One of the top leaders employed by the Catholic Church in America — formally The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and headed by Archbishop Timothy Dolan – says that “the Devil” is responsible for making people homosexual, and that homosexuality is a “natural disaster.” Daniel Avila, a policy advisor, lobbyist and spokesperson for the USCCB writes that homosexuality is not genetic, and therefore, it is literally the work of the devil.
“God does not cause same-sex attraction,” Avila wrote Friday in The Boston Pilot, America’s oldest Catholic newspaper which serves as the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston:
No one has found a “gay gene.” Identical twins are always, of course, the same sex, providing further proof of male and female genes. If there was a gay gene, then when one twin exhibits same-sex attraction, his or her identical sibling should too. But that is not the case. The incidence of finding identical twins with identical same-sex attraction is relatively rare and certainly not anywhere near one hundred percent. Something other than the hardwiring found in the genetic code must explain the variance.
…
In other words, the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture’s account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God’s handiwork.
Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God. Applying this aspect of Catholic belief to interpret the scientific data makes more sense because it does not place God in the awkward position of blessing two mutually incompatible realities — sexual difference and same-sex attraction.
Not to get bogged down in Avila’s thought process, but the statement, “The incidence of finding identical twins with identical same-sex attraction is relatively rare and certainly not anywhere near one hundred percent,” is false.
In one study, researchers “identified homosexual males who had identical twin brothers and found that 52% of the brothers were also homosexual. Among fraternal twins, they found the ratio to be 22%. They concluded that since identical twins had a higher incidence of mutual homosexuality than fraternal twins, there must be a genetic component in the development of homosexuality.”
Many people can look at “identical” twins and tell them apart. They are never 100% identical, so the concept that their sexual orientation should be 100% identical is preposterous.
That said, invoking “the devil” is even more preposterous, and the Catholic Church should have its head examined for allowing it.
Peter Montgomery at Right Wing Watch notes,
Avila gave no hint of his satanic origin theory of homosexuality when he spoke at the Values Voter Summit in October, though it (and the reference to natural disasters) does sound like the kind of thing one would hear from anti-gay conservative evangelicals. At the Values Voter Summit, Avila urged people not to accept that marriage equality is inevitable. He claimed that anti-equality forces in Massachusetts are building political strength toward repeal of marriage equality, a notion rejected out of hand by equality advocates familiar with the state.
Avila, who has called himself “the bishops’ marriage guy,” has previously likened the legalization of marriage equality to “a nuclear bomb exploding in every home.” Avila calls his work “mission territory,” and also says “that people just need to be educated and motivated, and then we will have very strong support in the Catholic community for traditional marriage.”
“God himself is the author of marriage,” says Avila, in an article at the Catholic News Agency.
Marriage is the foundation of society and is a “public good,” Avila observed.
And those who protect the definition of marriage are “acknowledging the essential nature of a relationship that draws together two very different but complementary representatives of the two halves of the human family,” he said.
Avila explained that the Defense of Marriage Act not only affirms the definition of marriage and applies it to all federal laws, but it also prevents states that preserve the definition of marriage from being forced to recognize a redefinition of marriage by any other state.
The supreme take-away from all this? The Catholic Church is not just advocating in favor of so-called “traditional marriage.” They have built an entire organization around fighting against same-sex marriage equality, and are committed to funding its defeat.
Friends:
We invite you to sign up for our new mailing list, and subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email or RSS.
Also, please like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!
{ 8 comments }
In a hyper-masculine society, it is probably difficult not to be at least somewhat enthralled with the symbol for masculinity. And if you think about human psychology and how if you want someone to do something, make a law against it. I'm sure there are plenty of truly straight men in the world and I would wager that most of them are so okay with their sexuality, that they could give a rat's behind… who sleeps with whom. It is the ones who protest the most that I wonder about. They use their religion to preach hate and separation when if they were authentically religious, they would be preaching "love one another" just like Jesus did. I think these men are afraid that their inner homo might be found out, so they point to others and throw their stones in order to distract anyone from questioning them, but if you have half a brain, it is easy to see what a sham this is.
It is safe to say that Mr. Avila has just asserted that it is the devil who alters hormones in a mother's womb and thereby causes homosexuality. Let's just let that sink in for a moment. That is absolutely one of the most absurd claims I have ever heard regarding the cause of same sex attraction. The author's effort to clear the Church's name on its repugnant treatment of homosexual people is noble but, of course, it fails. It is easy to blame the devil when science clearly states that being gay is partially in one's genes. Why would God make gay people for them to live lives alone and unhappy? Oh? There's no easy answer? The devil must have done it!
There is a big issue with the website used to get your research from. Upon reading the different ideas, theories and experiments as to the cause of homosexuality I found this gem at the bottom of the page, from a research paper from Columbia University in 1993: "Regardless of the role that genetics play in the development of sexual attractions, such attractions are changeable and treatable. In analogy, although the City of Hope National Medical Center researchers found a certain gene present in 77% of the alcoholic patients they studied, we have not abandoned treatment for alcoholism. (Dallas 1992, pp. 20-23) Many former alcoholics have changed their behavior and lead productive lives. You have control over your destiny. You have moral agency and can determine the course of your life. Regardless of any biological thread, thousands of people who struggle with same-sex attractions have made changes in their lives for the better."
My favorite. The comparison of gay people to alcoholics.
What do you expect from a church that employed pedophiles? When they're found out they're hidden. Then in order to keep from spending the precious riches of the Pope they file Bankrupty. This church should be banned from the US at the very least have their tax exempt revoked for being involved in Politics.
From the catholic church – of Adolph Hitler, born and baptised catholic in very cath Austria in 1888.
who in Mein Kampf details how he came to hate jews. A hatred from the catholic church that poisoned european society for a thousand years. A hatred he leveraged to gain power.
And 55 million died because of the church that supports life. And i can find no explicit statement that he was EXcommunicated.
once again the church, which considers itself female, the bride of Christ , has given birth to another nut case.
Which along with its extremist christian brothers of slavery, segregation and the KKK, continue to drive gay kids to suicide.
if there was a god, the vatican would long ago have been swallowed up into the hellfires of a Vesuvius II
It and Rome actually sit on top / very near to a fault line.
And the church is now run by an extremist who learned his one man rule, my way or the highway = growing up under hitler and even serving – even if drafted – in the hitler youth corp.
The Catholic church is run by the devil, and here's proof. God's church would never allow:
- priests raping thousands of children
- bishops moving the child rapists
- bishops persistently hiding the truth
- bishops lying about it
- bishops and priests convincing all Catholics to shun, ignore or fight the victims of Catholic child rape
The Anti-Christ would approve of all of these things, and would be proud.
I am not religious, whatsoever, but because of idiots like the drunk on god fool we're talking about, I would like to witness the annihilation of Christianity. It has devolved into an offensive, money laundering entity. It deserves spectacular ridicule.
Google "the Desparate Catholic Clerical War on the Gays" From the Huffington Post for on insightful
article on what is realy going on here. As for Mr. Avila, by Googling: "CCC 2357 to 2359"
(this is the Catechism of the Catholic Church) nowhere the the "devil" or "Satin" mentioned
Check it out. Mr. Avila is totally off the reservation here and I demand an apology both as a
gay man and a Roman Catholic
Doubtless Avila subscribes to the same illogic that the high gay teen suicide rate shows how unhealthy and disordered homosexuality is.
No, genius, the gay teen suicide rate is high because of people like YOU.
Newsflash: It is depressing to be constantly labeled "intrinsically disordered". It is depressing to be told that your deepest desires for love are really just satanic impulses. And it is depressing when school kids take their cue from these religious pronouncements and make their gay peers miserable.
"I say to you, what you do to the least of these, you do so to Me."
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 2 trackbacks }