When the Homily is about Immunology

Working out our Salvation

Part One
"My Genes made me do it!"


Naturally my "beloved Atheist" and I had some time while in Ohio to discuss those issues which we so frequently find ourselves discussing. In a strange turn of events he said in essence the following: "I guess I can understand your take on Abortion - because in your mind a life is being taken. But you lose me on the whole gay issue...since we know this is a genetic inclination and after all: who is getting hurt?" Someone else overhearing the conversation chimed in: "Yeah, God made them that way, who are we to say it is wrong?"

As is my custom I began by once again emphasizing that our discussing the Church's teachings on sexual sins is akin to a disordered discussion of a house building project: beginning with window design before we can agree on the foundation of the home. Furthermore I clarified that I am decidedly not a gay-basher, I do not HATE gay people, I do not support those who actively seek to discriminate against them. Further-furthermore, I do not think the government can marry ANYONE and thus I take a relatively passive approach to the whole gay marriage issue. God marries people, not the "power vested in anyone by the state" (the stupidest and most blasphemous line ever uttered regularly in a church). But, with all of these precautions clearly stated, I proceeded anyway.

First, I will grant for the sake of argument that a homosexual inclination is genetic. However, this then leads me to ask: So what? For you see, I believe that one of the things that make us human is that we are certainly NOT the sum of our genes. The fact that we expect our teenage boys NOT to commit date rape is a reasonably good indication that we all pretty much believe this - in fact ponder this a little while and I bet you can envision a host of other examples as well. Also, I reject that the genes we are born with is the direct result of God's design for if we assume this then we must also assume that God is directly responsible for Down Syndrome and any other number of genetic/birth "defects." (Make special note of the term "defect"...it implies a moral judgement does it not? And you would never tell a child with Down Syndrome that they are "defective" would you?) Is God responsible for the frightening increase in genetic defects that took place in recent decades in the vicinity of a place called Chernobyl...or were there perhaps other issues at work? You see environment DOES play a HUGE role in our genetic makeup, and many scientists believe that we have just begun to understand the complexities of this...in fact what is Darwinism except the affirmation of this? And what sort of environment do we live in according to the Christian understanding of the Fall of Humankind? Yes, one in which we are born screwed up to begin with. Has anyone ever NOT had to teach and teach and teach and discipline their child in order for them to learn to share? Are we not born selfish? Did God make us this way?

This leads me to my next point: there is as much evidence to suggest a genetic link to homosexuality as there is to link genetics to a tendency toward violent behavior. What do we make of this? There is no such thing as being born with a clean slate. As Icons of God, we are all born with our faces smudged, the glory hidden under blankets of distortion originating from innumerable centuries of procreating in the sin-ridden equivalent of an environmental sesspool.

Okay...more later...