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Christianity Today, August, 2007 |

The Gay Shibboleth

Opposition to homosexual behavior may now be a bar to high office.

A Christianity Today editorial | posted 7/11/2007 08:36AM

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Where does that leave biblical Christians? We may soon come to the point where supporting a sexual ethic based on an orthodox reading of Scripture becomes part of our cross to bear.

The early church did not shy away from proclaiming a biblical sexual ethic in the midst of a promiscuous and perverted culture, but we don't have evidence to suggest that licentious Romans said, "See how these Christians hate homosexual behavior." Instead, non-Christians reportedly said, "Look how they love one another."

And loved others, too. Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) complained that Christians were impious—they rejected Roman gods—but worse than that, they undercut reliance on the empire. They "not only feed their own poor, but ours also," he wrote. "See their love feasts and their tables spread for the indigent. Such practice is common among them and causes a contempt for our gods."

Julian complained that Christians were demonstrating something better than what the empire had to offer. Facing mockery and lies, early Christians didn't back down from the beliefs and practices that set them apart from their neighbors.

Christians feed the poor for the same reason they reject sex outside heterosexual marriage. Following biblical teachings, we love our neighbors and don't want to see them enslaved to poverty or broken sexuality. It's that love and compassion that sent Jesus to the Cross.

If the U.S. Senate decides that the surgeon general must affirm that gay sex is natural, and thus bars orthodox Christians from the position, we will lament. (We'll also keep working to change the public's mind.) But we've seen worse cases of demonizing Christian nominees for public office. And we'll keep showing love to our neighbors anyway.

Related Elsewhere:

Bush nominated Holsinger on May 24. Holsinger will go before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for his confirmation hearing July 12.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood has been covering the Holsinger controversy extensively on his weblog, Bible Belt Blogger.

News coverage of Holsinger's nomination includes:

Holsinger faces grilling | Surgeon general nominee under fire. (The Cincinnati Post)

Holsinger board link scrutinized | Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr is a graduate and trustee of a Kentucky seminary that has a policy against homosexual practices. (The Cincinnati Post)

Bush nominee runs into crossfire | Homosexual advocacy groups are objecting strongly to President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, but Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr. also faces questions from conservative groups about his views on human cloning and embryonic-stem-cell research. (The Washington Times)

'Homosexuality isn't natural or healthy' | Bush's choice for top doc compared human genitalia to pipe fittings and said homosexual practices can cause injury or death. (ABC News)

Surgeon General nominee is assailed for church role | Gay rights groups, physicians, and lawmakers say they are troubled by opinions critical of homosexuality that Dr. Holsinger has voiced in nearly 20 years as a high-ranking layman in the United Methodist Church. (The New York Times)

Editorials on Holsinger's nomination include:

A questionable nominee | A prospective surgeon general's 1991 paper on gay men haunts him in 2007, and deservedly so. (The Washington Post)

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August 2007, Vol. 51, No. 8

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 29 comments.

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Rgordon

Posted: July 19, 2007 3:24 PM

It's disingenuous for religious leaders to fret that the big, bad gay agenda is limiting religious "freedom." The enormity of the discrimination that gays and lesbians have faced--and still face--must be very difficult to imagine for somebody born as a heterosexual into a majority religion. If you were that concerned about personal liberty, where was your outrage when Matthew Shepherd was murdered? Or Harvey Milk? Or when scores of gays in "Christianized" African nations are tortured and imprisoned for no other "crime" than that of being gay? No, I have a hard time crying over the terrible social barriers that must be endured by Christians in America.

JIM COONS

Posted: July 18, 2007 12:56 PM


So, now homosexuality is finally "normal" and those that disdain such behavior are "abnormal." The folks from NAMBLA must be very excited about their prospects. The decline is accelerating as “every man does what is right in his own eyes.”

Xeno77777

Posted: July 13, 2007 11:18 PM

The Greek Philosophers, living in a Pagan Society where Homosexuality was very prevalent, declared Homosexuality to be a Bad Habit! Meaning like Drug Addiction, Drunkeness, being addicted to Gambling, Pedophilia. Anal Intercourse spreads sexually transmitted diseases far more rapidly than normal intercourse. In Kenya, there are prostitutes who have been servicing customers for years, many customers have HIV/AIDS, yet these women remain free of HIV/AIDS. Often, young boys are raped by older male in Homosexual Recruitment Rites. Anal Intercourse is so dangerous, that no under age male is mature enough to rightfully consent, no matter what the Supreme court Says. Congress men and women, are simply being too cowardly, in not gearing up for a try at impeaching Supreme Court Justices who say or rule otherwise. Christians must withdraw their support from cowardly congress persons.

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