Category Archives: Sexuality

Same-sex marriage: not near so much like a ball

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“I should like balls infinitely better… if they were carried on in a different manner… It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of the day.”

“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball.”

(Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

Peter Tatchell and Peter D Williams recently discussed the question of same-sex marriage.  Tatchell is, of course, a well-known human rights activist and supports same-sex marriage. …

Ten reasons not to legalise same-sex marriage

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Writing for the Christian Medical Fellowship, Dr Peter Saunders comments that there is increasing pressure in Britain to permit same-sex marriage.  The question for many has become how (not if) the law should be changed.

Dr Saunders gives ten reasons why the law should not be changed:-

1. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman

Throughout  history in virtually all cultures and faiths throughout the world,  marriage has been held to be the union of one man and one woman. …

Money, sex and power

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Money, sex and power, writes Richard Foster, are inseparably intertwined:-

Money manifests itself as power.  Sex is used to acquire both money and power.  And power is often called ‘the best aphrodisiac’.  We could discuss at length the interlacing connections.  There is, for example, an important relationship between sex and poverty: sex is the poor man’s holiday and the poor woman’s disaster.  Note also the connection between power and wealth: power is frequently used to manipulate wealth, and wealth is used just as frequently to buy power. 

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Catholic abuse scandal – is celibacy to blame?

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The Catholic clerical abuse scandal is, of course, very bad news: first and foremost, for the victims, second for the Catholic church, and third for all those – inside and outside the Catholic church – who find themselves tarnished by real or imagined association.

The recent remarks of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to the effect that it is homosexuality, rather than celibacy, which lay behind the abuse of children, has led to indignation in many quarters.

My belief (and I’m speaking from long experience in health care generally, and knowledge of long-stay ‘institutions’) is that enforced abstention from heterosexual relationships leads to an increase in the incidence of deviant sexual behaviours.…

Why are Protestants keeping quiet about Clerical Abuse?

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Sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy is hitting the news on a daily basis just at the moment.  The apparent scale the abuse itself, together with alleged cover-ups implicating even the present Pope himself, is doing the reputation of the Catholic church immense harm.

The secular media is full of it.  Anti-religionists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are having a field day.  But why are Protestant spokespersons saying so little about it?

Martin Marty, veteran US religious commentator, offers the following reasons:-

1. …

Song 7:9b-8:7 – Aspects of love – sermon notes

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The Song of Songs is a strange, unique, beautiful book.

Strange – partly because God isn’t mentioned from beginning to end.

Unique – because it is the one book of the Bible that gives a sustained and detailed celebration of love between a man and a woman.

Beautiful – because it does all of this in wonderfully imaginative poetry. It has every right to be called ‘The Song of Songs’, the greatest love song of them all.…

Children need fathers

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A recent change in UK law means that women in same-sex relationships can now register both their names on the birth certificate of a child conceived as a result of fertility treatment.

Instead of the usual allocation of one mother and one father, one would suppose that the child would therefore have two mothers in the sight of the law.  However, this will not be the case: a birth certificate will be used which, instead of having a ‘mother’ and a ‘father’ section, with have two ‘parent’ sections.…

CMS rethinks Greenbelt seminars

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This year’s Greenbelt festival is causing concern in some quarters because of the plans to welcome as a speaker the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson. Greenbelt will also give a platform to other gay rights campaigners such as the Rev Giles Fraser and worship groups OuterSpace and Journey.

By way of response, the Church Mission Society is considering holding seminars in which the orthodox view of human sexuality will be promoted.

One thing that intrigued me about all of this was a comment by the Rev Sharon Ferguson, spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.…

Homosexual relationships

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I hesitate to contribute anything on this subject, discussion of which tends generate more heat than light.  But perhaps if only to demonstrate that there is a way of seeking to be faithful to Scripture which does not amount to a homophobic rant, I offer the following.

Statistics

I remember that when I was at school in the 1960s, our class was informed that about 10% of the population was homosexual.  …