Toto

This is a topic that comes up here on a regular basis:

The Westar Institute (home of the Jesus Seminar) has posted an article by William O. Walker, Jr.

What the New Testament Says about Homosexuality.

Civil1z@tion

What's all this stuff with greek words? I read the Bible in God's language...English.

But seriously, I can think of two main ways that a fundie could still be anti-gay. First, while the NT is mostly silent on homosexuality, the OT does ban it. Second, the aouthor says this:

On the other hand, the NT in the references mentioned seems to assume that homosexuality would only occur because of explotation/idolatry/denial of one's own true nature/insatiable lust. Thus the fundie will say that all gays exhibit one or more of those traits otherwise they wouldn't be gay (especially the third one as that can be far harder to prove to a fundie that you are being yourself, its the old "you're in denial" argument). This might provide support for more liberal churches, but conservative ones can still claim God hates gays.

Minimalist

That still causes the fundies a problem, though. The OT also demands death for disobedient children and working on the sabbath. This puts fundies in a hell of a dilemma ( pun intended.) They can't use the OT to hate gays while ignoring the fact that they are working at their minimum wage Wal Mart jobs all weekend!

Civil1z@tion

They'll then explain that the law was changed by Jesus so working on the Sabaath is ok. Somehow though homosexuality didn't get this (nor the Ten Commandments).

GakuseiDon

Are there known examples of people being put to death for homosexuality in those times? Either in Israel or in the wider Roman Empire?

OneInFundieville

It's interesting what's going on in the Anglican Communion on this.

From what I've read, it seems that the more conservative factions in the communion appeal more so to tradition, to the traditional teachings of what they consider to be orthodoxy than to appeal to what the texts actually says on the topic.

chrisengland

Um didn't St Paul say it was wrong?

Solitary Man

If I recall, it was punishable by death in the Roman army, but I don't remember the source for that, or even if it's true.

Toto

Read the article for a full discussion. There are 3 places where Paul (or whoever wrote the letters attributed to him) seems to condemn homosexuality or indicate that it is unnatural, but the exact translation of the words involved is a matter of some dispute.

The one passage that does clearly mention homosexual sex is Romans 1:26–27. But in this passage, the sexual activities involved are not actually prohibited. They are described as the result of idolatry and other sins.

Toto

The Jewish law called for the death penalty for a lot of things, but we have little evidence that the law was carried out (think of adultery.) Enforcing laws is always more difficult than legislating, and at times (both ancient and modern) it seems that there are people who favor a law being on the books even if they are reluctant to ever carry it out, or who assume that the fear of it being carried out is enough rationale.

The Roman system is described in detail here.