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[quote]Moiz, it's good to hear from you, and with such good humour! Peace be with you. I did not mean (as you well know) that these children could have been &quot;begotten&quot; by homosexuals. But we are talking about family, and would you denounce a married couple who adopted a child, or would you refer to them as its parents? If they brought the child to adulthood with care and love, who would not pronounce them &quot;good parents&quot;? The only difference I am suggesting is that both adoptive parents are of the same gender.

To the wider readership I would say that I don't have any difficulty with the argument against homosexuality (except that in most cases it is inconsistent), or the right of anyone to hold that view, but I do take serious issue with those who demean the argument to the level of spirituality versus faith, as if someone holding a tolerance towards homosexuals is not a person who is serious about their faith.

In fact the debate over homosexual issues has been going on for several decades in the Christian church. Two of the speakers I interviewed for Art Beyond Belief's recent Festival of Dialogue were Christian Clergy. Both were of the opinion that God is not the slightest bit interested in Gender, but in &quot;caring, loving relationships&quot;. One pointed to anti-homosexual passages in scripture being &quot;about four lines of text in a collection of sixty-six books. These lines have been blown out of all proportion&quot;. She takes the issue of the children of Israel needing to &quot;build a nation&quot; and (as Moiz has pointed out) homosexuality is not good at making babies. But is that really relevant today? Sure, there are plenty of Christian &quot;literalists&quot; around, who believe that the Bible was literally dictated by God to a special group of writers over the years, but there are also a great number of Christians who see Biblical texts as a series of stories which contain truths, which are likely to be different for different times and places. The world is changing all the time, after all. The point in this somewhat lengthy reply is that in the Christian faith, these issues are being discussed at all levels. The condoning of a free sex for all policy is NOT what we are talking about here, but lasting responsible relationships. That is the mark of a lively faith keen to take up the challenges of the present day. The majority of homosexuals believe that God made them the way they are. The Christians I am talking about (together with the vast majority of Sikhs and Hindus who seem genuinely not to have a problem with homosexuality) want to understand that truth, and respond with acceptance and love. To dismiss it at &quot;mere spirituality&quot; is to understand neither faith nor spirituality.[/quote]

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