From: kasab@luther.che.wisc.edu (Haig Kasab)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Re:      Re: Homosexuality Causality)
Date: 17 Nov 92 00:19:02 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Originator: kasab@luther.che.wisc.edu

In article <...> gerwitz@Kodak.COM writes:
>In an exchange between Haig and Eric, Haig stated the following....
>> I still think your argument is wrongheaded and I still think you are
>> making the same monstrous generalization about homosexuality.  While
>> Dahmer's sexual orientation may have affected the manifestation of his
>> sociopathic personality, it was by no means the cause of his behavior,
>> nor did it incite his behavior.  Had Dahmer been heterosexual, would you
>> still claim that his struggle with his heterosexual tendencies "was
>> partially responsible for inciting his sociopathic behavior?"  I think not.
>
>I think I would.
>
>I refer you to the interview that James Dobson did with Ted
>Bundy right before his execution.  In it Bundy stated unequivicly that
>his indulgence in pornography was a large influence on his subsequent behavior.
> He related in rather vivid detail how his life progressed over time to the
>point where he killed in order to "satisfy himself" (sloppy term).

Paul, Ted Bundy is another "classic" sociopath.  The reason he had escaped
justice so long is that he was the consummate con man--he did not care about
whether or not he was hurting other people because those others were not
"people," they were merely objects to manipulate.

Dobson was interviewing Bundy on behalf of Donald Wildmon, who is an
anti-porn crusader of Epic Proportion.  So, it only makes sense that
Bundy would sell Dobson the line that he was looking for, namely, that
"porn made him do it." I can't really hypothesize more, not being all
that familiar with the particulars of Bundy's psychological profile.

>I like to think about these situations in terms of a drug or alchohol
>habit.  After a while, the current 'dosage' does not bring about the
>desired effect, so the user migrates to something stronger.  This begins a
>cycle which drives the user to more potentially undesirable and dangerous
>situations.  

Except that your analogy is comparing physiological effects (chemical
stubstance addiction) and psychological disorders (pathological behavior).
One could make a more compelling argument that there are psychological
factors that help predispose someone to substance abuse or criminal
behavior--which would, in a religious framework, be termed "our tendency to
sin;" nevertheless, I think your analogy is weak.

>Aren't you making an assumtion, with this group of homosexuals, that the
>reasons behind their feelings are somehow driven by all this "emotional
>baggage" we put on them?  Isn't it possible that through prayer and thought
>that they can move to a different level of understanding ?  If God can
>change me through the power of the Spirit, why not any other sinner like me ?

It is possible that with prayer and thought homosexuals can cope with the
fact that most of human society loathes their very existance and what
they represent, that the Catholic Church would actively persecute them, and
that members of the Catholic Church would rather attack them for their
sexual orientation (or "convert" them to heterosexuality) than support them
for who they are.

Why is it too much to ask that the Holy Spirit work in us to understand our
sexuality better as a species, and to accept that not everyone will be
heterosexual.  It is not that homosexuality is abnormal, it is simply
different.   Unfortunately, not all of the forces in society have so
tolerant a viewpoint. . .
-- 
  Haig Kasab                             Arpanet: kasab@cae.wisc.edu
"Even the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose"  
        _The Merchant of Venice_ I,iii,99
      The NSF and UW--Madison don't speak for me, nor I for them.
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