A Response to Gay Rights and the Charge of Intolerance

I have been asked to write a scholarly paper on how early Christianity viewed homosexuality. More precisely, what did the early church fathers have to say on this subject. I am only around 40% complete on the research, but have been interacting with the ideas already, thus I would like to comment on something posted (I think) by Mark Poole.
It is this comment,
"There is a tendency within modern Christianity (as with society at large) to focus on one or two hot-button issues and to make these a litmus test for orthodoxy. This has happened today with regard to issues of abortion, homosexuality and evolution…"

While it is certainly true that sectors of Christianity tend to place far too much focus on secondary issues, there is a reason that the right wing focuses on the three issues Mr. Poole mentions.

1. Abortion - the focused attention on this issue started AFTER the 1972 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. From that point our government began to use tax dollars to pay for abortions, which continues to this day. If this were not the case, OR if there were only 1,000 abortions per year in the US (instead of around 1,000,000) I do not think Christians would be making this a "hot-button."

2. Homosexuality - although homosexuality has always been something the Church has condemned, it did not become a "hot-button" until proponents started shoving the issue in the face of the public. I do not remember the subject ever coming up in public when I was a teenage Christian until it became clear that our organ player was a professed homosexual. Once the gay community started trying to get grade schools to use "Heather Has Two Mommies" it became a problem. Now we are confronted with a steady drumbeat that we are homophobic, hateful and denying civil rights if we do not allow homosexuals to have the same marriage rights as heterosexuals.

3. Evolution - I was taught evolution in junior high and high school. At that time I had not become a Christian, thus did not know this was a "hot-button." But we now have some good scientists who have developed good materials to present Creation Science as an optional theory. Do they get the same opportunity as the evolution establishment to present their views? No. If you have not seen Ben Stein’s movie "Expelled" you should watch it.  For those who refuse to watch it because they think it represents propaganda - please tell me you did NOT watch Al Gore on global warming or Michael Moore on the Iraq War.

What is a "Hot-Button" Issue?
You see, anything becomes a "hot-button" when proponents draw attention to it by trying to force it on the rest of the culture. When Mr. Poole says, "Many Christians spend a good proportion of their time and energy worrying about such matters…whilst conveniently ignoring weightier matters…" I would suggest that these "weightier matters" probably do get attention, although perhaps not as much as they would if the injustice were being shoved in the face of a Christian while telling that Christian to accept it as "normal, good, and right."

It is true that Christianity has not always reacted well to social issues. Christians do not always react well on an individual basis. I certainly fail consistently. But I have not heard of a single incident of Christians breaking into a Metropolitan (Gay) Church service to disrupt their proceedings like the gay activists are now doing (see, http://www.veritasrex.com/veritas_rex/2008/11/idea-4-2.html). If gays were to be openly attacked I have no doubt that pastors around the country would condemn that action - just like they did when abortion clinics were bombed in the 70’s and 80’s.

In the 70’s the homosexual community protested against homophobic violence. In the 80’s they protested against discrimination in the work place. In the 90’s they pushed to get a prominent presence in movies and on TV. Then they pushed for equal rights to adopt children, bear children through artificial insemination, and to have visitation rights in the hospital (I agree with this one 100%). Now they want equal rights with respect to marriage. The homosexual community has moved from wanting to be free of violence (certainly a right), to being accepted as a viable alternative lifestyle, and now they want to be seen as "normal." In fact the title of this book is what they are looking for, "Beyond Acceptance" By Carolyn W. Griffin, Marian J. Wirth, Arthur G.Wirth. The sympathizer out there would ask, "Why is that so bad, to be seen as normal?"

The more scholarly studies I have seen in the past have maintained that between 4-7% of the general population see themselves as "exclusively" homosexual. The gay community wants to place the figure closer to 10%. Even 10% reveals that this lifestyle is NOT "normal." I have heard gay advocates respond to this by saying, "but the number of openly gay, and even bisexual people is growing." This is exactly what concerns the Christian community. IF a person is born with this sexual outlook, then why would the numbers be growing? It seems that the numbers should stay fairly consistent.

My educated guess is that the percentage of people who describe themselves as "exclusively" homosexual remains around the same. The number of people who would describe themselves as "bisexual," or have had a positive same-sex encounter has undoubtedly increased in the last 10-12 years, especially among women. Why?

Over the past 10-12 years we have had images of homo/bi sexuality shoved in our faces - The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Queer as Folk, Will and Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Brokeback Mountain, Madonna and Britney kissing…I see women passionately kissing each other almost every week in various advertisements for other shows. Do you get it yet? This is why the religious right has a problem with this issue. Yes, more young people are experimenting with same-sex encounters. The gay movement has been on the offensive (not defensive) and they are winning.

"But why does this bother you so much?"
Well, I feel very much the same way about violent video games. We have teenagers playing games now where they steal cars, kill people, brutally beat people, and rape women. Do I think this affects them in their psyche? I do. Does that mean all of these youngsters will become rapists and murderers? No, but I do think a percentage on the fringe will cross the line, encouraged to do so by the constant input they receive.

I know men who have had "positive" same-sex encounters and would tell you in a heartbeat that they are NOT homosexual. Then why did they engage in a homosexual act? Because they were sexually aroused and wanted to have a sexual release. None of the men I know in this category were "looking for love." I would guess that this is the case with most young women as well.

The biggest problem I have with the gay community is that they want the rest of us to accept them as "normal." They will not stop shoving their agenda in our face until they get everything they want. They demand that we accept them as members in good standing in our churches, even as pastors in our pulpits. We must allow them to teach our children in kindergarten and grade school AND we must grant them the freedom to teach our children that our religious views are bigotry. We must not complain or be hesitant to be served in a family restuarant by an openly gay waiter/waitress. We must not say anything against them or their movement, else we are guilty of hate speech (my writing here, my freedom of speech must be curbed because it is hateful). We must grant the same "tolerance" not only to your basic homo/bi sexual, but also towards the transgenders, the transexual, Thomas Beatie (the former woman, now pregnant man - how in the heck do you explain that to your 5 year old?), and who knows what in another 5-10 years.

Read the bizarre story of the pregnant man (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4581943).
In the face of this madness I find it almost humorous that I would be called intolerant because I want marriage to remain defined as the union of a single man and a single woman. Ultimately I guess we will need to adjust the definition to exclude future Thomas Beaties unless OB-GYN doctors can tolerate performing pre-natal exams on partially bearded women with male equipment (TMI).