Tag homosexuality

UKIP Christian group: Manchester Pride is a ‘parade of depravity’

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 1 comment

UKIP, The British, but more popular version of the Tea Party, is stooping to new lows, as if that was possible. One of their authorised group, a Christian group whose tag line is “Fighting through Christ for deliverance form EU tyranny”, has made declarations about homosexuality and Manchester’s gay Pride event which seem right out of a previous century. This is from The Pink News (H/T Matthew Coussell through via Hope Not Hate):

Guest post: a request about homosexuality and genetics

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 16 comments

Here is a guest post from someone (a South American who wants to remain anonymous) who contacted me by email asking for help in dealing with the topic of homosexuality and genetics after he read my two posts on homosexuality and Christianity. It seems that there is a prominent Christian author pairing whose work seems to be a concerted effort to minimise the importance of genetic determinism in producing homosexuality. Over to the guest poster:

Paedophilia, other sexual preferences and free will

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 7 comments

On the Skeptic Ink back channels one of my writing colleagues was asking about genetic influences on homosexuality, in answer to a conversation with a reader about a book “My Genes Made Me Do It” which seems to decry the use of genetics to understand the determination of homosexuality.

Christianity and Homosexuality Part 2

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 120 comments

So now it is time to return to the idea of homosexuality and Christianity about which I posted the other day.

Having looked at biblical issues concerning the position of deeming h/s morally wrong, let us now look at what makes people h/s and whether it is fair for an all-loving god to judge them.
…
I would like to give a good synopsis of the current tate of biology and sexual orientation. First of all, it is interesting to note that the drivers for male and female h/s are understood to be often very different. It is not one rule fits all. Furthermore, there are also a whole host of reasons that can lead to h/s – biological, genetic (and epigenetic), and environmental and social.

Let us look firstly at the biological causes and theories.

Christianity and Homosexuality Part 1

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 73 comments

I am writing a post in reaction to something about which I was talking with my Christian friend (let’s call him Colin). We were talking about homosexuality and his approach to it given his Christian background. Some points were interesting and some I fundamentally disagreed with. Here are his views:

As according to the Bible, homosexuality is wrong.
This morality is grounded in God.
He is not homophobic and detests that label as it automatically halts any further informed discussion.
People can have genetic or environmental variables which help to influence a persons likelihood to homosexuality.
However, to commit to a homosexual act is an act of free will, and thus falls within the moral sphere.
As a result, it is not necessarily the disposition of being homosexual which is wrong, but the decision to act upon it.
He has no ‘problem’ with homosexuals and has / has had homosexual friends.
Hopefully I am not building up a straw man of his position, but it does demand some serious unpicking.

Ugandan ‘homosexuals’ named in Red Pepper paper

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 1 comment

A Ugandan tabloid has named the country’s “200 top homosexuals”, a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill toughening penalties for gay people.

Red Pepper’s list appeared under the headline: “Exposed”, raising concerns of a witch-hunt against gay people.

Western governments have condemned Mr Museveni’s decision to approve the bill.

Ugandan MPs pass life in jail anti-homosexual law

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 1 comment

From the BBC:

Uganda’s parliament has passed a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment in some cases.

The anti-homosexuality bill also makes it a crime punishable by a prison sentence not to report gay people.

The prime minister opposed the vote, saying not enough MPs were present.

Baptists plan exodus from Boy Scouts

By Jonathan MS Pearce • • 8 comments

(CNN) – For Southern Baptist pastor Tim Reed, it was Scripture versus the Scouts.

“God’s word explicitly says homosexuality is a choice, a sin,” said Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church of Gravel Ridge in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

So when the Boy Scouts of America voted to lift its ban on openly gay youths on May 24, Reed said the church had no choice but to cut its charter with Troop 542.