Nature or Nurture?

Radiofree West Hartford ^ | June 02, 2003 | Mark Publius

[ddodd3329]

Many conservatives have often wrestled with the moral challenge posed by the homosexual lobby in America. Most gay activists say that homosexuality is a born trait. The truth is a bit more muddy.

In the 1990s, marvelous advances in science allowed for the completion of the human genome map. What scientists are discovering is that genetics is a determining factor in almost everything we do and what we become, but it is not THE deciding factor.

Time Magazine ran a story this week saying that our ongoing experiences in life are just as important in determining what we do and who we become. Christianity teaches us about free will. We can choose our own course in most anything we do.

I believe that Bill O'Reilly is right on the mark when it comes to the debate over gay rights. What people do in their private residences is no one's business but their own. But there is a distinction between things that people have no control over, such as race and gender as opposed to human behavioral decisions. In other words, the gay rights lobby should not be treated in the same way as the civil rights and gender rights lobby. Society can tolerate the gay lifestyle without being accepting of it.

There is a movement afoot in many states to legalize gay marriage and adoption. I do not believe the state should allow this. Neither should we witch-hunt gay people for their private sexual behavior. But most importantly, we cannot let the gay lobby guilt the rest of society into believing that their agenda is comparable to the civil-rights movement of decades ago.

Science now shows us that free will can exert just as powerful an influence over us as how we are born. What we do with our lives is our own choice. The conservative movement is tolerant of all lifestyles, but does not seek moral relativism in areas where neither nature nor nurture are especially predominant.

[camle]

if homosexuality is something one is born with, then by definition it is genetic. if this is so, WHERE IS THE GAY GENE?

[TheGeezer]

Neither should we witch-hunt gay people for their private sexual behavior.

What if one is a closed-door pederast? At what point must the state take an interest in sexuality conducted in privacy?

In other words, at what point does witch hunt become protection of the innocent?

Or do we simply permit in private every behavior defined as or associated with sexuality?

A very wise man, about 35 years ago, warned that divorcing sexuality from its procreative purpose would create a slippery slope upon which definitive curbs upon sexual behavior would become impossible. (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae. I think we have arrived.

[Vaduz]

It's not about genes see AP story december 2001 about Larry Cramer.

[Zavien Doombringer]

if homosexuality is something one is born with, then by definition it is genetic. if this is so, WHERE IS THE GAY GENE?

Exactly!!! That means someone in your mom or dad's lineage have homosexuality in it's lineage, meaning Homo's can propogate!!!

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Homosexuals are idolators of perversion...

[Zavien Doombringer]

(dons on flame retardant) - Homosexuals are perverse. They do not care about anything but themselves. They will hurt anyone physically or verbally slander to protect thier selfish motives. This is the reprobate mind as Paul said to the Romans (chapter 1). the lifestyle can never be compared as a heterosexual lifestyle. You already know the details. It is an abomination to God and makes a mockery of the command, "be fruitful and multiply".

Yes, Homosexuals are idolators of perversion!

[camle]

if it ain't in the genes, then it ain't genetic. you ain't born with it if it ain't genetic. therefore, in the nature versus nuture argument, it's nurture.

[Rudder]

Looks like there ain't no sanity clause.

[camle]

you mean i have to go through your room to get to the maid's?

[Blzbba]

"..and makes a mockery of the command, "be fruitful and multiply"."


I don't think it's mocking that "fruitful" part....

[EdReform]

Bump & Ping

[scripter]

Here are some links on homosexuality and genetics:

• Finding a Needle in the Ocean 
• Homosexual Researchers Debunk 'Born Gay' Urban Leg  FR 
• Is Homosexuality Genetic? 
• Is Sexual Orientation Fixed at Birth? 
• Is There a "Gay Gene"? 
• The Biological Research on Homosexuality 
• The Fading "Gay Gene" 
• The Gay Gene: Going, Going...Gone 
• The Innate-Immutable Argument Finds No Basis in Science 
• What Causes Homosexual Desire and Can It Be Changed 
• What Is "A Homosexual" 

[asformeandformyhouse]

if homosexuality is something one is born with, then by definition it is genetic. if this is so, WHERE IS THE GAY GENE?

I don't know if it's genetic but it certainly is hereditary. You get it from your wierd uncle (Ernie?).

[jmc813]

I think the mistake people make is feeling they have to choose one over the other. Case in point, I have an adult cousin who is gay. Growing up, his older brother was as heterosexual as can be, captain of the football team, the school heartthrob to all of the girls, etc. My gay cousin, from an extremely young age was always more interested in engaging in girl's activities such a dolls, etc. There was no significant difference in the way the two were raised, therefore I feel my cousin was indeed born gay. If the nurture argument is correct 100% of the time, why do the vast majority of gays have heterosexual siblings?

That's not to say people can become gay. Witness the many survivors of sexual abuse who end up gay to cope with their previous tragedies.

[American in Israel]

Neither should we witch-hunt gay people for their private sexual behavior.

Gay lifestyles are their own punishment. Most die by the age of 45 anyway. The push for Gay rights is a sham. Gays have the same rights excepting marriage, which is simply a religious statement which they reject anyway. What they want is special rights.

All men are created equal, some just want to be mandated by law to be a bit more equal.

[JudgemAll]

It's not a matter of gay gene or not, much as it was not a question of gene whether priests were able to abstain or not. The gay piousness pretence morphing into a pure gay race debate shows shades of Hitler and the Nazies.

[JudgemAll]

Gays have the same rights excepting marriage, which is simply a religious statement which they reject anyway.

Marriage is not a right. Marriage is an obligation to the care of future generations. Gay marriage on the other hand is a restriction on gays from changing lifestyle, it is an exercise in enforced homosexual consumption and it is the march to Nazi gaydom, mirroring the theory of moral virtue the Nazies wished to see in a white race, gays wishing to mirror a pure gay piousness into a pure gay race.

[camle]

so who's the nazi's? the ones claiming that they can't help it, they were born that way, or the ones asking for the truth?

[John O]

Always remember the rules of homosexuality:

1.) 'Homosexuals' don't reproduce they recruit

2.) To a mentally healthy person (heterosexual), sex is something they do
To a mentally ill person ('homosexual'), sex is what they are

3.) Any exposure of children to homosexual behavior is child abuse