Nowhere is the gulf between science and religion more evident and more enormous than when we confront the issues of sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity, and homosexuality. It seems bizarre that in the 21st century so many people in America and elsewhere are still confused by ignorance and self-deception--by rampant stupidity.
The science of the issue is clear to every biologist and was cogently summarized in a recent review by two endocrinologists (1). The authors make the following points:
The above points are made by endocrinologists, but you don't need to be an endocrinologist to understand the facts and the implications.
The first important implication is that sexuality and sexual orientation and gender identity are not questions of choice but matters of biology and hormones and circumstances in the fetal environment.
The second important implication is that all the chief religions are apparently completely out of kilter in their understanding of biological realities concerning these issues.
The third important implication is that there's no rational basis for prejudice, discrimination, or persecution of homosexuals, transsexuals, or whatever--and in fact such hostile attitudes are from the standpoint of science and reality blatantly disgusting.
Most religions base their doctrines on ancient books with obsolete knowledge of the real world. As the human species moves forward in time, our knowledge of the real world increases in quantity and quality, and it seems to me that any religion that hopes to survive must either change its books or ultimately implode for lack of relevance.
Meanwhile, people in and out of religion need to understand the reality of the 21st century. We need to understand that the human species exhibits a whole spectrum of sexualities, sexual orientations, and gender identities, a smooth continuum from extreme female to extreme male, with all sorts of combinations of orientation and identity and sexuality in between the extremes.(2) That's biological reality--and for the sake of sanity it should be our social reality. There's no reason to oppose gay marriage except stupid ideas based on old books, irrational fears, and psychiatric hatreds. It's time to grow up.
Note (1). Garcia-Falgueras A, Swaab DF. (2010). Endocr. Dev. 17:22-35.
Note (2). A full discussion of fetal variables in sexuality and gender identity plus some interesting cases can be found in Chapter 7 of my new book More Than Genes, Oxford University Press, 2009.
Michael Graziano: The Darwinian Evolution of Religion
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I believe that the sexual orientatio
"in fact such hostile attitudes are from the standpoint of science and reality blatantly disgusting
Disgust is an emotional reaction, much like the feeling that some people get when they encounter homosexual behavior. The scientific answer to ALL disgust is "GET OVER IT". Your emotional reaction is irrelevant to any scientific
To be clear: I believe that discrimina
In other words, if you're a man, and you didn't have that testostero
That is probably the most concise, insightful comment I have ever heard regarding conservati
Thanks for a great article!
Likewise, Religion is a living doctine that incorporat
Yes, science builds and expands upon itself, and it does so through exhaustive testing, peer review, and continual adjustment
Stephen Hawking spent 30 years propoundin
Suggesting that science and religion are somehow analogous or similar in this regard is not only disingenuo
All this might be an affront to your god if you had any evidence that he/she exists. But if god does exist, my bet would be that he/she would want us to use our brains and not simply follow in blind faith.
Um.
OK.
"God" is a very convenient tool for such self-aggra
No matter how fervently you may believe in God or the Bible, it is always just your opinion, which you're entitled to. Religion offers you comfort in a scary world - I understand that. But when you try to regulate everybody else - so that YOU'LL feel more comfortabl
Do you have any scientific references to refute the points made by Mr. Agin and the references he gives?
"I think that the future will see a huge increase of people who are not heterosexu
How do you know that those children are not homosexual already due to their gestationa
And as a final point. Why does what God has to say about right and wrong have any bearing on legal rights and ramificati
PART ONE: There are two points that I would like to make about this article. The first pertains to the “ancient, obsolete books." While I cannot speak for most belief systems, I can speak for my own and defend the Bible. There are hundreds of examples of texts that are not biblical that prove that the Bible correspond
The Jews were never slaves in Egypt.
People do not even know who wrote the gospels.
The early church voted which books to keep or not to keep.
And the New Testament "records" of Jesus's life (for sake of argument lets assume he was a real person shall we?) were written three hundred yrs after his death.
Yep, the bible its infallible and is chock full of real science!
For me, I have a totally gay orientatio
Yet, I hear all these "non gay" people stating they know for a fact that it is a choice. Hmmmm. Maybe their orientatio
This range of options can explain also that gaydar fooler, the "nancy boy", the straight guy who seems kind of on the femmy side, but is totally straight orientatio
Try again?
Asking them to learn the difference between biology and theology..
Onward into the 21st century,
Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace, Washington