The Boston Pilot, the nations oldest Catholic newspaper, published a column by a senior official suggesting the devil probably makes people gay.
In the column Daniel Avila, who is a Massachussetts attorney and (take a breath here) Policy Advisor for Marriage and Family of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee (USCCB) for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, bluntly says that 'the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil.'
So if you're gay the phrase "the devil made you do it" has a whole new meaning. We are all made in God's image (except for the gays, obviously).
Elucidating, Avila described homosexuality as a 'natural disaster' caused by Satan invading the wombs of mothers of LGBT children.
It happens all the time apparently.
In case you missed his point, or the implications, Avila spells it out for you: '…whenever 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.'
God would never make anyone gay because if He did then the persecution of gay people (whom God created gay, after all) would be a sin. We simply can't have that. So gay people are the devil's work and you are free to oppress them in any and every way you can.
But telling a mother that the Devil entered her womb and made her child gay is new, even by Catholic standards. Until now we've just had to endure the idiotic sophistry that asked us to love the sinner but hate the sin (that pretzel theology that seeks to oppress whilst appearing compassionate).
But Avila, who calls himself 'the bishops' marriage guy,' has shown us the true face of the USCCB, who have refused to condemn his words. This is the man Americas Catholic bishops look to for advice about the LGBT community. He sounds deranged.
Avila's article caused a firestorm and it was eventually pulled with an apology from its publisher, The Boston Pilot. But you have to acknowledge that same source published it without objection in the first place.
Sometimes the mask slips and you get to see what those in positions of real authority actually think about gay people. This is what happened when Avila's article was published and the silence was deafening.
Originally published in 2011.
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