The Real Definition of Sodomy

Anti-gay folks often like to harp on the word sodomy. In some countries (hello, Uganda!) they want to criminalize it. Here in the U.S., sodomy is a dirty word conjured up by the likes of the Family Research Council or Americans for Truth, to get people to only view LGBT people on the basis of sex acts.

But what if all this time, these anti-gay actors had a wrong definition of the word "sodomy"? That's a theory put forward by both New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and evangelical therapist Warren Throckmorton. Both say that in biblical terms, prohibitions on sodomy might not mean prohibitions on sex, but rather condemnations of the arrogance, sloth and apathy that were a widespread characteristic of the biblical people of Sodom.

Imagine that. All this time sodomy has been thrown at people to hit at who they have sex with, when all this time it could be applied to the greedy, arrogant yahoos who run most of our churches, Wall Street banks, and legislatures. The irony.

Kristof quotes the CEO of World Vision in his article, Richard Stearns, who makes the case that evangelical Christians -- particularly those on the right side of the political spectrum -- focus way too much on issues of sexuality, instead of dealing with the much more biblically important issues of economics, poverty, and human rights. And that may be one of the grossest misuses of religion ever.

"Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy," Kristof writes. "He writes laceratingly about 'a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics.'"

Throckmorton, meanwhile, is a bit of an interesting character. He's a Professor of Psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, which is so deeply committed to conservative religious values that they expel students who are caught having same-sex relationships. And while he sort of buys into a bit of the ex-gay therapy camp, he doesn't believe in reparative therapy. Rather, as the Wall Street Journal reported, Throckmorton is a proponent of telling people in no uncertain terms, 'I can't turn you straight. But you don't have to be gay.'

Still, even Throckmorton admits that there could be some juice to Kristof's and Stearns's argument.

"The real sodomite is the arrogant person, the overfed and apathetic person who ignores the poor and others in need," Throckmorton writes. "Defined biblically, we have all been sodomites, have we not?"

Now that's sure to blow the minds of a few anti-gay religious folks, eh?

Photo credit: Steve Snodgrass