Okay, so I check my email alerts. And I get this alert from a place called virtueonline.org. Here's the link:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4106

And the subject is "causes and cures of homosexuality". I've had issues with this website before, and their failed logic is absolutely astounding, so I merely clicked it because yes, I was bored. Anyway, they make some pretty stupid overused claims in this story. And I thought it might be interesting to adress them. So, I shall do that here.

The article starts by explaining how an "ex-gay", Greg, was abused during his childhood years, and how he was promiscuous in homosexuality. Then there is the heartwarming story where Greg had noticed the evil of his ways, and had re-affirmed his faith in Jesus Christ. The most warm feeling of course came when he was taking care of his father, and his father told him "I love you" which was a surprise to Greg. The point of that being that Christian people are not abusive to other Christian people who lead good, moral, non-homosexual lifestyles.
The above section of the story is absolutely tear-jerking ... to any soap-opera watcher. It's not impressive though, at all. But of course, these are the only stories we hear about. The "ex-gay" who was abused as a child and slipped into homosexuality in seek of comfort.
Predictably, what we next hear about, is that the bible says that this is wrong, and that homosexuality can be cured. Focusing on the negative aspects of life is how they do this. ie: "you were abused as a child. You need to let this go though, and realize that bad things did happen, you can come out of homosexuality, and be good like us"

The fact is though, everyone has disagreed with their parents at some point or another. It doesn't make us all homosexual. Some people were also thoroughly abused as children who are actually straight. So focusing on a negative cause of homosexuality is just about as irrelevant as finding a positive aspect of life in a straight person's childhood... simply, because we all have good and bad childhood experiences. We tend to focus on the good ones. But places such as the church or any establishment which believes a "cure" exists, play upon the bad ones, especially where early decision-making is concerned.

sexual orientation too isn't a decision more than it is actually an embracement. Someone realizes what makes them happy, and they either accept it, or they turn their back to it. It just depends on the individual, and nothing else. It's not a disorder, and it doesn't hurt anyone in it's mere concept. People exist, and people hold different beliefs, and like different things. What's moral and not moral has to be made by the indivual, not by anyone else, and not by society.

If you want to know why there is an increase in number of homosexual suicides, I'll ask everyone to look at the world that they have to live in today. In Saudi Arabia, men are killed for it.

Greg then goes on to explain that if there was a gay gene (which neither he nor I believe exists) then we wouldn't have to accept that any more than a woman would have to accept her breast cancer. It may be true to a degree. Nobody's asking anybody to accept homosexuality just because this gene was allegedly discovered. But what's really false is that, like cancer, we need to seek a cure for it, as we do for cancer.

Folks, I don't know about you, but I could not name one instance where the existence of homosexuality has caused the cell population in a human's body to just explode. The difference is obvious. Cancer kills, and homosexuality does not. AIDS is later cited in a person's response in a thread. They seem to ignore the fact that people generally do not accept this as true anymore. AIDS can afflict any gender regardless of orientation. It's a blood disease only.

But a homosexual gene does not exist as of this point, so the argument is rather ridiculous to continue.

Nobody is asking anyone to accept homosexuality, but please do not use false science to back up your claims. And for god's sake, be consistant, or just don't speak at all! Realize that homosexuality and cancer are not synonomous. Realize also that faith should be kept entirely seperate when pursuing a scientific conclusion through observation. Probably the only reason that a gay gene was found is because the scientist was looking for one specifically. Of course, we know now that such a gene does not exist due to current research. Of course, even if we did find one, another suggestion that was offered was that "gene implantation" could be administered. A Brave New World anyone?

People make me sick.

Sincerely,
David... who is entirely happy.

I've never shaken so much before a presentation since they've been required. I mean, I've been nervous about them before, but not so much that my heart rate raised 3 hours before the actual presentation and will not settle down. I'm going to be so glad when theis is over. Of course this is not the last presentation that I will give. But it's the source of most of my worries. What if I just freeze up there and forget what I'm talking about?

x.x

I doubt that I will, but it's happened before, and it's really embarassing. It's the reason that I don't like to present in front of my peers. Ahh well... time will come, it will stay, and it will go. Sooner or later, that class has to come, and sooner or later it has to end. Sooner or later, it has to be night, so sooner or later, this whole thing will be over, it will be in the past, and it likely will not matter any more.

Since I've written this paper, I've had a lot of time to reflect upon what the importance of science is to my nearly faithless way of life. And I'm glad for that. I wish that more people would dump organized religion like I did, and look at the world in the scientific sense. One can still have faith in a greater being and respect the awsome nature of science. I've been doing it for years, well respecting the scientific method, and I am not an immoral hitler-type. I am bound by the reasonable nature of my human integrity, my respect for others, and that's what this all boils down to. This issue is important to me, because we can not beat ourselves senseless back to the dark ages, a time of scientific depression, and unquestionable religious fundamentalism.

God has not been left out of the equation. There is just no evidence for him. Everywhere we look, we see things beautiful in nature, and think to ourselves "That must be the work of an intelligent designer" -- of course, that is an excellent show of faith, but it's not science. In all of our history, when we look at science, we have discovered the existence of a natural explanation for phenomena. The properties of Physics govern most of the forms we see. The properties of chemestry creates anatural balance in the world that we as people MUST understand to keep going forward. Applying god directly into the equation will halt scientific progress as we know it.

The best thing then to do is to recognize that there are things in nature that are spectacular. And, where you wish, keep believing in god. Believe in god in the naturalistic sense. Believe that he has given us all of the properties of physics, chemistry, biology to determine what the outcome of human life is. Because the explanations that we are coming by are all true, and they are all naturalistic. And they cannot be cointinued to be ignored just because they defy someone's religious dogma. The application of science can be made to individual religious beliefs. It's up to the people, and its up for science to remain objective so that the people can make these decisions for themselves.

As you can see much of this is just random typing, while I try to vent some of the anxiety that I'm feeling at the moment. Well, I have to start presenting in about 20 minutes.. I ought to run through my presentation again. I hope I do well.

~David~