I don't want to highjack this thread as I have already made my opinion loud and clear.
But to respond to the most recent posts
@RAS NATE
To quote you: "Furthermore,if ones start to remove natural moral standards,and accept homosexuality beacuse there's no proof it's a mental illness or that it's wrong,ones might as well reach the conclusion that pedophilia isn't wrong as well,beacause there may not be proof it's a mental illness or that it's wrong."
There is proof that pedophilia is a mental illness. There is no proof that homophobia is, and thus it is no longer considered such. Why should a rational person, who does not believe that homosexuality is immoral, believe it is a mental illness if there is absolutely no such indication? My moral standards tell me it is wrong to condemn another individual for their sexual preference. Nothing in my conscious tells me it is wrong to be a homosexual. Again I ask, on what empirical grounds can you argue that homosexuality is immoral? Violence, or pedophilia we can say is immoral because it implies asserting a form of dominance over another individual. There are measurable consequences whether in bodily or psychological harm. Therefore, we can rationally and empirically conclude that pedophilia, acts of violence, extortion, etc...are all immoral. Aside from your own prejudices, on what grounds do you consider homosexuality to be immoral or unethical?
Yes, if I were living in a time when homosexuality was still considered a disorder I would stand by the rights of gay people. Much like today we live in a world with unjust laws and definitions, I don't orient my values in accordance with man-made laws. An obvious example are the current drug laws. There is a myriad of misinformation in regards to natural substances like cannabis, of which I partake every day.
To answer your question, many people are beginning to argue that pedophilia is not a disorder and I tend to agree with them. There is no evidence to support the claim that it is. In my opinion pedophilia is reprehensible because it is immoral, it has a measurable impact on the psychological health of its victims. Pedophiles might not have a mental disorder but their actions are immoral because they create measurable harm. Homosexuality doesn't harm anyone. It is neither a mental disorder, nor is it immoral. Therefore, I have to logically assume that to compare homosexuality with pedophilia has no precedence. The only similarity is in your mind; because you find pedophilia to be reprehensible and you find homosexuality distasteful, you subconsciously associate the two. In reality, there is no comparison. One is an act of control, the other is an act of love.
I don't quite understand your analogy with the serial killer and alcohol. But your argument is that simply because Babylon typically unjustly condemns people, it is not always unjust? I'd like to point out this argument could be conveniently used to justify any kind of crusade against any group of people, and seems counter-intuitive me. We are rational individuals. We can look to the past and we can see where we have done right and where we have done wrong, and I can think of virtually no historical precedent in which a group of peoples was justly condemned for an "ethical" reason. Let me also point out that your very argument could be used in the opposite way. Many here have pointed out that just because some African cultures accepted homosexuality doesn't mean the majority did, but if we are to blindly accept the customs of our past than why exclude those many African cultures which promoted homosexual relationships?
Again I ask you, on what grounds do you claim it to be immoral or unnatural?
Adam and Eve were also naked and it wasn't until they sinned that they felt compelled to cover themselves. Perhaps our clothes make us all wicked sinners?
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@Shasatabe Makonnen
Half of the Bible can be quoted to promote murder, rape, slavery, and bigotry of all types. My first post in this thread was entirely Bible excerpts. I would not cite the Bible as an ethical reference if my life depended on it.
Leviticus ALSO says:
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)
Homosexuals are in no way a threat to the seed of mankind. Overpopulation is a huge problem. If anything we need more people refusing to have kids and adopting, not less.
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@Black heart
My mission isn't to destroy the reputation of Africa, it is to point out that we must acknowledge that to hold up outdated and unjust traditions simply because they are "traditions" is ludicrous. Our homeland is not perfect, our ancestors did some terrible things to one another and in some place they continue to.
I was talking about cultures which did practice cannibalism in the past because we the argument was that homosexuality is unAfrican because that's always been African tradition. My point was that cannibalism and human sacrifice was also an African tradition, and I did provide several examples. I'll re-iterate:
"Human sacrifice was common in West African states up to and during the 19th century. The Annual customs of Dahomey was the most notorious example, but sacrifices were carried out all along the West African coast and further inland. Sacrifices were particularly common after the death of a King or Queen, and there are many recorded cases of hundreds or even thousands of slaves being sacrificed at such events. Sacrifices were particularly common in Dahomey, in the Benin Empire, in what is now Ghana, and in the small independent states in what is now southern Nigeria.
In the Asante region of modern day Ghana, human sacrifice was often combined with capital punishment.
In the northern parts of West Africa, human sacrifice had become rare early as Islam became more established in these areas such as the Hausa States. Human sacrifice was officially banned in the remainder of West African states only by coercion, or in some cases annexation, by either the British or French. An important step was the British coercing the powerful Egbo secret society to oppose human sacrifice in 1850. This society was powerful in a large number of states in what is now south-eastern Nigeria. Nonetheless, human sacrifice continued, normally in secret, until West Africa came under firm colonial control.
The Leopard men were a West African secret society active into mid-1900s that practised cannibalism. In theory, the ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe. In Tanganyika, the Lion men committed an estimated 200 murders in a single three-month period"
In regions of the Congo and Uganda groups still sacrifice humans, often infants. (source: http://hrbrief.org/2012/09/the-practice-of-ritual-killings-and-human-sacrifice-in-africa/) But my point wasn't about the fact that some areas still carry out this practice in the name of tradition, it was about the fact that these practices used to be widespread throughout Africa. It wasn't just pockets of a few "bad" individuals. Human sacrifice is a part of African culture. Like it or not, it's just as much a part of us as the Pyramids of Egypt.
I mean no disrespect to Mother Africa. I just wish to acknowledge that even she is flawed, and we must learn from our flaws and imperfections. We often speak of reparations for what Babylon did to the African people, and we are often frustrated that Babylon so frequently happens to forget or downplay the impact of their actions and the brutality of former cultural traditions such as slavery. Yet at the same time they lift up their leaders and white-wash their history and foreign policy, as if they have learned over time and all of European history is noble and there is no need to change their ways now. Well....my words may be unpopular but I call things how I see them.
Defend it all you want, however you want...hate is hate is hate, doesn't matter how you cut it. I love all of you, as brothers and sisters, and I send you all my utmost respect...but I sincerely hope that one day you might see the wickedness that often arises in our own hearts even when we fail to see it, and I hope that you might see that all people are deserving of compassion and respect even if we might find each-others ways distasteful. Surely none of us deserves to be deprived of our rights or deserves to be a target of violence where we have not instigated it ourselves.
"We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community."
"History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity."
--The words of Haile Selassie, so says HIM
Bless Up for the gift of reason, Love and Unity for all of Iration
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