I think the dearth of journal information is quite disappointing myself. None of it is objective, whether it's gays doing the study, or somebody on the conservative side posting fraudulent results. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and nobody wants to catch hell from both sides of the argument.
That, sir, is something I can agree with unqualifiedly. Having read more than a little on the subject on both sides of the fence, there
is some lack of integrity in what's said. To the gays' credit,
in general the studies and statistics posted in support of their position seem to be valid and objective -- with some clear exceptions. But there's a tendency, understandable but less than honest, to refuse to admit any negatives. If 10% of 20% of gays are club-going promiscuous hedonists, it's no insult to the other 80% or 90% who are not to admit that that's the case. It might even help save them, not merely in the religious sense but in the sense of dealing with the emotional and health threats they subject themselves to. That that group is (if the CDC study is accurate) the fastest-growing demographic for new AIDS cases is something liberal and conservative Christians and socially conscious gay people should be working together to prevent.
On the other hand, whenever a homosexuality-is-sinful website trots out again those old and repeatedly debunked studies circulated by Dobson's colleague Paul Cameron of Family Research Council, it does no favors either to the people they claim to be reaching out to, the God who is Truth and who is not served by lies, nor even their own credibility.
Perhaps morality shouldn't be considered a science -- just a thought anyway.
Actually, we have some absolutes laid down by God. The trouble is, they're not the ones that many conservatives mean by "moral absolutes."
"The first and greatest commandment is this: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind and with all thy soul and with all thy strength. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
"This do, and you shall live."
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets."
I don't think Jesus could have made it any clearer that those are the absolutes, the things which outrank all other commands, the conditions under which you are to do everything else.
Honestly, anyone
knowing that someone is motivated by a heart full of love to warn others away from what they see as the short road to Hell would find it hard to be offended by someone acting out of that kind of love. The problem is that those speaking out against "the sinfulness of homosexuality" (which as I've noted leaves things undefined) don't stop with loving warnings but carry their campaign to a point where any number of gay people have complained about feeling bludgeoned by Scripture, sneered at by people who
seem to feel holiier-than-thou, and you know how many campaigns to make things like gay sex and gay marriage illegal have been carried on in Christ's name.
That too is wrong. Using the Golden Rule, do a parallel. Many of those outspoken against homosexuality are Baptists. And Baptists are congregational in polity, with the local church calling their pastor, who may or may not have seminary training or commissioning by other clergy. Now, for the sake of argument, let's suppose that someone has serious theological objections to someone just called by a local church as a preacher without any commissioning solemnizing marriages -- that a "marriage" before a Baptist pastor may be legal under state statutes, but is no real marriage in God's eyes. You'd have no problem with their holding that view, even though you think it erroneous, right? Their privilege to believe whatever nonsense they choose. But if they began buttonholing and browbeating you about living in sin in a false "marriage," it would get old very quickly. And if they began an organized campaign to ban marriages in the Baptist churches, that would anger you very quickly. check?
What does the Golden Rule say, again? What does God
really want done?