david f

The simple fact that these Priests like boys and not girls speaks volumes. In case you did not know a homosexual is one with an sexual attraction to their own sex. The fact that the Catholic church of which I am no fan wants to prevent homosexuals from joining the Priesthood as a measure to reduce child sexual abuse speaks volumes. You may deny the obvious as the homosexual lobby conveniently does but is does not change the facts. You however make the ridiculous suggestion that someone who abstains from sex is more likely to be perverted by doing so. The far more reasonable explanation is that the Catholic church has attracted many with homosexual or confused sexual tendencies. The outcome has been ruined life. The refusal to deal with these issues by the 'church' has been nothing short of disgraceful. In saying that Governments, artist, sports administrators, judges etc have been no better.

Runner wrote: The simple fact that these Priests like boys and not girls speaks volumes.

Dear Runner,

You merely repeated your belief without citing evidence for it. I already know what you believe. Please cite what evidence you have for what you call fact.

yet again.

runner, i agree that something being legal doesn't make it moral. but similarly, your saying something is immoral doesn't make it so.

please tell me: why is homosexuality immoral?

bushbasher asked runner to "please tell me: why is homosexuality immoral?"

I wouldn't presume to anticipate runner's response, but I will argue that the Christian prejudice cannot be argued from the Bible.

The Bible actually says very little about homosexuality.

The most explicit, and condemnatory, passages, and consequently those most often quoted by conservative Christians, are in Old Testament books like Leviticus.

Agreed, there is little ambiguity about statements that "man shall not lie with man as with a woman; it is an abomination" (or various translations thereof). However, the problem is that Leviticus condemns a whole range of practices as "abominations", including the eating of shellfish, handling unclean animals, even shaving one's beard improperly! Very few of even the most conservative Christians observe those rules, so to zero in on just one verse about homosexuality is simply cherry-picking to suit one's prejudice.

Christians fare even worse when it comes to the New Testament.

Nothing that is attributed to Jesus even mentions homosexuality. There are only two sentences, attributed to St. Paul, which are of extremely dubious translation. I won't go into the details of koine Greek, but the most commonly cited one seems to be more exclusively directed at pederast users of rent boys, than homosexuality per se.

Citing St. Paul on matters of sexuality is dangerous ground, anyway, as Paul was so uptight that he condemned any sexual activity whatsoever, even though he grudgingly conceded that marriage was a least-worst case.

Runner. I respect your beliefs, and as your beliefs make you a part of societies minority, why can you not accept that there are people in this life, other than yourself.

Thank you to those rational debaters' thoughtful comments. I have just finished a 30+ year career in special education in the state sytstem. I am a happily out gay man proudly responsible for the literacy, numeracy and engagement skills of more than two generations of students with disabilities. The solution is simple, if any organisation wishes to discriminate against anyone through an exemption under the law, they can do without all government funds. Pick a "top" private school and find out how many students with disabilities attend. If they do, they will have a 'nice' disability - hearing impairment, some physical impairment, maybe vision impairment. They won't have the 'out there' impairments that require highly specialised teaching and learning strategies. They won't be too 'different'. They won't scare the coiffed and moneyed parents.

Selectivity = no government handout.

To people like runner, I think your outlook is terribly sad. It must be truly awful to live in a world where nothing at all is right or, dare I say it, righteous. Chill, sweetie. We poofs are not overrunning the world, just making it a better place for everyone. And yes, that includes you.