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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyDecember 21st, 2012
This, ironically, is the Pope trying to make a point about homosexuality:
People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves. The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.
But I was an adolescent growing up in a conservative Catholic home, and that’s when I was disputing the idea that I have a nature, hoping instead that my sexuality was a fundamental choice I could make. Finally in the 80s I accepted I was gay and stopped stripping myself of dignity by trying to live a lie in discord with my nature.
The Pope thinks he’s arguing against homosexuality, when in fact he’s explaining why ex-gay therapy is a moral shame.
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Charles
December 21st, 2012
There needs to be an enlightenment within the Catholic Church.
Bose in St. Peter MN
December 21st, 2012
Yup, this “logic” doesn’t support SOCE (sexual orientation change effort) therapies and ideally rules out cosmetic procedures on babies with ambiguous genitalia.
This is bizarre to me: “When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied…” So, for the Pope, non-straight orientation is something we create, and by acknowledging it, we have created a new person, discarding the old one.
In fundamental ways, though, each of us is perpetually creating the person that we are, guided by our aptitudes, talents, opportunities and other factors beyond our control. We are made up of our chosen values and attitudes, we are self-directed into being social and/or solitary, we invest ourselves in arts, or technology, service, commerce, or health care. We create relationships that matter, sustain them, change them, and sometimes end them. At surface level, we even create much of our appearance — we shape, shade or shave the hair we’ve been given, tone up, trim down, dress, accessorize, whatever.
In the midst of all choices we make to create a meaningful life and be our best selves, the simplest choice — to embrace our capacity to love another person — is written off as counterfeit. Or, maybe the Pope is vying for veto power over people’s free will generally… it’s just too “creative.”
Hunter
December 22nd, 2012
The pope is not enthusiastic about people creating themselves — that’s too close to being independent, and the Church, in spite of sops to “freedom of conscience,” does not like independence.
joel
December 23rd, 2012
What are creatures that are not dignified to be called people? … Thank you p
Jim Hlavac
December 26th, 2012
I could care less what the pope believes, nor what he preaches to his flock, it’s when he tries to get the governments of the world and my own family, friends and society, to act on his tortured logic, that bugs me. Logic which boils down to the USA’s Archbishop of the Armed Forces rather succinct comment about “homosexuality” [lord, I loathe the word, gay is far better,]– he said: “It’s largely unexplained.”
Yes, that sums up the entirety of hetero thinking. They are clueless, and deny all rational evidence in front of them that we just are natural as could be, and don’t “create” or “change” or “forsake” or do any such thing but live; they are equally unappreciative of the astounding forbearance and Christian decency we maintain towards mush heads like the pope who abandon their own teaching when it comes to gay folks and call for hate, and not love.
And still, yet, the vast majority of heteros, even our friends, are still clueless as to why God might have put us, the, um, “platypuses” of the human race, around for the enjoyment of one and all. They say, “it’s largely unexplained.” Clarity; I love it. Ahem.
Jesus, since it’s His birthday, I’m told, would have said: “It’s to test everyone on that ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ bit… you’ve all failed.”
Meanwhile, sorry Mr. Pope, I’m not Catholic, so I won’t listen or follow.
Anthemius
December 31st, 2012
Well, the catholic organization “Courage” doesn’t make claims of being able to turn people straight, instead insisting that chastity is the only moral way for gays.
By his rhetoric, it sounds like the Pope is preaching against transgender people.
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