Comments on: High school student opposed to homosexuality will not have negative mark on record

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:34:24 +0000

@jtah … Well I see we have yet another new visitor to the blog who has confused behavior with identity and … additionally … has an opinion on a situation for which the facts are sketchy. And you have even pulled out the Nazi Card .. (Yawn) We’ve heard it all before.
Reality check here … we don’t know all the facts about what happened with this student. Context is key .. ..was he having a private conversation or was he doing something else??
Example of how context is critical: Lets say a student is discussing terrorist actions on 9/11 (with fellow students in a private conversation) and says that he believes all Muslims are terrorists (which of course is not true). Unless a teacher decides to make this a teachable moment the off-handed remark passes into obscurity.
But .. what if the teacher is a Muslim and the student is always making loud mouth remarks of this kind in the teacher’s classroom???? This would require intervention since it is disruptive to learning and reflects bigotry and disrespect toward the teacher. (if it was a Muslim student that was being taunted this would also require intervention.)
Are some Muslims terrorists? .. Yes .. are all Muslims terrorists? No .. thus the above represents stereotyping . If it is not in casual conversation but is instead used to ridicule someone else then it has gone beyond misinformation and moved into hateful remarks and/or bullying.
Taking this a step further …
Being a Muslim is a choice .. Being gay is not .. so if the hypothetical example I have given applies to someone who has chosen their religion then it certainly applies in parallel to someone who has not chosen their orientation. And again .. all gay folks do not believe or practice the same thing .. so generalizations here would be stereotyping as well.
——–
In school situations such as this one .. Christian far right groups .. and I suppose Christian and nonChristian gay rights groups tend to spin such a story to their advantage. This leaves us with the disadvantage of not knowing what has actually taken place.
Additionally ..not all Christians interpret the scriptures the same way on this issue .. so your making blanket statements about what the bible says is misleading. This blog includes participants from a variety of viewpoints who typically have a common concern over misinformation particularly in the area of sexual identity, politics and the culture wars that ensue. Again .. though we have diverse views..we have a common concern for people and how they are treated.
Dave

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:34:23 +0000

Jtah is correct to point out that the Bible should be interpreted using proper hermeneutics; so also should be the Qur’an.
The key difference between the two religions is the place of ‘The Book’. For Muslims, the Qur’an is the Message; for Christians, the Bible is the messenger: the Word was made Flesh. The main theological problem facing Christianity is desire to turn the Word back into words; the main theological problem (from a Christian perspective) with both Islam and fundamentalist heresies within Christianity is that mere words are always inadequate for expressing the truth about God.
I know Muslims who are both moderate and extremely well-versed in the contents of the Qur’an; while they and I have our theological differences, we can engage in meaningful dialogue … and we share a deep concern about ‘fundamentalist heresies’ in our respective religions.
As for ‘Tradition’: this is very important in religion, and ‘healthy tradition’ is a dynamic and evolving thing which is constantly being tested against both Scripture and Reason/Conscience. For those who understand that the ultimate Message is enshrined in a Person, there are no pat answers or trite party lines … but rather an ongoing search for truth.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:34:22 +0000

Yes – well said indeed.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:34:22 +0000

jtah# ~ Sep 30, 2011 at 9:56 am
Regarding your sources.
http://www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/white_papers/Health_Risks.pdf
this paper is a piece by Dr. John Diggs a name familiar to me. Rather than write why this article is crap, I’ll just point you to this link about Diggs (and his paper ):
Diggs rebuttal
http://www.personal.psu.edu/glm7/m160.htm
This article is an interview with a guy named Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons. Don’t recall that name, but from the start of the article:

Fitzgibbons: Homosexuality was diagnosed and treated as a psychiatric illness — abnormal behavior — until 1973, when it was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in psychiatry because of political pressure. (emphasis in original)

this tells me Dr. Fitzgibbons isn’t interested in the facts about sexual orientation, just that he wants to repeat over used misrepresentations. and it looks like the rest of his comments are similarly biased interpretations of other’s work.
http://www.narth.com/docs/whitehead.html
Ah NARTH, I knew they would show up on your list. I’ll assume you are new here, but NARTHs credibility on these issues was shoot down on this blog long ago.
http://www.ncfpc.org/FNC/0707S3.html
http://www.wpaag.org/Homosexuals%20and%20Same%20Sex%20Marriage.htm
these last 2 are conservative christian web sites that are just pushing their anti-gay agenda.
The problem with your (and your sources) arguments are way you (pl) are using the research. You (and they) are not looking at medical research the way it was intended, which is to determine causes of illness and find ways to prevent and/or cure them. Instead, what you are doing is trying to use the research to condemn a class of people you don’t like. And the problem with that (other than the condemn those you don’t like part) is that you are taking just the bits that support your political views and ignoring the rest, which ends up misrepresenting what the original research actually says and is deceptive at best.

By: Jayhuck

Jayhuck — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:34:22 +0000

Jtah –

There are also many medical professionals within my family (mostly doctors and lawers in my family… I’m the oddball and chose a IT field) who have stated the medical problems that are presented within these articles to me.

The vast majority of professional medical, social working, nursing, and psychological groups do not agree with you, or the few, mostly conservative and Christian groups you listed, that homosexuality is a disease.
I wonder how many times we’ve dealt with this exact same issue on this blog? LOL. If I had a dime… 🙂