In the past few decades, there has been an interesting movement within the Christian religion that supports putting gays on the same level as heterosexuals. If one follows traditional Christian doctrines, however, one cannot accept homosexuality, as orthodox Christianity is assuredly an anti-gay religion. It was founded following another anti-gay religion, it was intended to be an anti-gay religion, and it was traditionally practiced as an anti-gay religion. There is absolutely no logical reason to suspect that true Christianity, as it was founded, was anything but anti-gay, and there consequently is no logical reason for a real Christian to be anything but anti-gay. If you are a Christian who does support homosexuality, you need to take another look at your beliefs.
To start off, the Bible is most definitely opposed to homosexuality. There are numerous references in the Bible that explicitly condemn gays as immoral, evil and deserving of eternal punishment. In the New Testament anti-gay rhetoric can be found in I Corinthians 6:9; 10, Romans 1:24-27 and I Timothy 1:10. In the Old Testament similar condemnations can be found in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. The other writings of the Jewish religion, found in the Torah, contain additional severe condemnations of homosexuality.
Some may argue that the Bible has been misinterpreted or mistranslated by anti-gay individuals to make Christianity seem like it is against homosexuality, yet there is no circumstantial evidence to suggest that the Bible was intended to be supportive of gays. Instead there is only evidence to the contrary. Jewish and Christian cultures have traditionally practiced banishment and punishment of gays. For thousands of years, these religious cultures even executed gays for their deviance. There is absolutely no logical reason to suspect that the writings and moral codes that came out of these cultures could be anything except anti-gay.
In any case, there is plenty of evidence outside the Bible that Christianity truly was founded as a religion that taught homosexuality is wrong. The earliest Christian church was traditionally anti-gay. Proof of this lies in early Christian writings like “The Didache” (A.D. 70 – before the Bible was completed), Justin Martyr’s “First Apology” (A.D. 151), Clement of Alexandria’s “Exhortation to the Greeks” (A.D. 190), Tertullian’s “Modesty” (A.D. 220) and many more. It is rather illogical to believe that Jesus really did preach acceptance of homosexuality, as that would necessitate all his followers to completely reverse his teachings almost instantly after his death.
There are many other reasons for Christians to believe their religion in its original form is anti-gay. If Christianity was founded in the first century and was pro-gay, why were there no mainstream Christian sects that accepted homosexuality until the 1800s? If the Christian God really was supportive of gays, how could he have allowed those anti-gay passages to get into his Bible? If he truly did not consider the gay lifestyle to be a grievous sin, then why did he order gays to be put to death under Judaism? If Christianity was not started with the intention of being anti-gay, why did everything that was in its original inspiration so emphatically damn gays? If Jesus Christ actually did endorse homosexuality as a normal life choice, why didn’t the writers or historians from the time who were separate from Christianity record these unusual practices?
In the end, Christianity is most decidedly a religion that is anti-gay in its orthodox form. If there is a God, and the Christian religion as it was founded is truly his religion, then homosexuality is most definitely to be viciously condemned in the most strict form possible; and if you disagree with the conclusion, you might want to revisit the premise.
Lindsey Dale is a music education senior. She can be reached at [email protected]
In My Opinion is a weekly column open to any Loyola student. Those interested in contributing can contact [email protected]
