I recently read an article about a Muslim woman named Ani Zonneveld who could be considered by some as a “progressive Muslim.”
She’s an advocate for gay rights in her community and the equal treatment of men and women, and she cofounded an organization called Muslims for Progressive Values.
What makes Zonneveld so fascinating is her stance on homosexuality. American Muslims are generally more liberal than their Middle-Eastern counterparts, and it might not be unusual to find American Muslims who disagree with how women are sometimes treated within Islam, but it is unusual to find a Muslim who not only tolerates homosexuality but also celebrates it.
Islam has traditionally condemned homosexuality as a sin. Its basis for this stance is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Allah because of their homosexual practices. In many Middle-Eastern countries, homosexuality is illegal, and penalties range from simply being fined to being flogged or killed.
Christianity has also traditionally condemned homosexuality, and it has more scriptural justification for its beliefs than Islam does. In the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, God lists homosexuality among a long list of sexual practices the Israelites are not to do, and in the New Testament, Paul lists homosexuality as one of the many sins that will keep people from the kingdom of heaven.
Within historically orthodox interpretations of both Islam and Christianity, homosexuality is wrong. Yet, there are Muslim and Christian individuals who justify their sexuality within their religion by interpreting condemning scriptures in an unorthodox way. Though I am sympathetic with these people, I think this is an attempt to reconcile one’s sexual identity and religion when they are not easily reconciled.
The typical argument for homosexuality within Christianity and Islam is to say that the types of homosexual relationships that were condemned by God were not consensual, loving, homosexual relationships, and this is why God condemned them. Proponents of this view argue that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was evil because the citizens were attempting to rape someone, not because they wanted to have gay sex, and that Paul condemned homosexuality because the types of homosexual relationships practiced in his time were between men and boys.
Religious scriptures are often very cryptic, and so it is possible that these interpretations of scriptures regarding homosexuality are what God meant, but it is also possible that God really was condemning homosexuality. What if he was, and someone who is gay finds themselves to be both gay and deeply religious?
There is not an easy answer to this question, but I don’t think an honest answer is to try to conform religion into what we want it to be.
Janna Gentry is an English education senior.
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pstjtt 6 months, 3 weeks ago
What you're saying is that scripture can be read different ways by different people and that man is not able to judge. So live the way you percieve to be correct and let your neighbor live their way. Even if you disagree with their choices, love one another. Leave judgement (and fines and imprisonment, flogging and death) to God. Pretty straight forward.
lsexton 6 months, 3 weeks ago
What about the assertion that Jesus' death replaces the law, which is why we no longer have to follow edicts of Leviticus like The eating of fat is prohibited forever ~Leviticus 3:17 or People who have flat noses, or are blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God ~Leviticus 21:17-18 ?
kdbp1213 6 months, 3 weeks ago
why do we have to adhere to a religion?
PolishBear 6 months, 3 weeks ago
I’m reminded of a commentator on a Southern Baptist website who wrote, “I can’t reconcile how someone could feel he or she was born with strong homosexual feelings, love Christ and yet take on the limitations of what seem to me to be straightforward biblical teachings. That’s agonizing, and I don’t really understand it.”
And this is the weird thing: “Straighforward biblical teachings” should at least be understandable to the average person. So often I hear it said, “OUR ways are not GOD’s ways,” as if God was some sort of inscrutable alien being.
Consider The Golden Rule: We do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Put all the religious dogma and ritual aside, and this is what our laws boil down to. We don’t lie or bear false witness because we won’t want people to lie to us. We don’t steal from other people because we do not want people stealing from us. We don’t betray the trust of our spouses because we wouldn’t want them doing the same to us. Same goes for killing and a variety of other “bad” behaviors.
And yet somehow there seems to be this sheepish adherence to a double standard for Gay and Straight people. If you’re Straight, it’s all so wonderful to be able to find a compatible person of the opposite sex, court and get engaged and marry and live happily ever after. But if you’re Gay, all of that is completely out of the question. Don’t even bother trying to find a compatible person. Lesbians and Gay men are precluded from any hope for romance or commitment. Gay people are simply told: “Gosh, sorry about that. You make us uncomfortable; acknowledging your existence means we might have to revise what we’ve been teaching all these years - meaning, Whoops! No infallible Magisterium or “literal” Bible ... so you’ll just have to sacrifice your life and any hope of finding somebody to love. Tough luck, kid. God said it, I don’t necessarily understand it, but there it is.”
I wish more social conservatives and Catholics would at least TRY to wrap their minds around why this makes so little sense to Gay people, and why constant exposure to this sort of disdain is exactly WHY so many Gay young people end up taking their own lives.
starjack 6 months, 3 weeks ago
There are several problems with Ms. Gentry's arguments, but yes, Scripture can be confusing. If she wants more consistency then along with upholding Leviticus' condemnation of homosexuality she may want to also uphold the instructions there about when to kill one's disobedient children and the proper way of abducting slaves.
The Qur'an is a little more straightforward... well, a little. At least every chapter but one starts with the phrase "Bismillah irrahman irrahim" That is, "In the name of God who is all compassion and mercy." It's a phrase we repeat in our prayers a lot. So what is the compassionate and merciful position regarding our GLBT brothers and sisters? And I do find it odd that Gentry describes efforts to reconcile religion and sexuality as if that were a bad thing.
As Gentry suggests efforts towards this reconciliation do include a deeper reading of Scripture, understanding the historical context, and the actual terms in the original language. The term "homosexual" was only coined in 1869, and yes, Paul's writings in Greek were more specific referring to male prostitutes. Again, she seems to think that bringing historical and linguistic context to our understanding is a bad thing.
Same-sex relationships were accepted and even blessed in the first millenium of Christianity (See John Boswell's "Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe" and "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality") and also through much of Islamic history (Samar Habib: "Islam and Homosexuality").
The "traditional" views that Gentry cites have only come about in the last few centuries promulgated by puritanical Salafis and imported with British and French colonialism. In many Muslim countries the "sodomy" laws are French and British laws imposed during the colonial era by Europeans who were simply shocked at what they saw in the Arab world and south Asia.
I agree that an honest answer does not "try to conform religion into what we want it to be." Then why try to conform religion to justify ignorance and prejudice?
percy 6 months, 3 weeks ago
... But doesn't this column do exactly what you say we shouldn't do - "conform religion into what we want it to be"? You point out that the interpretation is cryptic, yet you title the column, "Bible does not justify GLBT lifestyle".
The Corinthians reference and a reference in Romans are the two main references that people use to justify saying that homosexuality is a sin. (Christians don't follow Leviticus because of the New Covenant - try reading Leviticus 15:19-23.) Yet both seem to refer to pederastic or non-consensual relationships. Jesus never spoke on the subject at all.
At the same time, we see that Jesus spoke very strongly against practices that are accepted among Christians - a great example is prohibiting divorce and swearing oaths in Matthew 5, or requiring praying and giving to charity in secret in Matthew 6.
Perhaps the answer to our question lies in Matthew 7: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
...
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
It doesn't matter whether gay activity is a sin - we are all mired in sin. Every one of us has fallen short. To point at a loving gay couple and denigrate their "sin" simply allows you to ignore your myriad sins. If you pray in public, Jesus calls you a hypocrite. If you look at a person with lust, or say a curse word to your brother, Jesus says you are in danger of the fires of hell. Yet of gay people he says nothing.
You would not want people coming up to you harping on any of your small deviations from the Bible - so why do it to gay people? Why point out the speck in their eyes when everyday Christians act directly against much of what the Bible says? God will never fault a Christian for being too loving, or too compassionate, or too understanding. You will never be in danger of hell because you embraced a gay person and helped him or her find the Lord. If the Lord wants them to be straight, He will put that in their hearts - He doesn't need your help.
tchance1 6 months, 3 weeks ago
While I appreciate the articulacy of your column, I find your Biblical interpretations less than convincing for a few reasons, not the least of which is because the italicized text at the end of this article doesn't say "Janna Gentry is a theology/history education senior". Regardless of what my own personal religious/social/political beliefs are, it's more than disturbing to me that most people unilaterally accept as unadulterated truth a writing that has been translationally funneled multiple times through multiple languages by multiple different persons or religious entities. The mere fact that the Bible was written thousands of years ago clearly makes the historical and social context at the time they were written highly relevant to its interpretation. Notwithstanding the likelihood that the current version of the Bible itself doesn't actually contain all the originally intended books (Dead Sea Scrolls, anyone?), accepting the Bible as gospel - no pun intended - on its face without considering its translational history or the common social mores at the time it was written is ignorant and will inevitably result in an an unbalanced understanding of what the text truly means. By your own admission, "religious scriptures are often very cryptic", so how realistic is it to think that one person or one faction's sole interpretation of what the Bible says about not only homosexuality but anything else is the only "true" word of God? The bottom line seems more likely to be that Biblical interpretation is wholly subjective and broad interpretations should give deference to autonomous decisions about oneself and one's own personal religious beliefs.
jannafaith21 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Thankyou guys for all the comments. I really do appreciate reading them, and find many of them interesting and informative. I would like to clarify that I am personally not against homosexuality, against homosexuals, or against people who are religious and homosexual. I wrote this because I thought that the movement to accept homosexuality within Christianity and Islam was a dishonest movement. I looked at the people who advocated this interpretation of scripture, some of them gay, and thought that the only reason they are interpreting scripture this way is to justify their lifestyle. I am just trying to look at the issue honestly. You guys have given me alot of good information. Thankyou for reading and commenting on my article!
braceyourself 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Hey, Jannafaith21: Honesty would be believing science and not a mythical, ages-old text that's been changed throughout the centuries.