By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
MOST practising lesbians and gays are the products of dysfunctional families which are on the rise, claimed former Bahamas Christian Council President Bishop Simeon Hall yesterday.
He said spousal abuse, incest and rape have irreversible negative affects on children and have contributed to a lesbian and gay community that is the fast growing subculture in Bahamian society.
Bishop Hall believes that in order to stunt the evolution of that group of persons there needs to be an overhaul of the family structure.
“Strong, loving functional families,” he said, “are the last bastion against the homosexual avalanche. Most churches and sociologists agree that adult behaviour in all areas is shaped and influenced by what has happened in the family.
“Spousal abuse, incest and rape, all these have irreversible negative affects on children and unfortunately and regrettably these are on the rise. And I believe the root cause of some persons embracing the homosexual lifestyle.”
And although a noticeable growth of gay and lesbian couples has been seen throughout the country, Bishop Hall said he is not worried about non-heterosexual marriages becoming legal in the Bahamas.
“I am convinced that the majority of the heterosexual Bahamians while they respect the individual rights of others will never accept the legalisation of same sex marriage and to this we give our full support.
“Same sex marriage clearly violates the divine intent, but will also cause greater deterioration of the social order as we know it today.”
In the short term, Bishop Hall repeated that the church must treat all lesbian and gay individuals as human beings.
“We must, in imitation of Christ reach out with love to those persons chained to this lifestyle. While I affirm that homosexuals are yet humans, I also assert that the practice is a deviance from what God’s word has established.
“Homosexuals and heterosexuals share a common humanity. A homosexual is still a person,” he said.
The Bishop has been accused of flip-flopping on this issue since he took a different tone against homosexuals a few years ago.
In response to newly released HIV/AIDS statistics in November 2011, he urged them to “seek help in turning away from their non-productive and deadly practice.”
He said the practice of homosexuality cannot produce anything good.
“Homosexuality…is anti-family (and) it goes against what God has ordained. It is deadly,” he said.
Comments
Ironvelvet 11 years, 2 months ago
Bishop Hall I implore you to please site some evidence based research on this theory that familial abuse lends to homosexual lifestyles because I can certainly tell you there is no such reputable article that exists.
Yes, many psychologists and sociologists site and are correct in that family life affects adult behavior, but no where in that conclusion does that include sexual behavioral inclinations.
As far as your putting HIV/AIDS statistics, heterosexuals are far and away outrunning homosexuals on that front. Heterosexuals can learn alot from the homosexuals on how to control the transmission of that disease.
TalRussell 11 years, 2 months ago
Comrades the secret is out. The more some these men's of the pulpit be yapping, the more reasons intelligent Bahamians should be making light of the rising dysfunctional attitudes, coming out the mouths of some these preacher men's?
Surely, every Bahamian and Resident of our Bahamaland has the right to experience God's love. Comrades it sure sounds to me like God's love is conditional in some religious quarters?
Comrades if we allow some these preacher men's to represent things that is contrary to the true teachings of Christianity, no wonder so many is believing that God is broke? Lord Jesus tell me these preacher men's, ain't on God's Holy Team?
by TalRussell
concernedcitizen 11 years, 2 months ago
WELL PUT TALS
banker 11 years, 2 months ago
This is embarrassing for the Bahamas, and for its people. To think that the clergy are that ignorant, reflects poorly on the Bahamas in the eyes of the world.
hellorg 11 years, 2 months ago
As a heterosexual/straight Bahamian man, I find the Bishops comments not only baseless but homophobic and repulsive. We are better than this.......
TalRussell 11 years, 2 months ago
You would think with the rash of Bahamians in the news who have either committed suicide or thinking about taking their lives, that the Comrade Preacher Man Simeon would have better used his preacher men's pulpit, to address the seriousness of the "most irreversible" negative affect of them all....the taking one's own precious life by suicide?
I thought this was the same preacher men's who just weeks back was out there advocating for the numbers "bosses," that playing the numbers had become the fastest growing subculture in Bahamaland?
Comrades I ain't know how you is feeling but I is having problems, respecting someone who on one day is advancing the numbers "bosses" messages, and on another is claiming to also be a genuine representative of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of mankind?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-zwE...">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-zwE...
pete100miles 11 years, 2 months ago
Ignorant. Sorry but this so call dysfunctional man needs to stay in retirement.
242 11 years, 2 months ago
he still talkin.... i guess he was thinkin about when PC say he had a bad childhood
ktsears 11 years, 2 months ago
So to follow his logic we should promote "strong, loving functional families" not because they are good for all persons and do not have a prescribed makeup but because they will stop the "homosexual avalanche"?! I hope more and more people see this and recognize it for the bigoted nonsense that it is.
really 11 years, 2 months ago
i aint no psychologist but every gay man i ever met told me they were molested at a young age....there is truth to what he say
Josie 11 years, 2 months ago
Then you haven't met many gay men
Required 11 years, 2 months ago
I really don't have the time go tget all worked up about an ignorant member of the clergy spewing nonsense. However, it is really sad that the Tribune considers this newsworthy, which it is not, for a variety of reasons.
For isntance, if the Tribune has any journalistic integrity, simple factchecking would have shown that Simeon Hall mixes half truths with myths to push his agenda.
Or because he has been at it for years, and did not add anything new to his latest round of hate mongering.
username 11 years, 2 months ago
Bishop Hall, If you want to be be taken seriously as a social commentator, please check your facts before you open your mouth, and preferably... just after you check your bigotry, sophistry, paranoia, and mindless religious fervor at the door.
Danie 11 years, 2 months ago
Bishop Hall's homophobic comments are a disgrace! Religious leaders in this country have a beautiful knack of focusing on the wrong things.
frankmcmullan 11 years, 1 month ago
I agree with Bishop Hall that most homosexuals are the products of dysfunctional famililies, though I don't know if they are on the rise. Most of us, whatever our sexuality, are the products of such families!! The only reason there is an increase in the numbers of people 'embracing the homosexual lifestyle" is that they have discovered the hard way how unhealthy it was for them to live the closeted, guilt-ridden, ashamed lifestyle the Church asked of them. The overall numbers of gay people seem no different as a proportion of the population than they've always been. Because Church has failed homosexuals so incredibly badly, they have had to find their own moral code and ways of living that allow them to contribute as fully as they can to the societies they live in. Bahaman society is a lot better than most on that account, though still with a journey to go before it has equal human rights for all.
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