Whoops. I thought I was responding to Michael's attack
off list, but I just realized that his attack went to
the list (and thus so did my reply to him).
I will say this and only this about his attack. Many
supporters of gay rights wish to equate what they call
"homophobia" with racism. And by "homophobia" they
mean anyone who does not accept the moral goodness of
homosexual *conduct.* Well if homophobia means
believing in a traditional approach to human sexual
morality, I plead guilty. And I am proud to believe
what I believe. I believe that marriage is a
relationship between one man and one woman, and that
homosexual conduct and homosexual relationships are
not within the good of human sexuality.
But I believe that all human beings are created in the
image and likeness of God and have value as human
beings. Not everything human beings *do* is good and
deserving of being valued, but all human beings are
persons worthy of respect and dignity. Thus, I
acknowledge that people of all sexual orientations
(and all political ideologies) have infinite value and
dignity as children of God.
I have very tough skin. It is a good thing, because I
work in a world in which people like me are hated
because we refuse to change our deepest beliefs about
the good of human sexual expression. I'm also a pretty
tough guy and usually give as good as I get. But quite
frankly I have never heard hatred expressed as loudly
and clearly as Michael screamed it in the post he
mistakenly sent to the list.
I'm sorry that Michael hates me so much, but that is
his problem. I won't stop defending what I consider to
be the good of human sexual relationships simply to
make Michael (and some others no doubt) stop hating
me. To paraphrase something Martin Luther once said,
if I proclaim with the loudest voice and clearest
exposition every portion of the truth except precisely
that point which the world is at that moment
attacking, I have not proclaimed the truth.
The "point" of the truth that is under siege by the
world today is that concerning the nature of human
sexuality. I will try to be respectful of those with
whom I disagree, but I will not turn my back on the
truth just because some of you hate me for believing
what most Americans have always believed.
My apologies to the list for somehow triggering this
nasty thread. I was only trying to defend a
co-religionist who was called a vile name
("homophobe") by Prof. Newsom merely because that
person refused to sign a pledge renouncing his
religious beliefs about human sexual morality.
Happy Holidays to you all, Rick Duncan
=====
Rick Duncan
Welpton Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred:
middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered."
--The Prisoner
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