`Gay baby' article irks both sides - Baptist leader's theory assailed on left, right
`Gay baby' article irks both sides - Baptist leader's theory assailed on left, right
By David Crary
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published March 15, 2007
NEW YORK -- The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has incurred sharp attacks from the left and right by suggesting that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelical leaders, acknowledged he irked many fellow conservatives with a blog article this month saying scientific research "points to some level of biological causation" for homosexuality.
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.
However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible treatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation to heterosexual.
"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a 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."
Mohler said he was aware of the invective being directed at him on gay-rights blogs, where some have likened him to Josef Mengele, the Nazi notorious for death-camp experimentation.
"I wonder if people actually read what I wrote," Mohler said in a phone interview. "But I wrote the article intending to start a conversation, and I think I've been successful at that."
The blog article, published March 2 on Mohler's personal Web site (albertmohler.com), was titled: "Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?"
Mohler began by summarizing recent research into sexual orientation, and advising readers to brace for the possibility that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven.
Mohler wrote that such proof would not alter the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality, but said that the discovery would be "of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations."
Mohler said he would strongly oppose any move to encourage abortion or genetic manipulation of fetuses on grounds of sexual orientation, but he would endorse prenatal hormonal treatment--if such a technology were developed--to reverse homosexuality.
"I realize this sounds very offensive to homosexuals, but it's the only way a Christian can look at it," Mohler said.
Mohler's argument was endorsed by Rev. Joseph Fessio, editor of Ignatius Press, Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. publisher.
"Same-sex activity is considered disordered," Fessio said. "If there are ways of detecting diseases or disorders of children in the womb, and a way of treating them that respected the dignity of the child and mother, it would be a wonderful advancement of science."
Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York City psychiatrist critical of those who consider homosexuality a disorder, commended Mohler's openness to the prospect that it is biologically based.
"This represents a major shift," Drescher said. "This is a man who actually has an open mind, who is struggling to reconcile his religious beliefs with facts that contradict it."
By David Crary
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published March 15, 2007
NEW YORK -- The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has incurred sharp attacks from the left and right by suggesting that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelical leaders, acknowledged he irked many fellow conservatives with a blog article this month saying scientific research "points to some level of biological causation" for homosexuality.
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.
However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible treatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation to heterosexual.
"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a 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."
Mohler said he was aware of the invective being directed at him on gay-rights blogs, where some have likened him to Josef Mengele, the Nazi notorious for death-camp experimentation.
"I wonder if people actually read what I wrote," Mohler said in a phone interview. "But I wrote the article intending to start a conversation, and I think I've been successful at that."
The blog article, published March 2 on Mohler's personal Web site (albertmohler.com), was titled: "Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?"
Mohler began by summarizing recent research into sexual orientation, and advising readers to brace for the possibility that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven.
Mohler wrote that such proof would not alter the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality, but said that the discovery would be "of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations."
Mohler said he would strongly oppose any move to encourage abortion or genetic manipulation of fetuses on grounds of sexual orientation, but he would endorse prenatal hormonal treatment--if such a technology were developed--to reverse homosexuality.
"I realize this sounds very offensive to homosexuals, but it's the only way a Christian can look at it," Mohler said.
Mohler's argument was endorsed by Rev. Joseph Fessio, editor of Ignatius Press, Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. publisher.
"Same-sex activity is considered disordered," Fessio said. "If there are ways of detecting diseases or disorders of children in the womb, and a way of treating them that respected the dignity of the child and mother, it would be a wonderful advancement of science."
Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York City psychiatrist critical of those who consider homosexuality a disorder, commended Mohler's openness to the prospect that it is biologically based.
"This represents a major shift," Drescher said. "This is a man who actually has an open mind, who is struggling to reconcile his religious beliefs with facts that contradict it."
posted by Carlos T Mock at 1:09 PM
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