Updated 04:40 pm.EST, Sat November 21, 2009

World|Mon, Jul. 06 2009 11:34 AM EDT

Indian Catholic: Homosexuality Can Be Reversed

By Rahul Benjamin|Christian Today Reporter

A Catholic Church leader has come out firmly against the Delhi High Court's gay-affirming decision.

Responding to the controversial legalization of homosexuality, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) on Friday said homosexual acts are immoral and should not be licensed.

Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, president of the CBCI, in a statement warned that the government legalizing homosexuality must not be construed as declaring homosexual behavior as "morally permissible."

The "government should not give the impression that homosexuality is licensed," he said.

"Giving the impression that homosexuality is moral will bring in sexual anarchy including child abuse in society. The Indian culture which is founded on self-discipline and asceticism should not be allowed to disintegrate by opening the doors to sexual licentiousness which is already rampant in our consumer culture," Cardinal Vithayathil, who is also Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church, warned.

Last Thursday, the Delhi High Court made a landmark ruling, declaring that homosexual sex between consenting adults is not a crime. The decision applies only in New Delhi.

Vithayathil acknowledged that certain individuals may be attracted to someone of the same sex because of "circumstances" or by "birth," but he stressed that homosexuality is a "pathological condition that can be reversed by therapeutic methods."

He said the society at large with the help of religions and governments must help homosexuals to bring themselves back into their normalcy and integrate themselves into family life.

"Homosexuals should not be hated or ostracized from the community or family, simply because they have such tendency," he cautioned.

But he noted that "this does not that mean homosexual acts are moral; these acts are intrinsically evil."

"The so-called same sex marriage is immoral in any context," he continued. "There is not even sex act or marriage in it. Homosexual right is a misnomer, just as there is no right for the minority of people who are kleptomaniacs or serial killers who they say are have innate tendencies to steal or kill.”

Other religious groups across India have also openly condemned the high court's ruling.

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  • Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:38 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    believer, I'm a former ex-gay. I was in the ex-gay movement for 15 years. When I was in the movement I would never admit I had not developed any opposite-sex attraction. If a person avoids any sexual temptation, whether same-sex or opposite-sex, their libido declines. If a heterosexual does this, their libido declines, but this doesn't mean they are becoming homosexual. I tried to tell myself that if my libido declines by avoiding temptation, then I am no longer homosexual. This of course is ridiculous. Alan Chambers view the sex drive heterosexual men have toward women as sinful and a sign of man's fallen state.

  • Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:55 am Agree: 2   Disagree: 0

    Al-I can go on but just answer those questions and give the proof to support your answers.

    hmmmm, why should he? I ask you to do the same thing, and you refuse because you are afraid of being "attacked"

    Strange how you fear being "attacked" when that's what almost every single one of your posts consist of.

  • Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:47 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    al, well unlike you until a person shows me they can't be trusted I take them at their word and I have spoken with and spent time with people who struggle with same-sex attractions and are experiencing victory over those temptations in their lives and some who are living in healthy heterosexual relationships and marriages. And like recovering people there is always a chance for relapse but relapse does not equate to complete failure.

  • Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:58 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

    Flagged as inappropriate. show Well the catholic certainly would know about perversions since it is rampant in the church! They got busted and paid a ton of damages and still being sued over and over by new claimants almost daily. To impose another ideology upon people is ridiculous and then expect that reliance upon a contradictory collection of stories and the past corruption, torture, abuse and the current exposures of the same doesn't lend credibility nor validation to listen much less to follow this antiquated system of self imposed system of restrictive belief and that the proof of the church's own misdeeds is enough by itself to ignore anythingsaid by them. http://alockslee.blogspot.com/Hypocrisy of the so called Christian Community exposed!! TFR hide

  • Thu Jul 09, 2009 4:50 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

    Flagged as inappropriate. show believer »Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:49 pm ggirl, I personally know and have met homosexuals who have left the homosexual lifestyle who would disagree with you, but it does not work for all people nor should anyone be forced into therapy. ------------------------------------------------------------ In response: So you personally know and met homosexuals who just stopped being homosexual? REALLY!! So how do you know that? do you spend every moment with them to make absolutely sure that they were: 1. Actually Homosexual to begin with; 2. Stopped even thinking about another person of the same sex; 3. That they weren't just telling you they were and now they got bored with it and trying something else for kicks; 4. That these former Homosexuals aren't lying to you; 5. That these former Homosexuals are still doing whatever they were doing and just telling you they aren't; I can go on but just answer those questions and give the proof to support your answers. http://alockslee.blogspot.com/Pointing out the hypocrisy of the fundies daily!! TFR hide

  • Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:59 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    I accept the numbers from Pew Research. They are about right. However, I would add this one comment.

    Many of the converts to Islam are forced converts, not necessarily true believers. And more of Islam's converts will not be practicing Muslims for that reason.

    So which is the fastest growing of the major religions is debatable.

  • Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:49 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

    ggirl, I personally know and have met homosexuals who have left the homosexual lifestyle who would disagree with you, but it does not work for all people nor should anyone be forced into therapy.

  • Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:38 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

    Flagged as inappropriate. show aeandrews: "Sin is sin in God's eyes, there is not varying degrees of sin". Mark 3:28-30, Matthew 12:30-32, and Luke 12:8-10 all seem to contradict your statement. hide

  • Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:30 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

    This i know

    This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

    And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

    Mat 24:14,31



    TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS. -- Hebrews 3:15.

  • Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:50 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

    Flagged as inappropriate. show ID _ NUMBERS!!! From 2000 - 2005 by absolute numbers, Christianity gained around 23 million new members while Islam gained 30 million. Islam is also the fastest growing by percentage of the 5 major religions with an increase of 1.8%. From Pew Research - Faith in America 2009 - Non-Believers at 16% are the fast growing group Zoroastrianism is the fastest growing religion by percentage of new members. They are growing at an annual pace of approximately 2.65%. hide

  • Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:23 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 3

    One of my biggest problems with this article is the idea that they believe homosexuality can be reversed with therapeutic methods. Isn't that just another way to say 'brain washing'? that is the first word relation that came to mind when I read it. A very scary thought with a whole lot of other implications / applications.

  • Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:05 am Agree: 2   Disagree: 1

    There is so much misinformation on this post. Christianity is growing fast in Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America. It is stagnant in North America, meaning about the same number of Christians but in a larger overall population so we are actually losing ground here. Europe is that has reversed. It used to be majority Christian and is not now. The Middle East is the area where we have the most unreliable information; outwardly, it would appear that Christianity is shrinking, but the underground church is vibrant and growing in places like Iran.

  • Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:42 am Agree: 2   Disagree: 3

    Flagged as inappropriate. show Frosty, you wrote man making love to another man full of fesses and any amount of disease and then call it love. 1. Not all sex is love and not all love is sex, I have sex for simply recreational reasons. FYI, It's fun, in case you haven't tried it yet! 2. Disease, Did you know that most HIV is spread among heterosexuals? Most STDs are between a man and a woman. 3. No idea what a fess is Daniel Paul, you wrote an intelligent person doesn't thumb their nose at God And of course you know Christianity is a minority religion in India and the world. At best all Christians combined are 30% of the world's population and that number is falling. So actually "thumbing their noses at God" is the majority behavior. hide

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:50 pm Agree: 6   Disagree: 3

    Homoousia...You said "The Church's comparison of homosexuality to theft or murder is ridiculous." Would expect anything less from any Bible based church? Sin is sin in God's eyes, there is not varying degrees of sin. Something is either a sin or it is not. So yes comparing it to murder or theft makes perfect sense because it is still a sin. I also believe that we are called to sexual abstinence until married(the biblical definition of marriage being one man, one woman, one life) and if we are expected to and able to control our urges the same should apply to those who have non-heterosexual preferences. It is an urge and desire that can be controlled. It is a shame that we live in such a morally bankrupt society that people fail to realize just how far we have fallen.

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:47 pm Agree: 6   Disagree: 2

    "We're talking about treating adults as if they are intelligent enough to make their own decisions with the consent of other intelligent adults. "

    In my mind, an intelligent person doesn't thumb their nose at God and, like Adam and Eve, say "I'm going to not take your word for it but do what I want." I'm just not seeing the intelligence in homosexuality. Perhaps you can show me from the Bible where you can have a right relationship with God and be homosexual at the same time.

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:48 pm Agree: 3   Disagree: 3

    Please do not tell me that the God who created all beauty can condone a man making love to another man full of fesses and any amount of disease and then call it love lets just tell the truth for once and not blame God.

  • Chas »
    Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:41 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 1

    Catholics will always stand against homosexuality. You are called to celibacy if you can't control yourselves, so that you might be saved.

    God is against Homosexual activity, and the Catholic Church will stand strong on God's Holy Word!

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:38 pm Agree: 4   Disagree: 4

    homo -

    "Christianity's growing obsession..." LOL! You're kidding right? It's the homosexual community that is FORCING their lifestyle onto others not the other way around. The homosexual community and their allies are the ones "coming out of the closet" and suing, name-calling, and perverting our society with their filthy lifestyle of promiscuity, un-natural sex and on an on. It use to be that the homosexuals had their own little seeding practice in the dark corners of society and for the most part were left to their own, but when they started wanting to be married and have the same "rights" as normal heteros - them are fight'n words:)

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:56 pm Agree: 7   Disagree: 2

    Reading Lev18 & Romans1 + many other scriptures should make it abundantly clear how the Bible feels about homosexuality. You may disagree with it but any attempt to wed Christianity & homosexuality is 'fuzzy logic' at best and disingenuous. It is 'isogesis' (reading into the scripture what you want it to say) not 'exogesis' (reading what it actually says).

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:38 pm Agree: 8   Disagree: 11

    Flagged as inappropriate. show Christianity's ongoing obsession with homosexuality is fast going from peculiar to perverse. We're talking about treating adults as if they are intelligent enough to make their own decisions with the consent of other intelligent adults. The Church's comparison of homosexuality to theft or murder is ridiculous. Lifelong celibacy is unnatural and frankly repulsive to me, but unlike the Church, I'm not idiotic enough to think that everything that doesn't occur in nature is evil. hide

  • Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:15 pm Agree: 4   Disagree: 5

    ""The so-called same sex marriage is immoral in any context," he continued. "There is not even sex act or marriage in it. Homosexual right is a misnomer, just as there is no right for the minority of people who are kleptomaniacs or serial killers who they say are have innate tendencies to steal or kill.â

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