Abstract
Christianity emerged in the wake of the religious tradition of Israel, but it was actually born two thousand years ago at the instigation of Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth. Palestine was under Roman occupation at the time of his birth. The life and teachings of Yeshua were recorded many years later in the New Testament, and they formed the basis for the beliefs of this new religion. The Christian community has diversified over the ages due to doctrinal disputes and to schisms, and the Christian faith has spread across the planet. Today there are over 1 billion Catholics, 225 million Orthodox Christians, 83 million Anglicans, 66 million Lutherans, 49 million Pentecostals, 48 million Baptists, 44 million Calvinists and Presbyterians, 23 million Methodists, and 22 million United Church followers worldwide. In addition to these great families, more than 348 million followers grouped into communities whose membership has often been defined by national identity or ethnic and cultural characteristics. In Canada over 75 percent of the population is said to be Christian, including 43 percent Catholics, 32 percent Protestants, and 1.6 percent Orthodox Christians.1 In Quebec, the Catholic population is said to be 83 percent and Protestants just under 5 percent.2 The 2011 census did not ask about religious affiliation but the 2011 Home National Survey estimates the total Christian population of Canada at 67 percent, considerably less than 10 years before. This is mainly due to the increase in immigration coming from areas where non-Christian religions predominate and low rates of population growth among Canadian-born.3 In the United States, Protestant churches nowadays attract a slim majority (51.3 percent) of the adult population distributed as Evangelical Protestant (26.3 percent), mainline Protestant (18.1 percent), and black Protestant churches (6.9 percent).
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Notes
Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos: Chapters on Prayer, trans. John Eudes Bamberger. Cistercian Studies 4 (Spencer, MA: Cistercian Publications), 1972, Book 8.
John Chrysostom, Homily on First Thessalonians, VIII, 3. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Vol. XIII. In his Homilies against the Jews, I. II. 7, he pictures the Jews as “effeminates” (μαλακοὶ). He also writes in I. III. 1: “But the synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. Jeremiah said: ‘Your house has become for me the den of a hyena.’ He does not simply say ‘of wild beast,’ but ‘of a filthy wild beast,’ and again: ‘I have abandoned my house, I have cast off my inheritance.’ But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes the dwelling of demons.” Discourses against Judaizing Christians, Fathers of the Church, Volume 68, trans. Paul W. Harkins (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, reprint 2002). Clearly, John Chrysostom’s intention is to stigmatize the Jews by comparing the synagogue to a hyena’s den. He seems fully aware of the association of the hyenas with homosexual relations.
William of Malmesbury, Saints’ Lives, ed. and trans. Winterbottom and Thomson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 118.
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, June 3, 2003. The last sentence of the quotation refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993), sections 2357 and 2358: “2357. Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. 2358. The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons, n. 10, June 3, 2003.
Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders, n. 2, November 4, 2005.
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, n. 9–10, October 1, 1986. Without naming them explicitly, the Vatican is undoubtedly targeting homosexuals who are out, identify as gay, and claim their place in the church through advocacy groups. In the United States and Canada, these groups have existed since the 1970s, including Dignity and New Ways Ministry.
Congregation for Catholic Education, Guidelines for the Use of Psychology in the Admission and Formation of Candidates for the Priesthood, n. 9–10, June 29, 2008.
Church of England, House of Bishops (1991), Issues in Human Sexuality.
House of Bishops (2003), Some Issues in Human Sexuality, 1. 2. 48.
Task Force for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Studies on Sexuality (2003), Journey Together Faithfully, Part Two: The Church and Homosexuality, www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals and their Families (1999), A Plan for Ministry to Homosexuals and their Families, www.lcms.org/president/minhomfam.html.
Parliament of Canada, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Justice, 37th Legislature, 2nd Session ,Evidence, February 13 and April 9, 2003.
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© 2013 Pierre Hurteau
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Hurteau, P. (2013). Christianity. In: Male Homosexualities and World Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137340535_5
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