The Argument From the Bible's Alleged Ignorance of the Innate and/or Immutable Character of Homosexual Desire
Many claim that Scripture's opposition to same-sex inter-course is grounded in an obsolete notion about the origin of homoerotic passion; namely, that all who engage in sex with members of the same sex do so as bored heterosexuals looking for additional novel sexual adventures. Since we now allegedly know that homosexual passions constitute a distinct "orientation" that is given at birth, often exclusive, and generally immutable, we can disregard Scripture's opposition. This view thus banks on the assumption that Scripture opposes same-sex intercourse solely because it believes homoerotic passions to be manufactured in participants who have other options for sexual fulfillment.
We will first examine Paul's thinking on the subject in his historical context, then delve into socio-scientific data.
On Paul's thinking:
1) A number of Greco-Roman sources suggest at least a partial congenital basis for homoerotic attraction -- and some of these same sources still argued that same-sex intercourse was contrary to nature. We are not the first culture to theorize this view of causation (see pp. 384-85, 392-95 of my book).
2) It is improbable that Paul was unaware of the existence of men whose sexual desire was oriented exclusively toward other males. For example, there existed in the first-century Roman world people called cinaedi (Latin plural; singular cinaedus; derived from Greek kinaidos, pl. kinaidoi, "butt-shaker"). These were adult males who perpetuated an effeminate appearance in order to attract male sex partners. Moreover, they were exclusively attracted to other males. Philo, a first-century Jew, was quite aware of their existence. Since the cinaedi appear frequently in the literature of the period, it is highly unlikely that Paul was unaware of their existence.
3) In antiquity "excess passion" never constituted an independent critique of same-sex intercourse. Passion was judged as excessive (e.g., the passion for sex with animals) on the basis of other criteria about behavioral limits. Otherwise, how could one determine which passions were in excess? There has to be some prior determination that something is wrong with the behavior in question in order to determine that it constitutes excess passion. Paul likely viewed any transgression of God-ordained boundaries to be -- by definition -- an overheating or excess of desire, in the sense of desiring something that God did not ordain humans to desire by virtue of creation intent and design.
4) It is not possible to deduce from Paul's remarks in Rom 1:24-27 that Paul believed that every single individual who engaged in same-sex intercourse also experienced heterosexual desire at one time (much less that idol worship was a necessary prerequisite for homoerotic behavior!). Paul was referring to collective entities, not individuals, and to widespread effect, not origin.
5) It is illogical to think that Paul only condemned participation in homosexual acts by those "naturally" attracted to the opposite sex. For, if we were to draw that conclusion, we would have to draw that same conclusion for other sexual behaviors that Scripture opposes. In that event we would have to assert that Scripture expresses opposition only to acts of incest, bestiality, and adultery by those not constitutionally predisposed to committing such sins. Incidentally, it is worth pondering that the overwhelming majority of men are constitutionally predisposed to have multiple sex partners. It may be true of many women as well but it is especially a problem for men (the off-the-charts promiscuity of homosexual men, even in relation to homosexual women, is stark testimony to this reality). In a world that sanctioned and provided cultural incentives for high numbers of sex partners, men generally would have little problem with having sex with large numbers of women. But that is not what God calls us to do because it is self-destructive and other-destructive behavior, even when it is consensual.
6) In terms of Paul's understanding of nature, Paul distinguished between innate passions perverted by the Fall and exacerbated by idol worship on the one hand -- and, by the way, one does not have to create a statue to worship idols -- and material creation that was left relatively intact despite human sin on the other hand. There is a whole series of behaviors and passions listed in Rom 1:29-31, following the reference to same-sex intercourse in 1:24-27, that certainly have some innate basis. People do not choose to be covetous or envious, for example. They are simply born with an innate proclivity to feel bad when others have attractive things or persons that they do not have. That does not mean that covetousness and envy are natural or in accordance with nature in the Pauline sense. So the innateness of homosexual passions would not subvert Paul's view of them as contrary to nature since by nature Paul meant God's intended design for creation untouched by the introduction of sin into the world (i.e., the anatomical, procreative, and interpersonal complementarity of male-female sexual bonds as more secure heuristic clues than innate passions).
7) Current theories of homosexual development are essentially compatible with Paul's own view of sin. In Romans 5 and 7 Paul speaks of sin as an innate impulse operating in the human body, transmitted by an ancestor human, and never entirely within the control of human will. This is precisely how homosex-affirming advocates describe homosexual orientation. And Rom 1:24-27 itself talks about God "giving over" people to pre-existing passions for members of the same sex, passions which, apart from God's help, are beyond control. If Paul could be transported into the twenty-first century and told that homoerotic desires have (at most) a partial and indirect connection to innate causation factors, he doubtless would have said either "I could have told you that" or at very least "That fits well into my own understanding of sin."
On current socio-scientific data:
Here we will focus on four main areas in which socio-scientific data impacts on the question of whether homosexual desires are congenital and immutable: (1) the alleged existence of a distinct homosexual brain; (2) the alleged existence of a special homosexual gene; (3) indications of childhood factors in sexual development; (4) indications of the cultural malleability of homosexual desire.
(1) A homosexual brain?
Despite the rush to judgment by the media in the past decade, there is no conclusive evidence that male homosexual brains differ from male heterosexual brains, much less that such alleged differences are present at birth or that they mechanistically determine sexual orientation.
There are a number of problems with concluding that male homosexual brains differ from male heterosexual brains. Simon LeVay's 1991 study of an area of the hypothalamus known as INAH3 in 41 cadavers contended that INAH3 was two times larger in the heterosexual males than in the females and homosexual males. However, his study was inconclusive at numerous points:
- It was a single-author study; multi-author studies are best for checking the accuracy of measurements.
- The study involved an extremely small sample size, rendering suspect any broad generalizations.
- LeVay made problematic assumptions about the sexual orientation of the subjects prior to death, assuming heterosexual orientation for cadavers whose medical charts did not specify homosexual orientation. If all six of the "heterosexuals" who died of AIDS -- this at a time when AIDS was even more of a homosexual disease than it is in the United States today -- were in fact homosexuals then the average size differences of the INAH3 for the two groups would not be significant.
- Several of the homosexuals had an INAH3 larger than that of the average heterosexual male, while several of the "heterosexual" males had an INAH3 smaller than that of the average homosexual male.
- LeVay's study has not been replicated.
Even if brain differences between male homosexuals and male heterosexuals were to exist, it would not establish that these differences arose prior to birth rather than subsequent to birth. Plastic structures in the hypothalamus might be altered by any one of a number of post-natal factors:
- The AIDS virus and use of AIDS drugs
- Early childhood trauma or sexual arousal
- Other aspects of sexual behavior such as promiscuity and contact with fecal matter
- Level of physical conditioning (sports, exercise)
- Stress levels
Any one of these, or a combination thereof, might affect the size of INAH3. In this case, differences could be assigned to distinctive environmental and behavioral patterns after birth, perhaps even well into adulthood, rather than to conditions before birth. The notion of someone being born into some immutable condition impervious to the effects of environment and personal behavior would be (to mix metaphors) dead in the water.
(2) A homosexual gene?
More important has been the attention given to the homosexual gene issue. Studies testing for genetic influence have to date demonstrated, at most, only an indirect and subordinate role of genes in the development of homosexual orientation. Here there are two types of studies of note: (a) those that look for a particular gene sequence in homosexuals; and (b) those that check for sexual orientation concordance in identical twins.
(a) As regards two so-called "gay gene" studies by Dean Hamer (like LeVay, a scientist who also happens to be homosexual), one published in 1993 and the other in 1995, the following caveats need to be kept in mind:
- These studies applied, at most, only to a very limited segment of the homosexual population: homosexual brothers who had homosexual relatives on the maternal side of the family. A high percentage of this test group allegedly had a particular genetic sequence in the region of the X chromosome known as Xq28. The results did not apply to other male homosexuals; and none of the lesbian sisters checked carried the chromosomal marker in Xq28.
- In the more carefully conducted second study, two thirds of the pairs of homosexual brothers beyond what would have obtained merely at random did not share the Xq28 variation.
- The media hoopla about a so-called "gay gene" is vastly overdone. There are no single-gene dictated behaviors in humans. Moreover, other studies testing for genetic influence on behavior (e.g., cigarette smoking, criminality, alcoholism) attribute to genes only a secondary and indirect role. Even Hamer himself has admitted: "There will never be a test that will say for certain whether a child will be gay."
- Finally, a 1999 study by Canadian researchers, using a larger sample size, detected no significant connection between the Xq28 variation and homosexual orientation.
(b) The information from identical twin studies is even more revealing. Most people have probably heard about a series of identical twin studies that were done in the early 1990's, which indicated that when one identical twin self-identified as non-heterosexual the co-twin did likewise roughly 50% of the time. The studies were hailed by the media as proof of the dominant genetic basis for homosexual behavior. The conclusion was premature.
- In terms of genetic makeup identical twins are 100% identical. Yet even a non-critical acceptance of the findings indicates that 50% of the time genes did not dictate concordance in sexual identity.
- The studies did not subtract cultural influences arising from being raised in a similar environment; nor did it take into account the distinctive socialization of twins, especially identical twins (prone to imitation, higher trait-related environment, higher rates of child abuse and same-sex peer ridicule, more likely to experiment sexually with each other and to be behind in both physical development and social skills). Ideally, identical twins raised in separate households should be studied to minimize the influence of similar familial and environmental conditions. For obvious reasons it is difficult to find a large enough sample size. However, a 1986 study of four sets of female identical twins raised in different households, where at least one twin identified as lesbian, found that in all four sets the co-twin self-identified as heterosexual.
- Unheralded were the following culture-determined results: concordance rates for non-identical twins were 2 to 3 times higher than that for non-twin siblings despite the fact that both groups share the same genetic similarity (50%); non-twin biological brothers had the same concordance rate as adoptive brothers. These differences obviously had nothing to do with genes.
- The studies showing a roughly 50% concordance rate were riddled with sample bias: volunteers were recruited through advertisements in gay publications.
- Most importantly, J. Michael Bailey (author of some of the earlier studies) in his most recent study, published in 2000, corrected the sample bias of earlier studies by sending surveys to a third of the twins named in the Australian Twin Register. This improved study reported that in only 12.3% (not 50%) of the identical twin pairs in which at least one twin was non-heterosexual was the co-twin also non-heterosexual (the concordance for non-identical twins averaged only 4%). In other words, almost nine out of ten times, when one identical twin was non-heterosexual the co-twin was heterosexual. Bailey concluded:
- "Concordances from prior studies were inflated due to ... [sample] bias."
- "In contrast to most prior twin studies of sexual orientation ... ours did not provide statistically significant support for the importance of genetic factors."
- This new study, in contrast to Hamer's "gay gene" study, suggests that "any major gene for strictly defined homosexuality has either low penetrance or low frequency" -- i.e., weak influence.
So while not discounting altogether genetic influence in the development of a homosexual identity, the studies to date suggest that the influence is not major.
What factors, then, are likely to play major roles in the development of homosexual identity and behavior? Two factors are likely to play pivotal roles: societal microstructures (i.e., influences from the child's immediate network of relationships, sometimes in combination with indirect innate factors) and societal macrostructures (i.e., influences from the larger cultural environment in terms of expectations and sanctions). For both factors individual choices and decisions can significantly affect the origin and intensity of homoerotic impulses. With respect to an ultimate outcome of homosexual self-identification, such choices and decisions may be direct and conscious, or they may be incremental, indirect, and largely unconscious.
(3) Childhood Factors in Sexual Development
A number of individual life circumstances in childhood may contribute to the development of a homosexual identity:
- Children who exhibit a high degree of gender nonconformity have an increased likelihood (though not an inevitability) of exhibiting homosexual behavior as an adult (so say LeVay and Hamer, among others). Gender nonconformity may serve as a middle term between genes and brain development on the one hand and individual responses to environmental factors on the other (e.g., familial relationships, peer socialization, cultural gender-norm markers).
- Daryl Bem, a homosexual professor of psychology at Cornell, has proposed the "exotic becomes erotic" theory: individuals develop sexual attraction for those whom they find to be dissimilar to themselves in childhood. In this scenario, gender nonconformity precedes homosexual identity.
- According to some psychoanalytic thought, a child's perceptions of distancing on the part of the same-sex parent and/or later by same-sex peers may intensify yearnings for same-sex acceptance and affirmation to a point where they become sexualized. This may well be the single most important factor, though not a necessary one. Perceived difficulties in opposite-sex relationships (parental and/or peer) may also play a role.
- Another factor in some homosexual development may have to do with relatively early sexual arousal. Self-identified homosexuals and bisexuals are three to nine times more likely to have experienced sex as a child (usually with an adolescent or adult male) than their heterosexual counterparts.
- Finally, human initiative in the face of cultural permissiveness cannot be discounted. The greater the latitude for sexual experimentation, especially in the period from late childhood through adolescence and early adulthood, the greater the incidence of self-identifying homosexuals.
The last point underscores that fact that individual life experiences do not occur in a vacuum but rather are shaped and even precipitated by broader cultural influences. It is to that concern that we now turn.
(4) The Cultural Malleability of Homosexual Desire
Both sociological and psychological data confirm at least some cultural malleability in the manifestation of homosexual desire. For example:
- David Greenberg's 500-page cross-cultural study, The Construction of Homosexuality (University of Chicago, 1988), demonstrates wide variance in both the incidence and form of homosexual behavior across cultures ancient and modern. Greenberg, who is thoroughly supportive of homosexual relationships, concludes:
The years some homosexuals spend trying without success to conform to conventional expectations regarding gender and sexual orientation tell against the most extreme claims of sexual plasticity. However, in the absence of any evidence linking the peculiar sexual practices of Melanesia with genetic difference, it is reasonable to suppose that if a bunch of Melanesian infants were to be transported in infancy to the United States and adopted, few would seek out the pederastic relationships into which they are inducted in New Guinea, or take younger homosexual partners when they reached maturity. Similarly, American children raised in New Guinea would accommodate themselves to the Melanesian practices. Where social definitions of appropriate and inappropriate behavior are clear and consistent, with positive sanctions for conformity and negative ones for nonconformity, virtually everyone will conform irrespective of genetic inheritance and, to a considerable extent, irrespective of personal psychodynamics. (p. 487)
- The 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS), conducted mainly by University of Chicago researchers (Laumann, et al.) and still the most significant study of sex in America, found that:
o Urban males were nine times more likely to self-identify as homosexuals than rural males; urban females 2.5 times more likely than rural females.
o Females who were college graduates were nine times more likely to identify themselves as lesbian or bisexual than females who were not educated beyond high school; for males the figure is two times more likely.
o The researchers concluded that their results did not "fit with certain analogies to genetically or biologically based traits such as left-handedness or intelligence." Rather, "an environment that provides increased opportunities for and fewer negative sanctions against same-gender sexuality may both allow and even elicit expression of same-gender interest and sexual behavior" (p. 308).
- Other data suggests that lifetime sexual orientation shifts along the Kinsey spectrum, both minor and major, are the norm for those who experience any sort of homosexual desire (and particularly so among lesbians). Moreover, even the majority of those who identify themselves as "exclusively homosexual" have been sexually aroused by members of the opposite sex at some point(s) during their lives (so say the studies by Alfred Kinsey, Bell and Weinberg, the Family Research Institute, and the NHSLS researchers).
- Reparative therapists and transformation ministries report some success in achieving for motivated clients considerable to complete change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation -- a rate of success comparable perhaps to that achieved by Alcoholics Anonymous.
(5) Caveats and Qualifications
In making the above points, I do not contend that self-identified homosexuals can be easily rid of homoerotic desires. Disordered sexual "orientations" of any stripe, not just homosexual ones, do not change easily. This includes orientations toward multiple sex partners, sex with members of the inner family circle, sex with children or adolescents, sex with animals, commercial sex, sadomasochistic sex, and coercive sex. Patterns of sexual arousal wired in the brain by life's experiences are usually not easily removed, even after years of therapeutic intervention. Ironically, those who argue that homosexual behavior should not be disavowed precisely because it is resistant to change would -- to be consistent -- have to contend that non-monogamous relationships be accepted for male homosexual relationships. For statistical evidence to date strongly suggests that male homosexuals have extraordinary difficulty, relative even to lesbians, in forming monogamous unions.
No, my point is more basic: homoerotic desire is not like race or anatomical sex. It is not a fixed, immutable birthright. It is closer to an entrenched (but not irrevocable) taste than to physical differences impervious to cultural shifts. This can be perceived by reviewing (a) the different levels of change that are possible for homosexual tastes and (b) the different mechanisms for inducing change.
(a) It is erroneous to restrict the meaning of change in this context to the complete eradication of homosexual desire. As we have seen above, change can include:
- A reduction or elimination of homosexual behavior;
- A reduction in the intensity and frequency of homosexual impulses;
- The experience of heterosexual arousal (whether in place of or in conjunction with homosexual arousal);
- Reorientation from exclusive or predominant homo-sexuality to exclusive or predominant heterosexuality.
Ultimately, in terms of Christian self-definition, the true ex-homosexual is not only someone who never experiences homosexual impulses, just as the ex-adulterer is not only someone who never experiences a desire for sex with women other than his wife. The true ex-homosexual (or, more precisely, ex-"homosexer") is someone who, by God's grace and the power of the Spirit, no longer acquiesces to homosexual impulses.
(b) Both the level of incidence of homosexual desire and fluctuations in its intensity and degree of exclusivity can be affected by:
- The degree of cultural incentives, opportunities, and indoctrination for or against homosexual behavior;
- Experiences at various points in an individual's life, including the degree and character of parental and peer-group affirmation (especially same-sex), early sexual arousal, sexual experimentation, unsolicited erotic encounters, exposure to the homosexual subculture, the availability (or absence) of sex partners or satisfying sexual relationships, and vulnerability to outside influences (owing to personality type, stress, etc.);
- Therapeutic intervention.
The different types of change possible and the existence of various external mechanisms for producing change combine to put homosexual proclivities on an entirely different footing than race or sex. Furthermore, the behavior arising from homosexual desire is associated with a disproportionately high rate of health problems (sexually transmitted diseases, mental health issues) and of non-monogamous and short-term relationships, as well as with an annihilation of basic societal gender norms. These negative effects cannot be explained away by one-sided appeals to societal homophobia (for which see pp. 452-60, 471-89). So, since church and society can play a significant role in reducing the incidence of homosexual behavior in the population, they can and should do so.
Summary and Concluding Thoughts
We may now summarize the main points of this article.
First, we looked at texts from both Paul and John to show that arguments favoring homosexual behavior overturn not only Scripture's explicit teaching on such but also other basic principles enshrined in Scripture. In insisting that God and Christ could not possibly deny one whole form of consensual sexual expression, pro-homosex arguments not only ignore parallel instances where the church denies consensual sexual activity but also give only subordinate weight to the theocentric posture of Scripture, the basic Christian paradigm of grace amidst cruciformity, and the image of Jesus as the sufficient Answer to all life's desires.
Second, we analyzed the appeal made to a set of analogies for disregarding Scripture's stance on homosexual behavior: the analogies of Gentile inclusion, slavery, divorce and remarriage, and women in ministry. We found such analogies to suffer from significant category confusions and sloppy hermeneutical application. We argued, too, that the Bible's stance on bestiality, adultery, prostitution and soliciting prostitutes, and especially incest constitute much closer and more reliable analogues.
Third, we addressed the claim that the Bible's alleged ignorance of the innate and immutable character of homoerotic desire renders its stance on homosexual practice irrelevant for our own times. We noted that the notion of homoerotic passion having perhaps a partial congenital basis is entirely consistent with Paul's understanding of sin; furthermore, that socio-scientific evidence to date indicates that congenital factors in the development of homosexual desire and identity are largely indirect and subordinate to cultural factors. There is little basis for contending that homosexual desire is to be likened to race and sex. The church's stance can exercise a marked effect on the incidence of homosexuality.
We offer the following concluding thoughts:
- The early church's critique of an idolatrous view of sex. Jesus, Paul, and the first-century church generally did not view sexual intercourse and sexual gratification to be God-given rights, nor did they regard sexual intimacy as the highest good. Homoerotic relationships were more prevalent in their cultural world than ours. Yet they accepted one and only one model for acceptable sexual relationships: a lifelong, monogamous union between one man and one woman. In so doing, they were not deficient in the exercise of love and compassion. Conversely, those today who insist that love dictates the acceptance of homosexual behavior are not more loving than Jesus, Paul, and the authors of Scripture generally.
- Viewing the relationship needs of homosexuals in a broader context. There is an unfortunate tendency in current church discussions to isolate the intimacy needs of homosexuals from all others. The fact is that Scripture's carefully defined vision for acceptable human sexual expression -- and that of any civil society whose law contains vestiges of that vision -- leaves a lot of people bereft of sexual intimacy through acceptable channels. For example, there are twice as many people in the United States today who have had no sex partners since age 18 than there are people who classify themselves as (non-bisexual) homosexuals (so the NHSLS study). Probably most of the former are not celibate by personal preference. There is no guarantee in life that suitable sexual partners will be available. And there should be no recourse to a philosophy of "sex by any means necessary," which in the end could only have destructive consequences for society as a whole.
- What the church's energy and resources should be invested in. The extraordinary energy that the church has expended in efforts to secure endorsement of homosexual behavior should be diverted instead to exploring ways in which those homosexually inclined, as well as all others who cannot obtain sexual intimacy within the bounds of Scripture's parameters, can have their intimacy needs met through acceptable avenues.
The enormous burden of proof incumbent on those who would circumvent the clear biblical witness has not been met. Approval of homosexual behavior would not be an act of love and tolerance but a harmful and intolerant disregard of God's loving guidance for abundant life.
A Prayer for the Church
In words taken from, and inspired by, Ephesians 4:1-5:20:
Lord, may we walk in a manner worthy of our calling, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. May we earnestly endeavor to keep the oneness of the Spirit and of the faith by means of the bond of peace and common adherence to the apostolic teaching on sexual holiness, as on other matters. May we as Your body arrive at an adult knowledge of Christ, no longer being blown about by teachings that depart from Your word. May we put off the old humanity, deluded into approving forms of sexual desire that You have rejected, and clothe ourselves with the new humanity, embracing with a renewed mind the standard for sexual wholeness that You have established for our benefit. For, as You have warned us, no one who engages unrepentantly and repeatedly in a form of sexual intercourse deemed immoral by apostolic teaching will have any inheritance in Your kingdom of light. Help us, Lord, to expose to the light of Your word the lie that diversity in types of sexual unions is an absolute good, remembering our own sin and need for daily repentance. May your church quickly restore the penitent, thereby maximizing salvation to the many. Amen.
The Bible and Homosexual Practice:
Texts and Hermeneutics
by Robert A. J. Gagnon
(Abingdon Press, 2001; 520 pp.; hardcover, $49)
Available at a 30% discount from www.Amazon.com
or the Cokesbury Bookstore at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (cokesbury@pts.edu, 412-362-1691)