homosexuality. In contrast, others did choose to continue to follow God and find comfort in more accepting congregations. Regardless, many homosexuals pushed for a social reform rather than the therapeutic methods. Doing so, the homophile movement brought same-sex relationships to light within the modern world and modern

Now, when is talk about that there is ignorance in this type of situation, it is necessary to take into account that this ignorance came from the type of action that many usually takes when the they know about this issue in certain individuals who are facing this issue, and sadly the first action taken is to judge them, and discriminating against others. However, what is most unfortunately is when this comes directly from the church, which often does not give them any hope of restoration to their issue of same-sexual attraction.

Sexual relations are a powerful and essential part of God’s intentions for defining humanity. God intended sexual relationships to be ideal for His creation. Therefore, Paul emphasizes the destruction sin distorts from the illegitimate use of the gifts from God. “Even their women exchanged natural sexual relation for unnatural ones…men also abandoned natural relations with women with lust for one another…men committed shameful acts with other men…” (Romans 1:26-27). They are of such importance that the Bible gives them special attention and counsels more restraint and self-control than with any other desire. Paul indicates one of clearest ways of society or a person in rebellion against God is the rejection of God’s guidelines for the use of sex. In Paul’s day, many pagan practices encouraged homosexuality, “men committed shameful acts with other men,” (Romans 3:27). Homosexuality is strictly forbidden in God’s Word (Leviticus 18:22). God does not obligate or encourage the degradation of this act in humanities relationships. Paul even states that the people were aware of their wrongdoings. “Although they know God’s righteous decree…they not only continue to do these very things but

Romans 1:26-27 says, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” The Bible does not discriminate against the LGBT community, but it does say that homosexuality is a sin. God lovingly warns against homosexuality and offers grace for those who have strayed from His will. Mark 10:6-9 says, “But at the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” This testifies against multiple genders, as God created just two genders, male and

In recent years, the issue of homosexuality has been a controversial and frequently discussed topic within the Anglican tradition. The Lambeth conference is an assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion and is convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The conference allows for a collaborative and consultation function which allows for relevant issues to be discussed within the communion (“Lambeth Conferences”). The argument over homosexuality was discussed predominately as a communion wide issue at the 1998 Lambeth conference, and it was concluded that homosexual practice was “incompatible with scripture” (“Lambeth Conferences”). Whether locally or globally, debates typically arise around the issue of homosexuality, and if should be

Many LGBT people don’t accept their call of accepting their sexuality and living their lives simply because they are pressured or feel that they must adhere to the strict sexual regulations concerning the human sexuality as found in the bible. To illustrate this point, in 1 Timothy, a letter written by the Apostle Paul who was converted from judaism, wrote to his pupil Timothy that the old law of Moses was intended for the “sexually immoral people and practicing homosexuals” (1Tim 1:9-11) which has lead many future christians to believe that homosexual people are immoral and transgress against God since the law was intended to point out the flaws of man and regulate their lives in order for them to live in harmony with God and dwell in his presence in the

The way people ultimately view homosexuality, whether in religion, politics or modern popular culture, is all determined by traditional or changing points of view. This essay will discuss mainly liberal and conservative Christian interpretations of the Bible, including many verses that may support or condemn homosexuality. It will also discuss the political views and laws against same-sex marriage and the social activism in the homosexual community. This is all about view points and it has many conflicting views and arguments.