Tutu says what we’re all thinking
September 8th, 2008 Posted in ReligionDesmond Tutu, charismatic African church leader, has, I believe, finally stood up and said what pretty much everyone outside of the Anglican church has been thinking for decades now: sex really isn’t a big deal.
Speaking at a conference in London, Tutu said that the church had become obsessed with gays and was totally ignoring the real problems that they, as Christians, were called to address. The church has, indeed, as Tutu affirmed, been a force for good in so many areas, such as care for the elderly and oppressed, and aid to the developing world; but it wasn’t dedicating enough effort to this side of its work because it seems totally and inexplicably obsessed about what responsible adult men do with their willies.
And yes, it really is that stupid. Sexual desire is provably innate, at least to a very substantial degree – we are born with brains that guide us to perform certain actions simply by triggering pleasurable or painful emotions from certain sensory stimuli – sounds, sights, touch, smells etc. Some men and women are born with brains that attract them to members of their own sex. Some of those people then choose to live a life in which they act on those feelings. Some do not. Get over it.
Those who decide to act on their ‘unconventional’ passions will have relationships and sexual intimacy and all these other things that make human life so rich and beautiful. Those who don’t, usually for religious or social reasons, will often suffer feelings of deep personal sadness and depression and will probably go to their death beds without knowing the extraordinary elation felt in the tender embrace of a loved one. To deny a human being those feelings because of your own superstitions and prejudices is morally repugnant. To spread that belief, backed up by the infinite carrot and stick of religious reward and punishment, is abhorrent.
John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, added that the church ought to have a moral stance on matters of sexuality. Yes, of course it should – and it should be the same as the moral stance of every decent human being ever to have lived: what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is their own business and anyone who tries to impose restrictions or limits on that activity, to the extent that it has no negative effect on any other human being, is at best deeply misguided and at worst is arrogantly trying to impose their own irrationality onto the lives of others.
I think Jesus said something about how being humble was a good thing and, unless I’m very much mistaken, he never said anything about sex. If a grown man wants to *cough* love his neighbour just like he loves himself… then he should feel no guilt whatsoever in that. Maybe those without sin should throw the first stone. If you believe the doctrine of original sin has left you innately sinful, then you should probably therefore shut up and mind your own business.
Hooray for Desmond Tutu! He can go on my official list of “people who have very different beliefs from me, but who are awesome anyway”!
