To the Editor:
In response to David Eil's Viewpoint ("A multifaceted faith," 10/26), an attack on my Viewpoint ("Clarifying Christianity," 10/24), I would like to first commend his increasingly unusual recognition that the nature of liberalism is tolerating minority views. I would also like to thank him for reiterating the fact that the Christian disdain of homosexuality is not based on fear or hatred, with some shameful exceptions, of course. Beyond this, however, Eil misunderstood much of my terminology, and passed off my arguments as very offensive, even to me. For example, he implies that I consider homosexuality a sin. I thought I was clear that only actions freely chosen could be sins.
Homosexuality, like alcoholism, is a predisposition towards abuse of one's faculties, not a sin itself. He also implied that I expect homosexuals to deny their sexuality and that I disapprove of homosexual ordination. In fact, I want people to recognize their tendencies towards sinful behavior (which, incidentally, also includes the heterosexual tendency to have premarital sex) and seek to avoid those sins. And respectable denominations have always ordained homosexuals, as long as they hold themselves to the same moral standards as everyone else (i.e., no sex outside of marriage - or, in the case of Roman Catholic clergy, no sex at all). Eil then presumed that, if I were sterile, I would not then consider my sexuality as "meeting all the criteria for an unintended aspect of fallen nature." In fact, I would. Would Eil want me to think that it was God's will that I was sterile? To me, that would be cause for self-loathing.
The point I have been trying to make is that traditional Christianity treats homosexuals the same as others, not differently. There is, as Eil explains, even within Christianity, disagreement as to whether homosexuality is a flaw, like sterility. Although I disagree with it, I can respect the reasonable position that says that a marriage-like homosexual relationship is morally sound. I would just implore the University not to discount the traditional position, which retains the worldwide and historical majority among Christians, as an evil and intolerable sentiment.
Andrew Gould, LA '01
