Imagine that!
The Vatican- remaining faithful to two thousand years of Christian teaching that homosexual behavior is morally wrong and intrinsically both spiritually and physically unhealthy- is opposing a proposed UN declaration emphasizing "social and cultural rights" for homosexuals.
This is apparently a surprise to certain journalists and gay rights activists.
I think any reasonable person would understand that the Vatican does not favor torturing or otherwise abusing gay people. The objections being raised to its position are both hysterical and disingenuous. This statement is not about the undoubted right of gays and lesbians to be free of persecution and harassment; it's about making behavior- and behavior the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as Islam and other religions regard as immoral and socially destructive- universally accepted socially.
Rather than call the moral teaching of most of the world's great religions into question, those who object to the Vatican's position might do better to revise the statement to explicitly condemn the criminalization of homosexual behavior and the execution of gays- an outrageous practice that is widespread in the Islamic world. The Vatican opposes capital punishment even for murder; the notion that it is other than opposed to it when it is prescribed for disapproved sexual behavior is one the Vatican's critics cannot seriously entertain.
They would do better to put forward a statement genuinely addressing the question of human rights rather than promoting social approval of homosexuality. Gays have a right not to be persecuted or abused for their sexuality- a right neither the Catholic church nor Christianity generally questions. But nobody- gay or straignt- has a right to demand that others approve even of behavior they should be free to engage in.
That- and not the protection of gays from persecution- is the issue here.
This is apparently a surprise to certain journalists and gay rights activists.
I think any reasonable person would understand that the Vatican does not favor torturing or otherwise abusing gay people. The objections being raised to its position are both hysterical and disingenuous. This statement is not about the undoubted right of gays and lesbians to be free of persecution and harassment; it's about making behavior- and behavior the Judeo-Christian tradition, as well as Islam and other religions regard as immoral and socially destructive- universally accepted socially.
Rather than call the moral teaching of most of the world's great religions into question, those who object to the Vatican's position might do better to revise the statement to explicitly condemn the criminalization of homosexual behavior and the execution of gays- an outrageous practice that is widespread in the Islamic world. The Vatican opposes capital punishment even for murder; the notion that it is other than opposed to it when it is prescribed for disapproved sexual behavior is one the Vatican's critics cannot seriously entertain.
They would do better to put forward a statement genuinely addressing the question of human rights rather than promoting social approval of homosexuality. Gays have a right not to be persecuted or abused for their sexuality- a right neither the Catholic church nor Christianity generally questions. But nobody- gay or straignt- has a right to demand that others approve even of behavior they should be free to engage in.
That- and not the protection of gays from persecution- is the issue here.
Comments