University of Innsbruck, Faculty of Humanities 2, Department of English
PS “One Nation under God?” – Religion and Politics in America
08th September, 2006

Homosexuality as an Issue of Religion and Politics in the USA

by: Stefan Hinterholzer

Table of Contents

Introduction  3

1. The general conflict 4

2. American churches on homosexuality  6

2.1. Fundamentalist denominations 6
2.2. Conservative denominations 6
2.3. Mainline denominations 7
2.4. Liberal denominations 8
2.5. Post-denominational churches  8

3. The public opinion about homosexuality 9

4. The current legislation 11

4.1. General information 11
4.2. Massachusetts way to same-sex marriage 12
4.3. The Federal Marriage Amendment 13

5. George W. Bush and the issue of homosexuality  14

Bibliography 17

Introduction

The USA is a country that has a deeply-rooted religious tradition on the one hand and that separates religion and state like almost no other country on the other hand. However, the border between this religious consciousness in private and this strong secularism in public life often becomes blurry. There are certain issues like school prayer, sex education or abortion that are of an extreme importance for religious people. These make up a majority of the American society and a significant percentage of potential voters. Consequently, many politicians (including the current president George W. Bush) pay attention, react or even give in to this pressure in order to maintain a solid basis of voters that secures their political position.

An important issue in religion and politics in the USA is homosexuality and the related issue of same-sex marriage. Homosexuality has been being not tolerated and banned by most religious groups for a long time, but in our liberal society today many churches seem to develop a certain degree of tolerance towards homosexuals and to change their perspective on homosexuality. This makes the whole issue controversial since the perspectives in society also change. The major question in politics is whether homosexual couples should obtain the same rights (or at least some rights) as heterosexual couples through marriage or civil union or not. The importance of this issue also became clear for George W. Bush when he started the campaign for his re-election.

The aim of this topic is to prepare an introduction to the vast issue of the problematic relationship between religion and homosexuality and an overview of the positions of the American Christian churches towards homosexuality, to show the power of the religious groups (and the public opinion), to take a look at George W. Bush in his re-election campaign and to highlight the current legislation in the USA.

1. The general conflict

Homosexuality is a problematic issue in many religions that oppose homosexuality basing their argumentation on holy and religious texts as well as on the religious tradition¹. Religious groups present a number of arguments against homosexuals with different degrees of tolerance:

One argument is the homosexual’s inability to reproduce. Homosexuals cannot bear a child and found a family². Still, this is seen from a one-sided point view because homosexual men do have the ability to father a child and homosexual women do have the ability to deliver a child. Furthermore, homosexual couples could adopt and raise a child and by that perform the same social function as heterosexual couples. However, this inability to found a family on a natural way (through intercourse) is sufficient for many religions to regard homosexual unions as minor. Especially in the USA, family is a highly important value in society and a major aim in life. A further argument (as far as this can be seen as a real argument) is that homosexual orientation itself is sinful. Since such dogmatic arguments can be hardly accepted in a secularized society, European religious groups do not accept this argument³. Nevertheless, fundamentalist churches in the very religious USA still follow this dogma.

Finally, homosexual fantasies and bodily acts are regarded as sinful by many churches⁴. On the one hand, this relates to homosexual’s inability to father a child. The sole purpose of intercourse is seen in reproduction and the foundation of a family. Since this is not possible for homosexuals their sexual contact is believed to have no justification and to be sinful, therefore. On the other hand, some churches still believe that human beings can chose their sexual orientation, i.e. either to be homosexual or heterosexual (or bisexual). Homosexual men and women are believed to choose a sinful way which they could leave again (e.g. through religious faith and practice). Today, most scientists agree that homosexuality stems from inborn genetic information and the personal development and surroundings. This last argument is one to reasons why some churches heavily oppose pro-homosexual legislation (equal right protection, same-sex marriage, hate crime protection). This could encourage people to practice homosexual activities⁵.

[...]

1 cf. „Homosexualität und Religion.“ Wikipedia: Die freie Enzyklopädie. 02 September 2006. 05 September 2006 <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexualit%C3%A4t_und_Religion>.

2 cf. ibid.

3 cf. „Homosexuality and religion.“ Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia. 28 August 2006. 05 September 2006 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_religion>.

4 cf. ibid.

5 cf. Wikipedia: Homosexuality and religion.