Spirituality and homosexuality

Many homosexuals today have reported feelings of conflict with religion or their religious views. I recently read a piece in The New Yorker about a man who was a conservative Christian but had always felt feelings of attraction towards men. He experimented and believed that he was sinning, so he suppressed his urges because he wanted to become a pastor and he ended up marrying a woman. All those years he was never very true to himself because he felt that his feelings were sinful.

To be honest, no one really knows what is sinful in God's eyes, but we have a pretty good idea that if something you do causes another person harm or causes yourself harm, it might not be what God wants. So murder or using drugs excessively are some things to stay away from. Two people loving each other consensually causes no one harm, so why do many people believe it to be sinful? Jesus makes no mention of homosexuality in the Gospels. He condemned violence to others and greed, but nothing about homosexuality. If Jesus was the start of a new covenant why would he make no mention of something that is considered to be so sinful?

Most people that believe in homosexuality as a sin will refer to the story of Genesis to plead their case which usually goes, "God created woman for man to mate, so obviously marriage and love should be between a man and a woman." First of all saying that woman's existence is contingent on man's needs is completely sexist, but we will not get into that. Let's take a look at what is actually being said in Genesis. Genesis 1:27 "So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." In this first story of creation it doesn't even say who was created first or that they were meant for each other. In the second creation story of Genesis we get Adam and Eve; read carefully what it says. This is after God has created man (which will later be called Adam), and he is alone. Genesis 2:18-19a, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.' So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air." Adam names all the animals but doesn't really take a liking to any of them. Genesis 2: 20b, "But for the man there was not found a helper as his partner." Skip ahead to Genesis 2:22 -23a, "And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.'" Before God made woman he made all kinds of partners for Adam, but Adam did not really care to hang out with animals. He chose to accept woman because he liked her better than the animals.

We can see that the man had a choice in who he chose for a partner God did not make him take just anything or anyone. So what does this say about our choice in partners? It says we can choose who we want to be our helper in life. Adam happened to see something in Eve that he liked. Of course there are more passages in the arsenal of those who believe homosexuality to be sinful. In Leviticus Chapters 18 and 20, there are powerful messages against homosexuality. This book is filled with laws that the Hebrew were called to obey, such as dietary regulations, purification after childbirth and rules saying that you should not have sex with a woman during her menstrual cycle. Those wishing to use these verses as a way to condemn homosexual acts are strictly advised to read it through and follow all the rules themselves, because it is hypocritical to use these verses and pick and choose the other ones you want to follow.

According to scholars, Leviticus was written by those in the priestly class, and if you are Christian, it is mentioned several times in the New Testament. One example is Romans 8:1-3, that followers of Jesus are no longer bound by the harsh regulations of Torah. Today, there are only extremely conservative Jewish communities that even commit to all these laws.

One of Jesus' most important teachings was to not judge or condemn others. Even if you believe homosexuality to be a sin, protesting about it is spiritually dangerous if you are a Christian. We are not called to condemn others but to love even our enemies and welcome sinners into our homes.

If as a homosexual person you are struggling with your spirituality, please don't give up.

Look for a religious community that will accept you and love you for who you are. Here is a great website that can link you to spiritual and religious communities who will accept you with open arms: http://gaylife.about.com/od/religion/a/gaychurch.htm. For those of you who are not seeking a Christian church, this site also has links for Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. These sites also teach you more on how other religions besides Christianity view homosexuality if you are interested.