Is there any religion that does not oppose homosexuality?

julia said:
Thanks for your reply!

I'm interested: How do you align the tolerance of homosexual relationships or practices with the mosaic laws about sexual behavior? Or how do you decide which laws to take literally and which to discard as outdated?
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If I recall, there were some good posts in the Homosexuality thread that dealt with this - basically, the philosophy as I understand it is that there are a LOT of commandments. Nobody follows all of them, so why go ballistic over one of the ones that's not even repeated. Now, cheeseburgers, *they're* evil (the commandment against seething the calf in the milk of its mother is repeated three times...)

... Bruce
 
Hi Bruce!

Isn't it also about whether I think the scripture is the word of God or man? To me, the bible is merely a book written by humans - thus, they can make mistakes and regardless of how frequently they repeat that error, it will still be an error.

On the other hand this also explains my difficulties with catholic dogma: Once you concede that the bible may be wrong you will have to start from scratch to find out for yourself what the rules are. But maybe that's not too bad after all.

;)

Julia
 
If you look inside yourself, you'll find what the rules really are. Nobody needs 2,000 years of Rube Goldberg-like dogma to tell them about love, tolerance, forgiveness and temperance.
 
julia said:
I'm interested: How do you align the tolerance of homosexual relationships or practices with the mosaic laws about sexual behavior? Or how do you decide which laws to take literally and which to discard as outdated?
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Bruce answered it pretty well. Nobody takes the all the laws literally. Nobody stones to death disobedient children, or violators of the Sabbath (to take just a couple of examples). But we're not "discarding the laws as outdated," either. Rather we're trying to find ways to make them relevant and meaningful in our lives as Jews in the contemporary world. That's what makes the Torah a living, powerful, text--interpretation and application.
 
Quakers are extremely gay-friendly, there are GLBT groups in all the major Christian denominations, as well religions such as Gathic Zoroastrianism and some branches of Hinduism and Buddhism are also gay=friendly.

Kiwimac
 
Why 'shop' from organised religions? Your own thoughts are just as valid as those individuals that penned each religion.

Each religion is merely a man made interpretation / theory. Imagine if Africa had had the first indusrtial revolution and spread thier indeginous religions instead of the other way round. We would then have a whole other shopping list of religions.
Consider that us as a species will eventually die out. After that another species will rise. They will have thier own religions. In other words, your own inner belief - blend is just as valid as one already established.

May not work for you, but I feel great contentment that I dont have to 'buy - in' to the thoughts of others, and that my own beliefs and responses are entirely mine and entirely self - generated.
 
Namaste all,


back in the Buddhas day, homosexuals were actually considered to be a third gender, so it wasn't really much of an issue at all.

of course, within the context of the monastic enviornment, sexual activity of any sort is prohibited... part of being a monk or nun. within the context of the Buddhist laiety, however, there is no prohibition upon a beings sexual preference. the Buddhist ethical concerns in this regard are more for sexual misconduct rather than sexuality itself. Buddhism teaches that beings that engage in sexual misconduct usually end up more unhappy than they were when they started. sexual misconduct is a broad category that includes all manner of coereced sexual contact and more.
 
I can tell you that the earth-based religions are very excepting of homosexuals. I am wiccan and my boyfriend is a pagan and a bisexual. Most pagans do not descriminate against others regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or sexual identity. But you have grown up as a Catholic and our practices are alot different and they might not be for you.

If it helps you could always look up and explore some other religions before choosing. Listen to yourself because you are the one that has to decide.
 
Taoism, Buddhism, Paganism... umm I'd say Shinto and Confucianism are fairly safe bets, although I'm not sure. I'd say a homosexual would be okay in Jainism as well.

According to a monk I've spoken to, "There are no exceptions." If you're heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual it doesn't matter - the same rules apply.
 
Hi, I'm new here (boy, what a way to introduce myself, lol), but Julia, I was in the same position you are now.

I'm gay and a now ex-Catholic. It wasn't the election of ol' Benny that did me in, it was John Paul II. So dig this, the Catholic Church hid these pedophile monsters for years, but when gays and lesbians want to get married, the Church stumbles all over itself rushing to proclaim gay marriage an "ideology of evil."

That did it, I want a new religion!

I thought briefly about the Espicopalians, but with the election of V Gene Robinson, they threatened a war "church by church." Ughh! Didn't sound too appealing to me.

So, my thoughts turned eastward. That meant renouncing Christianity entirely.

I studied Toaism for awhile. That appealed to me. The western mind thinks of things in duality, "good" ,"evil", "right", "wrong", "righteous", "sinners."
Eastern tought transcends that type of thinging. Things are more, cyclical, not so entrenched into dualistic thinking, dogma, and ideology.

Anyways, I settled on Buddhism. Sure, it has precepts, but they are guides, not commandments. No one will punish you or reward you if you don't follow them. Plus, the Buddha taught for 45 years after his enlightenment, and homosexuality was soooo important, he never said a word about it.

The Dalai Lama said some things regarding homosexuality that don't set too well with me, but the Dalai Lama is the leader of the Tibetan tradition, and I don't follow that tradition, so we disagree, simple as that.

Anyways again, I look at it this way. Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of time, long before Jesus, the Buddah, Moses, Mohammed, ect.
Our understanding of human sexuality is vastly different than the thinking 2000-3000 years ago. We need to look at the Bible, Torah, Darhma, ect to today's culture and circimstances.

Peace and compassion to all.
 
A teacher at the Buddhist centre I go to has talked about the Dalai Lama with me. We've come to an agreement that the Dalai Lama, as much as we respect him, says... a lot of things. He has some really conservative views one day and the next he's preaching equality for everyone, no matter what they're into.

It sounds kind of... bad, but take what he says with a grain of salt. Don't take the words of any Buddhist teachers and leaders as gospel until you really know you can trust them, the dharma says that.
 
Hare Krishna

The thing is that it is not so important whether a certain religion will accept you as homosexual but what that religion will teach you.

# The Vedic culture teach everyone - aham brahmasmi - I am a spirit soul.
# Material designation of the body are misleading in spiritual life
# E.g. to say "I am a man", "I am a woman", "I am a professor", "I am American", or to ascribe to ourselves any other material designation of this material world all belongs to the bodily concept of life.
# to say "I am homosexual is also one of the illusions of bodily identification.

# when one is aware that "I am an eternal spirit soul" that makes one think
# "what is the meaning that I do all the things for my body?"
# "what is the meaning of my sexual, homosexual, hedonistic or whatever activities for my body?"
# "I don't do anything for my soul"
# therefor, by being aware that "I am a spirit soul" ones passion become greatly decreased
# at that time with a cool mind one can more concentrate on spiritual thoughts and activities
# actually it is even said that real spiritual life begins from the point when one fully understand "I am not this body, I am a spirit soul".

# So, according to spiritual consideration one is not a homosexual.

# but to come to this understanding there is a need of a practical process that can purify the material consciousness of bodily awareness and
# elevate that consciousness to higher spiritual consciousness where one is fully realized as a spirit soul
# Because I am a Hare Krishna devotee (before I was Christian) I would recommend to you the chanting (or meditation) of the Holy name of God
# we chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna / Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama / Rama Rama Hare Hare
# these spiritual names of God elevate our consciousness to the spiritual platform
# If you don't like to chant Hare Krishna, I would still encourage you to chant any other name of God that you like
# all the different names of God that refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is one without a second, are spiritually very potent and can help one to attain the ultimate desired result, self-realisation
 
Namaste Saponification,

thank you for the post.


Saponification said:
A teacher at the Buddhist centre I go to has talked about the Dalai Lama with me. We've come to an agreement that the Dalai Lama, as much as we respect him, says... a lot of things. He has some really conservative views one day and the next he's preaching equality for everyone, no matter what they're into.

It sounds kind of... bad, but take what he says with a grain of salt. Don't take the words of any Buddhist teachers and leaders as gospel until you really know you can trust them, the dharma says that.
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Upaya is generally the reason why you see different things from His Holiness.
 
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