Bishops' aide resigns, linked being gay to devil

BOSTON - The author of a newspaper column suggesting the devil may be responsible for homosexuality has resigned from his job with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic bishops said Friday that Daniel Avila offered to step down and his resignation was accepted Friday. Avila had worked on policy and research for the bishops in Washington.

What "America's Pope" thinks of gay marriage

Avila's column -- titled "Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction" -- appeared a week ago in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. Avila had written that there's evidence suggesting the devil is responsible for same-sex attraction.

"Scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil," it said.

It also said "disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart." It said that when "natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God."

Gay rights groups and others condemned the column.

The Human Rights Campaign said Thursday it's a shame the archdiocese ran a column ignoring the science about sexual orientation.

The gay Catholics group DignityUSA says the column was outrageous and inflicted "tremendous damage on the souls" of gay people.

The 182-year-old newspaper withdrew the column from its website on Wednesday, saying it had failed to recognize the "theological error" before publication. It posted an apology from Avila saying the column didn't represent the position of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose stated purpose is to "promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind," and wasn't authorized for publication.

Avila said he deeply apologized for the "hurt and confusion" the column caused.

The Boston archdiocese, the bishops' group and Avila were involved in communications leading to the decision to retract the column, said archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon, who called Avila "passionate about his faith and passionate about his church."

"This one," Donilon said, "clearly just got away from him."

[markus9500]

We need to get the word out to religious communities that anti-gay people are twisting God's words to condone their hate.

Homosexuality is not a sin. The Bible is constantly being taken out of context to support anti-gay views. Scholars who have studied the Bible in context of the times and in relation to other passages have shown those passages (Leviticus, Corinthians, Romans, etc) have nothing to do with homosexuality. These passages often cherry-picked while ignoring the rest of the Bible. The sins theses passages are referring to are idolatry, Greek temple sex worship, prostitution, pederasty with teen boys, and rape, not homosexuality or two loving consenting adults.


http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/NotASin.htm
http://www.jesus21.com/content/sex/bible_homosexuality_print.html
http://www.christchapel.com/reclaiming.html
http://www.stjohnsmcc.org/new/BibleAbuse/BiblicalReferences.php
http://www.gaychristian101.com/
http://www.mccchurch.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Resources&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2121
http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence.html
http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-gay-christian
http://www.goodhopemcc.org/spirituality/sexuality-and-bible/homosexuality-not-a-sin-not-a-sickness.html

[SJames6621]

it turns out this guy Avila has worked for the Family Research Council. A hate group per the Southern Poverty Law center.

And the church gave NOM in NY 2.3 million to fight allowing gays to have the social acceptance and committment of marriage.

NOM is also listed as a hate group per the SPLCenter.

And as usual, the founder of the FRC, Goerge Reker, also head of Narth ( a group that claims to cure gays) was outed by a gay prostitute he hired to accompany him on a 2 week vacation to Europe.

Not at all surprising, its so very common that gay people who hate themselves become like Kapos in the death camps of nazi germany - people who thrown in the camps got special priveledges and better food, for being ever more ruthelss. Until their number came up.

Check out Reker and a lot of other anti gays who got caught - these are the TOP 15 now.

http://www.ranker.com/list/top-10-anti-gay-activists-caught-being-gay/joanne

(actually now TOP 15)

[SJames6621]

And the other big deal I forgot - the prostitute was hired through rentboy.com

per their website, it costs about 415000 (yes thousand) to hire a 'male escort" for two weeks

Capitalism at its finest

[SJames6621]

clarification the amount is about $15000 per the rentboy.com website.

[SJames6621]

Just another freakout of the catholic church. We must wonder if he is hiding something else by creating his story.

Could it be the endless hidden molestation of children all over the world, and his part in it

Devils, satans, heaven, hell, saints, sinners, etc - all creations to control minds.

BTW hitler was born and baptised catholic. He has not yet been excommunciated by the church whose smokescreen is protecting life

But I did find the following and many other websites that are similar

http://nobeleifs.com/nazis.htm (must keep all LC letters

And why is the church so opposed to stem cell research - it has notheing to do with their smokescreen about life.

and everything to do with preventing science from advancing the understanding of how life came to be and how it takes so many forms.

Which will blow up the whole creation story............

their message to sufferers of eg Altsheimers, spinal cord damage etc - tough s#!t., our power comes first.

Break one major tennant of organized religion and the whole damned thing will collapse.

[Steiner75]

Does God love gays? Who knows.

Does the UN love gays? Not anymore:

http://in-other-news.com/2011/UN_no_longer_sees_a_problem_in_death-penalty_for_homosexuals

[myoleman]

God does love gays. That's why He sent His Only Son to die on their behalf, that all those who trusted in Him might have eternal life, the forgiveness of their sins. The blood of the Lamb will cleanse them from all their sins. And they shall no longer live to satisfy the desires of their flesh, but to please the Lord Who saved them from their sin.

[Overruled1]

Science tests theory and proves facts.
Religion does neither.

[myoleman]

It is not religion's role to deal with physics, but with righteousness. Science is the study of God's creation. That's its role. Everything has its proper role and function.

[SJames6621]

it creates myths and sells t hem. Including life after death. In the secular world, the churches would be prosecuted as organized crime.

[WalksLikeADuck]

So is the devil directly responsible for left-handedness too? What about being a genius in math. That's "unnatural." Is it the devil's fault that some people can't sing? Is everything out of the spectrum of "natural" the work of the devil?

It's amazing how myopic some supposedly intelligent people can be. God can see all colors; speak all languages; hear all notes. God is not allergic to any of the flowers He created.

[myoleman]

God loves all mankind, but abhors the sins they practice. Sin is an abomination to the Lord, says the Bible

[SJames6621]

They changed my kid from lefty to righty in school if I had realized then that it was a religious belief, I could have sued those jerks for a hell of a lot of money.

BTW it took him years to be able to write legibly. thank god for the PC and keyboard even today

[Dgunner]

If you are not christian then why worry about what the bible says?If you are christian ? Then you know God said same sex engagement is abomination. You can't out sin Gods' grace nor can you tell ahead of his judgement what will become of gay lesbian people.No one knows what is in ones' heart but God.The real problem is the self righteious don't know how to handle so many same sex couples with the power to vote.Leave judgement to the Judge.

[tvwatcher5345]

this is a strange comment coming from a homosexual church, is he saying his church is run by satan?

[SJames6621]

its not a homosexual church at all. its a tyrant church, run by a man who learned his earliest lessons in Nazi germany.

the molestation problem is all over the world. Its primarily due to priests not being allowed to marry since about 1200.

Eventually the desire overcomes the will. Any 18 year old can tell you that if you deny sex, it usually wins out - at the age it was denied, so children become the victim. And why were the victims 80% male - because until recently there weren't any alter girls.

BTW the bishops paid millions for a report on the molestation> the last part of it says that as more gay priests entered the priesthood, the molestation was reduced.

they were having their fun with each other. so they left the kids alone.

the real crime was the vatican told the bishops to hide the criminality. Simply transfering guilty priests from location to location as they were found out.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/17/religion.childprotection (about letter from Vatican telling bishops to hide the molestation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/18/world/main7257626.shtml

[longtree-2009]

avila is a dufus, being kind too. whatever a person does, i.e., their sexual orientation is between the person and their god, their religion, their belief.

[formerusmcsgt1]

by myoleman November 4, 2011 8:40 PM EDT
If you don't trust in Lord Jesus as your personal Savior you'll get your "scientific evidence" from the devil personally.

-----

People who believe that they have invisible enemies and invisible protectors in invisible places need psychiatric treatment.

[myoleman]

So, according to you, anybody who believes in the existence of things which cannot be seen is crazy. Can you see radio waves? The force of gravity? The magnetic forces? Nuclear Radioactivity is a very destructive enemy to the human being. Can you see it? How about the Ebola Virus? Can you see it? You better believe in such enemies you can't see or they'll kill you.

[SJames6621]

Religion is kind of an induced OCD disease. the fear of hell, the promiste of unending life. The pincers that create the unrecognized anxiety that controls the peoples minds.