• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Homosexuality and Religion

A

Andrew Steven Fawcett

Member
I am a gay male, and at the moment I am an agnostic, but I am leaning towards believing in the existence of God. I want to know what different religions think of homosexuality is?
 
Mr. Hair

Mr. Hair

Renegade Cavalcade
Andrew Steven Fawcett said:
I know that Jesus loves everyone, but is not homosexuality against the Bible?
Click to expand...

Off the top of my rather-groggy-and-vaguely-ill head, there are a few major points to remember and consider before any attempt to answer this question is made:
  1. Firstly, the 'Bible' is a collection of various texts which were written, edited and compiled over centuries by various authors who were not only reacting to different social and cultural pressures, but who held different religious perspectives and who were writing to different audiences. I'd personally be wary of searching for a cogent and consistent position on a social issue such as homosexuality; or at least of searching without taking the above into account. Even today, there is no one set, universal Bible; are we talking about the Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Slavonic or Ethiopian Bible?
  2. Many of the instances where homosexuality is traditionally assumed to be mentioned or condemned, in either the OT or NT, are reliant upon later and extra-textual attributions and interpretations. A prominent example of this is the common assumption that the sin of the people of Sodom was homosexuality, whereas in fact the original passage makes no mention of this and other Biblical passages suggest that their sin was actually that of pride and a lack of compassion.
  3. The culture that much of the Bible was written within did not share our contemporary understanding of 'homosexuality'. There seems to have been little awareness that a person could genuinely and naturally experience sexual attraction to a member of the same-sex, and so any condemnation which may exist would focus on the act and not the underlying sexuality.
  4. 'Religion' does not equate to 'Christianity' or 'the Bible', and vice versa. (Though I dare say you knew that! :))
As to your OP, homosexuality and homosexual acts seems to have been discouraged, or at least strictly not-encouraged, by most cultures in many times and places, though by no means by all. As at least in part a reflection of their native culture(s), most religions will and do reflect this in some greater or lesser form. Those that tend to encourage a movement away from the conceptual and dogmatic, such as Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and etc...) and the various varieties of Neo-Paganism, are generally less affected by this though.

Moreover, within almost every religion there exist both schools of thought which reconcile a devout faith and a homosexual lifestyle, and which denounce it. I highly doubt there is merely one concept of homosexuality for any religion.
 
methylatedghosts

methylatedghosts

Can't brain. Has dumb.
Hey - if you feel you're rejected by people for it you can always make up your own. I've done that for a while now and last time I checked there was no rule against anyone in my rule book. *begins to search for rule book*

Actually, you know, the last time I checked my rule book was when I threw it out....
 
trinity2359

trinity2359

Active Member
All forms of fornication are condemned in Christian Scripture - that being sexual relations outside of marriage and the marriage partner you choose. Marriage has always been Biblically defined as a man and a woman. Therefore, ANY extramarital sex be it 'straight' or 'gay' is outside of God's Law and we must struggle to curb our passions.
 
Red Pill

Red Pill

Member
trinity2359 said:
All forms of fornication are condemned in Christian Scripture - that being sexual relations outside of marriage and the marriage partner you choose. end/quote)

What defines marriage- did the Bible say you had to obey the rules of the USA or any other modern country to be legally married? If the Bible decides who is married, then why do we have to pay the government to get divorced, declare it on taxes etc?

Marriage is a complete commitment to another person, something a lot of married folks don't practice- so are they not married- therefore fornicating because they don't practice complete commitment? Or does the government say who is married or not married? If it is the government, then why bring up the Bible?

In the US, we have given our government the right to govern us, including marriage- with out regard to any specific region. Since we gave that power away, we don't have a right to impose religious views on each other. We chose the rule of law.

Given the current divorce rate, seems like we should try a different plan- or at least allow others to give it a shot. IMO
Click to expand...
 
S

Somkid

Well-Known Member
Thai Buddhists think homosexuality is caused by Karma therefore they except gay people no questions asked.
 
Mike182

Mike182

Flaming Queer
Pagans will accept you for who you are, and so will our Gods :) sexuality is something we believe to be sacred, and so what ever your sexuality is, we celebrate it like we do all things sacred!
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
The abrahamic attributions could be totally false and yet there still be a God. So you can still be a monotheist and not worry about the bible, talmud, koran, etc. Any schmuck can put words in a gods mouth, so if you want to believe the best source is your own heart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top