Religion, Science, Sexuality

[Guest guest]

Namaskar All:

 

I wanted to share this article with the group. It addresses the

issue of human sexuality and misapprehensions of the Divine

(specifically Catholic, but these prohibitions run through all

institutionalized religions). I'd like to add my two cents here by

saying that there is no dividing line in human sexuality. There is

no heterosexuality or homosexuality. There is only the totality of

Being. That totality will flourish once false distinctions are

released. Here's the article:

 

Gay Catholic group speaks out against pope

Steve Freiss, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

Friday, August 8, 2003 / 04:50 PM

 

Also on PlanetOut

Vatican condemns gay marriage

News roundup: Religion

 

A week after the Vatican condemned same-sex marriages and

homosexuality in general, dozens of gay Catholic couples plan to

affirm their commitments in Las Vegas Sunday. The group

ceremony will cap the 16th convention of Dignity/USA.

 

The event has become one part of the national gay Catholic

organization's answer to those and other papal attacks as the

group convenes for the first time since the church's sex-abuse

scandal last year. The Vatican blamed the scandal largely on the

existence of gay priests.

 

Both controversies loomed large over the conference as it

opened Thursday night with a fiery admonition from Dignity

President Patrick McArron, who called the Vatican's actions

forms of "spiritual terrorism."

 

"We have come under vicious attack from within our own church,"

he told the 300 attendees. "I would be lying to you if I did not say

that I have been very angry with the elite old-boys club, and it is

time to say, 'No more.' Enough is enough. "

 

On July 31, the Vatican issued "Considerations Regarding

Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between

Homosexual Persons," a 12-page edict that branded gay

relationships as "against the natural moral law" and warned

Catholic politicians around the world that supporting legislation

recognizing same-sex couples would be "gravely immoral."

 

Sunday's ceremony, the first of its kind for a national Dignity

conference, will not be a full-fledged Catholic wedding but rather

a group affirmation of the couples and their commitments, as

some have already had more formal ceremonies. Nonetheless,

the long-planned event is taking on a new significance amid the

current furor.

 

"Because the Vatican threw down the gauntlet on this issue of

same-sex marriage, the fact that a week later we're doing this

blessing will be seen by some as an act of defiance," Dignity

Executive Director Marianne Duddy said. "In some ways, it is. We

should be allowed -- like all other couples -- to define our own

relationships, and to have them honored and celebrated. Making

a commitment to another person is a sacred act. It is no less

sacred if it's two women or two men than if it's a man and a

woman."

 

Dignity will also issue a new statement on gay marriage,

expected to be approved by members on Saturday, that insists

there's nothing inconsistent about being gay and Catholic,

despite the Vatican's claims. "The love that brings and binds two

people of the same, or opposite, sex together has a divine

source," the position paper concludes. "It is therefore

sacramental in nature, and should be celebrated as such by our

church."

 

That view was backed up Friday by a keynote address from

Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk

who for decades has studied the problems created by the

requirement that Catholic clergy remain celibate. In his speech,

Sipe insisted that the pope misleads the flock by not taking

science into account when interpreting the scriptures, and that

the Vatican's inappropriate approach to sex fostered an

atmosphere that resulted in widespread sexual abuse by

priests.

 

"I do not hesitate to say that the church's teaching on human

sexuality is not correct," Sipe said. "Its basis of biblical revelation

and interpretation is insufficient to account for the realities we

already know."