Tab Hunter & Roddy McDowall have their cake and sausage, and eat it too.
The Cafeteria is Closed blog has a post which appears to promote the legal recognition of homosexual unions and accept notions about the nature of homosexual activity that have caused some controversy. There are currently over 400 comments on the post.
Here's the link: Homosexuality
After the jump, I will respond to what I read in Gerald's post and in some of the comments. Some of what I say, I will have said before, but I went through and edited things, updated links, and made an effort to tighten what is intended to be a fairly thorough response to the thoughts expressed by Gerald and others commenting at The Cafeteria is Closed blog.
Although the response is lengthy, it isn't just an articulation of my unsupported opinions, hence the links and the length.
One of the reasons error is so widespread in society is that it takes effort to come to know the truth, and refuting errors can involve writing a whole book-length response to properly refute errors that can be rattled off in a few sentences. Many people aren't interested in the work entailed in learning the truth or refuting error, and this is especially so when the errors appeal to them because of an attachment to sin.
I'm not suggesting those things of Gerald, but I do contend that Gerald has sort of gone off the deep end on this issue.
My response to Gerald is after the jump. Please add your comments at the end.
Gerald,
I’ve written this in response to comments on your blog and my own about homosexuality and homosexual unions. My goal is to demonstrate that homosexual activity and homosexual unions are a serious problem within the Catholic Church and in society, that homosexual activity and homosexual unions and the acceptance of such things is contrary to Church teaching and the natural law, that there is a widespread effort within the media to undermine traditional morality with respect to the issues of homosexual activity and homosexual unions, and that lies, distortions, emotional appeals, and logical fallacies are being utilized to manipulate people into accepting homosexual activity and homosexual unions. You appear to be cooperating in these efforts b some of your comments, so I’m hoping we can dialogue in a respectful manner, so as to get to the truth.
Although I contend that your thoughts and comments on the issue of allowing legal recognition for homosexual unions are peppered with false analogies and logical fallacies, they do reflect some understanding of these issues from a civil and secular perspective. However, I respectfully submit the proposition that your commentary appears to ultimately reveal that you are not in line with Church teaching on the issue of allowing legal recognition for homosexual unions.
You are free to believe whatever you like, but you aren't free to insist that heretical perspectives can be reconciled with the teaching of the Church. I hope that people are clear that your claims are not reconcilable with Church teaching and can’t be held by Catholics who claim to be in union with the Magisterium.
Supporting the legal recognition of homosexual unions is not compatible with Catholicism.
The basis for my claim is this document: Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons.
Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons is Church teaching. You'll note the document is on the Vatican website and was authored by some of the same people who authored the Catechism of the Catholic Church, one of whom is the current Pope.
Speaking of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, consider this section:
Chastity and homosexuality2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. 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.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
You will note that the Catechism makes several things clear:
1) Sacred Scripture presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity.
2) Tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."
3) The inclination to homosexual acts is intrinsically disordered.
4) Homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law because close the sexual act to the gift of life and they do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.
5) Under no circumstances can homosexual acts be approved.
6) Every sign of unjust discrimination against persons with homosexual tendencies should be avoided. (Note: the use of the word "unjust" means that there is such a thing as "just" discrimination. Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons explains that further.)
Catholic Answers has an excellent article, titled, Gay Marriage, which is well researched and discusses in detail the various diseases and pathologies associated with homosexuality. The article gives many reasons why society, as a whole, should seek to protect marriage as a union between one man and one woman and not grant legal protections for homosexual unions, as such.
Here are some important quotes:
Marriage is about more than just the feelings of two people. Feelings are important, but they aren't the whole of it. We all know that feelings change and that any marriage has its ups and downs. A good marriage has more ups than downs, a bad one more downs than ups, but emotions change from one day to the next. Sometimes they're very loving, and sometimes they're very negative.Marriage does involve very personal feelings, but this does not mean that it is merely a private matter. Whether it succeeds or fails, a marriage has a huge impact on the couple, their children, those around them, and the entire society. As an institution, marriage is the business of everyone in society. It takes more than emotion to hold a marriage together.
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of diagnostic disorders. In retrospect, this decision appears to have been inspired by political pressure rather than medical evidence.Homosexuals of both sexes remain fourteen times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexuals and 3½ times more likely to commit suicide successfully. Thirty years ago, this propensity toward suicide was attributed to social rejection, but the numbers have remained largely stable since then despite far greater public acceptance than existed in 1973. Study after study shows that male and female homosexuals have much higher rates of interpersonal maladjustment, depression, conduct disorder, childhood abuse (both sexual and violent), domestic violence, alcohol or drug abuse, anxiety, and dependency on psychiatric care than heterosexuals. Life expectancy of homosexual men was only forty-eight years before the AIDS virus came on the scene, and it is now down to thirty-eight. Only 2 percent of homosexual men live past age sixty-five.
Male homosexuals are prone to cancer (especially anal cancer, which is almost unheard-of in male heterosexuals) and various sexually transmitted diseases, including urethritis, laryngitis, prostatitis, hepatitis A and B, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, and genital warts (which are caused by the human papilloma virus, which also causes genital cancers). Lesbians are at lower risk for STDs but at high risk for breast cancer. Homosexuals of both sexes have high rates of drug abuse, including cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other psychedelics, barbiturates, and amyl nitrate.
Male homosexuals are particularly prone to develop sexually transmitted diseases, in part because of the high degree of promiscuity displayed by male homosexuals. One study in San Francisco showed that 43 percent of male homosexuals had had more than 500 sexual partners. Seventy-nine percent of their sexual partners were strangers. Only 3 percent had had fewer than ten sexual partners. The nature of sodomy contributes to the problem among male homosexuals. The rectum is not designed for sex. It is very fragile. Indeed, its fragility and tendency to tear and bleed is one factor making anal sex such an efficient means of transmitting the AIDS and hepatitis viruses.Lesbians, in contrast, are less promiscuous than male homosexuals but more promiscuous than heterosexual women: One large study found that 42 percent of lesbians had more than ten sexual partners. A substantial percentage of them were strangers. Lesbians share male homosexuals' propensity for drug abuse, psychiatric disorder, and suicide.
The statistics speak for themselves: If homosexuals of either gender are finding satisfaction, why the search for sex with a disproportionately high number of strangers? In view of the evidence, homosexuals will not succeed at establishing exclusive relationships. Promiscuity is a hard habit for anyone to break, straight or homosexual. Promiscuous heterosexuals often fail to learn fidelity; male homosexuals are far more promiscuous than heterosexual males, and therefore far more likely to fail. Lesbians are more promiscuous than heterosexual women. There is little good data on the stability of lesbian relationships, but it is reasonable to speculate that their higher rates of promiscuity and various deep-seated psychological problems would predispose them to long-term relational instability. Existing evidence supports this speculation.The more radical homosexual activists flaunt their promiscuity, using it as a weapon against what they call "bourgeois respectability." But even more conservative advocates of gay marriage such as New Republic editor Andrew Sullivan admit that for them, "fidelity" does not mean complete monogamy, but just somewhat restrained promiscuity. In other words, they admit that exclusiveness will not happen. And without exclusiveness, their "marriages" will have little meaning.
Sullivan argues that marriage civilizes men, but anthropology would counter that marriage to women civilizes men. Male humans, homosexual or heterosexual, are more interested in random sex with strangers than women are. Men need to be civilized, to be taught the joys of committed sex, and that lesson is taught by marriage to women, not by other men who need to learn it themselves. The apparent instability of lesbian relationships suggests that lesbians understand that lesson less well than heterosexual women do. Exclusivity will not happen, and without exclusivity, marriage does not exist.Without exclusivity, permanent and unconditional relationships will not happen, either. By definition, a relationship that allows for "cruising" will be shallow and mutually exploitative, just as sex with strangers is shallow and mutually exploitative. So far, same-sex marriage is 0 for 3: likely to be neither exclusive nor unconditional nor permanent.
Can homosexual unions be life-giving?Homosexual sex is not procreative and thus not live-giving in the most literal and important sense of the term. Further, the health statistics are clear. Any sexual behaviors that cut longevity almost in half before the AIDS virus came on the scene are death-dealing, not life-giving. The longevity and disease numbers speak for themselves. So do the psychiatric and drug abuse numbers. Likewise, promiscuity statistics suggest that homosexual activity is not providing much fulfillment to its practitioners. If it were, they would not feel the need for sex with armies of strangers. The statistics make it very clear that homosexual behavior is not enhancing anyone's inner well-being; in that sense, too, it is anything but life-giving.
Gerald, you say:
“Since this is a free country, people can, absent injury to others, live as they please. The same freedom that makes it possible for you to be Catholic makes it possible for others to be "openly" gay. Obviously, the Catholic Church has every right to ban "Dignity" from church property, but that is where it ends, just like Muslims can't ban others from the 'right' to eat pork in public. Tolerance doesn't mean embracing those with whom one disagrees but rather to let them be. Unfortunately, P.C. sometimes goes so far as to outlaw opinions differing from mainstream culture. I'm very much a libertarian when it comes to speech and actions that don't harm others.”
Gerald, homosexual activity does hurt people, and society. It actually kills people, Gerald, and the denial of reality entailed in maintaining the lifestyle makes them mentally unstable. You seem to be choosing to ignore the evidence of that and/or dismiss it by comparing unnatural homosexual acts with natural heterosexual acts, as though they were flip sides of the same coin and that the desire for homosexual activity and unions is a natural human variant, instead of an objectively disordered tendency.
Your position is not in line with the position of the teachings of the Catholic Church in Sacred Scripture, Catholic Tradition, the Magisterium of the Church, and specifically, Pope Benedict XVI. I know you must realize that. What I can't seem to understand is why you are comfortable dissenting from the teachings of the Holy Father on a matter involving faith and morals?
I’m also confused as to why you seem to believe society should grant legal protection to relationships, which are inherently destructive, both physically and spiritually. Yes, heterosexual marriages can be that too, but not because of the essence of the relationship itself. Heterosexual marriages can be destructive due to the personal sins of the married couple, but homosexual unions are destructive because they are unnatural, per se, and require a continuous denial of objective reality (which is essentially a kind of insanity), the natural law, and acts of grave depravity which are physically, emotionally, and spiritually harmful.
I thought it was clever of you to appropriate for the title of your blog the line from Mauren Dowd’s April 20, 2005 column, "Smoke Gets in Our News", where she said:
The white smoke yesterday signaled that the Vatican thinks what it needs to bring it into modernity is the oldest pope since the 18th century: Joseph Ratzinger, a 78-year-old hidebound archconservative who ran the office that used to be called the Inquisition and who once belonged to Hitler Youth. For American Catholics - especially women and Democratic pro-choice Catholic pols - the cafeteria is officially closed. After all, Cardinal Ratzinger, nicknamed "God's Rottweiler" and "the Enforcer," helped deny Communion rights to John Kerry and other Catholic politicians in the 2004 election.
I’m surprised and disappointed to see you acting like the cafeteria is still open for business!
I realize your argument attempts to sidestep Church teaching by insisting that in a pluralistic society, we cannot use Church teaching as a benchmark for what should and should not be legal. The problem with your premise is that it accepts as given a liberal position rooted in the error, namely: that religious liberty includes the freedom to reject the natural law. The natural law is the real basis for all of the Church’s moral teachings. The Ten Commandments and other Scriptural affirmations of the natural law show God making the natural law even clearer via explicit commandments that are morally binding on all people and not just believers.
Still, let’s consider the strictly secular perspective for a minute:
Looking at things from a secular position, a free, pluralistic, democratic republic, like our society, can and does have the right to decide what marriage is or is not.
The logic you've given to support the legal recognition of homosexual unions essentially entails an effort to avoid "discrimination" and "intolerance". Buzzwords like “intolerant” and “discrimination” are liberalspeak for serious sin, because the only sins in liberalism entail not embracing "diversity", which is defined the acceptance of whatever, whenever, wherever – and without question or criticism).
Look, if it's discrimination to say two men or two women can't get married, then it would logically follow that it is also discrimination to say one man can't marry three women, or marry his daughter, or marry his pet goat, or marry any or all of the aforementioned creatures.
You are buying into the liberal "you can't legislate morality" myth. Yet many, many laws are rooted in Judeo-Christian morality. It's against the law to murder people, have incestuous sex, have sex with minors, have sex with prostitutes, use illegal drugs, have sex with animals, etc. If you don't think religious morals aren't a large part of the reasons for those laws, you're kidding yourself.
People don't have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies, even now, in the post Roe vs. Wade era.
Do you have the right to be a prostitute or an addict of illegal drugs? Do you have the right to be nude in public? Do you have the right to be intoxicated in public? Do you have the right to stop paying taxes? Do you have the right to enter another country illegally? Do you have the right to defy an order to appear in court? Do you have the right to ignore a government fine? Do you have the right to escape jail or prison time if you commit a crime? Do you have the right to attempt suicide without being hospitalized if authorities find out?
All of those things are legislated by the government and they involve things you can and can't do with your body or that the government can require you to do or not do with your body, all of them involve moral choices, and society proscribes each of those moral choices, defines them as bad, and assigns penalties to people who choose to do those things. I could make the same arguments you have put forward in defense of allowing legal protection for homosexual unions to support any of the actions I listed. You are heading down the slippery slope of the dictatorship of relativism, Gerald, and you are using emotional arguments about fairness rooted in false analogies (like equating things people do not and cannot choose, like blindness, with moral choices made by human beings with free will).
Emotional arguments are not valid reasons for doing things or believing things. Appeals to emotion are the worst sorts of arguments. Socrates called it making "the weaker argument the stronger" in Plato's Apology.
Emotional arguments are commonly used, though, because they're effective, especially for people who have never studied debate, critical thinking, philosophy, and/or logic.
Your claim that we, in a free society, can’t make laws (or elect leaders based on the laws we believe they will enact and/or enforce) based on our moral beliefs, ultimately entails eliminating religion from public discourse and marginalizing people of religious faith.
The irony of your position, and that of those who advocate secularism and relativism as replacements for religion, is that the laws you propose involve religious and moral beliefs and beliefs about justice and fairness, which are rooted in the natural law. They just happen to be the opposite of those held by the Catholic Church. Any arguments about justice and fairness all imply the existence of a natural, moral law; a standard by which the choices of all people are measured, regardless of race, creed, or even personal awareness. The people arguing for the acceptance of homogenital activity and homosexual unions want to deny the aspects of the natural law which proscribe their choices, and will even go so far as to deny the existence of the natural law, embracing moral relativism in its place, but still depend on objective standards of justice and fairness (which are based in the very natural law they seek to undermine.
Be that as it may, arguments in favor of homosexual unions rooted in claims of unjust “discrimination” ignore the fact that the law already does discriminate against individuals who want to make certain moral choices, and it does so frequently.
Again, we don't allow people to do whatever they want with their bodies in American society:
You can't attempt suicide (if you do, they will hospitalize you for 72 hours if anyone who is required to report such incidents is aware of it).You can't not report suicidal intentions and/or intentions to harm others made known to you by another person, or suspected child abuse if you are a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a police officer, or are employed by a school, etc.
You can't plan to murder someone.
You can't sell sexual favors for money (except in Nevada, I think).
You can't engage in sexual activity with minors.
You can't marry your brothers and sisters or your parents.
You can't marry animals.
You can't sell your bodily organs.
You can't go nude in public places (for the most part).
You can't have sex in public places.
You can't use illegal drugs.
You can't smoke in all sorts of public places.
You can't buy tobacco products until you are eighteen.
You can't drink alcohol in most public places.
You can't drink, buy, sell, or serve alcohol until you are over 21 (in most states, otherwise, it's 18).
You can't gamble until you are over 21 (in most states, otherwise, it's 18).
You can't vote until you're 18.
You can't go AWOL in the military (or cut your hair a different way or do any number of other things).
You can't refuse to go to war (in most cases) if you are in the military.
You can't refuse to pay your taxes.
You can't jaywalk.
You can't drive without a valid license.
You can't practice medicine, dentistry, psychiatry, psychology, or even cosmetology without a license.
You can't drive without a seat belt.
You can't ride a motorcycle (or even a bicycle, in many places) without a helmet.
I'm sure there are more things you can't do with your body (no matter how much you want to), by law, than this, but I’m sure you get the point.
The whole “I can make my own decisions and do whatever I want with my own body” argument (which began with abortion, really, which is ironic because that involves another person's body too) is rhetoric that has been repeated so often, people have bought into believing it's true, despite the myriad of examples where that is absolutely not the case.
Now that lie is being extended to enable and defend homogenital activity, pederasty (via NAMBLA and others of like mind), and even incest (as witnessed by couples like those seen here: Incestuous Father & Daughter/Brother & Sister).
Although many in our society have bought into the propaganda that homosexual activity and homosexual unions are harmless, the reality is: homosexual activity and homosexual unions are harmful to individuals and to society, both inside the Catholic Church and outside the Church.
Some have attempted to claim that the legal recognition of homosexual unions will not harm the institution of marriage, or cannot do more harm than heterosexuals have already done to marriage.
I reply:
Although the state of marriage in American society is already undermined by liberal divorce laws, the widespread use of artificial contraception, high cohabitation and out-of-wedlock birth rates, further dilution of what marriage actually and essentially is by redefining it to include things that are not marriage will certainly not help, and there is evidence that it will, in fact, make things worse. You can’t justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior, but those who put forward arguments like this go one step further. They seek to justify bad behavior by redefining good behavior.
Homosexual marriages and/or homosexual civil unions will only reinforce the idea that marriages formed for the purpose of having children and providing a healthy developmental environment involving a loving mother and father in a stable union are not the ideal, important, or even necessary, whereas alternative partnerships are the wave of the future.
Look at the results of about a decade of legalized homosexual unions in Scandinavia, where marriage rates have declined as the number of babies born to people living together outside of marriage has risen.
Check out this article: The death of marriage in Scandinavia
See also: Modern Sweden: The declining importance of marriage
This is an excellent resource: The case against "Same-sex marriage"
Check out this article: How would same-sex 'marriage' legalization impact America?
The rhetoric used to support homosexual activity as a licit variant of human sexual activity, compatible with Christian doctrine, has been used for decades. Homosexual activists who have a passing familiarity with Sacred Scripture and liberals who fantasize that the only ones Jesus condemned were the theologically conservative Pharisees or even that Christ was a liberal (in the modern sense of the word) have sought to distort authentic Christian doctrine in an effort to confuse people and facilitate a new Gospel, sympathetic to homosexuality.
I've already covered the fact that Jesus was not a liberal here: Jesus Was Not A Liberal
Now I will respond to claims that Christian doctrine can embrace homosexual activity and homosexual unions.
Jesus was addressing his own disciples in many of the passages I will be quoting. The notion that Jesus reserved his condemnations for the Pharisees, Sadducees, or other religious leaders in power during His public ministry is entirely erroneous. Jesus frequently warned sinners that they are in danger of hell.
Jesus agreed with the Pharisees more than he disagreed with them. He said to do as they say, not as they do, because they were hypocrites:
Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice." (Matthew 23:1-3)
Some claim that hypocrisy among religious leaders (whether they be Christian leaders of the present age, or the Jewish leaders during the public ministry of Christ) makes their doctrinal teaching false. That is a mistake.
Just because some Christian religious leaders (or even many) and many Christians do not live up to the doctrinal teachings of their professed belief (on matters of faith and/or morals) does not mean that the religious faith they profess is false. It means they are poor examples of what their religion says they are meant to be. It means that they are sinners.
This is especially true of Christians who commit sins of the flesh. Their sinfulness does not make sins of the flesh okay, nor does it mean those who have fallen into sin must forever remain silent about the sinfulness of such activity. I have far more respect for a sinner who acknowledges his or her sin, than for a sinner who insists on denying that he or she is guilty of sin at all.
There were good Pharisees who were friends of Jesus, and they were not required to renounce their beliefs in order to be friends of Our Lord. Although Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:13–28), he also dined with Pharisees (Luke 7:36–50), taught in their synagogues (Mark 1:21), specified their teachings to his followers (Matthew 23:1–3), and counted Pharisees such as Nicodemus among his disciples (John 7:50–51).
"...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)
The Sadducees (many of whom were of the priestly class) were the religious liberals of the day during the public ministry of Jesus. They did not believe in angels or thee resurrection. Jesus disagreed with them doctrinally, but so did the Pharisees. Yet very often, people who know little of Sacred Scripture lump these groups together.
Getting back to the subject of homosexuality:
Although homosexual activity was common among the pagans, Jesus’ ministry was primarily to the Jewish people. Homosexuality was universally understood to be an abomination among the Jews. Jesus didn’t need to correct the Jewish people’s understanding of the nature of homosexuality because they had the right understanding of it already (which means the silence of Christ on this subject isn’t in favor of homosexuality). Moreover, as homosexuality was considered an abomination to the Jews, it wasn’t a common sin among the Jewish people. Jesus did not need to preach to the choir on this issue.
Moreover, Jesus wasn't merely capitulating to the culture of His times. Jesus spoke to women and counted women among His disciples. He healed on the Sabbath and allowed his disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath. If the Jews were misinterpreting the law, or taking it to extremes, Jesus remedied these errors by His examples and teachings, but he never did this with homosexuality, because the Jews had the correct view of homosexual activity: it is a serious offense against God's eternal law, an act of grave depravity, and an abomination in the sight of the Lord.
Now, I will demonstrate, from Sacred Scripture, that the Jewish people understood that homosexual activity is an abomination. I will then show that Jesus' disciples did not repudiate this teaching, even while they showed that the ceremonial elements of Old Testament law were no longer binding.
The Old Testament explicitly condemns homosexual acts:
“The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground, he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey." But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square." He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined. Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old--all the people to the last man--closed in on the house. They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them." Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him. He said, "I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing. I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof." They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door. But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door; at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway. Then the angels said to Lot: "Who else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city--take them away from it. We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the LORD against those in the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city." When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."
"Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot."You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die. Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a small place. Let me flee there--it's a small place, isn't it?--that my life may be saved."
"Well, then," he replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar. The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar; at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven). He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil. But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the LORD'S presence. As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace. Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living. (Genesis 19:1-29)
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any beast and defile yourself with it, neither shall any woman give herself to a beast to lie with it: it is perversion. Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am casting out before you defiled themselves; and the land became defiled, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for all of these abominations the men of the land did, who were before you, so that the land became defiled); lest the land vomit you out, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whoever shall do any of these abominations, the persons that do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and never to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 18:22-30)
“If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them.” (Leviticus 20:13)
If a man has carnal relations with an animal, the man shall be put to death, and the animal shall be slain. (Leviticus 20:15)
“A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.” (Deuteronomy 22:5)
St. Paul and the apostles explicitly condemned homosexual activity:
“...the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.”Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all (kinds of) unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, and malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, implacable, unmerciful. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.” (Romans 1:18-32)
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber -- not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Drive out the wicked person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-13)
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral (fornicators), nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals [two different Greek words are used here denoting the different roles of the active partner and the passive partner in homosexual behavior], nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God? And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
“The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, The two shall become one flesh. But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin, which a man commits, is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:13-20)
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
“But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of “Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be joint-partakers with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:3-10)
"Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself." (Phillipians 3:17-21)
"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor'rah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority." (2 Peter 2:1-10)
"Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomor'rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones." (Jude 1:3-8)
And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." (Revelation 14:11)
"and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:10-15)
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.” (Revelation 22:12-15)
Here's a quote from, Early Teachings on Homosexuality:
Some argue that neither the Bible nor apostolic tradition condemns the practice of homosexuality. Passages such as Leviticus 18:22–30, Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and Jude 7 serve as ample proof that Scripture indeed condemns homosexuality. [Early Teachings on Homosexuality] is ample proof from tradition. The Fathers are especially harsh against the practice of pederasty, the homosexual corruption of boys by men.
As you can see, the Jewish people understood that homosexual acts are sinful, Jesus did not correct them on this point, His disciples continued to teach that such activity separates one from the Lord, and so did their successors (linked in this post).
Homosexual activity violates the natural law and the inclination to violate the natural law is a disorder:
Natural law doesn't apply to animals. it only applies to creatures who have the use of reason or an intellectual faculty. Animals lack this and are, therefore, not bound by the natural law. Moreover, because of the sin of Adam, Sacred Scripture says that suffering mysteriously entered the ranks of the animal kingdom (because Adam had dominion over all the animals). It is not surprising, then, that animals should be given to disordered acts. Dolphins and chimps have been observed to force sex on unwilling partners, would that, then, justify rape? A praying mantis eats the head of its mate. Would that, then, justify murder?
The natural law is the response of right reason to the world around us. It is a reasoned response to reality. Through the natural law we recognize that we treat a thing in accordance with its nature. Therefore, we treat a head of lettuce one way, a puppy is treated another way, and a human being is treated differently from a puppy or a head of lettuce. When you use a thing in a manner contrary to its nature you violate the natural law and do something wrong. Some violations are more sinful than others, just as some acts are more or less unnatural.
Lets take an example: a pencil. A pencil achieves its end when it is used in accordance with its nature. The end, or purpose for being, of a pencil is to write. When a pencil is used properly, it is "happy". (I'm being simplistic and applying personification to illustrate a point, not to be condescending.) If we were to use a pencil as though it were a screw driver, we would hurt the pencil. It would be damaged by our action that ran contrary to its nature. If we ignored the fact that we were destroying the pencil and continued to use it as a screwdriver, ultimately, we would destroy it completely.
Now let's take a human function: eating. Eating has a purpose: nourishment. It has pleasure united to it in order to facilitate that purpose. However, when someone overeats for pleasure, they get fat. If they eat purely for the pleasure and then vomit to prevent weight gain, that is called an eating disorder. It is an abuse of the bodies faculties. It's a sickness. Bulimic individuals need help. They are disordered. Their sinful use of food and their inordinate need t control their appearance becomes so habitual that they do all sorts of terrible things to their bodies, vomiting, starving themselves, gorging, using laxatives, etc.
The inclination to homosexuality, while not sinful in itself, is a disorder. It is a disorder in the same sense that anorexia, bulimia, alcoholism, or drug addiction is a disorder, only it touches on an area even more intimate: sexuality. Disorders are not something to be proud of and sharing the fact that one struggles with any kind of temptation, especially if it is one that involves serious sin is not to be undertaken without serious reason, not only for the safeguard of one's own reputation, but also so as not to cause scandal.
Sin darkens the intellect and weakens the will. Habitual sin does this all the more and makes turning back from any sin more difficult. Sin also impedes the reception of actual grace. Mortal sin robs the soul of sanctifying grace (the loss of charity), habitual mortal sin inclines one to depression and possible despair (the loss of hope), and the incongruity of living as though there is no God slowly becomes incompatible with belief in the supernatural (the loss of faith).
The sole weapon left to restore a soul is the gift of faith, and when that is lost, the soul is placed in tremendous peril, because there is nothing left to bring the soul back to God unless the light of faith is rekindled.
Back to the natural law aspect:
You compare homosexuality to heterosexuality as though they are just variants of behavior, but they aren't. Homosexual acts are intrinsically evil. They are incapable of transmitting life and cannot provide the true union that heterosexual complementarity provides because they aren't acts of self-donation, the total gift of self to other, or open to the possibility of life.
Heterosexual acts within the context of marriage are moral and just because they are natural in every way, down to the cellular levels of sperm and egg. Whatever the intention of any sexual act, the body's nature, down to the actions of sex cells, shouts God's plan. God's design is clear. Sperm always seeks an egg. To do so is its nature. When that design is followed and nature's function is working properly, new life can result, and because of marriage, the children have the possibility of a stable, loving family to nurture them. When the supernatural element of the sacrament of marriage is added to the natural beauty and goodness of such a relationship, marriage becomes an even greater means of sanctification.
The design of sex says I love you completely; because it involves complete self-donation.
It says I love you exclusively; because you can't love more than one person with complete self-donation.
It says I love you forever, because such a total gift of self may not be taken back.
To say such things with one's body, but not mean it in one's heart, is a lie. Doing so is to use one's own body and that of another person simply for personal gratification. That is not love.
When compounded with the fact that love seeks the good of the beloved, the fact that such acts do not involve love becomes all the more clear, as such action places the person with whom we have acted out sexually in danger of losing their soul. It would be more loving to shove their face in a puddle of vomit than cause their soul to be separated from God.
Yes, heterosexuals sin sexually, but that doesn't justify homosexual sin. It just means that homosexually active people aren't the only sinners.
All deliberate sexual acts (whether they are actions done alone or with others) outside of the context of marriage, or which are deliberately closed to the creation of new life (within marriage) are objectively serious matter and to engage in such acts with sufficient reflection and full consent is a mortal sin.
Any sexual act that does not comply with Church teaching is not an act of love. It is an act of masturbation, whether alone, or through the use of another person's body.
This teaching is a cross for everyone, not just homosexuals, because of our fallen nature and the war of our passions against right reason. We can all pray for deliverance from such temptations, but nobody can reasonably expect that they will forever remain free from any temptation in this area, regardless of the specific nature of the temptation. We are simply called to pray and struggle. Through our struggle we are constantly reminded of our frailty and therefore our total dependence upon God. Such temptations, understood properly, are a means of keeping us close to God, even though they are a cross.
I still don't understand this: To embrace the homosexual lifestyle seems to be just giving up and deciding that relief can be found in no longer struggling against a predominant tendency to sin. Should other people give in to all of their temptations to sin and, instead of turning and repenting, accept their temptations as their God-given nature and something to reconcile with themselves and be at peace about? Is that the solution for alcoholism, eating disorders, every manner of sexual temptation, and the rest of the seven deadly sins? Should they just be accepted and embraced as lifestyles?
Was Jesus wrong when He asked what it profits a man to gain the entire world and yet suffer the loss of his own soul?
I link the following to help make it even more clear what I mean when speaking of the natural law:
Whether the natural law is a habit?
Whether the natural law contains several precepts, or only one?
Whether all acts of virtue are prescribed by the natural law?
Whether the natural law is the same in all men?
Whether the natural law can be changed?
Whether the law of nature can be abolished from the heart of man?
Whether every human law is derived from the natural law?
The Moral Precepts Of The Old Law
The Ceremonial Precepts Of The Old Law In Themselves
The Judicial Precepts Of The Old Law
The Causes Of The Ceremonial Precepts Of The Old Law
The Duration Of The Ceremonial Precepts Of The Old Law
The Reason For The Judicial Precepts
The Law Of The Gospel, Called The New Law, Considered In Itself
The New Law As Compared With The Old
Things That Are Contained In The New Law
Additional reading:
This article ties things together: Homosexuality
For an excellent explanation of the natural law, in a more reader friendly layman's style, I highly recommend: Mere Christianity
Some, wishing to justify homosexual activity on this blog have said:
"Christ welcomed sinners in His midst...the last shall be first...His love for man is boundless."
I reply...
Christ also said:
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)
Here are some passages that demonstrate that the view of an ever-affirming Jesus is wholly misguided:
"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.” (Matthew 5:13)
"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20)
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:13-14)
"Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' (Matthew 7:22-23)
I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:11-12).
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household." (Matthew 10:34)
“And he called the people to him and said to them, 'Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.' Then the disciples came and said to him, 'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?' He answered, 'Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.' But Peter said to him, 'Explain the parable to us.' And he said, 'Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries (moicheia), fornications (porneiai), thefts, false-witnessing, blasphemies. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matthew 15:1-20)
And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? (Matthew 17:17)
“And behold, one came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 19:16-19)
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `If any one swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, `If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it."Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity.
You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean."Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, saying, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 23:13-33)
"Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, `My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." (Matthew 24:42-51)
"Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, `Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, `Truly, I say to you, I do not know you." (Matthew 25:11-12)
"And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." (Matthew 25:30)
"...Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels..." (Matthew 25:41)
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:42-48)
"Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three..." (Luke 12:51)
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:2-5)
"Likewise as it was in the days of Lot -- they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all -- so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it." (Luke 17:28-33)
“And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: `Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth." (Luke 18:18-21)
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But, because I tell the truth, you do not believe me." (John 8:44-45)
Homosexuality is harmful to society and the Catholic Church:
The culture of death is the most pervasive evil in our present age and culture of death is intrinsically rooted in sexual sins.
Artificial contraception, deliberate sterilization, and homosexual acts are all unnatural acts, and there is a link between them, because heterosexual couples who deliberately render their sexual activity a sterile, barren act that seeks pleasure and a misguided sense of love essentially distort their heterosexual acts in such a way that they more closely resemble homosexual acts.
Moreover, the widespread acceptance of homosexual activity is directly correlated to the widespread acceptance of the contraceptive mentality.
The media is saturated with positive references to the homosexual lifestyle. My posts are wholly insignificant when contrasted with the tidal wave of media supporting the active homosexual lifestyle Americans are subjected to on a daily basis, yet you have expressed displeasure with a handful of posts I offered on this blog articulating my perspective on the subject through the lens of my Catholic faith.
As I said before, homosexuality is a pervasive evil in our time. It is celebrated unlike ever before in human history. Entire cable networks now exist to cater to homosexuals. Homosexual marriages and/or civil unions are legal in Britain and other places in Europe, as well as in Massachusetts and Vermont.
Homosexuals are demanding homosexual marriage, showing up at Easter egg hunts on the White House lawn, going to communion in rainbow sashes, and promoting movies like Brokeback Mountain, a movie that initially got a breathless, glowing review from USCCB film critic, Harry Forbes and was only changed (and dramatically so) after the USCCB was flooded with complaints.
Here is the original review by USCCB film critic, Harry Forbes.
The review has been almost completely rewritten; a testimony to how the original review was truly offensive to Catholic sensibilities.
Jimmy Akin had some excellent commentary on the review.
Here is some more commentary about the review: US Bishops' Organization Gives Glowing Review of Homosexual-Sex Propaganda Film
Society is becoming increasingly pagan in this post-Christian era.
There has been an active campaign among homosexuals, many in the media, and those on the political left (as well as the "Log Cabin Republicans" on the right), to change the cultural perception of homosexuality.
This isn't a wild conspiracy theory. It is a verifiable, documented fact. The article, "How 'gay rights' is being sold to America" is just one example of such documentation.
Propaganda masked as entertainment is also being utilized to the same end, namely, getting people to not only accept homosexuality, but to protect and defend it.
Homosexually themed movies are coming out with more and more frequency. Brokeback Mountain, Boys Don't Cry, Philadelphia, and American Beauty, all won significant Academy Awards. There have been so many homosexually themed movies in the last ten years that I can't even remember them all, but a lot of that work has been done for me by this site which lists 50 Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender themed films. Several of the movies nominated for Academy Awards recently have had homosexual themes or characters, including, Brokeback Mountain and TransAmerica.
"Brokeback Mountain" is well produced propaganda.
"Brokeback Mountain" also subtly manipulated viewers into seeing heterosexual marriage as a trap.
The first two X-Men movies were directed by an openly homosexual director, Brian Singer, who wove homosexual allegories in the first two films (and the trend continued with the third under another director). The question of whether or not Superman is a homosexual icon was all over the media when Superman Returns, also directed by Bryan Singer, was first being released in theaters. I did a post about that here: Superman Is Not A Homosexual
Homosexual characters are now commonplace on television shows. Will & Grace is popular in syndication.
Ellen DeGeneres talk show, The Ellen DeGeneris Show, has won many awards, including several Emmy awards, and Ellen promotes homosexuality on her program, as evidenced here: Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres discusses the recent tragic death of 15 year-old Larry King from Oxnard, CA.
Oprah is very homosexual-friendly and talks about homosexual issues all the time. She has a homosexual designer, Nate Berkus, on the show all the time. In December 2004, Nate Berkus and his “partner”, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, were vacationing at a beach resort in Sri Lanka when the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. While Berkus survived, Bengoechea is still missing and presumed dead. Here’s the show they did about the tsunami: Nate Berkus: The Tsunami Disaster
Oprah provided further evidence of her support for an anything goes morality with her program when she recently did a show titled, “ The Pregnant Man”.
Here are more examples propaganda in the form of homosexual-friendly themed shows done by Oprah:
A Secret Sex World: Living on the "Down Low"When Your Identical Twin Has a Sex Change
Former Governor Jim McGreevey, His Gay Sex Scandal
Dina McGreevey, Estranged Wife of the Gay Governor, Breaks Her Silence
The show titled, "Miracle Sextuplets, Twins Reunited: Super Siblings", featured this segment about a Catholic family with four homosexual siblings, one of whom was once a seminarian: All in the Family
Gay Around The World featured this segment: NBA Player John Amaechi Makes History: After years of living a lie, former NBA player John Amaechi decided to go public with his homosexuality.
When I Knew I Was Gay featured this segment: The Straight Truth: Feminine Men: Billy Porter talks about why some gay men are more flamboyant than others.
Oprah's Best Friend Forever, Gayle King, did this interview with Lance Bass, which is featured on Oprah's website: Pop Singer Lance Bass
Additionally, Oprah has endorsed these books (among others) on her show and her website:
The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World Do What I Say: Ms. Behavior's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Etiquette
As The World Turns currently features a plot line about a male character in his late teens, Luke Snyder, "coming out of the closet" and having a homosexual relationship (see: Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer). I did a post about that here: Propaganda 101: As The World Turns' Progressive Plot Line. Since doing the post, I discovered that there are fan sites devoted to encouraging young people to watch the story of the relationship between the characters of Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer unfold. Here are two examples: Luke & Noah & NoahandLuke.com
You can watch the entire story of Luke Snyder’s “coming out” and his relationship with Noah Mayer here:
Luke's [“Coming Out”] Story
Here is a list of television shows with Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered characters.
Homosexual activists get very excited about any shows that feature homosexuality, as is evidenced by this Wikipedia article on a Cold Case episode that had a plot similar to that of Brokeback Mountain: Forever Blue (Cold Case episode)
Episode Description:
Originally Aired: December 03, 2006 The detectives investigate the murder of one of their own. In the 60’s an officer was killed when the force found out that he was gay. Lilly and team must find out if the officer was sent to his death by his own co-workers. Meanwhile, Vera steals a basketball from his neighbor who is annoying him. When the boy's mother shows up at the station, she lectures Vera and he ends up buying a new basketball and delivering it to them.
The Cold Case episode is laden with sentimentality and appeals to emotion, is devoid of factual support for the arguments made in support of the acceptance of homosexual activity, and completely ignores objective arguments against homosexual activity, though it does offer a few straw man arguments. The episode portrays those who oppose homosexuality as crude, ignorant thugs who will hurt and/or kill "innocent" homosexuals who only want to "love" one another. This type of propaganda is typical of the demagoguery commonly used in homosexual activism.
You can see the episode yourself here:
Cold Case: Season 2 Episode 10 "Forever Blue" (Part One)
Cold Case: Season 2 Episode 10 "Forever Blue" (Part Two)
The media and homosexual activists have spread lies about the motive for Matthew Shepard’s brutal, absolutely unjustified murder. His death was, and still is, invoked as a kind of homosexual martyrdom. ABC News has demonstrated that Matthew Shepard's murder was not a so-called "hate" crime: New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder. Yet Matthew Shepard's tragic murder is still used as a means of silencing any objection to the homosexual lifestyle. In fact, many liberals and homosexual activists frequently imply that all Christian opposition to homosexuality is not only "homophobic" but also shares the blame for what happened to Matthew Shepard or any other homosexually oriented crime victim.
The movies " Boys Don't Cry " , " Brokeback Mountain ", and “American Beauty” (among others) also perpetuate the idea that homosexuals need to be cherished and protected by society because those who oppose homosexuality are dangerous and will kill homosexuals.
Homosexuality is a death-style. It is very sad to say this, but homosexual activity basically facilitates the spread of disease and turns countless homosexual men (and some women) into vectors.
I strongly encourage you to read this article: The Books were a Front for the Porn - The Truth About the Homosexual Rights Movement. A homosexual wrote it and he is very honest about what homosexuality actually involves. It isn't graphic or disgusting in its detail. It is an honest, heartfelt life story and it is extremely eye-opening.
Here are more eye-opening articles:
Here is what homosexuals admit about themselves: 'The Gay Report'
Another reason to be concerned with the widespread acceptance of homosexuality within our culture and in the Church is this ugly secret: Pedophilia is more common among 'gays'.
Here is another article supporting the same premise: Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse
Support for homosexuality, by logical conclusion, leads to the acceptance of pedophilia and other illegal acts still currently viewed as deviant and immoral by the majority of people. In fact, the movement to normalize pedophilia has already begun: The Problem of Pedophilia
Here is evidence of more efforts at normalization: Gay-Affirming Psychologists Propose Redefining Child Sexual Abuse
Something to consider: Woman Reared In Same-Sex Household Speaks Out Against Gay Marriage
Additionally, homosexuality is a serious problem within the Church. In January of 2001, The Kansas City Star reported that Catholic priests are dying of AIDS at a rate four times higher than the general population.
A significant number of priests, some say as high as 40% are thought to be homosexuals.
This article gives further evidence that Catholics have good reason to be concerned about the homosexual subculture within the Catholic priesthood: 'Gay' culture in Catholic Church grows
Despite the recent Vatican instruction entitled, “Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders”, stating that the Church "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture"", U.S. Bishop's president, Bishop William Skylstad, supports the ordination of homosexual men to priesthood, and by all indications California prelates will continue to ordain homosexuals.
Bishop Tod Brown explicitly told his priests, "We need priests who see themselves in a wider and more mature way, whatever their sexual orientation."
Fr. Arthur Holquin, pastor of the Mission San Juan Capistrano Basilica (which is located in the Diocese of Orange, California), published the following article in his December 4, 2005, parish bulletin: Can gays be priests? by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, former Master General of the Dominican Order. In his bulletin, Fr. Holquin proclaimed the article, which calls homosexual priests a gift to the Church, "a helpful and wise commentary".
Fr. Radcliffe’s article was written for the November 26, 2005 issue of the progressive international Catholic weekly magazine, The Tablet. It is interesting to note that the article actually pre-dates the November 29, 2005 release date of the Vatican instruction. The article was written in response, not to the actual Vatican document, but rather a leak of the document, which, while accurate, did not include the other documents released simultaneously by the Vatican with the instruction.
Fr. Radcliffe’s hasty spin on the instruction was clearly meant to soothe the impending apoplexy of Catholic priests and lay persons who have a progressive mindset about homosexuality, and a deeply vested interest in the acceptance of homosexual clergy, over the wording of the soon to be released Vatican document. It reads like a heartfelt attempt to mollify the anxiety of homosexually-oriented priests, seminarians, and vocation candidates. However, the balm Fr. Radcliffe offers to ease the pain is offered by obfuscating the truth.
You may be aware that Fr. Radcliffe has had much to say about homosexuality lately. He was recently quoted in the April 7, 2006, issue of the National Catholic Reporter:
On Saturday morning in Los Angeles, Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, master general of the worldwide Dominican order from 1992 to 2001, delivered a keynote lecture on "The Church as Sign of Hope and Freedom."On the subject of the Church and homosexuality, Radcliffe called for the Church to "stand with" gay people.
"We must accompany them as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open," he said. "This means watching 'Brokeback Mountain,' reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen to the Lord."
Even when we feel that gay people are moving in the wrong direction, he said, we must "walk with them."
Radcliffe, an Englishman, later addressed what he called the "ideological divisions in the Church in the United States," saying they struck him as deeper "than anywhere else in the world."
"We are not a sign of God's freedom until we can dare to belong to each other across every theological boundary," Radcliffe said, drawing sustained applause from the crowd in the Anaheim arena.
Radcliffe called for compassion for various constituencies, including sexually abusing priests, whom he described as "the lepers of the modern Church, the unclean whom we fear to touch."
Radcliffe then contrasted the spirit of the gospels with a political approach he called "expediency," meaning a willingness to treat people as means rather than ends -- the supreme instance, he said, being the attitude of "better one man should die than a risk of unrest" which led to Jesus' death on the Cross.
Radcliffe described the Allied firebombing of Dresden during the Second World War, the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, and the practice of "special renditions," in effect meaning torture, now in use as part of the War on Terror, as examples of the logic of "expediency."
Rev. Donald Cozzens, former rector at the Archdiocese of Cleveland seminary, suggested in his 2000 book, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," that each bishop should determine what percentage of homosexuals priests would be acceptable in his diocese.
In the same book, Fr. Cozzens famously said that the priesthood is becoming a homosexual profession.
Catholic bishops, like retired Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, have engaged in homosexual activism. Bishops Kenneth Utener (Saginaw, Michigan), Walter Sullivan (Richmond, Virginia), Joseph Imesch (Springfield, Illinois), Matthew Clark (Rochester, New York), Howard Hubbard (Albany, New York), and John Cummins (Oakland, California), have all promoted and enabled the homosexual agenda.
Here’s more information about Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
In February of 2000, Bishop Tod Brown sent each priest in the Diocese of Orange two articles by Fr. Gerald D. Coleman dealing with the Prop. 22 ban on homosexual marriage. In the message accompanying the articles, Bishop Brown wrote that Fr. Coleman's article "expresses very well my own thoughts on this subject." Fr. Coleman’s article, “Is Prop 22 Discriminatory?” argued: "Some homosexual persons have shown that it is possible to enter into long-term, committed and loving relationships, named by certain segments of our society as domestic partnerships."
Bishop Brown has shown support for the homosexual lifestyle on numerous occasions for years, as the Open Letter To Bishop Brown ably demonstrates. In fact, the Rainbow Sash movement has praised Bishop Tod Brown.
Cardinal Roger Mahony has also promoted and enabled the homosexual agenda, both through questionable ministries to homosexuals, and public statements by Tod M. Tamberg, Director of Media Relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcoming members of the Rainbow Sash Movement who come to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to receive Holy Communion at Mass while wearing their rainbow sashes, which represent their commitment to the homosexual lifestyle and their belief that Church teaching on homosexuality is discriminatory.
Cardinal McCarrick said he would be fine with homosexual civil unions on CNN. He later said that he was misunderstood, but never actually withdrew his statement or explained exactly how he was misunderstood. See: Cardinal McCarrick Says He 'Misspoke' On CNN
About eight U.S. bishops have been forced into resignation over homosexual affairs (or homosexual activity with minors) within the past sixteen years. See: Bishops Besieged
Bishop Thomas Dupre resigned his leadership of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, in February 2004, just one day after a local newspaper questioned him about charges that he had molested two young men years ago.Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida, made a $100,000 severance payment to William Urbanski, who had left his job as spokesman for the diocese protesting that the bishop had sexually harassed him. The bishop denied the charges, and insisted that the severance payment was not “hush money.” But reporters investigating the case found that Lynch had showered Urbanski with personal gifts for nearly 5 years; the bishop had also awarded $30 million in no-bid construction contracts to another friend, David Herman-who, like Urbanski, is a muscular triathlete.
Bishop Anthony O'Connell succeeded Bishop J. Keith Symons (see below) in the troubled Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida. After three years there, he resigned, admitting that he had sexually abused students during his tenure as a seminary rector in Missouri 25 years earlier. The bishop said that the memory of his past transgressions had “always hung over me,” but it had not dissuaded him from accepting the leadership of a diocese stung by the resignation of the previous bishop in similar circumstances.
Bishop Daniel Ryan resigned in October 1999 as head of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, citing health reasons. Neither the bishop nor the diocese has ever acknowledged the accuracy of evidence submitted by the group Roman Catholic Faithful to demonstrate that Bishop Ryan had preyed on young men. Even in retirement the former bishop has continued to make headlines; in July 2004 police were summoned to his residence to restore order in an incident involving Ryan and two younger male companions. Bishop J. Keith Symons was the first US bishop to resign because of the sex-abuse scandal when he relinquished his title as Bishop of Palm Beach in June 1998. (He was replaced by Bishop Anthony O'Connell, who subsequently resigned for the same reason.) In admitting to the abuse, Bishop Symons said that it had occurred 40 years earlier, and insisted that he had subsequently lived a celibate life.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Milwaukee, as required under canon law, when he reached his 75th birthday on April 2, 2002. But there was no expectation that the resignation would be accepted quickly-until, just a few weeks later, a man named Paul Marcoux revealed that Weakland had paid him $450,000 to drop a sexual-assault complaint. The funds were drawn from the coffers of the Milwaukee archdiocese, prompting a local prosecutor to open a criminal investigation. Although no criminal charges were filed, Weakland asked the Vatican to speed up acceptance of his resignation; “I do not want to be an obstacle,” he said. His resignation was formally accepted on May 24, 2002. See: Archbishop Weakland's Legacy
Bishop Patrick Ziemann was accused of blackmailing one of his own priests in a bizarre case that came to light in July 1999. Father Jorge Salas, a priest from Costa Rica working in the Santa Rosa, California, diocese, charged that Ziemann pressured him to engage in homosexual acts, by threatening that otherwise the bishop would reveal that Father Salas had been caught stealing parish funds. Bishop Ziemann resigned, admitting to a sexual relationship but saying that it was consensual. California authorities declined to prosecute, saying that there was insufficient evidence to support a case against the former bishop-whose mismanagement of funds had also left the little Santa Rosa diocese with a $16-million debt. In a lawsuit brought by Father Salas, the diocese eventually settled out of court, paying the priest $535,000.
Additionally, Bishop J. Kendrick Williams (Lexington, Kentucky), was accused by three plaintiffs of sex abuse. He resigned on June 11, 2002.
Studies of the sex abuse scandals revealed that 81.9 % of sex crimes committed against young people by Catholic priests during the past 52 years involved homosexual men preying on boys. Only 5.8% of victims were under age 7; 16% percent were between ages 8-10; and over 78% were between the ages of 11-17. 44% of the accused priests were accused by more than one person, and contrary to the suggestions implied by the media, the victims have not been preadolescent children; they were generally teenage boys. It is reasonable to conclude from this data that the majority of sexual abuse within the Church has involved homosexual men who have a sexual appetite for teenaged boys.
Sadly, according to a June 12, 2002 article by Fox News, “A review of American bishops found leaders of 111 of the nation's 178 mainstream Roman Catholic dioceses allowed priests, religious brothers and lay employees accused of sex abuse to keep working.”
I, personally, know a number of agenda driven homosexual priests. I know over ten priests, personally, who molested boys. About five of them were from Orange County. (More than five priests in Orange County have engaged in sexual misconduct with minors, I’m just talking about the ones I have personally encountered.)
In addition to all the other evidence I have presented, here are some more articles that demonstrate that homosexuality is a significant problem within the Church:
(Warning: The site immediately below contains quotes with profanity and censored graphic pictures.)
Roman Catholic Faithful ~ St. Sebastian’s Angel’s Website Exposed:
http://rcf.org/Old_web/REMOVESEB/angels/confidentialhomosexualpriestringstartingpage.htm (copy and paste link)
St. Sebastian’s Angels
By Jay McNally
Catholic World Report
June 2000
The Gay Priest Problem
By Rev. Paul Shaughnessy
Catholic World Report
November 2000
The Wisdom of Bishop Cawcutt
By Peter W. Miller
Seattle Catholic
August 31, 2001
‘Pedophile priests’ and Boy Scouts
By David Kupelian
WorldNetDaily
May 8, 2002
The Fallen Angels of "St. Sebastian’s"
By Peter W. Miller
Seattle Catholic
July 19, 2002
Gay priests cited in abuse of boys
The Washington Times
By Julia Duin
February 28, 2004
Trail of Abuse Leads to Seminary
By Paul Pringle
Los Angeles Times
November 17, 2005
This document counters almost every point made by the dissenting homosexual organization that calls itself Dignity on the subject of homosexuality & Sacred Scripture: Scripture on Homosexuality (Part 1 and Part 2)
Here are some more documents that will assist in understanding Church teaching on homosexuality:
Notification Concerning Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS
Why Pseudosex Leads To Homosex
Studies of the sex abuse scandals revealed that 80.9 % of sex crimes committed against young people by Catholic priests during the past 52 years involved homosexual men preying on boys. Only 5.8% of victims were under age 7; 16% percent were between ages 8-10; and over 78% were between the ages of 11-17. 44% of the accused priests were accused by more than one person, and contrary to the suggestions implied by the media, the victims have not been preadolescent children; they were generally teenage boys. It is reasonable to conclude from this data that the majority of sexual abuse within the Church has involved homosexual men who have a sexual appetite for teenaged boys.
Pedophilia involves sexual attraction or contact with preadolescents, which is to say, children who have not yet developed secondary sex characteristics.
Any sexual contact with a member of the same sex is homosexual in nature (no matter what the ages of those involved). All the priests were men. 80.9 % of the victims were boys. The vast majority of the boys were teenagers.
Most of these priests were not pedophiles (check the DSM IV if you don't believe me: Pedophilia)
If you don't believe that many homosexuals are attracted to minors, check out the: Male Homosexual Attraction to Minors Information Center
I found that site when looking up ephebophilia to respond to comments made in another post a long time ago. I had never heard of it before.
You can also look up NAMBLA, but I will not link it.
Homosexual ephebophiles are sometimes called "chicken hawks" in gay culture. There is also a fetish within gay culture for men who are called "twinks". These men look (or are) under 18.
I have learned a lot about all of these things since the scandals broke. Some of these things were actually explained to me by homosexual men who spoke with me about the scandals.
The various homosexual subcultures out there are quite disturbing, especially to someone like me who lived his whole life without having heard of such things before.
Yes, heterosexual men sexually abuse girls too, and while all heterosexual men should not be persecuted for the actions of a few, all straight men still should not get a free pass and be allowed free access to young girls just because only a (statistical) few of them engage in sexual misconduct with minor females. A smart mother (or woman) would ensure that there were no opportunities for impropriety, not worry about political correctness and the feelings of all straight men.
The same holds for homosexuals. We shouldn't assume all homosexuals are predators who seek out young men under the legal age of consent, but that doesn't mean we should let them become scout leaders and go camping with them, and it doesn't mean that we should ignore the fact that the percentage of homosexuals who engage in sexual activity with minors as opposed to the percentage of homosexuals who never do such things is a much higher percentage than the percentage of heterosexuals who engage in sexual activity with minors as opposed to the percentage of heterosexuals who never do such things. Ignoring things like that isn't avoiding discrimination; it's abdicating sound judgment for fear of being labeled "homophobic" by homosexual activists.
In conclusion, support for homosexual activity and homosexual unions involves grave error as to the correct nature of human sexuality and the correct moral response to proposals to grant legal recognition to homosexual unions. Homosexual activity and homosexual unions violate the natural law, which is binding on all, not just Catholics, and is a perfectly legitimate basis for laws made in a pluralistic society. We must recognize that homosexual activity and homosexual unions are a serious problem within the Church and in society at large, be aware of the propaganda in the media and/or that promoted by those who pretend to be Christian while seeking to undermine Christian doctrine, and refute the errors such persons promote, while protecting and defending marriage as a union between one man and one woman for the good of society.
Pax,
Thomistic
You might want to add this article to your list from Atlantic Monthly.
Posted by: Ian | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Thomistic,
Gerald has changed his logo and title of his blog. The new name is "We the People".
The Cafeteria doors are wide open to the new "We are Church" approach. I guess this spoils the next nomination for the most authentically Catholic blog.
What happened to the notion that the Cafeteria is Closed? I might nominate it for the best bait and switch blog. I just read the article that Ian recommends in the above post. Maybe this was planned all along.
Posted by: Atlanta Catholic | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 11:25 AM
May I say that the woeful Gerald Augustinus was never anything OTHER than
the quintessential "Cafeteria Catholic"!
I am sure EWTN will eventually find a place on the roster for our Gerald, as they strive to keep up with the move toward more "inclusive" pastoral approaches........
I remain convinced that there is nothing, at all, worse than a "conservative neo- Catholic".
Give me an honest Progressive any day of the week. At least he knows who he is and I know who I am.
Posted by: Rick DeLano | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Just deleted "We the People" (was Cafeteria is Closed) from my 'Favorites'.
Posted by: Salvacion | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 01:53 PM
This is just sad. I read some of the comments. Liberalism truely is a religion that will forever be in conflict with Christianity, A religion with core belief's like "sexual orientation."
Why do I have so hard of a time praying for educated people who knowingly turn away from Jesus?
Posted by: anthony | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 06:35 PM
Excellent post, Thomistic! Very thorough, indeed.
Sadly, because Gerald and his wife are good friends with a homosexual "couple" (he says so on his blog), his thinking on this issue is warped. Still, it seems Gerald can't bring himself to admit that he dissents from Catholic teaching in regard to homosexuality.
Actually, I'd rather he be upfront about it and say "I don't agree with the Church on this matter" than to use libertarian sophistry to mask his dissent.
Posted by: Matt C. Abbott | Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 12:44 AM
Thomistic, this is an excellent response. "Excellent" doesn't even do it justice.
I know Gerald personally, and he is a good person. My only concern is that some people striving to be faithful to the Church's teachings on this issue will use their "zeal" to mask vitriol they enjoy spewing on him.
I disagree with Gerald on this issue, but I value HIM, and pray that he can accept in his heart what his head can't wrap around at this time.
Posted by: jeron | Friday, April 18, 2008 at 08:43 AM
Thank you for this posting ... and links. In one of my teen's Catholic school the teacher has been fielded questions on ss marriage etc all year. The religious instructor decide to address the issue starting w/the subject of natural law. I applaud this teacher for her effort. However, last night my teen came home a bit frustrated w/the other students, some not Catholic and others who are not clear about their faith, opposing the teacher in not very respectful ways. My child wanted to know how to respond to some the fellow students' statements etc. Your posting is so timely!
It has been my observation & experience that many parents & teachers are at a lost on how to explain and approach the teachings of the Church on this matter and even on a secular level (medical, health, social history etc). It has been very frustrating...I wish dioceses would put some emphasis on this topic and instruct the educators & parents ... they pulled the Safe Environment programs together ... they can do this too. It is needed ... along w/the topic of "women's ordination" ... another one my teens keep tripping over in the hall ways.
Posted by: pml | Friday, April 18, 2008 at 09:41 AM
pml,
On the topic of "same sex marriage" and "same sex attraction" I would recommend "One Man One Woman, A Catholic's Guide to Defending Marriage" by Dale O'Leary.
It a very well written and easy to read and more importantly heavily footnoted.
Now on to the topic of Mr. Augustine,
I've stopped reading his blog, because if you can't be faithful to an issues as grave as chastity and marriage, LITERALLY EVERYTHING else you comment upon is suspect.
On the occasions I've met Mr. Augustine he seemed pleasant and no doubt his views are well-intentioned.
But as I commented on his blog, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Posted by: rnw1964 | Friday, April 18, 2008 at 01:47 PM
Thomistic,
Thank you for the post on the Cafeteria is Closed blog. The Cafeteria is wide open. This blog is no longer the potential Catholic inspiration that must have inspired Gerald to his initial conversion. Gerald cannot serve two Masters. He has chosen to not offend men over offending God.
Gerald is wrong. Society is lost because it has rejected the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ. It appears that Gerald is rejecting it too.
Gerald thinks that committed homosexual unions are alright. I agree with RN.
Gerald may seem pleasant enough but that is not enough to be pleasant. Gerald needs some real spiritual direction ASAP. He was right to change the name of his blog.
Posted by: Atlanta Catholic | Friday, April 18, 2008 at 02:44 PM
Did Gerald officially change the name of his blog? I hadn't noticed, since I don't read it very often anymore. Maybe he's trying to corner the homosexual wedding photography market. All I can say is, stick to authentic Catholic teaching and you'll be fine. So will your eternal soul... as well as the souls of your readers.
Posted by: CatholicCrusader | Friday, April 18, 2008 at 06:22 PM
"I disagree with Gerald on this issue, but I value HIM, and pray that he can accept in his heart what his head can't wrap around at this time."
Beautifully put, Jeron. Thank you for your charity.
This is more difficult than dealing with friends, the people in Gerald's heart are his family members--or, more precisely, those of his wife. I hope that all former readers of his blog will pray for him during his time of blindness, especially since his dissent has been so public.
When he sees his error, he may be overcome by the number of readers he might have scandalized. (It's terrifying to "wake up" suddenly and try to recall all the wrong words you've spoken and to whom you've spoken them!) Maybe we should pray that none of his readers are swayed by his thinking at this time.
Posted by: joanne | Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 09:04 PM
No one has the inherent right to lust over someone. The adjectives heterosexual and homosexual are demeaning and degrading because they refer to the sexual objectification of a Human person. God would NEVER use such terms to describe a Human person because these terms do not respect the Sacredness and Dignity of Life. God created ONLY Man and Woman, Male and Female. Sexual Love only exists within the Sanctity of a Holy Marriage which is Blessed by Him. ( What GOD Has Joined together... And the Two Shall Become One Flesh) No where does He say that we should celebrate sex outside of Marriage. These terms, heterosexual and homosexual, are the result of the sexual objectification of people in a materialistic society. Please pray for someone I Love Dearly who is struggling with confusion on this issue. We were given a copy of " Always Our Children" that was full of contradictions regarding the Truth on this issue.( It appears on the site of the U.S,C.C.B. ) We wrote several times and spoke to several people at the U.S.C.C.B, because our only concern was that our daughter know the Truth about this issue. When we brought her to the Church to be baptized it was because our greatest desire was Salvation for her, eternal happiness with God. The U.S.C.C.B., refused to listen to our concerns despite the fact that they are well aware of the Cast of Characters,( pun intended ) that were involved in creating the document. On our own, we discovered John Paul II's Theology of The Body. I suggested they replace their document with Theology of The Body but this request was ignored. Something needs to be done about this. Just google, " Always Our Children " and you will find the truth about this document. Please understand I Love my daughter and want her to know the Truth. She was developing normal and healthy relationships until she went away to school and was attacked but fortunately not raped at a party. Trust me when I tell you that I know my daughter and this is a developmental problem. We will continue to Love and Pray for her as we continue to help her to see God's Truth on this issue. The U.S.C.C.B. continues to have a document on their site which only serves to lead her away from the Truth. It is clear to us that the authors are trying to push their own agenda. This is more than disturbing. Where can the faithful go to hear the Truth on this issue?
Posted by: Anne Danielson | Monday, April 21, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Anne,
Thank you for your brave comments at the ol' cafeteria. I'm sorry for the awful responses you've received--consider them blessings, though!
I will include your daughter in my prayer petitions tonight and at Mass tomorrow. And I will read that USCCB doc tomorrow when my brain is awake.
May God shower you with blessings and grant healing in your family!
Posted by: joanne | Monday, April 21, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Joanne, Thank you for your Prayers.
Posted by: Anne Danielson | Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 08:20 AM
Joanne,
It can be possible that Gerald is committing a Mortal Sin by his actions on his blog. Gerald has invited dissent, much confusion and now the dark legions of Catholic Church haters. I wonder if Gerald laughed at the sick response to Anne Danielson, who is obviously suffering and deserved a better response. Where is Gerald's compassion for Anne?
Gerald has shared some of the sad stories that his wife has witnessed in Social Services. Gerald wants us to be sad for these injustices and we are. There is compassion towards gay civil unions. Where is the quick response to cruelty to Anne? Gerald seems to respond rather fast when he defends sin. How about some consistency? Gerald is picking and choosing.
Gerald is intelligent enough to be fully culpable. The matter is serious. He has given it sufficient reflection and he is obstinate in his error. Gerald is assisting weak consciences to rationalize sin.
Anne,
I am also sorry for those awful comments.
I recently noticed that The Cafeteria is open. We the People has now become a blog about the entertaining of dissenters and gay rights activists.
I will also pray for your family.
Posted by: Atlanta Catholic | Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Atlanta Catholic,
At last visit, I noticed that the tone at The Cafeteria had changed to almost cackling whenever someone presented the Church teaching on homosexual behavior. Whereas before G insisted somewhat respectfully on defending homosexual adoptive parents, he does seem to have joined the rabid defenders of homosexual unions and marriages.
I do think this is a cause for increased prayer. What is happening to Gerald could happen to anyone. Bitterness and scorn pour out of him whenever anyone criticizes gay ideology.
One thing I've learned on abortion mill sidewalks is that when people have swallowed lies in the name of compassion they fight truth the way Gerald is fighting now. And, as I recall, I once defended New Age adherents as he is defending the lifestyles of his gay friends and family.
The good thing is that if a person is going to hear the truth after having accepted lies, their violent defenses precede conversion. The bad thing is, all that gunk is coming out in public, so WHEN Gerald realizes where he's been, he will have reason to FEAR having scandalized the faithful. The best thing is, God is merciful AND jealous--Gerald can't be "snatched" from His hand. Even better than the best is that God is God.
Anne has been valiant over on the front lines, and she never stooped to sarcasm or hostility! I gave up long before she did. None of my words put a dent in anything. I'm praying.
Posted by: joanne | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Joanne,
Many years ago a Catholic Theologian spoke about people defending sin. He said that quite often the defender would make every type of excuse or ploy to rationalize sin.
He said that this was never about doctrine, belief, compassion or teachings. He said that it was a distraction tactic from the real underlying truth. He said that quite often a person was simply unwilling to give up "some little delicious sin", that they have introduced into their life. Therefore their minds and intellects are deliberately darkened towards the truth.
Anne has been so kind and truthful that she softened the heart of one of the defenders.
That defender was ridiculed for it by another defender. You are absolutely right about prayer!
Posted by: Atlanta Catholic | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 06:31 PM
I have witnessed the paradigm shift at that site,and was oner of the most vocal critics of the good Augustinus and his flip-flop ethics.
This man is a an active Apostate,and he has been warned multitudes of times by myself and others.
He is an obdurate heretic.
Posted by: Dominic | Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 12:46 AM
Dominic,
You are right about this shift. Didn't a priest introduce this topic? Shouldn't he respond to the error that is being defended?
Posted by: Atlanta Catholic | Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 11:58 AM
I think so,but I cannot even be sure that the man posting is an actual bona fides priest.
He calls for tolerance of homosexuals according to the Catechism and Canon Law,and I support that position.
What I WILL NOT tolerate is the homosexual militant groups that want to overthrow all social ethical and religious taboos against their particular perversion.
Gerald Ausustinus has blatantly attacked Church doctrine as per Canon Law,and mocks any who attempt to correct his hubris in this matter,joining hands with clearly militant sodomites who frequent his blog,mocking HMC and Catholics in general with impunity.
I am calling for a general boycott of his site as of this moment.
He must be called to account for his betrayal.
When threatened with exposure to ecclesiastcal authorities,he merely sniffed at the poster and sniggered.
I think he's been possessed,or else initiated into homosexuality himself.
Dominic.
Posted by: Dominic | Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 03:29 PM
CHRISTOPHOBIA
There is a growing worldwide war against Christianity. Last year, over 160,000 Christians were killed for their faith. Christians have been beaten, imprisoned and killed for the crime of being a Christian in Red China. In Sudan, Christians have been bombed, massacred and sold into slavery. In Indonesia, Muslim mobs have wiped out entire villages of Christians, burning down many hundreds of churches.
Christians have been targeted and assassinated in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Missionaries in various parts of the world have been kidnapped, murdered and, in India, even burned alive by a mob of Hindu militants.
VIOLENT PERSECUTION
It is calculated that over 42 million Christians died at the hands of Anti-Christian governments, mostly Communist Regimes, in the 20 th Century alone.
In Zimbabwe, just in 2005, hundreds of Christian churches were bulldozed or burned by army and police, prayer meetings were broken up, women beaten and hospitalized for praying for peace, pastors arrested for “subversive prayers” and churches raided by police. In Cuba, many House Churches have been attacked, with pastors arrested and imprisoned.
However, it is not only in Communist and Muslim lands that Christians are facing persecution. Christians in Europe and North America are facing not only ridicule and hostility in the media, but increasingly they are being restricted, intimidated and harassed by legislation and judicial pronouncements.
This trend towards silencing Christians is real. Christians are being labeled, ridiculed, blamed, and legislated against. There is an irrational fear and hatred of Christianity growing in all too many countries today.
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19
JUDICIAL PRESECUTION
In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green was sentenced to a month in prison for having offended homosexuals in a sermon. Pastor Green is in his 70’s. When a reporter asked: “ What about the Pastor’s rights?” The prosecutor replied: “When he started reading Bible verses about homosexuality, he crossed the line.”
Slovakia issued a protest against this heavy handed prison sentence for the pastor in Sweden, saying that this was an example of how “left-wing liberal ideology was trying to introduce tyranny and misuse the (European Union)” to silence freedom of expression. “In Europe, people are starting to be jailed for saying what they think.”
Hugh Owens, in Canada, was prosecuted for placing a small ad in his local newspaper in response to all that he had been forced to observe during Homosexual Pride Week. His advert listed four Scripture references (Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) next to an equal sign and a drawing depicting two men holding hands, superimposed over the line drawing with the universal red circle with a line through it, effectively summarizing the Scriptures listed. For that “crime,” Owen was fined $4,500. The newspaper was also fined. So, in Canada, even listing Bible verses can be construed as a “hate crime!”
Dr. James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” must now edit their Canadian radio programmes to remove anything that might be deemed critical of homosexuality, including Bible verses on the subject, and information like the fact that, according to the Centre for Disease Control, the majority of the cases of AIDS in the US are men who engage in homosexual sex.
In New Zealand, two Christian videos that questioned safe sex slogans and exposed the link between AIDS and homosexual behaviour, were outlawed by the New Zealand parliament.
When retired air force officer, Enoch Lawrence, in response to a homosexual poster the company had placed near his cubicle, placed a Bible verse, and a bumper sticker that read: “Marriage: One Man One Woman” in his own work cubicle, he was fired by Hewlett-Packard. While a “Pagan Pride Festival” flyer was posted in the break room of Hewlett-Packard, Lawrence’s Pro-Marriage bumper sticker was forbidden.
The head of the Central British Columbia Public Health Board, Chris Kempling, with a PHD in psychology, was suspended from his teaching job at the local high school for writing a letter to the editor of his local newspaper. He stated that homosexuality was not a genetic orientation, that homosexual sex was often unhealthy and promiscuous and that homosexuals could become straight. The judge pronounced Kempling a “bigot.” Although Kempling was never accused of any discriminatory act, he was condemned for having wrong thoughts.
Dianne Haskett, the Mayor of London, Ontario, Canada, was fined $10,000 for refusing to proclaim a “Gay Pride Weekend.” After she lost her case in Canada’s courts, she resigned as mayor rather than to be forced to proclaim the event – just 3 weeks before Election Day. (However, the voters re-elected her with an overwhelming 64% of the vote.)
When a homosexual group approached Scott Brockie of Imaging Excellence to print their materials, Brockie referred them to several other printers who would accept their print job. Rather than respect his deeply held religious and moral convictions, the homosexual group sued. Despite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees Freedom of religion, the Ontario Human Rights Commission convicted Brockie of “discrimination.” The Commission commented: “Brockie remains free to hold his religious beliefs and to practise them in his home and in his Christian community.” But apparently not in the work place.
An elderly Englishman, Harry Hammond, was heckled, ridiculed and attacked on the street for holding a sign that read: “Stop immorality. Stop homosexuality. Stop lesbianism.” He was assaulted and knocked to the ground, but when the police showed up they arrested the victim of the assault! He was prosecuted for the opinion he expressed.
When a local school in Canada started handing out copies of the Koran and announced the policy of setting aside a room for Muslim students to pray during school hours, Pastor Mark Harding objected. Pointing out that Christian, Jewish and Buddhist children were not afforded similar opportunities, Harding was prosecuted. Despite Pastor Harding’s publicly stating his love for Muslims and commitment to evangelising his Muslim neighbours, he received more than 3,000 hate filled calls, many of them death threats. Some people in the courtroom motioned by running their finger across their neck from ear to ear. Entering the court, Harding had to pass through crowds of Muslims chanting: “Infidel you will burn in Hell!” However, as they were not prosecuted, these death threats were apparently not considered “hate speech.”
Harding reported receiving a call from someone, identifying himself as from Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam group, who told him that: “They were going to break my legs.” Other calls threatened various amputations and mutilations. Yet, it was Pastor Harding who was convicted of having “willfully promoted hatred” and required to undergo 2 years probation and 340 hours of “community service” at the Islamic Society of North America, where he was forced to go through Islamic “re-education.”
FREEDOM IS AT RISK
Janet Folger, in TheCriminalisation of Christianity states: “Christians are singled out, labeled, fined, interrogated, humiliated, indoctrinated, fired, ordered to attend re-education programmes and sent to jail for expressing Biblical views…this battle is for truth and freedom. And we are losing by default… If we stay silent on controversial issues, like the slaughter of more than 45 million American children…no one will be offended… We work very hard to present a sensitive, positive Christianity to seekers who don’t like hearing about stuff like obedience and a place called Hell. ‘All we need is love’ has replaced ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ as our anthem. Love is critical, of course, but so is Truth. The Bible says that God is love, but also that He is Holy… Unless we embrace Him as Lord, we will face Him as Judge. Keep in mind that Jesus talked more about Hell than He did about Heaven… and if we make Him Lord, we have to actually do what He says…He commanded us: “Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die”Proverbs 24:11… “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die” Proverbs 31:8… “Thou shalt not kill”…Exodus 20:17 “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” John 14:15… “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” James 2:17
“Your actions are what youbelieve. Everything else is just religious talk… if you want to be free to speak what you believe in your church, in your work place, in your community, you are going to have to get off the side lines and into the game…but this is more than just a game. It’s a battle for our freedom. Yes, we have the right to remain silent, but if we use it much longer, we may hear those words being read to us just before we see the inside of a prison cell.”
RIDICULE AND NAME CALLING
One tactic often used to silence Christians is ridicule. This encompasses everything from insults and name calling to character assassination.
Given the prevailing dogma of “tolerance” it is extraordinary to note the abusive terminology published against Christians. One article in the Washington Post described Christians as “largely poor, uneducated and easy to lead.” Imagine describing any other group of people in that way in the press!
Ted Turner, the former owner of CNN, described Christians as “bozos” and Christianity as a “a religion for losers.” Again, imagine any prominent figure describing the adherents of any other religion in such words.
Mel Gibson was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars, popular and respected - until he wanted to make a movie about the sufferings of Christ. No one in Hollywood was willing to finance or distribute it. Mel Gibson began being described as “a wacko”,”crazy”, “a real nut case” and worse. Interestingly enough, ThePassion of the Christ, in terms of box-office sales, became one of the top ten most successful films of all time - despite the extraordinary Hollywood and news media campaign against it.
Despite Christianity being based on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another, love our neighbours, love our enemies, return good for evil, to forgive and be merciful, Christians are frequently referred to in the most negative terms: “The forces of genuine evil, evil, genuine evil;”“Their religion is so narrow, and it is so mean, and it’s so ugly…” Roseanne Barr publicly exclaimed: “You know what else I can’t stand, is them people that are anti-abortion. F – them; I hate them. They’re horrible; they’re hideous people. They’re ugly, old, geeky, hideous men… they just don’t want nobody to have an abortion…”
Syndicated radio host, Howard Stern, after vehemently arguing for abortion, responded to a pro-life caller in these words: “You’re an idiot. I can’t stand dumb people. If I were president, I would have you gassed. I would march you into the ovens!”
Can one imagine any radio host being able to refer to Muslims, Jews or any other group with such words?!
At a Grateful Dead concert, musician Bob Weir announced to a crowd of 30,000: “Can I hear everyone say, ‘F-the Christian Right?”
ANTI-CHRISTIAN PREJUDICE
“If they are Christians, you can hate them. You can ridicule them, and before you silence them make sure you blame them for everything you don’t like. Pick a Christian, any Christian. And, hey, why not start at the top? There are now more than 50 books bashing (President) Bush” The Criminalisation of Christianity.
Janet Folger documents hundreds of examples of Christians being vilified, harassed, prosecuted and persecuted. After the Oklahoma City bombing, Christians, Pro-Lifers, and Home schoolers were blamed. “The main form of political terrorism in the United States today is perpetrated by right-wing opponents of abortion!” One columnist wrote that: “Anti-Abortion groups like Operation Rescue…have to be dealt with as domestic terrorists as deadly as the ones who blew up the World Trade Centre and as fanatic as the cultists in Waco.” As Folger points out, “They burned the men, women and children in Waco…the unbounded finger pointing has silenced many Christians who don’t like being called ‘homophobic, bigoted, extremists.’ But for those with courage enough to face the verbal assault with the truth on subjects like abortion and homosexuality, watch out – they are now blaming you for murder.”
Kate Michelman, former president of National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) threatened: “They must stop referring to abortion as murder and to doctors who perform them as murderers.”“But truth doesn’t kill. Abortion kills. Christians who say: ‘Don’t kill babies’ should be silenced because some people may not follow their advice when it comes to adults?” Janet Folger.
HOMOSEXUAL BIAS
Former Clinton White House Spokesman, Mike McCurry, declared that anyone who believed what the Bible had to say about homosexuality was “backward thinking.” Can you imagine him saying that about people who believed the Koran?
The Criminalisation of Christianity observes that while there were 13,500 stories on the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was a homosexual, there were only 632 stories on the brutal murder of 13 year old Jesse Dirkhising by homosexual assailants. The people who killed Matthew Shepard later confirmed that they didn’t do it out of any animosity for his sexual behaviour – they killed him for money for drugs. Both killers attacked Shepard for robbery, it had nothing to do with his homosexuality. Yet there was massive newspaper and TV coverage of the Shepard case, two major Hollywood specials, three TV movies and a play, all depicting Shepard as a victim of an anti-homosexual hate crime. However, people like Jesse Dirkhising, who was bound, gagged and brutally sodomised, then smothered to death, by homosexual assailants failed to receive any such media coverage.
Similarly, the murder of Mary Stachowicz, a 51 year old wife, and mother of 4, who was murdered by a 19 year old homosexual, Nicholas Gutierrez, for witnessing to him and suggesting that he could change his lifestyle, was ignored by most newspapers. This mother, who was described as a deeply compassionate church member and soft-spoken, was “punched, kicked, stabbed and strangled to death.” But that wasn’t considered a hate crime.
HATRED AND BLASPHEMY
Folger points out that while pro-family leaders repeatedly condemned the murder of Shepard, the homosexual community never condemned this horrific murder. Posted on the ACLU On Line Forum, were these comments: “I really don’t feel sorry for her. She paid a very steep price for being an arrogant religious fascist.” And “quite frankly, if anyone in this case was being persecuted it was Mr. Gutierrez.”
Posted on YAHOO were these comments: “Maybe (Stachowicz’s murder) will strike fear in the hearts of a few fundamentalists…Where do I send a cheque for (Gutierrez’s) defense fund!”; “the B- had it coming to her. I’m glad he killed her…the B- deserved to die!”
So tolerance does not seem to apply toward Pro-Life, Pro-Family Christians. Nor does any amount of venom poured out against Christians seem to be worthy of the designation “hate speech.”
American Christians have endured all kinds of harassment and threats from militant homosexuals. ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) founder, Eric Pollard, threatened Pro-Family leaders: “I shall torture you during the day time, and will keep you from a peaceful sleep at night.” In Madison, Wisconsin, 400 homosexual activists stormed Trinity Evangelical Fellowship Church shouting obscenities inside the church for nearly an hour, while some of the protesters urinated and defecated on the church floor. Hundreds of others banged on the walls and windows with rocks and trash can lids, shouting: “Crush the Christians!” and “Bring back the lions!”
ACT UP member, Michael Petrelis, publicly stated: “We should have shut down the subway and burned down City Hall. I think rioting is a valid tactic and should be tried…if some one took out (former Congressman) Jesse Helms or William Dannemeyer…I will be the first to stand up and applaud.”
At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, ACT UP homosexual activists stormed the church, screamed obscenities and stomped on communion bread, urinating in the church. Posters with vile curses against the Pro-Life pastor and the church predominated. ACT UP protesters simulated various perversions on the altar, and swarmed around congregants pelting them with condoms and shouting and threatening them.
ATTACKING THE CHURCH
In their book When the Wicked Seize a City, Chuck and Donna McIlhenny, described what happened after the San Fransisco Presbyterian Church fired a homosexual organist. “Rocks, beer bottles, beer cans were thrown through the church windows on many occasions. Swastikas were carved in the church doors and drawn on our house. A window in our car was smashed out. Graffiti was spray painted all over the church, house and sidewalk. Anti-Christian, Pro-homosexual leaflets were scattered around the neighbourhood, calling us Nazis, bigots, anti-gay, etc. Demonstrators would come to our Sunday services and disrupt the worship…one man came pounding and spitting on our front door in the middle of the night, screaming: ‘We’re going to get you McIlhenny – we’re going to kill you politically!’ We were verbally threatened outside the house on the way to the car. There were daily – 24 hours per day – telephone calls. It began with screaming and obscenities. They graduated in the phone calls to describing our children…and what sexually deviant behaviour was to be practiced on the children before killing them…Then…someone actually attempted to follow through with their threats to kill us by fire bombing the house while the children were asleep inside.”
BLOOD TERRORISM
One radical gay activist, Robert Schwab, suggested: “If AIDS research money is not forthcoming at a certain level by a certain date, all gay males should give blood. Whatever action is required to get national attention is valid. If that includes blood terrorism, so be it.”
Doug Herman of Pure Revolution lost his wife and baby to “blood terrorism.” Now he travels America speaking about Purity. Folger writes: “And let me assure you, homosexual activists attack him. You would think that killing his wife and daughter would have been enough.”
DIAGNOSIS BY INTIMIDATION
The New York Academy of Medicine issued a Report on Homosexuality in 1963, which stated: “Homosexuality is indeed an illness. The homosexual is an emotionally disturbed individual who has not acquired the normal capacity to develop satisfying heterosexual relations.” However, in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association voted to strike homosexuality from the official list of Psychiatric Illnesses. Not because of any new scientific revelations, nor even from any consensus within the scientific community, but because of threats and intimidation.
Dr. Jeffery Satimoveo, in Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, wrote: “Homosexual activists planned a systematic effort to disrupt the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.” Protesters broke into the meeting of APA members and grabbed the microphone and proclaimed: “Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you…we are rejecting you all…” The committee later voted that maybe homosexual behaviour was not a sign of psychiatric disorder after all.
At the 1973 APA Convention, dissenters were allowed only 15 minutes to discuss 70 years of psychiatric research that contradicted it, before the hijacked vote was formally applied to the full membership. Although 69% of psychiatrists disagreed with the vote and still considered homosexuality a disorder, intimidation tactics had succeeded in forcing the APA to reverse their official position.
In 1994, activists tried to make it illegal for practitioners to give therapy aimed at helping homosexuals change. Although this attempt failed to secure a majority vote, a few years ago, the APA published a study favourable to Pedophilia.
PERSECUTED FOR PROTECTING
In recent years, the Boy Scouts of America have come under relentless attack for not allowing self-described homosexual activists to become Scout leaders. As a result of attempting to protect the children who had been entrusted to them, the Boy Scouts have been kicked out of parks, schools and public forums, denied funding by cities and counties. So far, despite being defunded, ostracized, thrown out and left out, they have stood up against the ridicule, the assaults, the censorship and the law suits. And all that because they want to teach young boys honesty, courage, hard work, respect, patriotism and positive values.
CENSORSHIP IN THE CLASSROOM
When 5 year old Antonio Peck was told to make a poster on How to Save the World, he drew a picture of Jesus and wrote: “The only way to save our world.” His teacher told him that this was: “Unacceptable!”
When Craig Cunningham of the Genocide Awareness Project set up a display at the University of Miami depicting various forms of Genocide throughout history, some students tried to cut, mangle and destroy them. Reason? He had included pictures of the Abortion Holocaust. A quote from the University paper concerning his Genocide Awareness Project: “Whoever these people are, they should be shot.” So whatever happened to freedom of speech on campus? Imagine some Christian writing something like that about, for example, a homosexual group? Why, that would be a hate crime!
PREFERING PAGANISM
The Mayor of San Jose justified spending $500,000 of public money to construct a statue of the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, because the Aztec religion contained: “those elements that seek to elevate the human consciousness to a higher plane.” The fact that this very same Aztec religion marched hundreds of thousands of slaves to the top of their pyramid like temples, to have their still-beating hearts ripped out of their chests with flint knives, hardly seems to justify such praise. Yet at the same time as this tax funded Aztec idol was being erected, the San Jose Parks Board decided to remove a Nativity scene from the same park. (A flood of protests to the City Hall managed to reverse this incredible decision.)
While GOOGLE takes ads for all kinds of XXX pornographic films and sites, GOOGLE recently banned an advertisement from a Christian Organisation, Stand To Reason, because the group’s website contained articles saying what the Bible says about homosexuality!
Various judges nominated in the USA, have been opposed by liberals because: “His children are home-schooled”; “They are leaders in the Boy Scouts” and “They teach Sunday School!”
A ONE WORLD CHURCH
Robert Muller, was Under Secretary General of the United Nations for more than 30 years. He is now working on the promotion of a One World Church. “My dream, is to get a tremendous alliance between all the major religions and the UN.” Robert Muller believes that “world unity cannot be achieved without a one world government and a one world religion.” The UNESCO Declaration of Principles on Tolerance declares: “Tolerance promotion and the shaping of attitudes of openness, neutral listening and solidarity should take place in schools and universities and through non-formal education, at home and in the workplace.”
There are elements in the UN, who are preparing to deal with the opposition of Christians to this “watered down, lowest common denominator god of tolerance and pluralism” by accusing them of “Mental Genocide!” This is vaguely defined as “causing…mental harm…”
Janet Folger writes: “The trend towards silencing Christians is real. Label them. Ridicule them. Even blame them for murder. And if they still won’t keep quiet? The next logical step is to make them keep quiet…silencing, ostracizing, and criminalizing those with whom they disagree.”
A WAKE UP CALL
Many of our freedoms are at risk. There is a rising tide of Anti-Christian intolerance worldwide. Through Hollywood and the news media, in schools and universities, through legislation and judicial pronouncements, we are loosing freedoms at such a rate that, unless the church wakes up and works together to restore Christian freedoms, we will be seeing many more encroachments upon our schools, churches and homes.
Our children are at risk with the OBE social engineering, values clarification, lifeskills, sex education, re-writing of history and evolutionism in the classroom. Pastors, evangelists and Christian activists are at risk of prosecution for merely saying what the Bible teaches on many of these issues. Our freedom to evangelise in schools, colleges and the work place is being systematically eroded. Even the definition of marriage is under attack with pressure for same-sex “marriages.” The foundation of our faith and freedoms – Civilisation itself - is under attack.
“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of…All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:12-17
Dr. Peter Hammond
See also : Religious Freedoms at Risk and The Urgent Need for Reformation and Revival in SA
www.christianaction.org.za
This article is based on The Criminalisation of Christianity, by Janet Folger, 2005,Multnomah.
top
Posted by: Dominic | Monday, April 28, 2008 at 01:50 AM
Bravo!
Posted by: Meredith Manor | Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 10:09 AM
Meridith,
If you have any thoughts about or intentions of going on that blog and trying to reason with them ,you are wasting your time and your breath.
You would be casting your pearls before sodomitic swine.
Since my last post thereon,the clientele has shifted from Catholic ,to pro-Gay,anti-orthodox Catholic and Cafeterisa Catholic with strong doses of liberal leftism.
Gerald Augustinus himself is swiftly becoming well-versed in the use of the Gay agenda's tactics of shame and Vilification,used to silenced and cow anyone that dares to naysay the homosexual manipulation of our culture.
I would spare you that particular frustration,since I myself have already experienced their unholy wrath, with bouts of nausea and all.
Your best hope ,and ours,is to pray that Gerald eventually wakes from his dream,or nightmare ,where militant homosexuals rule over everyone else,and punish those who call them out loud for the degenerates they really are.
Part of the Homosexual Manifesto states that we,the ''hetero swine'' that opress them,will one day tremble with fear when we see them standing before us without their masks.
Well,I HAVE seen them without their masks ,even before their political manipulations began in the media,the schools and the Government.
this is one ''Hetero Swine'' that isn't trembling with fear:
It's righteous Wrath at the concerted attempt by what amounts to Satanic filth trying to take over MY world,MY religion,and My posterity in the form of innocent children.
Make no mistake,the militant homosexuals ARE the Vanguard of the AntiChrist.
Dominic.
Posted by: Dominic | Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 06:56 PM
Since this blog is no longer in a position to spiritually, or even doctrinally, to call itself Catholic,much like it's founder,
Gerald should really cease displaying and offering for sale ANY Catholic,let alone Christian-oriented goods and items.
He spits on the Bible ,when he supports the militant homosexual agenda.
He mocks the Sacrifice of the Mass when he supports the liturgical criminals in our midst.
And he brings ignominy to the Sign of the Cross when he displays a picture of Christ Crucified,yet chooses to ignore or even rebel against Canon Law and the Catechism;as a ''Catholic'' that refuses to obey lawful authority of Holy Mother Church.
He is in it for the money,the Scandal,and the notoriety it brings to him from his fellow Rebels against God.'
He gets off on insulting,scandalizing,and offending Catholics for any reason;but especially on issues that offend especially:such as the militant homosexuals that are attempting to remold the culture into their own filthy image.
He really should take down any of his advertisements pertain to REAL Catholics,and not to his cadre of bullies and sodomite thugs that post here.
He lost the privilege of doing that when he turned against his Faith.
It shouldn't really matter to Gerald that much anyway....
He prefers the company of sex-perverts to that of his Savior Jesus Christ anyway,so he won't miss seeing the Crucifix VERY much.
Dominic.
Posted by: Dominic | Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 09:00 PM