“Tradition,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.”1 Imagining that Chesterton was right, and our ancestors were allowed to go to the polls, they would most certainly arrive en masse on Election Day to strike down any referendum seeking, for example, to normalize gay marriage. If the pollsters narrowed their focus to the major living religious traditions throughout history, they would find a common thread: all of them—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—in varying degrees contain prescriptions against homosexuality.

From Moses to Paul and Manu to Muhammad, the sacred texts that define the predominant worldwide faiths deliver a similar verdict, time after time: same-sex behavior is a perversion of either the natural order or God’s intentions for human beings.2 For example:

In Judaism: In order to distinguish God’s people from their pagan neighbors, the Holiness Code expressly forbad same-sex relations (Lev. 18:22; 20:13).3 Far from being a time-bound prohibition, subsequent rabbinic and Talmudic tradition affirmed the commandment as stemming from the Noachin laws which prescribed that sexual relations be directed toward the replenishing of the earth (Gen. 9:1).4 Such laws were intended for all peoples, not just Jews.

In Christianity: the interdiction against same sex-relations (both male and female) is underscored repeatedly in Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10; and Jude 1:7. In brief, the Apostles and Church Fathers routinely condemned all forms of homosexuality and proclaimed that those who persist in such sinful patterns sow judgment for themselves. On this point there is no serious dispute.

In Hinduism and Buddhism: The Laws of Manu (Manusmrti), an authoritative legal, social, and moral text for Hindus, explicitly forbids all “twice born Hindus” from engaging in “homosexual acts.”5 Other penalties include fines and even loss of caste for such activities. As for Buddhism, which arose from Hinduism, insofar as it can even be called a religion (for it has no belief in God or gods), the picture is less clear since the Buddha simply instructed his followers to avoid all sexual misconduct.6 Accordingly, the Dalai Lama condemns homosexuality. Homosexual rights advocates look in vain for permission for their cause from historic Buddhism.

In Islam: The Qur’an condemns the actions of homosexuals, in various places. In sura 26:165f., for example, speaking to his fellow townsmen in Sodom, Lot questions them with solemnity, “Will you fornicate with males and abandon your wives, whom God has created for you? Surely you are great transgressors” (see also 15:73f.).7 Further, Muhammad apparently thought the matter of such importance to the stability of future Islamic civilization that he reiterated the provision condemning same-sex relations in his farewell address shortly before he died.8

Classical Mythology: Even in Greek mythology, one sees tragic consequences result from this kind of sexual deviance. In the story of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is born ruined by Hera, the guardian of marriage, because of his father’s homoerotic desires for, and abduction of, a boy named Chrysippus. The curse of Oedipus began with the curse of homosexuality.

The canons of the major world religions overwhelmingly support heterosexuality. This substantive truth should awaken the Church to the fact that it has only been within a breathtakingly recent moment that society has even considered lending support to same-sex unions or special rights for homosexual persons. Before the West proceeds any further, it would do well to learn from history—and the wisdom of its ancestors. The position of the ancients was—and still is—clear. Social engineers make poor historians. As Chesterton concluded, “Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.”9 May it not be said of God’s people that when the history of the culture war was written, our ancestors voted, but their descendents did not.
 
Footnotes:
 
1  Gilbert K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 48.
 
2  While ancient Eastern and Mesopotamian pagan religions have, on occasion, given recognition to certain homosexual persons, even then the status was “role-specialized,” and still regarded as abnormal. For example, the shaman or “priest” in the Chukchi tribe of Siberia could reverse gender roles as part of his duties, but the activity was still regarded as abnormal in the community.
 
3  Some of Israel’s Canaanite neighbors practiced ritual homosexual prostitution.
 
4  For documentary details relating to this and the following examples, see Arlene Swidler, ed. Homosexuality and World Religions (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1993). Although the essays in the book are uneven, and do not necessarily exhibit an evangelical theological perspective, the volume nonetheless is a helpful resource.
 
5  See Manusmrti 2:47f.
 
6  Buddhism tends to defer such questions to the discretions of individual communities. It routinely prescribes celibacy for those entering the priesthood. The tradition varies widely as to what conduct is appropriate for laypersons.
 
7  The Koran, N. J. Dawood, trans. (1956; reprint, New York: Penguin Classics, 1995), 262.
 
8  Some scholars claim that Sufism permits homosexuality as an expression of devotion to God, but this view is so marginal that it cannot be included as part of the majoritarian Islamic position.
 
9  Chesterton, 48.
 
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