An Open Message to Sexual Progressives

If you are one of the many people in Western civilization (and other parts of the world) who have decided that there is nothing wrong with same-sex behaviour; and that someone who is experiencing transgenderism should be affirmed in their desire to transition; and that a male-female sexual union, within the bonds of marriage, is not the only way to express sexuality - then I understand your reasons for seeing things this way. I appreciate why you have come to see things the way that you do. I also understand that you are deeply concerned about the suffering which those in the LGBT community have experienced.

I want you to know that I share that deep concern.

I grieve for my Christian brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction and have been hated as a result. I grieve for those of any religion (or no religion) who experience an attraction that they didn't want and didn't know what to do with. Given this, I really do understand why you have decided there is nothing wrong with same-sex attraction.

But there are a few things that you also need to appreciate. First, your view is fundamentally at odds with the Christian conviction as it has been understood since the earliest days of Christianity. The Bible makes it clear that God loves us no matter what desires we have, and that we should love all people regardless of their desires. At the same time, not all desires are right and good.

You might think that how we express our sexuality, and how we define marriage, are up to us to decide. But if Christianity is true, then this is not the case. Marriage and sexuality are designed and intended by God. They are not up to us to redefine in every generation based on what seems right to us at a particular moment in time.

This view is true, not just of Christianity, but is (more or less) true of many other religions in the world, including Islam, Judaism, and Mormonism.

These religions are not about to disappear, and the nature of their teachings about sex and marriage are not going to change. Sure, there will always be people within each tradition who will compromise with whatever is popular at the time. But a great many people will not compromise simply because you want them to.

So we need to appreciate the situation we are in. A lot of people, from many different religious traditions, have a heteronormative view of sexuality, and that's not going to change. Sexual conservatives are here to stay just as much as those who are LGBT.

If we want to live in a harmonious world, we are going to have to learn how to get along. If you speak of "inclusivity" and "diversity," but you have no place for those who are sexual conservatives, then we are setting ourselves up for long-term discord, division, and contention.

If you insist on putting sexual conservatives in the same category as racists and racial supremacists, then we are going to have long-term problems. By and large, the religions of the world condemn racism, but many do not share your view of sexuality. If you insist on regarding sexual conservatives as "evil people" who are worthy of scorn, condemnation and hatred, then things are not going to go well. If you take every opportunity to scream epithets like "homophobe" and "transphobe," then eventually there could be a strong backlash.

I hope we can avoid this, and I hope we can find a way for us to all get along. If we want to live in harmony, then I suggest we try to be tolerant of both sexual progressives, as well as sexual conservatives who take a different view.

Is that something we can all support?