“It’s a fact that gay teenagers are about thirty percent more likely than straight teenagers to take their own lives. It’s a fact that the vast majority of Christians believe that being gay is a profound moral failing, a foul aberration, a repelling, unnatural offense against God that fully warrants as punishment an eternity spent in hell. Asserting that those two facts have no relationship cannot possibly be anything but intellectually dishonest.”—John Shore, contributor to the Huffington Post
To an uncritical reader governed by emotion, Shore’s claim may have merit, but for those who think things through, he’s being intellectually dishonest. Shore is right to assert that homosexuals are committing suicide in increasing numbers, but is Christianity to blame for homosexuals committing suicides?
If that’s the case, shouldn’t Christianity be blamed for all suicides because it condemns people who engage in sex outside of marriage, adultery, idol worship, thievery, drunkenness, swindles, and other unrighteous behaviors from entering the kingdom of God. (See, 1 Corinthians 6: 9,10)
Shore also gives religion way too much credit for influencing teenager behaviors in implying that Christianity’s condemnation of people who engage in homosexual acts causes peer bullying of homosexual teens.
And it could just as easily be argued that said bullying resulted from a failure to follow Christianity. “Do unto others” is clearly not at work in any bullying situation. Mean kids do mean things everyday, and they aren’t informed by Christianity.— Krista West
Like all leftists, Shore scape-goats Christians because they’re a benign target. He knows they won’t sever his head to the shouts of “Allahu Akbar” for engaging in his debased lifestyle, but many followers of the religion of peace certainly would.
The reality Shore avoids is that the homosexual lifestyle is anything but gay. The psychological problems experienced by homosexual teens result from the behavior itself, not from some alleged Christian stigma.
Society’s mores are no longer determined by Christian teachings. America’s businesses and social institutions protect, promote, and support the homosexual lifestyle. Only a small minority ever speaks against its depravity anymore, and when they do, they are immediately castigated and labeled homophobic oppressors.
Rather than pen such an ill-conceived argument, Shore should’ve blown it out his backside so its foul stench would reach the nostrils of the truly intolerant who practice Islam, for there is where it richly belongs.
I.M. Kane
For more on the story, see Blogger Blames Christians For Gay Suicides by Krista West.
Of course Christianity is innocent! How could two thousand years of libeling gays as pedophiles and inciting ritual murder against them cause them any harm?
Actually, most of the kids committing suicide seem to be a little young for sexual involvement; perhaps not every teenager is the precocious slut that the imkane was.
You might want to have an early checkup Frank. Although I can’t cite any studies, I think that decomposing gerbils can have an adverse effect on brain function.
I.M. Kane
The fact that the specific hereditary or genetic cause of homosexuality has not been found does not mean for a single moment that it does not exist. The vast majority of those researching homosexuality have concluded that it is not, in fact, anything resembling a choice.
What is most laughable (or would be, were it not causing so much emotional damage) is how little you understand about homosexuality – or you would not write as you do – either of you.
You would know that human sexuality runs along a continuum heterosexual to homosexual, and most people fall somewhere in between.
You would know that not admitting sexual thoughts about your same sex has more to do with the cultural conditioning of religion, than whether those actual thoughts happen or not.
You would know that homosexuality is a state of being, NOT a set of behaviors. It is about far more than just sex. It is about attraction, romance, falling in love, finding a soulmate and monogamy as well.
You would know that not everyone who engages in homosexual behavior is actually gay – they do so for reasons ranging from curiosity to promiscuity to the darker side of the human the psyche – but they would never consider settling down in a monogamous gay or lesbian relationship.
You would know that there is no such thing as a “gay lifestyle,” anymore than there is a “straight lifestyle.” We run the gamut from prostitute to priest, and gay people are no different. *Some* of them are promiscuous and engage in dangerous behavior. The vast majority are not, and do not.
You would understand that far more people would identify as bisexual or gay were it not for the religious taboos against it. Religion doesn’t make it not exist. It simply persecutes those for whom it is a reality, making them feel unworthy, less than, and leaves them hiding who they are in the shadows.
I’m sure you will answer with all the reasons YOU think it is wrong. And you know what? You are welcome to think that. You are welcome to insist that it is undermining the fabric of our society, while I will insist that your hateful rhetoric is the actual cause of much of this country’s pain.
I will continue to love my gay and lesbian friends and admire them greatly for their strength of character and compassion, and for the legacy of acceptance and grace with which they are imbuing their children. I will continue to love and support my teenager’s gay and lesbian friends and let them know that our home will always be open to them, will always be a safe haven should they need it, when people like you in the world make their lives feel unbearable.
I just found your material, but I Like it! No researcher has ever claimed to have found a homosexual etiology that is based in biochemistry. There is no gay biology, homosexual chromosome, gene, enzyme, protein, factor or mechanism of action that imbues any individual or organism with the homosexual behavior pattern. Investigating from the ‘born gay’ hypothesis has amassed a mountain, fifty years high, of failed ‘born gay’ hypotheses.
Thank You for trying! The opposition is effective in promoting it’s agenda and my guess is that a majority in America actually believe the ‘born gay’ lie. Homosexuality is invented by people creating their own persona.