A pamphlet released by the Mormon Church seems to ease its stance on sexual orientation, saying it is not a result of faulty parenting and that it's not a choice. The church still requires celibacy.

From the Alameda Times-Star:

New teachings say lifelong celibacy to be rewarded with heterosexuality in heaven

The Mormon church has quietly moved further from defining homosexuality as evil and the result of faulty parenting.

An unheralded new church publication, "God Loveth His Children," says gay feelings are neither learned nor chosen, and it counsels against rejecting a gay child.

Seemingly aimed at young people, the statement gently counsels individuals who feel attraction to and love for same-gender people to trust in God's plan and not act upon the transitory desires of mortal life - a period of "probation during which we face a variety of temptations and challenges."

It repeatedly warns against feelings of guilt: "Attractions alone do not make you unworthy. If you avoid immoral thoughts and actions, you have not transgressed even if you feel such an attraction."

It also says: "The Lord's command to 'forgive all men' includes the requirement to forgive yourself."

Spokesmen for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would not say what led the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency - the two highest governing bodies of the Church - to publish the pamphlet at the end of July.

"I don't know either," said Jan Shipps, a scholar and historian specializing in Mormons. But its placement on the church's Web site makes clear "that it would have to have been approved by the general authorities of the LDS Church."

Those close to the Mormon Church say the publication is neither the result of a religious revelation nor a policy change.

"This represents a continuation of a direction they began going in several years ago," said Terry Givens, the author of four books on Mormonism and a religion professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.

A 1974 church pamphlet excoriated homosexuality as evil and castigated parents of gays for having raised their children poorly. By 1992, a new teaching suggested that biological factors could be at work.

The new document's admonitions include quotes from 1995 statements made by church President Gordon Hinckley.

"'The Book of Mormon' prophet Nephi voiced feelings we all have when he acknowledged that he did not 'know the meaning of all things,'" it says. "But he testified, 'I know that (God) loveth his children.'" (1 Nephi 11:17).

The church still expects gays to remain celibate. If they do, they will find themselves imbued with heterosexual feelings in the hereafter, which is peopled with families including a mother, a father and children, the document says.

"That is demeaning," said Gary Watts, a Provo, Utah, nuclear medicine physician and the departing president of Family Fellowship, an organization for the families of gays.

"It says you are defective - but if you hang in, God will fix it.

"Ultimately they need to get to a place where they can place value on committed, same-sex unions," said Watts, whose six children include a gay son and a lesbian daughter.

Labels: religion

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