Quote:
| because it's not proven and it never will be |
Nothing has actually been proven, or ever will be, so that's hardly a convincing argument.
This can be approached from two directions. The level of personal choice and whether or not homosexuality is a sin.
All sinners have choices about whether they sin or not -- the question is always, "how much choice?" On a more abstract level, the question might be, "is the sin in the choice or in the action?" This slips us straight into classical moral theory. There are two basic schools of thought on morality: teleological and deontological. Teleological frameworks assume that morality is determined by the outcomes of actions -- most usually represented by utilitarianism. Deontological frameworks assume that there are moral duties or obligations that exist, irrespective of the outcomes -- the Ten Commandments, Kant's categorical imperative and rights theories are all deontological frameworks.
My general feeling on homosexuality (well, on all human behaviour) is that we have a genetically determined predisposition, we are enculturated to certain behaviours, and then we have choices. Genetics makes some people more disposed towards certain behaviours, beliefs and so forth. Culture provides another set of boundaries -- both positively as 'good' behaviours and negatively as 'bad' behaviours, that we react against. Within these boundaries, people have choices. This is true of
all behaviour, in one way or another. The question then becomes, "how strong are these relative boundaries compared to the individual choices?"
The second way to approach it is to look at the full context of what the Bible tells us about the 'sin' of homosexuality. It's interesting to note that the relevant passages that talk about the prohibition of homosexuality (I can't remember them all; but I can possibly dig them up, if necessary) also prohibit or prescribe a bunch of other things that are either done or not done by most people -- Christian today, or not (we don't stone people to death any more, even though the Bible tells us we should). As such, the emphasis on sexual behaviour seems to be more culturually than religously determined. In short, it seems that the Church is as obsessed with sex as the rest of society.