Christianity and homosexuality

Christianity developed during the 1st century AD as a Jewish Christian sect and, as such, many of its views were rooted in Jewish teaching. As Christianity established itself as a separate religion, with its own scriptures, some views moved away from the Jewish roots while others remained firmly grounded in Jewish tradition. The view within Christianity is that the Jewish scriptures within what became known as The Old Testament, as well as passages within what became known as The New Testament, both make clear that same-sex sexual behaviour is sinful – an interpretation supported by the wording of certain translations of the Bible.^[1]^[2]

Today, most denominations teach that homosexual behavior and acts are sinful,^[2] and both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church officially condemn homosexual activity as sin. However, some mainly liberal denominations, churches and individuals hold views that differ from traditional interpretations and some of the mainline Protestant denominations in the USA, Canada and the UK now view same-sex behaviour as equally valid and allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages.

^ Gnuse, Robert K. (May 2015). "Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality" (PDF). Biblical Theology Bulletin. 45 (2). SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc.: 75. doi:10.1177/0146107915577097. ISSN 1945-7596. S2CID 170127256. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2021. [I]n later years some church fathers, such as Origen, St. Ambrose, and John Cassian, commented upon the sin of Sodom as crass inhospitality to strangers (Boswell: 98, 346). Not until the 4th century ce do church fathers consistently begin to clearly make the equation with homosexuality (Michaelson: 67).
^ ^a ^b Koenig, Harold G.; Dykman, Jackson (2012). Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9780521889520. The earliest interpretations of [the story of Sodom and Gomorrah] focused on the Sodomites' arrogance and rudeness to strangers; God killed them for incivility to his angels. The theme of sexuality [being the sin of Sodom] emerged full force in the first century BC writings of Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish historian. Rabbinical writings about Sodom generally did not mention homosexuality.

[Gnuse_2015-1] Gnuse, Robert K. (May 2015). "Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality" (PDF). Biblical Theology Bulletin. 45 (2). SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc.: 75. doi:10.1177/0146107915577097. ISSN 1945-7596. S2CID 170127256. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2021. [I]n later years some church fathers, such as Origen, St. Ambrose, and John Cassian, commented upon the sin of Sodom as crass inhospitality to strangers (Boswell: 98, 346). Not until the 4th century ce do church fathers consistently begin to clearly make the equation with homosexuality (Michaelson: 67).

[religion_spirituality_psychiatry-2] Koenig, Harold G.; Dykman, Jackson (2012). Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9780521889520. The earliest interpretations of [the story of Sodom and Gomorrah] focused on the Sodomites' arrogance and rudeness to strangers; God killed them for incivility to his angels. The theme of sexuality [being the sin of Sodom] emerged full force in the first century BC writings of Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish historian. Rabbinical writings about Sodom generally did not mention homosexuality.

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