BIBLE DOESN'T JUSTIFY HOMOPHOBIA

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993                   TAG: 9301080416
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
BIBLE DOESN'T JUSTIFY HOMOPHOBIA
PRESIDENT-elect Clinton demonstrated moral courage when he declared opposition to the Army's ban on gays. It is going to be hard to overcome the prejudice of people who refuse to understand.
Some religious bigots cite Bible passages against gays. If they were intellectually honest, they would see those passages in the same light as passages against women speaking in church or the passage telling slaves to obey their masters. Each passage needs to be understood in terms of the times and the circumstances under which it was written.
Even if one is a literalist, the Bible does not build an ironclad case for condemnation. God's strong call for an inclusive community collides with the prevailing homophobia.
Your newspaper carried a recent letter by one who said he would not want his son to go into the Army if the ban is rescinded. He likened it to sending his daughter to live with prostitutes. But neither all gays nor all heterosexuals behave like prostitutes. And heterosexual promiscuity risks not only AIDS but unwanted pregnancy.
Clinton is right. Put a ban on wrong behavior in the military, but not on the sexual orientation with which one is born. HOWARD R. PETERS SALEM

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB