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I would make the issue of homosexuality a subject to be studied.
At one time many decades ago homosexuality was widely considered to be a mental illness. Today mental health professionals, psychiatrists and the overwhelming majority of people involved with human sexuality on a professional level have come to the conclusion a long time ago that it is not an illness at all and it's just part of the normal variation in human sexual desires. There are those who believe there may be a genetic link although that remains unproven. So basically it's already been studied for quite a long time and it seems obvious that the hostility directed against gay people is completely unjustified.
Personally I think that there would be little or no hostility towards gays if religion didn't exist. All the negative bias comes from religious beliefs.
Absolutely not. Quite frankly, Christ said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is God. To me, that is a cautionary about imposing your own religious views upon everyone else via the dictates of the law. After all, the last thing I want is a Southern Baptist tell me that I can't enjoy a glass of wine, a game of gin rummy, or a dance with my wife.
If fact, if you read Leviticus, then you can pretty much outlaw everything, including enjoying a barbecue pork sandwich or a shrimp po-boy. And that blazer with the silk lining? Nope. That's forbidden, too.
You cannot make being homosexual illegal any more than you can make being blond illegal. I would, in fact, insist on having a society where a person has the opportunity to be the most productive, happy, self fulfilled person they can be. If this includes a short or long term homosexual relationship, then so be it.
In fact, I would go so far as to insist that, as in some European countries, that ALL marriages where rights and responsibilities are involved, be done as a contract, in accordance with contract law, and filed at the courthouse like any other contract giving public notice. If a couple (or group) wants sanctification by a church, then there should be a ceremony at that church giving the union/merging its blessing.
In many Islamic nations people who are caught engaging in same sex activities can be sent to prison.
A gross misrepresentation of Islamic nations, MGuy.
This is like taking it out of context. Sharia law also forbids other obscenities, prostitution and public lewd activities. If one little side note of a law bundle is picked out, there is a perspective problem.
Even Tony himself had to downsize his flirting and female charming antics, owing to castration fears. When in Rome, do as the Romans do
Here's a brief section that talks specifically about Islam:
Quote:
HomosexualityHomosexuality
Homosexuality refers to human sexual behavior or same-sex attraction between people of the same sex or to homosexual orientation. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "having sexual and romantic attraction primarily or exclusively to members of one?s own sex"; "it also refers to an individual?s sense of personal and social identi...
is a crime and forbidden in most IslamIslam
Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
ic countries, as per the application of Sharia law. All major Islamic sects disapprove of homosexuality.
Same-sex intercourse officially carries the death penaltyCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the killing of a person by procedural law for Punishment#Retribution and Punishment#Incapacitation....
in several MuslimMuslim
:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
states: Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south....
, IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
, PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, MauritaniaMauritania
Mauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest....
, northern NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federation constitutional republic comprising States of Nigeria and one Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria....
, SudanSudan
Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest in the African continent and the Arab World, and List of countries and outlying territories by total area by area....
, and YemenYemen
Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
.
Homosexuality formerly carried the death penalty in AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
under the Taliban. The legal situation in the United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven states situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia....
is unclear.
In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexuality is public execution, but the government will use other punishments - e.g., fines, jail time, and whipping - as alternatives, unless it feels that homosexuals are challenging state authority by engaging in LGBT social movementsLGBT social movements
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender social movements share related goals of social acceptance of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism....
.
Iran is perhaps the nation to execute the largest number of its citizens for homosexuality. Since the 1979 Islamic revolutionIranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution was the revolution that transformed Iran from a Iranian monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic....
in Iran, the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts. In Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, homosexuality went from a capital crime to one that it punished with fines and prison sentence.
Most international human rightsHuman rights
Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
organizations, such as Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is a United States based, international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City....
and Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organization which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London, England in 1961, AI draws its attention to human rights abuses and...
, condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime. Since 1994, the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
Human Rights CommitteeHuman Rights Committee
The Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights....
has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world....
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a United Nations treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in 1966 and coming into force on 23 March 1976....
.
However, most Muslim nations (except for TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, which has been ruled by secular law since 1856 and recently has modernized its laws in order to meet the requirements of entry to the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
) insist that such laws are necessary to preserve Islamic morality and virtue. Of the nations with a majority of Muslim inhabitants, only Lebanon has an internal effort to legalize homosexuality.
You'll notice that Iran has executed about 4,000 people for homosexual activity and almost all Islamic nations punish people to some extent for this sexual behavior.
Absolutely not. Quite frankly, Christ said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is God. To me, that is a cautionary about imposing your own religious views upon everyone else via the dictates of the law. After all, the last thing I want is a Southern Baptist tell me that I can't enjoy a glass of wine, a game of gin rummy, or a dance with my wife.
If fact, if you read Leviticus, then you can pretty much outlaw everything, including enjoying a barbecue pork sandwich or a shrimp po-boy. And that blazer with the silk lining? Nope. That's forbidden, too.
I so agree.
Luckily, Jesus came along and said the only commandment He was leaving us was to love the Lord with all our heart.....and hey.....LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
Man made religion has come along and muddled it all up....when it should have been a pretty easy thing to understand.
Absolutely not. Quite frankly, Christ said to render unto Caesar what is Caesar and unto God what is God. To me, that is a cautionary about imposing your own religious views upon everyone else via the dictates of the law. After all, the last thing I want is a Southern Baptist tell me that I can't enjoy a glass of wine, a game of gin rummy, or a dance with my wife.
If fact, if you read Leviticus, then you can pretty much outlaw everything, including enjoying a barbecue pork sandwich or a shrimp po-boy. And that blazer with the silk lining? Nope. That's forbidden, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GloryB
I so agree.
Luckily, Jesus came along and said the only commandment He was leaving us was to love the Lord with all our heart.....and hey.....LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
Man made religion has come along and muddled it all up....when it should have been a pretty easy thing to understand.
It's misleading to annotate that Jesus replaced the commandments with His.
He clearly stated that these two are the "greatest" commandments.
Greatest can only mean precedence and in no way nullifies the other commandments
At one time many decades ago homosexuality was widely considered to be a mental illness. Today mental health professionals, psychiatrists and the overwhelming majority of people involved with human sexuality on a professional level have come to the conclusion a long time ago that it is not an illness at all and it's just part of the normal variation in human sexual desires. There are those who believe there may be a genetic link although that remains unproven. So basically it's already been studied for quite a long time and it seems obvious that the hostility directed against gay people is completely unjustified.
I can't rep you again, so I will just say post well done.
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