Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site bbncca.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!bbncca!sdyer From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Sub-human Christian attitudes Message-ID: <567@bbncca.ARPA> Date: Sun, 12-Feb-84 14:23:54 EST Article-I.D.: bbncca.567 Posted: Sun Feb 12 14:23:54 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 12-Feb-84 21:57:11 EST References: <814@ssc-vax.UUCP> Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma. Lines: 35 Strangely, I agree with David Norris' generic comments about Christian belief and the inevitable letting go of incompatible beliefs and attitudes as one's relationship with God deepens. One only wishes that he hadn't used homosexuality as his example--more evidence of his limited view of others' approaches to God. It is NOT a forgone conclusion that: "A homosexual knows that, if he accepts Christ, he will be asked to give up his sexual preference." There are many deeply religious homosexual men and women who see their sexuality as an expression of God's love and have no quarrel with this "gift." I would admit that someone steeped in the heady tradition of fundamentalism would wrestle with this issue, and feel that they must renounce their sexual behavior (not to mention their sexual preference.) To them, I wish good luck and God's grace--they'll need it! On a purely personal level, I have known several people who have tried just that. It's generally hell-on-earth for as many years as they can stand it. Finally, when they realize they've been chasing an illusion, they stop. Some stop all belief in God, and some remain in the Church. But this is a digression, and has little to do with my point, which is that David's statement is an expression of his reading of Scripture, and is not the final conclusion that every Christian will come to. I would invite him (and others) to read two very good books: John Boswell, "Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality", and John (?) McNeill, "The Church and the Homosexual". Both of these trace the attitudinal changes of Western society and the Church towards homosexuality, and reexamine the Biblical texts traditionally invoked against homosexual behavior. I grant that orthodox fundamentalists are unlikely to be swayed by modern scholarship; perhaps at best, it might give them a feeling for other streams of thought in the Church today. -- /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbncca