July 28, 2011

A Paradox of Unity in the Church

Intro

Seems to me there are two sorts of "unity" often confused and thought of as one. We want Christians to be united with each other and for the divisions among Christians to end. This is, I take it, what the Pope in some recent remarks meant by "full visible union...". But he also asked the rhetorical question: "Is Christ divided?" Christ is one and His Church is one because it is His body. But the oneness or unity of the Church is not the same as the oneness or unity of Christians whose divisions, let us suppose, have ended.

This difference is, then, very important to understanding the following paradox: Christ's Church cannot be divided but members within it and some of those professing to be members are, amongst each other, divided.

So how do we solve this paradox?

July 27, 2011

Three Myths Concerning Homosexuality

I recently heard on NPR some people endorse three myths:
  1. Those children who don't conform to the gender patterns of culture are probably gay.
  2. Those with homoerotic desire must have been born with it just as those with desire for food were born desiring to suckle (it was said on the show like this: "we are hard-wired").
  3. The religious right teaches that if you're a homosexual then you intentionally destroy the family and marriage (or at least causally contribute to their destruction).
The first two have no scientific support and the first I've seen denied by a gay sociologist. The last myth is just a case of sloppy and confused thinking.