The Delhi High Court judgement on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has opened up a Pandora’s Box of variegated opinions. The advocates of “gay pride”, a term of their own choice, are obviously gaga. The Central Government seems to be in a Catch 22 situation, not knowing whether to say yes or no to 377. Religious leaders of various persuasions have of course gone ballistic against the judgement, and one has already challenged it in the Supreme Court.
Baba Ramdev, who has progressed from being a yoga exponent, to an industrialist (a huge factory in Haridwar), media icon, social activist and political commentator; has termed the judgement an influence of “decadent western culture”. He considers homosexuality as foreign to Indian culture. Manoj Mitta (TOI 7/7/09) has tried to prove quite the contrary; that ancient India was tolerant and even encouraged homosexuality as evidenced in the Manusmriti and Kamasutra. I would refrain from commenting further on the so-called “Indian” approach. Not being qualified, I dare not broach the subject, even from the backside! Pardon the pun.
However, as an Indian Christian, I am concerned about “western decadence” that could obliquely refer to Christian morality. The irony is that it was a “decadent western culture” that motivated the British to incorporate section 377 in the IPC. But it is Indian litigants who agitated against it, and Indian judges pronounced the verdict. So how is western decadence to blame? This seems a throwback to the infamous “foreign hand” that Indira Gandhi used to great effect, for blaming everything that ailed India.
My purpose, here, is to present the Christian perspective. Homosexuality between males in often referred to as sodomy. What is the origin of this word? It comes from the town of Sodom, which existed somewhere near the Dead Sea, and was destroyed by God’s wrath about 2500 BC. Why did Sodom incur God’s wrath?
Abraham (Ibrahim) the chosen one of God (revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews) pleaded with God to spare Sodom if 10 righteous men were found there. His nephew Lot lived in Sodom and was visited by two angels. The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with these angelic men. Lot was horrified and shut the door of his house. He even offered two of his virgin daughters to the Sodomites, hoping that it would appease their sexual urge. But the Sodomites wanted the men only. It is then that God evacuated Lot and his family, and rained fire and brimstone on Sodom, destroying it completely.
This episode is from the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament of the Bible. The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch. The Jews call it the Torah and the Muslims the Toreth. Among others, it contains the Ten Commandments given to Moses (Moosa) and the Mosaic Laws, as found in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The Mosaic Law calls sodomy a “hateful thing” that is “punishable with death.” Later in the Old Testament we read of the Judaic Kings like Asa, Jehosaphat and Josiah taking strong action against sodomites and “sacred male prostitutes” even though the practice was acceptable in other contemporary societies.
The second part of the Bible, known as the New Testament, dates to the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. Several of Jesus’ apostles like Sts. Peter, Paul and Jude, in their epistles, continue to condemn sodomy and lesbianism in forthright terms – as being unnatural, perverted and inviting divine displeasure. However, Jesus himself, in his one reference to Sodom, says that the acts of Sodom are not as grave as the unbelief of the people of Capernaum. This is typical of Jesus’ approach to “sinners”. He does not condemn “public sinners” like prostitutes and drunkards. He is empathetic to them, and considers religious self-righteousness a graver act of moral decadence. He always condemned the “holier than thou” attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees of his time, calling them whitened sepulchres – white from outside, but decadence within.
Most religions cannot look beyond ancient traditions and their sacred scriptures. This is true of many Christians as well. However, the Catholic Church, to whom the majority of Christians owe allegiance, has been through a process of continuous updating - aggiornamento. Accordingly, the late Pope John Paul II promulgated the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” in 1992. It addressed many contemporary issues, including something like drunken driving, that obviously did not exist in Jesus’ time!
The Catechism upholds the traditional view that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered …contrary to the law of nature … under no circumstances can they be approved.” While this objective statement sounds harsh, it also expresses concern and empathy. It goes on to say that such persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” It would seem that the Delhi High Court judgement has indeed taken a leaf out of the Catechism!
So the Catholic viewpoint is clear – it neither approves, nor condemns. Such an attitude should influence all of us Indians who tend to look down on the “other” – their habits, dress, food, language, customs, etc. We certainly need a more tolerant society, not just for homosexuals; lest we too, like the people pf Sodom, incur God’s wrath and are destroyed by “fire and brimstone”.
# The writer is a former National President of the All India Catholic Union
JULY 2009
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