Pope Benedict XVI has caused controversy by saying that mankind needs saving from homosexuality.
The Pope commented in his address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, that behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations is "a destruction of God's work" and that the Roman Catholic Church had a duty to "protect man from the destruction of himself" and urged respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman." adding that just as "The tropical forests...deserve our protection [so does] man...'
Quite predictably the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement responded with their own over reaction, denouncing the comments as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form." The implication being that freedom of speech does not extend to any negative comments relating to the effects of a gay lifestyle. The Rev Sharon Ferguson, said: "It is more the case that we need to be saved from his comments. It is comments like this that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools and it is comments like this that justify gay bashing."
No, the Pope did not seek to justify homophobic bullying, which would have been wrong, and Christians are called to love all irrespective of their lifestyle choices, but neither should discussions relating to the implications of a particular social issue be placed out of bounds. There are important questions that arise from a number of social movements such as militant feminism, the gay lobby, materialism, excessive capitalism and extreme environmentalism, and if these are allowed to develop without question will lead to the reduction of the human population and to greater social problems, and this by design of some of those involved in the movements (the environmental movement especially). The growth of gay sentiment though will reduce the birth rate in the west if unchallenged, and is focused to a particular age group in western culture implying that it is a lifestyle choice, not a matter of genes. In that light the Pope's comments are perfectly acceptable, although without reading the full text it is not possible to know if he made his comments in the wider context. I suspect he did from this phrase "What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology’’; a perfectly valid argument that seeks to defend humanity.
Pope says humanity needs 'saving' from homosexuality Nick Allen, Daily Telegraph, 23rd Dec 2008
The Pope commented in his address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, that behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations is "a destruction of God's work" and that the Roman Catholic Church had a duty to "protect man from the destruction of himself" and urged respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman." adding that just as "The tropical forests...deserve our protection [so does] man...'
Quite predictably the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement responded with their own over reaction, denouncing the comments as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form." The implication being that freedom of speech does not extend to any negative comments relating to the effects of a gay lifestyle. The Rev Sharon Ferguson, said: "It is more the case that we need to be saved from his comments. It is comments like this that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools and it is comments like this that justify gay bashing."
No, the Pope did not seek to justify homophobic bullying, which would have been wrong, and Christians are called to love all irrespective of their lifestyle choices, but neither should discussions relating to the implications of a particular social issue be placed out of bounds. There are important questions that arise from a number of social movements such as militant feminism, the gay lobby, materialism, excessive capitalism and extreme environmentalism, and if these are allowed to develop without question will lead to the reduction of the human population and to greater social problems, and this by design of some of those involved in the movements (the environmental movement especially). The growth of gay sentiment though will reduce the birth rate in the west if unchallenged, and is focused to a particular age group in western culture implying that it is a lifestyle choice, not a matter of genes. In that light the Pope's comments are perfectly acceptable, although without reading the full text it is not possible to know if he made his comments in the wider context. I suspect he did from this phrase "What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology’’; a perfectly valid argument that seeks to defend humanity.
Pope says humanity needs 'saving' from homosexuality Nick Allen, Daily Telegraph, 23rd Dec 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment