By Elizabeth O’Brien
ST. JOHN’S, June 20, 2007 (LifeSitenews.com) – Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, released a paper responding to a recent push for the official blessing of homosexual unions within the Anglican Church of Canada.
Just a few weeks prior to the 2007 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in St. John’s, a pro-homosexual “marriage” paper was sent to all the delegates attending the synod. Recently published by John Thorp, professor of philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, the paper was entitled “Making the Case: The Blessing of Same Sex Unions in the Anglican Church of Canada.”
Gagnon’s response, “Case Not Made: A Response to Prof. John Thorp’s ‘Making the Case,’” uses scripture, reason and tradition to show why homosexual unions are both immoral and unnatural. He refers to homosexuality as the “narcissism of being erotically aroused by the distinctive features of one’s own sex” and also refers to what he calls “the self—and other—dishonoring delusion of imaging a person of the same sex as the sexual complement to one’s own sex.”
In his paper promoting homosexual unions, Thorp cited several popular pro-homosexual arguments. First, he claims that homosexuality is “inborn”. It is “statistically abnormal, but, like left-handedness, it is a normal abnormality.” Gagnon points out, however, that being “born gay” is no justification because human nature is fallen, and people struggle with immoral desires all their lives.
Commenting to LifeSiteNews.com, Gagnon explained why the argument for homosexuality from nature doesn’t hold weight, saying, “Nature is broader than the concept of innate impulse.”
Thorp’s argument that homosexuality is like “left-handedness” is also extremely weak, for “left-handedness is not an impulse to do something God expressly forbids. It is not a desire to merge sexually with another structurally discordant to oneself.”
In the animal kingdom, objects Thorp, certain creatures exhibit gay behavior. Gagnon responds, “I never used my dear departed dog ‘Cocoa’ and her instinctive sexual habits as a basis for determining what is ‘natural’ behavior. You can find animals of various species where some part of the population at least practices incest, pedophilia, extreme polyamory, and cross-species sex, along with same-sex activity.”
Thirdly, Thorp states that non-procreativity cannot be used as an argument against homosexual unions because this would be inconsistent with the Church’s acceptance of non-procreativity in heterosexual couples.
Gagnon answers, “There is a big difference between having equipment failure (infertility among heterosexual couples) and not having the equipment at all (the inherent incapacity for procreation in homosexual bonds).”
Even when homosexuals seem well-adjusted in other aspects of their lives, says Gagnon, “Same-sex erotic bonds lack a person of the other sex to moderate the extremes of a given sex or to fill in the gaps of the given sex.” Homosexual men tend to have more partners and more sexually transmitted diseases, whereas lesbians tend to have shorter relationships and higher mental health issues.
The problem is that those who advocate for homosexuality fall into the trap of thinking that “love and commitment ultimately trump all formal requirements for a sexual union” as long as “intrinsic measurable harm cannot be demonstrated.” This idea leads to many problems, for sexual love is distinct from other kinds of love. The “love” of a pedophile for a young child, for example, is both morally abhorrent and illegal.
While Thorp argues that the Bible condemns only forced homosexual acts, Gagnon points out passages in St. Paul and throughout scripture that specifically condemn mutually consenting homosexual relations as shameful and impure. His response also indicates that while Christianity teaches that people should love and respect one another, Christ also makes the rules of sexual morality even stricter than the Old Testament.
Gagnon concludes his response, “When he [Pro. Thorp] concludes by saying that ‘Gay liberation is clearly the work of the Spirit. How can it reasonably be otherwise?’ one can only shake one’s head in astonishment at the degree to which he is sadly mistaken…”
Dr. Gagnon commented to LifeSiteNews.com, “In his use of scripture, tradition and reason, Thorp’s arguments are inconsistent and oftentimes illogical. Likewise, he lacks the Biblical, theological and scientific expertise to make a persuasive argument on this issue. He fails to properly deal with the structural complementary of male and female which is the basic reason why homosexuality is unnatural.”
Since the ordination of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, an openly active homosexual, the Anglican Church has been increasingly torn apart by international debate over the morality of homosexuality and specifically same-sex marriage. On Saturday, Anglican Church delegates will debate the issue of blessing same-sex unions, and they plan to reach a final decision before the end of the Synod.
See Gagnon’s full paper at
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/ThorpCanadaResp.pdf
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