Pete's Blog

I listened again to Dr. Mohler's DTS (i.e., the Dallas Theological Seminary) lectureship on The New Atheism (here is the audio of parts 1, 2, 3 and 4) yesterday. As should be unsurprising, much of the discussion surrounded evolution. As I was thinking about atheism, I know that one of the loudest trumpets blowing for the end of faith - at least the end of faith in Christianity - is for the maltreatment of homosexuality. But as I mused on how homosexuality fit into evolution, I realized that they seem incompatible. In evolutionary thought, there is only the survival of the fittest. Since homosexuals are unable to reproduce, it seems like a disadvantageous so-called adaptation. Why are the atheists so eager to accept this behaviour when it is clearly counter productive to the advancement of the species (if you adamantly believe in evolution)? It doesn't make sense.

 

And homosexuality doesn't fit into Judaism ("If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them," Le. 20:13), Christianity ("Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God," 1Co. 6:9, 10) or Islam ("We also sent Lut: He said to his people: Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds. And his people gave no answer but this: they said, 'Drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!'" Qur'an 7:80-82).

 

I'm not trying to be harsh. I simply don't understand why atheists contend so much with theists over the issue of homosexuality. I think that it is tragic that sexual sins can be so alluring that so many reject authoritative theism (e.g., a religion that follows its sacred text literally, in contrast to liberal theism) on the basis of their sexual sins (e.g., Christopher Hitchens says that theism is responsible for sexual repression, homosexuals saying that the Bible is a hate text).