Dawsonzhu@aol.com wrote:
> John Burgeson wrote:
>
> > Tolerance is better than hate. Acceptance is better than tolerance. Rehab
> > is, as far as I can see, a false hope for persons with a homosexual
> > affinity. AT least most of them.
> >
> >
>
> I'm sure I can find this out somewhere, but anyway,
> you have posted on several occasions that being gay
> is genetic. Is there strong evidence for a locus
> (probably several if true) for "gayness", or is it
> still mainly a matter of conjecture.
>
> If being gay is a genetic disposition, then it is
> not entirely a matter of free will anymore, and that
> changes how one should view a person who exhibits
> such behavior. It also raise issues about social
> responsibility in some cases. For example, to
> what extent should we hold a gay responsible in a
> case of child molestation? And if pedophiles are
> shown to have a genetic disposition, what then?
>
> I know this is a big bomb to drop, but
> clearly, crimes committed in the conditions of free
> will are different from crimes committed by people
> not so possessed with a free will. There is a real
> conflict between mere scientific analysis, and the
> social consequences of such behaviors. It would
> not be trivial to reconcile these at all.
We need to make a distinction between a "genetic" condition, one which
(in whole or part) is due to coding in the DNA, & a condition that someone is
"born with" in the sense that it is caused by environmental factors _in utero_
or (by extension) at a very early age. Cystic fibrosis is an example of the
first, fetal alcohol syndrome of the second.
I believe (though I am subject to correction) that the
putative evidence
for a "gay gene" has gone away. In any case that would have
suggested a genetic
link only for male homosexuality. But even if there is no genetic basis for
homosexuality, there seems good reason to believe that homosexual
orientation is
formed at a very early age & is not simply chosen.
In any case homosexual genital activity does not necessarily
follow from
homosexual orientation, any more than heterosexual activity necessarily follows
from heterosexual orientation or drinking from being an alcohol.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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