A groundbreaking study by Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research disputes commonly held beliefs about scriptural references that condemn homosexuality. Theologians at the heart of this research behind their new report “Academic Statement on the Ethics of Free and Faithful Same-Sex Relationships” challenges homophobia & signals a time for change.
The Wijngaards Institute’s study has been two years in the making but is being launched at an opportune time, coming just after the recent (March ‘21) statement from the Vatican that upheld the ban on blessing same-sex unions stating: “You cannot bless sin”. In this new report, theologians have joined forces to prove there is no warrant for the official Catholic Church’s vilification of same-sex unions.
For decades the bible has been used to justify discrimination against same-sex relationships. This new study presents ground-breaking research showing that the biblical verses so long held to condemn those relationships do nothing of the sort. The report also deals with the classic condemnation of same-sex orientation as “unnatural” and highlights the scientific findings which now regard same-sex orientation as a natural variant of human sexuality. The Vatican as well as most other Christian Churches bear responsibility for continuing discrimination against people in same-sex relationships by asserting biblical grounds to justify their condemnation. This report intends to help end this cruel and false teaching.
Key Discoveries
While the report also examines scientific and sociological evidence, much of it is devoted to recent groundbreaking studies on the most important -so-called- “clobber texts” in the Bible:
- Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 are popularly believed to be the most explicit and general condemnation of same-sex relationships. Our study can confirm that the traditional interpretation is based on a mistranslation. On the contrary, those verses only refer to specific kinds of male same-sex sexual activity (specifically, adultery and incest) and none condemns same-sex relationships in general. Indeed, the fact that the prohibition addressed a specific type of activity suggests same-sex relationships outside the forbidden category were viewed as permissible
- Also, Romans 1:26-27 is misinterpreted as new research has convincingly revealed
- There is no condemnation anywhere in the bible of female same-sex relationships, and of consensual and faithful same-sex relationships in general
- From the point of view of the natural sciences, it can be affirmed that, homosexuality is a “natural variation within the range of human sexuality”
The research concludes that “there are no grounds, either from science or from the Bible, to support the current papal teaching that every act of sexual intercourse has a procreative meaning and purpose, and that consequently, same-sex acts are ‘intrinsically disordered’ because they lack procreative meaning and purpose.”
