Saturday, March 31, 2007
how to offend everyone
The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has suggested that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and one of the country’s evangelical leaders, posted the article on his personal Web site earlier this month.
Mr. Mohler said in the article that scientific research “points to some level of biological causation” for homosexuality.
That suggestion offended fellow conservatives, Mr. Mohler said. Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality, which they view as sinful, is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.
But Mr. Mohler said he was criticized even more strongly by supporters of gay rights, who were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medical treatment that could change an unborn child’s sexual orientation.
“He’s willing to play God,” said Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issues for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group. “He’s more than willing to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how he responds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about not tinkering with the unborn.”
The article, published on March 2, carried a long but intriguing title: “Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?”
Mr. Mohler began by summarizing some recent research into sexual orientation and advising his Christian readership that they should brace for the possibility that a biological basis for homosexuality might be proven.
He wrote that such proof would not alter the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, but said the discovery would be “of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations.
