army of me †

Mormons vs Homosexuality vs Me

http://http://mormon.org/faq/stand-on-homosexuality/

It appears that The Mormon’s view on Homosexuality is that I am a moral abomination. Just to set the scene, I’m 22, and a gay male. 

“People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians. They may have certain inclinations which are powerful and which may be difficult to control. 

- Gordon B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Firstly, are they (Mormons) likening Homosexuality to ‘inclinations’ such as the desire to steal or to cheat? Because I assure you, it isn’t like that at all. It’s not something I can choose, or a phase I am going through; hell if it were, I would choose to phase out of it. Then I would remove the issue of people thinking I am a moral abomination, and surely that’s the easiest option? However, as it is something I have no control over - ask any gay person and they will say it’s not a choice - (I was Born This Way!) I have to deal with it. And I have now come to terms with my sexuality, I accept it and embrace it. 

But The Church feels that my homosexuality is a moral abomination. 

The Church’s position is that Homosexuality is a sin. This is clearly stated several times in The Bible, for example: 

13 If a man ^aalso lie with mankind, as he lieth with a ^bwoman, both of them have committed an ^cabomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

 Leviticus 20:13

and thus because Christians have to adhere to the Word Of God (even though ‘The Bible Did Not Arrive By Fax From Heaven’(!)) homosexuality is an abomination.

However, as this clashes with the statement they also preach that God Loves Everyone, the Church appears to accept that Homosexuals needs love and compassion as well as any one else… but they just need to either not lie with a man as a woman lies with a man, or repent of their sins and turn straight. (This is me paraphrasing but it is what it feels like). 

“If they do not act upon these inclinations, then they can go forward as do all other members of the Church. If they violate the law of chastity and the moral standards of the Church, then they are subject to the discipline of the Church, just as others are.”

Great. So Chastity is the way forward. But… I want to have sex! I want to form a stable relationship with another man. Just as a straight couple do. Just as a straight guy has a desire for a sexual relationship with a female, so I want to have sexual relations with another guy. And even if this is seen as an act of “immoral activity”, and there may be small niggles in the back of my head that I will be going to hell, I still want to do these things now, in this life (sorry, how selfish of me). 

Secondly, the whole set-up reeks of gross mis-understanding. Or worse, failure to even try to understand. I’m referring to the “so-called gays and lesbians” bit. Yeah, we’re here, we exist. Some people are Gay, get over it. 

If only it were that straight forward. 

“We want to help these people, to strengthen them, to assist them with their problems and to help them with their difficulties.”

Once again, the position of the Church is against homosexuality, as for reasons seen above they view it as a ‘problem’ that needs to be overcome. Being Homosexual and being celibate seems to be the best option, that and worshipping at their church to help you find God. God will be able to hear my prayers and help me find understanding to my problems. Great. 

But my problem is that the issue I am meant to be dealing with was made a problem by the Church in the first place… so why should I return there to deal with it? If I simply choose to not believe in the rules that this religion lay down, then this removes the problem of me being a moral abomination. (I’m not sure if I’m making sense here but this is me trying to express what I’m feeling…??) 

Of course, this is how religion works - (follow our views or get punished and go to hell…?) kind of like the ultimate deterrent. (Again, another blog post). 

So anyway, I’m happily not going to Church and not choosing to believe in a faith as such, and happily having sex with a guy (if I’m lucky) and happily ignoring the fact that I’m going to hell - religion is guilt  but apparently the Church have to jump in and tell me that I’m a moral abomination. Based on their rules, which I don’t follow, they have the right to judge me. And also to tell me to repent. 

THIS IS WHAT MAKE ME VERY ANGRY. Can’t I just be gay and you just be a Christian? Can’t we just get along? You make love to who you want to and I will do the same? The problem obviously is that the religious text outlaws us. 

There are several arguments as to why this shouldn’t be such a big deal (which I am proposing, not necessarily agreeing too): 

• The fallacy of the particular anti-homosexual argument from the bible can be found here : http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/drlaura.asp in a letter which lists several other things that are forbidden by the bible but that happen anyway. (I.e don’t pick and chose which pieces of Bible to believe) 
• The Bible is outdated. As society moves on, so do cultures and beliefs. Are certain parts of the bible really appropriate to today? (Yes, certain moral aspects are yes. Like Don’t kill etc.)
• The whole argument about ‘modern society re-defining marriage to allow gays to marry going against the church’s basic principles’ reeks of hypocrisy. Henry VIII anyone? He founded the church so he could marry who he wanted to! 
• If we don’t subscribe to your way of life, why do you have to fight against ours? Just let us be maaaaaan.

I understand that religious people have a moral code to live by - great. However, the desire to interfere with my life is simply not acceptable. 

“But we cannot stand idle if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation.”

The phrase “Don’t shove it down my throats.” springs to mind. Although Christians may feel they have a moral obligation to tell me I’m going to hell… well, let me deal with that. Also, the phrase “I didn’t judge your marriage” springs to mind. 

So let’s analyse that » 

Looking deeper into the issue, it appears the homosexual lifestyle clashes with The Sanctity of Marriage. Two gays obviously can’t produced biologically natural children. The Church believes the purpose of marriage is to form the stable relationship in which to produce children - marvellously summed up here by a comment from ‘Alice’:

Because the family is the fundamental unit of our church and it takes a man and woman to create life, it is our belief that supporting same sex marriage would be disregarding God’s eternal plan for his children.

- thus, homosexuality becomes outlawed.

(This is why I believe we should live in a secular society, and the concept of marriage shouldn’t be seen to belong to the church… and it wouldn’t be undermining or side-lining religious people’s beliefs, it would be exactly the same as what gay people have now, but you can’t build a belief system on revenge. And this is a completely different blog post). 

Several issues I want to raise here - if the Church believes marriage belongs to them, because God created it ‘for his eternal purpose’, then great. I can see why you have a problem with gays marrying; it goes against the divine purpose and their definition of marriage.

But if God is Love, then the church needs to find a way to be more accepting towards Homosexuals. From some of the comments on the page I’m expressively writing about found at the top of this post, it seems some congregations do accept homosexuals to worship there if they choose to. But the onus seems to be on them talking to God to realise that they are in the wrong. Which I don’t like. 

“Nevertheless, we welcome homosexuals to worship with us, to learn the Gospel and be baptized so they can receive the Holy Ghost who will help them in their quest for peace and happiness.”

Especially as this happiness is defined by terms of their religion. It all seems to be in a big circle of never ending problems. 

Which is why, I was quite resistant to speaking to two Mormon’s who came to the door asking me about my faith, if I have any, and what’s stopping me. As the answer was me sexuality is stopping me, and there was an awkward pause, and then they reassured me that God loves me, I decided to politely take their card and then become infuriated to the point of looking up their website and writing this bog post. I hope this clarifies some kind of argument or at least summaries the position I hold regarding Homosexuality vs Religion. I’m also aware that I’ve written an essay but if you’ve read this far then thanks! 

And to finish, can I just say that I have been writing this with ‘No Church In The Wild’ by Jay-Z, Kanye and Frank Ocean on repeat.

PREACH.