Is spreading the idea that homosexuality is a sin hurtful to society?

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.


****DISCLAIMER**** This is not about if the person has the right to, we all know they have the right to and we are not talking about suppressing those rights, just the consequence of the action.

Suicide rates among the teenage LGBQT community is commonly high due to the fact that friends, families, and communities teach them that it is sinful to be the way that they are. Yes, society is harmed by people being misinformed about homosexuality.

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.


****DISCLAIMER**** This is not about if the person has the right to, we all know they have the right to and we are not talking about suppressing those rights, just the consequence of the action.

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It is harmful because it induces people to judge homosexual people as wrongdoers in lieu of their homosexual lifestyle, and creates stigmatization. This create suffering for homosexual people and tensions, recriminations and break up of families. Any act that creates avoidable suffering among people is wrong. Thus spreading the notion that homosexuality is sin is wrong and harmful.

Yes, of course it is hurtful to society to convince the masses of a blatant lie.
One's sexual orientation is a matter of genetics/birth.
To convince people that being gay/bisexual/etc...is (for all purposes) evil/sinful is exactly equivalent to telling them that being born black, or left handed, or blue-eyed is a sin againt the will of God.

Anytime anyone states that their way of thinking is undeniably the way of some divine "God", and that challenging this theocratic dominion is "sinful", then you have damaged society. And if there really is a God, then you have damaged your own soul in God's eyes.

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.


****DISCLAIMER**** This is not about if the person has the right to, we all know they have the right to and we are not talking about suppressing those rights, just the consequence of the action.

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Absolutely it hurts a given society because of the completely unnecessary psychological harm it inflicts on a given society, both individually and en masse. The idea goes to the core of self-worth and will dramatically affect the person(s) personally caught in or by the ideology setting up an unnecessary crisis in the mind and day to day life of the individual. Likewise, the society that is not personally affected is also warped by the ideology and will treat such afflicted individuals in a negative way as their natural condition is sinful. My guess is that it would take several generations to ease a society out of this kind of self-hobbling.

What everyone else has already said for reasons it is harmful I basically agree with.

An extra link to "harm" is that it gives people an excuse to propagate/perpetrate homophobic behavior/actions. Meaning, someone who is on the fence about tormenting someone because they're homosexual may be pushed over that fence and actually take some action because they have heard that homosexuality is a "sin" and "wrong" in God's eyes. Whether or not they even truly believe in God, that sort of statement could still be influential if they are already leaning that way on the subject.

Yes.

It's comparable to scaring little kids of make-believe monsters to get them to do what adults want.

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.

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Is that even in doubt? Of course it hurts society. It is the classic hate speech. Even if some people attempt to perceive it under a "hate the sin, not the sinner" lens, that still results in less acceptance and opportunities for people who deserve better and who have every right to be fully integrated.

suncowiam said:

Yes.

It's comparable to scaring little kids of make-believe monsters to get them to do what adults want.

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Expect at some point adults usually admit to kids that monsters don't exist.

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.


****DISCLAIMER**** This is not about if the person has the right to, we all know they have the right to and we are not talking about suppressing those rights, just the consequence of the action.

Click to expand...

Spreading the IDEA that homosexuality is a sin obviously isn't enough for some.
Some feel their god is not powerful enough to deal with it so they take it upon themselves to propose laws, and other actions to enforce the idea.

It is the actions that hurt society, not the idea itself.
For if the idea was to sit without action to enforce, the idea would fade away.

Homosexuality has no genetic root. There is no "homosexual gene".

Being homosexual is the result of personal experience and how it shapes the personality of a person, already at a very young age.
Somehow, it's our society that produces homosexuals. Our culture is the source of homosexuality.

Claiming that it's a sin to be homosexual is unfair because those who are homosexual have been forced into it. They didn't chose. Society shaped them into it.

So unless we see a reason of seeing homosexuality as a threat to humanity, there is no reason to reject it, but just accept it as one of the possibilities that humanity has within it's specie.

VeryGoodTruth said:

Homosexuality has no genetic root. There is no "homosexual gene".

Being homosexual is the result of personal experience and how it shapes the personality of a person, already at a very young age.
Somehow, it's our society that produces homosexuals. Our culture is the source of homosexuality.

Claiming that it's a sin to be homosexual is unfair because those who are homosexual have been forced into it. They didn't chose. Society shaped them into it.

So unless we see a reason of seeing homosexuality as a threat to humanity, there is no reason to reject it, but just accept it as one of the possibilities that humanity has within it's specie.

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You can't simply rule out genetics. Care to explain what a person born intersex SHOULD feel? Can you tell me, given a particular case of ambiguous genitalia (hinting at at least a bit of developmental confusion in the growing body) whether that person will have higher levels of testosterone or estrogen? Who should they be attracted to, do you think?

Based on a quick Google search:

"Here’s what we do know: If you ask experts at medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably atypical in terms of genitalia that a specialist in sex differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births. But a lot more people than that are born with subtler forms of sex anatomy variations, some of which won’t show up until later in life."

That's quite a lot of babies. In a population like the U.S. (323 million) that's 161,000 to 215,000 people whose development (based mostly on genetics, mind you) gave rise to ambiguous results. I suppose you could say "it was something their mothers ate" - but then, is that any more the fault of the baby being born? It may as well be genetic.

A Vestigial Mote said:

You can't simply rule out genetics. Care to explain what a person born intersex SHOULD feel? [...]

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You will need to open another subject if you wish to switch themes and talk about atypical genitalia and its consequences on the mind.
Homosexuality has nothing in common with that theme, since there is no physical abnormality involved.

VeryGoodTruth said:

You will need to open another subject if you wish to switch themes and talk about atypical genitalia and its consequences on the mind.
Homosexuality has nothing in common with that theme, since there is no physical abnormality involved.

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I don't know if I'd call atypical genitalia "abnormal." The continued frequency of those born with these traits makes it a pretty "normal" occurrence.

And my point was more that there are physical states like this that beings are thrust into all the time that are not their doing, nor within their control. It could be nothing more than a hormonal imbalance in some, which may not have any outward effects, as the imbalance may not be strong enough to produce outright change in the person's appearance, and no one knows how much something like that can then affect a perceived psychological response to either gender.

I am also not saying that all homosexuality is physically-driven. There is a great spectrum of conditions that likely play a part. I have only said that you can't simply rule out genetics.

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.

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I think it is harmful to spread the idea that homosexual conduct is acceptable, normal, even beneficial. I don't believe it is harmful to tell the truth. And the truth is our Creator clearly lists homosexual conduct as disapproved, along with other common practices such as fornication and adultery. (1 Corinthians 6:9,10) I believe we harm ourselves and others by practicing any of these things. Those persons who choose to believe otherwise are free to do so.

YmirGF said:

Absolutely it hurts a given society because of the completely unnecessary psychological harm it inflicts on a given society, both individually and en masse. The idea goes to the core of self-worth and will dramatically affect the person(s) personally caught in or by the ideology setting up an unnecessary crisis in the mind and day to day life of the individual. Likewise, the society that is not personally affected is also warped by the ideology and will treat such afflicted individuals in a negative way as their natural condition is sinful. My guess is that it would take several generations to ease a society out of this kind of self-hobbling.

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While I completely agree with you, there is an up side to such religiously inspired oppression.
Without it, we wouldn't have.....

And.....

Jeremiahcp said:

Does it hurt society to spread the idea that homosexuality is a sin? If you think so please explain how.


****DISCLAIMER**** This is not about if the person has the right to, we all know they have the right to and we are not talking about suppressing those rights, just the consequence of the action.

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Is it wrong to spread the idea that men with bearded faces are sinning?
Is it wrong to spread the idea that women who wear anything over a size 3 are disgusting?
Is it wrong to spread the idea that people who like hamburgers are playing coy with the devil?
Is it wrong to spread the idea that people with black skin are less important than people with white skin?

I mean, I suppose if you're a white, baby-faced man married to a size 0 model, and you both like hamburgers then NO. None of those things are bad. But for the vast majority of the rest of the world, it's a stupid conversation to eve have, isn't it?

People can't do anything about their biology. We don't get to choose our genetic makeup. Attempting to scapegoat a certain group of people because of imaginary biological impurities is a cop-out for those making the rules. Most likely, they are scared of anything that's not like them and so make up imaginary reasons for justifying their own insecurities. It's quite telling, really, those who hate things. It shows weakness and limits to their cognitive abilities.

Yes.

rusra02 said:

I think it is harmful to spread the idea that homosexual conduct is acceptable, normal, even beneficial. I don't believe it is harmful to tell the truth. And the truth is our Creator clearly lists homosexual conduct as disapproved, along with other common practices such as fornication and adultery. (1 Corinthians 6:9,10) I believe we harm ourselves and others by practicing any of these things. Those persons who choose to believe otherwise are free to do so.

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"I think it is harmful to spread the idea that homosexual conduct is acceptable, normal, even beneficial."

How so? What harm does it do?

VeryGoodTruth said:

Homosexuality has no genetic root. There is no "homosexual gene".

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To be fair, there's not really a heterosexual gene either.
Not that I'm aware of anyway.

VeryGoodTruth said:

Being homosexual is the result of personal experience and how it shapes the personality of a person, already at a very young age.
Somehow, it's our society that produces homosexuals. Our culture is the source of homosexuality.

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LOL! Yeah, cause people like Oscar Wilde or Alan Turing who lived in a society which explicitly outlawed homosexuality (and FYI both were severely punished by said society for homosexual acts) were totally that way because of society.
Not to mention that heterosexuality is lauded in today's society, not as severe as making homosexuality illegal, at least not in the West. But today's society is merely gay friendly-ish, not be gay all day. Not the same thing, mate.
Also if that is the case, are heterosexuals that way because society to this day goes out of its way to say that being straight is better? Or by your own arguments did so in the past? Rather severely.
You must have a very fluid sexuality if you think something like that is shaped by society. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.

VeryGoodTruth said:

Claiming that it's a sin to be homosexual is unfair because those who are homosexual have been forced into it. They didn't chose. Society shaped them into it.

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You must live in a veritable Mardi Gras all day every day where you live. Which society do you speak of? Because I have only observed being "okay with being gay" in my society. Mostly. Again, not the same thing as enforcing homosexuality on people.

VeryGoodTruth said:

So unless we see a reason of seeing homosexuality as a threat to humanity, there is no reason to reject it, but just accept it as one of the possibilities that humanity has within it's specie.

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Well that I can agree with wholeheartedly.