I see that I’ve been named on the Pink List – the list of prominent LBGT people produced by the Independent on Sunday.
Feel hugely honoured and humbled to be keeping company with such heros.
Check them out:
Pink List
4 responses to “Book Review”
-
I think you miss the point of the book Kelvin. It’s meant to be a guide to listening to *all* sides of the debate, not just those you agree with. That’s what makes the last section so good, because it forces us to deal realistically not just with the genuine evidence on the causality of homosexuality, but also the fact that some people *do* see remarkable change in their sexual orientation (and that others don’t).
-
We were not called by the last Lambeth Conference to listen to all sides in the debate.
-
Ruth Gledhill has posted a PDF of the whole thing, for those interested:
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/files/Final.pdf -
I’ve now read the ‘scientific’ section – thanks for the link ryan – and I thought it was mixed. I thought Glynn Harrison made a serious attempt at dispassion. I think it is a fair point that any person must decide their own priorities, and the final argument must be between theologies, not sciences. I was not so impressed by David de Pomerai – though one could hardly quarrel with his conclusion that we simply do not know exactly what makes one person homosexual and the next heterosexual. However his whole argument was bedevilled by assumptions that, e.g. homosexual men will be more effeminate than straight ones. Anecdotal evidence instantly produces examples where it is the straight male siblings who are drama queens and run from spiders, while gay ones take it all in their stride.
It must be accepted that both gay and straight people live with voluntary or enforced celibacy with no ill effects – and that some people can change their sexual orientation and live happily with the change. What I found truly heart rending were the desperate attempts and the high cost to those who actually did succeed in changing orientation – however much Harrison denies the skin colour analogy, it reminded me painfully of those endless jars of skin lightener which encrust Sri Lankan chemists, where beauty is measured in skin tone. Because whether or not genetic, orientation is not a simple free choice. But I suppose the answer would be: ‘And what is?’
The final point, though, is always the same. Is Christianity a religion of an authoritative book, or an authoritative Person?
Previous Posts
-
Joseph Lamb
Hmm – I’m discovering Joseph Lamb’s piano rags for the first time. Not too bad at Champagne Rag, but definitely stumbling through Sensation Rag. And I thought that Joplin was the last word in ragtime.
-
Naming the Demons – Sermon 20 June 2004
What demons live in us! Competing voices which ensure that we are distracted from the still points where God can meet us. Voices which distract, torment, dominate and control us to the point that we can not longer hear the voice of the One who knows our name and can offer us nourishment, salvation, strength…
-
Aha
Had an aha moment this evening when this question popped into my head… Are the Jeffrey John and Gene Robinson affairs not just reruns of the Donatist controversy? If so, of course, we know what the outcome will be.
-
Internet?
To me, the net is all about people. Community breaks out where people have meeting places and all of a sudden, we have the power for people to meet in so many new ways. There are far too many places online where we are offered information only as though we are supposed to think of…
Leave a Reply