So the catalyst for this is a Corner post from Tim Graham:
Howard Dean decides that his decision to back gay “civil unions” was actually a faith-based move. “The overwhelming evidence is that there is very significant, substantial genetic component to it…From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.”
Sure, Howard, I remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God thought about destroying them for their sins, and then remembered he’d given everyone the genetic predisposition for all that, so it couldn’t be sin, and they were spared? Dean is telling voters that the Word of God is irrelevant to his religious views.
Of course, “sodomy” is now a synonym for “ass sex,” but if you actually look at the story, you’d be hard pressed to conclude that’s actually the reason for the city’s destruction. Recall that a couple of angels show up to suss out the town, Lot invites them in for dinner, and the rest of the men in the city attempt to break down the door and gang rape them. God is duly horrified and torches Sodom. Multiple choice—the conclusion a sane person draws from this story is:
(A) God disapproves of the gang rape of guests; you should show travellers hospitality, as Lot did.
(B)Aha! God hates gay sex!
Sure, there are a handful of other spots where homosexuality is called an “abomination,” and there’s Paul’s hissy fit in Romans. Of the few things said in the Bible about homosexuality, I don’t think there’s much of anything nice. But are we really supposed to infer that what was primarily wrong with the men of Sodom in this story was that they tried to rape men coming through town? God would’ve been a-OK if they’d gone after a pair of female angels? Always struck me as the sort of interpretation that tells more about the reader than the story.
Of course, Tim can always appeal to Leviticus’ proscription of homosexuality for his attack on Dean. I’ll even give him ammunition: Dean also appears to be against slavery and has never once called for exiling couples who have sex during the woman’s menstrual period! Clearly, the “Word of God is irrelevant to his religious views.” Go get ’em Timmy!
