"This country has a sodomy problem."

[jreilly4261]

Sodomy and Civil Rights

 

David R. Weiss, November 7, 2008

 

This country has a sodomy problem. And until we have the wisdom and the courage to be honest about what that means we're not going to resolve the question of civil rights for homosexuals. We need to be clear about why sodomy is such a threat to the common good of civil society, why it undermines the family, and why it is such an evil when afoot in faith communities. It's not going to be easy. But it needs to be done.

 

The word "sodomy" comes from a biblical text (Genesis 19) where the ancient city of Sodom is marked out for divine destruction because its evil ways so angered God. Sodomy names those who act like the inhabitants of Sodom.

 

 

Fine. But listen carefully. Not in this text—nor in any other biblical text—is there a condemnation of committed same-sex relationships. Not one. Not anywhere. There are a small handful of texts that condemn same-sex prostitution in pagan temples, and perhaps military rape and pederasty. But nowhere in the Bible is there a single word that condemns committed same-sex relationships.

 

To vote on Proposition 8 in California, or on any of the other state initiatives seeking to ban same-sex marriage, based on the Bible is the moral equivalent of using biblical texts to support slavery or apartheid. It is obscene.

 

So having cleared that up, let's talk about the real problem here: sodomy. Acting like the inhabitants of Sodom.

 

The prophet Isaiah (1:10-17; 3:9-15) knew something about the reputation of those who lived in Sodom. He says they despised justice, especially for widows and orphans—those at the edges of family structures in the ancient world. And he says they built an economy that stole the goods of the poor. Likewise, the prophet Ezekiel (16:49) was also acquainted with the sodomy "lifestyle." He rails against them because in the midst of their abundance they were indifferent to the needy.

 

Even Jesus, some 2000 years after its destruction, can employ a reference to Sodom with full effect. Twice (Matthew 11:19-24 and Luke 10:12) he invokes the memory of Sodom as a city condemned for its treatment of the marginalized and its lack of hospitality to sojourners.

 

For both the Hebrew prophets and the Christian Messiah sodomy is not about acting on same-sex attraction; it is clearly and unequivocally about social injustice and horrendous breeches of hospitality, of which the attempted gang rape of Lot's guests is simply one final bit of damning evidence.

 

Sodomy, understood biblically, is the sin of creating social structures that systematically isolate those already at the margins of society. It is roundly condemned by the prophets and by Jesus. And for good reason.

 

It destroys the fabric of families by teaching even the youngest children to dehumanize persons simply because of difference. It undermines the common good of society by scape-goating a minority in ways that contradict the very ideals we claim to hold in a democracy. And it is simply an unforgiveable evil in faith communities where it betrays the very messages of justice, mercy, and compassion that are at the heart of religious faith.

 

 

So let's be clear: the desire to close off the protections afforded by marriage to persons living in committed same-sex relationships (and to their children) is itself an act of sodomy and it has no place in civil society or in communities of faith.

 

Further, when African-Americans and Hispanics vote in large numbers alongside conservative white Christians to ban same-sex marriage they ally themselves with the same strand of Christianity that in the past quoted other biblical texts just as effectively to justify genocidal policies toward Native Americans, xenophobic laws toward immigrants, and abominations like slavery, Jim Crow, and apartheid.

 

So, yes, this country has a sodomy problem. But so long as we think it has anything to do with gay sex we've missed the point of God's outrage. Sodomy happens when any group uses their majority or their power to abuse and marginalize another group. That's what happened in California, Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas on November 4. And it's time for us, as citizens and as Christians, to stop acting like the inhabitants of Sodom.

 

 

David Weiss

 

David Weiss is a theologian and author of To the Tune of a Welcoming God (2008). He lives with his wife and children in St. Paul, MN.

Comments

[sexualcabinetry.livejournal.com]

Technically, Sodom's sin was trying to fuck angels, a subject that came up several times earlier in the Bible. Fucking angels is sort of the bigger sin. Homos just get stoned, angel-fuckers get smoted. Smited? Smitten doesn't work here.

[richardf8]

I have a slightly different theory.

Namely that this sexual engagement was an initiation into their religious cult, a sort of droit de signeur imposed on any who would arrive there, and that thus, the sin of Sodom was their imposition of their religion on people who would not accept it.

[sexualcabinetry.livejournal.com]

No, it is pretty much established that the sin that resulted in the flood of Noah was angel fucking. Ever wonder who Cain met in the Land of Nod? God really really doesn't like that, apparently, which I guess is a fairly logical complaint.

Why he chose Israel as the chosen land, however, is confusing. My theory is that the sightlines are relatively unobstructed and it's pretty close to shopping and schools.

[richardf8]

Wow.

I have been trying, and failing, to put together a d'var on this very theme for about four years. I keep gathering the material (lots of it) and it keeps falling apart in the writing.

And he's local to me too! Hmmm. . . might need to find out more about him, there are some events for which we need to find speakers.