According to a poll from the Nashville-based, Southern Baptist-affiliated LifeWay Research, fewer Americans think homosexuality is a sin.
37% of Americans polled in LifeWay’s November survey believe homosexual behavior to be a sin, a seven percent drop from a similar survey taken in September 2011.
Meanwhile, 45% said that homosexual behavior was not a sin and 17% simply didn’t know, compared to the previous year’s 43% and 13%, respectively.
[It should be noted, however, that the 2012 poll had 953 fewer respondents than in 2011.]
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So what caused this shift in the paradigm?
LifeWay’s Ed Stetzer lays the blame on President Obama’s “evolution on homosexuality,” saying the change was “surprisingly large for a one-year timeframe” though noting, “this was hardly a normal year on this issue.”
With marriage equality victories in four states, a gay friendly presidential administration, military personnel being able to serve openly and the Supreme Court getting ready to tackle two cases that could determine the fate of same-sex marriage in the nation, that year between surveys was all kinds of queer.
But for Rev. Cindy Andrews-Looper of Holy Trinity Community Church in Nashville, whose congregation has a large number of gay members, being gay is as much a sin as being left-handed (which you know who is).
“Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn anyone,” Andrews-Looper told USA Today. “To use the gospel to condemn anyone is missing the point.”
Rev. Louie Giglio learned that the hard way. Giglio was scheduled to deliver the benediction at Obama’s inauguration ceremony , but withdrew after an anti-gay sermon he delivered some years ago resurfaced on the internet.
Stetzer anticipates more conflicts like this in the future.
“The culture is clearly shifting on homosexuality, and this creates a whole new issue, ” he said in a statement. “How will America deal with a minority view, strongly held by Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and so many others?”
We guess the same way America always deals with minorities: by ignoring them.
leliorisen
To be honest, I no longer care if people think my being gay is a sin, or if they think it is okay as long as I do not have relations with my partner. I pay taxes and I will be having my full civil rights in this country whether bigots like it or not. It is just a matter of when.
There was a point when majority opinion decided it wasn’t okay for slaves to be emancipated, for blacks and whites to inter-marry, for women to be allowed to vote, and so on….In the future, attitudes towards gay people will be looked at in the same way.
If anybody thinks that any religious book, or any ‘spiritual book’, at any rate, is focused on singling out gay people to revile, they are just fulfilling their own bigoted agenda. The Bible, for example, emphasized love. Jesus is not quoted as saying that 2 members of the same sex should not be able to love each other. The Old Testament advocated death to children who cursed their mother or father, or who disobeyed Sabbath law.
Many who claim to be Christian. including many gay people, think gay marriage is okay. Why is our freedom of religion being trampled upon? If you do not believe in same-sex marriage, do not marry a gay person. No place of worship is ever obligated to perform a ceremony that their religion is against. Inter-religious marriage is a perfect example of this.
To those who believe that God is the creator, ask yourself this….why is homosexuality a naturally-occurring event found in more than 450 species. And why is homophobia found in only 1? The same species, as it happens, that wages war, and has tortured and killed millions over the centuries, all in the alleged name of their God.
Bigotry is not of God. It has a unique evil, all its own.
@leliorisen
kevininbuffalo
@leliorisen: I agree 100%!
Shannon1981
I am so glad that I am not religious. This is no longer my struggle. I will fight this battle in the courts and on the streets rallying, as the legal part is all that matters. Who gives a damn what a bunch of bigoted people who believe there is a magic man in the sky looking down think.
jmmartin
And remember, some of the hold-outs also believe Eve met a talking snake, that Adam hunted dinosaurs (some say saddled and rode them), and that 9/11 happened because God works in mysterious ways. When is this religions nonsense — all religion — going to stop? When are these hold-outs going to start thinking critically and using reason, not superstitious mumbo jumbo.
balehead
It was never a sin….read the bible right already!!
KARUADAM
I AM A SINER, BUT WHAT TH`E FUCK I AM NOT FUCKING CHRISTIAN!!
Provine
No one gives a shit what a bunch of inbred sociopaths think. They can take their superstitions straight to their graves.
CivicMinded
I think this year’s evolution had more to do with Ahmedinejad coming to the U.S. and saying that Iran had no gay people. The audience laughed at him. That made me realize that many Americans realize that gay people have always been and always will be. I think many more Americans finally accepted that they believe this too. Thank you Mr. President of Iran.
jollybygolly
sin or not, put it in my hot mouth!
Joel J
Sin is a concept created by the clergy for the purpose of controlling others.
SkeeterVT
I was raised as a Roman Catholic, but renounced Catholicism more than 40 years ago. I found it mind-boggling — even as a kid — the various degrees of “sin” that the church declared.
The only one that made sense to me was “mortal sin” — namely, murder. Killing another human being with premeditation is far beyond a “mortal sin,” it is a CRIME.
The others:
“Original sin” — Utter nonsense. To be born with having to bear responsibility for th sins of your ancestors is an obscene insult to all newborn babies.
“Venial sin” — It’s been so long since I read that term in my Catechism that I barely remember its meaning. I suppose it has to do with vanity.
Joel J
@SkeeterVT: Dante Aligheri explains it all in his Inferno. Actually, I prefer Boccaccio’s Decameron with its tales of erotic love.