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For the purposes of this article, wherever I use the word "priest," please take it to mean a member of the clergy of any Christian denomination.

Insofar as the various English translations of the books of the Bible are true to the original meaning of those books, the Bible appears to condemn what we understand today to be homosexual behavior. To my knowledge, however, nowhere in the Bible are people with homosexual inclinations condemned, nor are they forbidden from participating in the priesthood. Therefore, if any Christian church feels comfortable ordaining gays as priests, there is no reason they should not do so.

A common concern about the possibility of gays being ordained is that they will then take advantage of their position to abuse young boys. This is an all-too-common fear based on the myth that the vast majority of child molesters are homosexual. It is telling that despite the knowledge of experts on this issue that heterosexual men are far more likely to abuse little girls than gay men are to pursue little boys, the abuse of girls is still largely ignored by society. If it ever comes out that girls have been molested in Christian churches at the same rate that they have been abused in secular society, I look forward to the resulting debate about whether we should have any men in the clergy at all.

Another point is that, again, if the English translations of the Bible are accurate and God really does condemn homosexuality, if there are gay men in the Christian churches who abstain and who then are viewed worthy of ordination, it seems that they have fought a greater spiritual battle within themselves than men do who are heterosexual and whose relationships are therefore sanctioned by God. A member of such a priest's congregation might then find that a gay priest is that much more qualified to lead his flock through the most perilous of spiritual conflicts than is a straight priest who has not faced similar spiritual testing.

A final point is that a heterosexual priest or other minister will never truly understand what it is to be a gay person. It might be argued that a particular clergyman has faced the temptation to commit fornication or adultery, but that argument is only partly fair; the straight priest may look forward to marriage one day, or may enjoy his existing marriage more fully knowing that he conquered temptation and stayed faithful to his wife. There is no equivalent situation for the celibate gay man. Only another gay man will completely understand what it is to have one entire aspect of being human forever closed to him, and can therefore counsel others in his situation with the utmost in compassion.

Learn more about this author, Dana Seilhan.
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