Finding a Morally Upright College

JHS
Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:31:12 +0000

Hunt, I accept that Leviticus bans anal sex between men. (I am not familiar with the New Testament prohibition.) I just don’t know on what basis you turn it into a moral principle – it’s just one in a string of fairly specific prohibitions, without much explanation. There are other rules that do clearly relate to broader moral principles, but you can tell because they are discussed in those terms. Since this one has no potential application to women, I have a really hard time reading a principled condemnation of homosexuality into it.

In context, Leviticus 18 starts with the admonition to abandon practices that were associated with Egypt and the tribes in Canaan. There then follows a laundry list of incest prohibitions, with some glaring omissions: nieces are fair game, and it’s not clear one’s own daughter is proscribed if you have divorced her mother, or her mother has died. (My point is not that Leviticus says it’s OK for fathers to have sex with their daughters; it’s that this specific chapter isn’t where you find a principled incest prohibition as opposed to a bunch of technical rules that somehow relate to Egypt.)

Then there’s a prohibition against having sex with women while they are menstruating. Ooops! I violate that one from time to time!

Then it says not to immolate your children as sacrifices to Moloch. I agree with that wholeheartedly, and follow it very strictly. Curiously, it does not state a general principle against immolating your children as sacrifices to any god other than Moloch, or just immolating your children, period. But I’m happy to generalize this one.

Then it says not to lie with a man as you would with a woman, because, essentially, it’s gross. Also, no sex with animals. Even women – and this is the only prohibition in the whole chapter directed to women – aren’t allowed to have sex with animals.

And the closing makes clear, once again, that the point is to reject practices common in Egypt and Canaan. It also specifies that the prohibitions are applicable to Jews and to resident aliens – which of course implies that they aren’t necessarily universal moral principles, just local laws. Obviously, I believe there are some universal moral principles reflected in there, such as not committing incest or sacrificing your kids, but the passage itself doesn’t convince me that everything in it is a universal moral principle. Heterosexual sex during menses and homosexual anal intercourse have exactly the same status in it. How much are you willing to stake on that?