subject: CONTEMPORARY VIEWS ON HOMOSEXUALITY [print this page] CONTEMPORARY VIEWS ON HOMOSEXUALITY CONTEMPORARY VIEWS ON HOMOSEXUALITY
The many Christian denominations vary in their position on homosexuality, from seeing it as sinful, through being divided on the issue, to seeing it as morally acceptable. Even within a denomination, individuals and groups may hold different views. Many of the debates among Christians have roots in questions about the sources of authority different Christians believe represent God's purest or most definitive message. More generally: which kinds of arguments should be persuasive to Christians, and which do not possess the weight necessary to determine opinions and policies. Such is also the case with the issues related to the morality and inclusion of LGBT persons in Christian life.
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianities regard Sacred Tradition and Ecumenical councils as co-authoritative with scripture, and the ordinary Magisterium is authoritative in Catholic theology.[ii] The Roman Catholic Church, maintains what it regards as early Christian teaching on homosexuality, that sex is meant for both procreation and pleasure, and that one without the other is sinful, therefore making homosexual acts sinful: "Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.' They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."[iii]
Methodism derives doctrine from the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which consists of an evaluation of the synthesis of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.[iv] There are also differing positions about how great a role is played by continuing revelation. Liberal Christians tend to regard the Bible as the record of human doings, composed of humans encountering the Divine within their specific historical context. They often interpret passages of the Bible as being less a record of actual events, but rather stories illustrating how to live ethically and authentically in relation to God. Some might, for instance, see Christ's death and resurrection in terms not of actual physical reanimation, but in terms of the good news of Jesus' teaching: that God's children are no longer slaves to the power of death.[v]
1. Choice And Free Will
Even though there is not any empirical or scientific basis for regarding homosexuality as a disorder or abnormality, rather than a normal and healthy sexual orientation, there is a population that undergoes SOCE and tends to have strongly conservative religious views that lead them to seek to change their sexual orientation. There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor to conclude whether or not recent sexual orientation change efforts do or do not work to change a person's sexual orientation. Although sound data on the safety of SOCE are extremely limited, some individuals reported being harmed by SOCE.[vi] Distress and depression were exacerbated. Belief in the hope of sexual orientation change followed by the failure of the treatment was identified as a significant cause of distress and negative self-image.
There is now a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, the major mental health professional organizations do not encourage individuals to try to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Indeed, such interventions are ethically suspect because they can be harmful to the psychological well-being of those who attempt them; clinical observations and self-reports indicate that many individuals who unsuccessfully attempt to change their sexual orientation experience considerable psychological distress.[vii]
For these reasons, no major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and virtually all of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public about treatments that purport to change sexual orientation.[viii] The Royal College of Psychiatrists shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality NARTH[ix] in the United States are not supported by science and that so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.
Such efforts have serious potential to harm people because they present the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth is a mental illness or disorder, and they often frame the inability to change one's sexual orientation as a personal and moral failure.[x] Many of these individuals and groups appeared to be embedded within the larger context of conservative religious political movements that have supported the stigmatization of homosexuality on political or religious grounds. Co-founder and other former Exodus International issued a public and formal apology for their work as ex-gay leaders and the harm they caused to those they tried to help.[xi]
Other ex-gay groups make no claim to change sexual orientation, but instead encourage celibacy. Organizations such as Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays believe that, regardless of one's sexual orientation, "practicing homosexuality" is always a deliberate choice. They present people who have attained "abstinence from homosexual behaviors" as reflecting the result of deliberate attempts at change. Similarly, the Roman Catholic Church and the LDS Church regard homosexual intercourse, but not homosexual attraction, as sinful. The attraction, or sexual orientation, is considered merely as a temptation to sin.
SOCE has been controversial due to tensions between the values held by some faith-based organizations, on the one hand, and those held by lesbian, gay and bisexual rights organizations and professional and scientific organizations, on the other. Some individuals and groups have promoted the idea of homosexuality as symptomatic of developmental defects or spiritual and moral failings and have argued that SOCE, including psychotherapy and religious efforts, could alter homosexual feelings and behaviors.[xii]
