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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
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