Re: The Baha'i Faith and Gays
Alexander Renwick (renwick@owlnet.rice.edu)
Mon, Jan 9 1995 19:56:42 GMT
In article <1995Jan8.033635.2244@cs.cornell.edu>, ssottong@ibid.library.gatech.edu
(Stephen Sottong) writes:
> I have a question concerning the position of the Baha'i Faith concerning gays.
> I read in a recent posting that Baha'is do not condemn gays but do not condone
> gay behavior. I also understand that one of the principles of the Faith is
> that science and religion must be compatible. As I understand the latest
> scientific findings on homosexuality, they indicate that it is caused by
> changes in the structure of the brain that occur prenatally and are probably
> hormone related. If this is true, then homosexuality is, in effect, a birth
> defect and in no way the fault of or controllable by the person affected. If
> this is the case, isn't condemning the behavior that results from this
> condition much like condemning a person who was paralyzed from birth for not
> walking. Can you explain your position more clearly.
Although I cannot claim to speak for "The Baha'i Faith", I will give you
my opinion.
As you point out, the Faith does not condemn gays, the people. It rejects
homosexuality, the behavior. This is an important distinction: homosexual
people are fully worthy spiritual beings who are simply at greater risk for
participating in activities detrimental to their progress in the Faith.
I do not no the particular reason for this view of homosexuality. Perhaps
someone more familiar with the Writings could provide a clue.
Another point--indeed science and religion ought to be in harmony (and in my
opinion, ought to enjoy productive dissonance), but science has hardly arrived
at a conclusion. The latest fad finds a neurophysiological basis for
homosexuality; this is not necessarily the last word. And the more telling
question of how personhood grows from the interplay of physiology and behavior
is extremely problematic, and more the arena of social theorists and
philosophers than clinicians.
--Alex