I’m in an odd place tonight. For the first time in my memory of writing this thing, I’m afraid I’m going to offend somebody. I know; it’s unexpected for me too. Perhaps it’s a sign of my maturity that I no longer disregard other’s emotions if they do not agree with me, but maybe it is simply my reaction to particularly emotional news. Regardless, I’m proceeding with caution.

What I want to talk about is homosexuality. And those I’m afraid of offending are any whose church disagrees with a homosexual lifestyle. It’s not an intentional offense, and I hope to proceed with uncharacteristic tact. I can only hope you will see this as a presentation of my thoughts on the subject, not a manifesto against any particular set of beliefs.

A lot of religions believe a marriage can only take place between a man and a woman. Now I haven’t done nearly enough research into scripture to know the exact wording on this, but it doesn’t sit right with me. I fully and completely acknowledge my lack of Biblical education, but I don’t think it will surprise anyone to hear that I don’t fully trust interpretations of The Bible. Perhaps I am wrong and there is no wiggle room here; perhaps it states “Marriage shalt only be between a man and a woman. Any other conception of marriage, act of sex, or family structure is forbidden.” There is enough consensus on the subject that I’m inclined to believe The Bible does present a message of that sort. Regardless, I just can’t accept it. Allow me to explain.

God, as he is conceived in modern religion, doesn’t spare people from pain. Pain teaches, pain punishes, pain serves a purpose. Sometimes it is brought on by our own acts, and sometimes it is simply part of life. I can accept that whole-heartedly. Perhaps other’s don’t agree with my presentation of pain’s role in life and it’s relation to God, but that isn’t important. What is important is that I can fully understand how a religion can possess a God of love over a world filled with so much worldly pain. What I can’t understand is a God that would deny worldly love. For homosexual people to participate in many religions they must either marry people of the opposite sex or live a celibate life. There are many reasons I can imagine one might give for the prevalence of homosexuality in humans, specifically, why if it’s a lifestyle that must be lived celibately so many people seem to be born homosexual. What distinguishes being gay in my mind from any other tendency, behavior, etc.. that doesn’t agree with church doctrine is that homosexuality doesn’t hurt anybody. It isn’t murder, or pedophilia, or pleasure from pain. It’s a sexual desire for a person of the same gender. I don’t understand why that is wrong. Why is one of Christianity’s doctrines that worldly sexual love can only take place between a man and a woman?

The obvious answer is the scriptures. Many people have offered counter-arguments from misinterpretations to deliberate misreadings. A person of faith, however, believes the Gospel not to be misrepresented. I understand that homosexuality does not propagate the species, but it does serve significant sociological purposes, and is not prevalent enough to threaten the population.

I’m not harping on the “wrongness” of any particular belief. I am simply asking the question what is it about homosexuality in practice that makes it so displeasing to so many religious beliefs?

I am striving to understand other perspectives here. This isn’t a blog that passes judgment over others as some of my past writings have. This is simply a musing, and perhaps a hope that someday, regardless of what we believe privately, we can all agree to publicly respect others consensual relationships. A church does have the right to marry and not marry whomever they wish, but shouldn’t our government have to treat it’s citizens equally?