Science in Christian Perspective

Letter to the Editor

One-Sided View on Homosexuality
Warren Hamby, Jr. 
5820 Churchill Court 
West Palm Beach Florida 33405

From: JASA 31 (September 1979): 176.

The March, 1979 Journal ,ASA interviews entitled, "Christian Answers on Homosexuality" presented a very one-sided view of Christian perspectives on homosexuality.

The view that homosexuality may be a healthy alternative, perfectly in accordance with God's will, was omitted. In order for this to be a Christian view, we must recognize that Paul's exposure to homosexuality was probably very limited. In the first century, the only visible manifestations of homosexuality were promiscuity and wild orgies. If this were the extent of Paul's knowledge of heterosexuality, he would probably have condemned it, too. Paul was not aware of stable homosexual love relationships that rake place out-of-closet today.

We heterosexual Christians are extremely audacious when we assert that because it is sometimes possible to change a homosexual, this means homosexuals should want to change. If it is possible for one to change his/her sexual orientation, then it is certainly possible for a heterosexual to change into a homosexual. How eager would we "straights" be to convert to a religion that taught that we should all want to be homosexuals? We are even more audacious when we assert that if a homosexual finds he cannot change, he should "accept lifelong sexual abstinence." If this does not work, perhaps we should advocate castration as a third alternative.