Don't blame the Bible for your homophobia

Article by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr.* published on HuffPost (United States) on March 18, 2013. Freely translated by Gionata Project volunteers.

Many Christians who oppose LGBT rights and same-sex marriage justify their position by appealing to the Bible. But is the Bible really against homosexuality? The answer may surprise you.

(…) But does the Bible really condemn homosexuality? Upon closer inspection, he never definitively answers this question. The biblical foundations underlying the demonization of homosexuality are actually weak and ultimately inconclusive.

Paradoxically, the views on homosexuality so present in American culture and law are based on a surprisingly small number of biblical verses. If we want to counter the idea that God himself has authorized the limitation of the rights of LGBT people, it is essential to know precisely the biblical arguments on which their opponents rely. The following is a brief guide to what the Bible says – and doesn't say – about homosexuality.

I. The story of Sodom: a great misunderstanding

First of all it must be said that the people of biblical antiquity had no idea of ​​homosexuality understood as an identity, orientation or lifestyle. The term "homosexuality" itself was coined only in the second half of the nineteenth century and its first appearance in a biblical translation dates back to 1946, with the Revised Standard Version.

The first biblical passage used to justify the condemnation of homosexuality is the account of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis. From there derive expressions such as "sodomite" or "sodomy law", which led to the criminalization of relationships between people of the same sex, even if consenting.

In the text, a group of men rage against Lot, asking him to bring out his guests (who are actually angels) so they can rape them (Genesis 19.4-9). However, even a cursory reading of the passage shows that those men are not identified as homosexuals. The text speaks rather of an attempt at collective rape aimed at humiliating and dominating.

Yet, from this episode it has been argued that the inhabitants of Sodom were homosexuals and that God destroyed the city because of rampant homosexuality. This interpretation, however, does not appear in the first Christian centuries but only in the Middle Ages, centuries after the definitive drafting of the Bible.

Scripture itself, in reality, provides very different reasons for the condemnation of Sodom. Already in Genesis 13.13, God judges her to be "evil", without specifying the reason. The prophet Ezekiel specifies: "This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, abundance of food and indolent idleness; but she did not help the poor and the needy" (Ezekiel 16,49-50).

Jeremiah (23.13) and Jesus himself (Matthew 10.14-15) also refer to this reading. The Bible, therefore, interprets the "guilt" of Sodom as oppression, selfishness, lack of justice and acceptance - not as a sexual sin.

Yet the term “sodomite” has become synonymous with “homosexual person,” a distortion with no biblical foundation. This misunderstanding has had serious and lasting consequences: much of the homophobia that still afflicts the Christian world today has its roots in this erroneous interpretation.

And if we really wanted to take the story of Sodom literally, then we would also have to accept the idea - present in the story - that it is right to offer one's daughters to appease the violence of a crowd (Genesis 19.8). Those who invoke biblical literalism should do so consistently, not intermittently.

II. The laws of Leviticus and the historical context

The only other direct references to relationships between men are found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Curiously, the Old Testament never mentions lesbianism. The rules of Leviticus and Deuteronomy must be understood in the historical context of the Israelites' settlement in Canaan, where very different religious practices were in force.

Some rites involved male priests dressing up, taking on female roles, or even being castrated to honor fertility deities. In some temples, sacred male and female prostitution was also practiced.

To prevent the Israelites from adopting these cults, severe laws were promulgated: "There must not be any of the daughters of Israel who prostitutes herself in the temples, nor any of the sons of Israel who does so" (Deuteronomy 23.17). And again: “A man shall not lie with a man as one does with a woman: it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18.22) and “if a man lies with another man, both must be put to death” (Leviticus 20.13).

These are precepts created to preserve the religious and cultural identity of the Jewish people, rather than to provide moral teachings valid forever. “Be holy, for I, the Lord, am holy” (Leviticus 19.2): “holiness” (in Hebrew qadosh) meant separation from everything that was foreign to the worship of the God of Israel.

But then, those who choose to take these laws literally should also be consistent about other commands from the same source: stoning adulterers, executing disobedient children or killing a woman raped in the city if she didn't shout enough to be heard.

III. Paul and the “dishonorable passions”

In the New Testament, the two passages most often cited to condemn homosexuality are found in Paul's letters: in the Letter to the Romans and in the First Letter to the Corinthians.

In Romans 1.26-27 we read: "Therefore God abandoned them to shameful passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural relations; in the same way the men also, abandoning natural relations with women, became inflamed with passion for one another."

But here Paul is not talking about homosexuality as an orientation. He's talking about heterosexual people who indulge in excess, in disordered relationships, in an out-of-control sexuality. There is no reference to same-sex love, only lust.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul writes: “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate people (malakoi), nor sodomites (arsenokoitai), nor thieves... will inherit the Kingdom of God”. The Greek terms used are a matter of debate. Malakoi literally means “soft” or “effeminate” and could refer to young victims of forced prostitution.

Arsenokoitai is even more uncertain: it could indicate sexual relations between men, perhaps of a predatory or exploitative nature. But the truth is that we don't know for sure what Paul was referring to. And no one can say that with integrity.

IV. Jesus is silent about homosexuality

In the Gospels, Jesus doesn't say a single word about homosexuality. What he says, instead, is that the two most important commandments are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22,37-39). And how can we say we love our neighbor if we deny them the possibility of living and celebrating love in joy and dignity?

Jesus will then say that the criterion of the final judgment will be justice: "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat... I was a stranger and you welcomed me..." (Matthew 25.35). Nothing to do with the intimacy of the bedroom.

V. “Traditional marriage” is not biblical

Many use the term “traditional marriage” to attack same-sex marriage. But the Bible describes many forms of marriage: polygamy, concubinage, unions with slaves, marriage between sisters with the same man (like Jacob with Rachel and Leah), or the levirate, according to which a widow had to marry her deceased husband's brother.

Jesus himself speaks of the levirate without condemning him. None of these forms are ever defined as “sin”. “Traditional marriage,” therefore, is a cultural invention, not a biblical institution.

Conclusion

So does the Bible really condemn homosexuality and, by extension, same-sex marriage? As we have seen, the evidence is vague, contextual, and easily misinterpreted.

There is no solid basis to support, with intellectual honesty, a conviction. And precisely for this reason, the Bible cannot be used to deny LGBT citizens the rights recognized to others. To do so would not only be unconstitutional, but it would be a true biblical sin.

*Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. is a theologian, pastor, and author of the book “The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church and the Body Politic” (Orbis Books, 2012). He is a Senior Fellow at Opportunity Agenda, a social justice organization.

Original text: Don't Blame It on the Bible