Homosexuality
HomosexualityHomosexuality is being hotly debated today in church and society. When the case is made for the legitimacy of
same-sex love, critics rush in with three main defenses. (1) It is contrary to nature. (2) It is condemned in
Scripture. (3) Its acceptance would ruin society. The most interesting thing about these three arguments is that
they have been used in the past to defend what is now universally regarded as evil. In American history, slavery,
segregation, and the denial of the vote to women all illustrate the point. In each of these instances nature and
God were said to authorize a practice vital to the good of society.
When the slavery of African Americans was condemned, it was defended as essential to social order, harmony,
and the welfare of all. The authority of Aristotle was invoked to show that slavery was rooted in natural law. The
Bible was quoted to show that slavery was divinely ordained and approved.
When women sought the right to vote, the best interests of society were said to be in jeopardy. It was
confidently argued that political participation by women would mean "pretty girls button-holing strange men on
Election Day in behalf of the `handsome candidate'" and women locked in jury rooms with males, subjected to
tales of shocking behavior. To the threat of social disintegration was added the authoritative pronouncement
that the involvement of women in politics was prohibited by natural and divine law. Nature and Scripture were
called upon to show that woman's place was in the home and not in the voting booth. Regarding the desire of
women to vote, the Council of Congregationalist Ministers of Massachusetts had this to say:
The appropriate duties and influence of woman are stated in the New Testament. . . . The power of
woman is in her dependence, flowing from the consciousness of the weakness which God has given
her for her protection. . . . When she assumes the place and tone of man as a public reformer . . .
she yields the power which God has given her . . . and her character becomes unnatural.
When the legal segregation of the races was being undermined, prophets of doom predicted that catastrophe
would surely result if blacks and whites used the same public toilets or sat at lunch counters together. If little
white children sat in schoolrooms beside boys and girls with African ancestry, all sorts of mischief would follow.
Predictably, nature and the Bible were called upon to show that the separation of the races was both natural and
divine. Look at nature. Robins and mockingbirds don't mate and produce offspring, so people of different races
should follow that example and stay with their own kind. When integrationists noted that the Bible tells us that
God made all nations of one...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.