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From: manis@ubc-vision.CDN (Vincent Manis)
Newsgroups: net.motss,net.philosophy
Subject: Re: "Justifying" beliefs based on "western moral tradition"
Message-ID: <512@ubc-vision.CDN>
Date: Wed, 15-Aug-84 23:30:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-visi.512
Posted: Wed Aug 15 23:30:01 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Aug-84 07:26:19 EDT
References: <3107@decwrl.UUCP>, <971@pyuxn.UUCP>
Lines: 29

Western moral tradition, anyone? I'll stand by it any time. Witch
Organization: UBC Vision, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 25

trials and other monstrosities are certainly a part of our tradition,
but so too is an increasing understanding of the humanity of all 
people. Slavery is a reprehensible part of our heritage, but the
abolition of slavery is also a part of our tradition. By "W.M.T.",
anti-gay people generally mean a few random passages taken out of
context. Far too often, people throw out the babies and keep the
bathwater.
 
I'm suspicious of arguments based on "inherent sexuality". They
lead to all kinds of problems. For example, the United Church
of Canada recently rejected a proposal to permit the ordination
of open gays and lesbians. One argument that was advanced was
that the proposers had not done enough to prove that conversion
(aka cure) was impossible. Now, if one is really going to accept
various forms of sexuality on an equal plane, it makes little 
sense to say that same sex sexuality is ok because gays/lesbians
can't be "cured". 
 
We as a society have to learn to get past labelling. Neither homo-
nor heterosexuality is intrinsically good or bad; the value 
judgements should be attached to the ways in which we deal with
sexuality. I have yet to see any logically sensible argument
which really proves the inherent superiority of heterosexuality.
To find even "enlightened" people operating on this sort of 
unspoken, unquestioned assumption is discouraging.