Anonymous

Is it a sin to believe in gay marriage (I'm straight), even though I know the Church's teachings? My mind understands why it is wrong, but my heart doesn't.

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John McCann Profile
John McCann answered

The concept of " sin " is only a religious concept and an Abrahamic religious concept at that.

The heart/head dichotomy does not exist, so if your " mind " understands why gay marriage is wrong while your " heart " does not I suggest you engage your brain and logically asses the situation from a rational perspective.

You may find that your 3000 year old desert dogma has nothing to say about this issue worth considering and that gay  predates religion by quite a distance. So, the truth, that gay marriage will happen, does not need your belief to be true and that something can be true, that the rights of gays supersede anything you believe, whether you believe it or not.

thanked the writer.
Shinypate one
Shinypate one commented
No, sin is actually a universal concept even if the word is found in western thought. You may be talking about original sin, which is indeed a western concept.

In eastern religions centered around reincarnation, a person either progresses or not based on kharmic adherence to moral codes. Buddhism says suffering is attached to desire, and there are 5 cardinal sins, which include matricide and patricide, killing a buddha or injuring someone in their spiritual quest. In general, sin is a moral concept shared by most religions, not only a Abrahamic one. See here: http://www.religioustolerance.org/sin_over.htm

All major faiths say homosexuality is an sin, or at least has conceptualized it as an error. This is our grey matter telling us that it fails as an adaption to reality. But our hearts allow us to consider the impact of reason on our relationships, and says to love the sinner while hating the sin, or something like that. I do not find this a contradiction, but rather it is the same principle as when Jesus forgives the woman caught in the act of adultery (by the way, it does not say with whom). Notice he forgives even without being asked by the woman to do so. So, if God forgives, we should also. What this means for jurisprudence is a mystery. What it means for morality is profound.

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