Imperial_Samura
Anticrust Smurf
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
And a note on this thread as a whole -It is stupid and naive to believe that if there were no religious people, it would be heaven for gays. It would not.
The matter of the fact is that there are non-religious homophobic people, and to even claim that only religious people are homophobic is baseless and false.
Sure religion has influence, but it is not ''the enemy''. Socially acceptable and non-acceptable things are, as far as west goes, less and less associated with religion, and far more with social structure.
Thus, get a grip. Religious is not going to save homosexuals, or be the end of the homosexuals. Religious view on homosexuals is marely one in the stream of things which are imbeded in our socio-cultural structure.
True to a degree, but the origin of much of the current anti-homosexual opinion can often be traced to religious sources - primarily Christian or Islamic. It is true that even without religion homosexuals would likely find bias from sections of society, but I strongly suspect the power of the anti-homosexual lobby would be vastly diminished if religion started supporting it.
It is hardly a coincidence that even on these forums the majority of those who have expressed anti-homosexual opinions usually list the Bible as one of the sources for their world view on the subject. In fact I can remember virtually no member who, when asked to justify their stance, hasn't listed their religion as part of their argument - the classic "it is a sin."
It is also worth noting that past societies religions were far more accepting of homosexuality, and even had mythological figures who had homosexual or bisexual tendencies. Religion is most certainly not the only source of homosexual bias, however it remain one of the most potent ones. Moves by members of Christian factions are highly promising. Almost every large mainstream Christian group has a section of priests and laymen advocating the rescinding of the whole "homosexuality is a sin" concept, and it is a growing movement. If and when it succeeds it will be interesting to see how the vocal anti-homosexual people respond. For those who use religion as the basis of their arguments. Will they suddenly be able to accept homosexuality because it is no longer a sin? Probably not, since it is a personal thing. Religion can merely offer them a way to legitimize their arguments.