Choice

Someone I know, who will go undescribed beyond that, has become a "Christian" rather late in life. I don't or wouldn't have an issue with that except that he has become fond of making pronouncements that he has fairly obviously introjected from his church or pastor if not a certain media outlet.

"This is a Christian nation."

Wince.

And "Being gay is not organic. It is a choice." Double wince. So what does "organic" mean, I ask?

"I'm being kind. It's more than just genetic. It is a choice."

And I'm thinking that if you have any gay friends I hope like hell you don't say that to one of them who spends more time in the gym than you do.

I've done a little research into the various studies and it is pretty clear to me that while there may not be a "gay gene," that there is a genetic component of some kind. Some of the studies of brothers where the frequency of homosexuality is higher among the younger brothers of older brothers suggests that there might be something in the hormonal transactions in the prebirth environment that has an influence. Boys get made in the womb as zygotes begin as female and a sequence of hormonal events connected to the XY chromosome creates boys. That is probably highly unscientifc and oversimplified, but that is what happens. A womb that has delivered boys is a different environment that one that has not. Of course nothing is as simple as nature or nurture and is much more likely to be nature AND nurture.

But my friend the "Christian" will have none of that.

I wish that believers could secure their own solace in belief and not feel so compelled to require that their beliefs be imposed on others. Seems to me that that hardly matches up with the message of Jesus' love for humanity. It's about controlling others--surely one of a human being's most fruitless wastes of time.

It seems to me that we have choices about how we behave, about how we treat others, about how we live up to or don't live up to our own aspirations.

What we don't have choices about is who we are.

Who we are, including our sexuality, is something we have to discover.

My "friend" believes the "homosexual lifestyle" is damaging and toxic. I wonder if his "Christian" life style wouldn't look damaging and toxic if he were a member of a hidden minority routinely castigated by a dominant majority, as well as assaulted and jailed for their "Christian" beliefs.

I alway have to end up asking why do heterosexuals feel so threatened? And I should limit that to heterosexual men. I don't hear the same things from women, never have. I suspect women appreciate more than they are willing to tell their believing men what it is to be oppressed and abused simply because of who they are.

Needless to say I can only stand one conversation with this person every few years. I'm done with it for a while now.