Since making the statements in late December, Bishop Álvarez has been widely criticized throughout the mainstream Spanish media for reiterating the Catholic Church's consistent teaching on the subject.Posted on 01/15/2008 5:45:11 AM PST by NYer
TENIRIFE, SPAIN, Janauary 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Spanish State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGT) has filed a criminal complaint against the Catholic bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Álvarez, for making statements against homosexual behavior and comparing it to child sexual abuse.
Since making the statements in late December, Bishop Álvarez has been widely criticized throughout the mainstream Spanish media for reiterating the Catholic Church's consistent teaching on the subject.
After being asked "what is your opinion of homosexuality," by the Spanish newspaper La Opinion de Tenerife, the Bishop stated that people who had the condition for "physiological" reasons were deserving of respect, but went on to say that "it is another question if homosexuality is or isn't a virtue."
"It is necessary to be very careful these days because one can't say that someone suffers from homosexuality," Álvarez continued. "It isn't politically correct to say that it is an illness, a lack of something, a deformity of human nature itself. Something that all the dictionaries of psychiatry said ten years ago can't be said today."
"It is very clear that, in this sense, my thinking is that of the Church: the greatest respect for people, but logically, I believe that the phenomenon of homosexuality is something that damages people and society. Eventually we will suffer the consequences just as other civilizations have."
The bishop went on to say that children needed to be inculcated with the virtues of masculinity and femininity, defending his position by noting that children receive guidance to avoid various pathologies, including violent behavior. He said that in most cases homosexual orientation is not biologically determined and is a search for sexual "novelty", comparing it in this sense to pederasty.
Denouncing the Bishop for "identifying homosexuality with the sexual abuse of minors" and for "promoting an attitude of violence and discrimination" against homosexuals, FELGT president Antonio Poveda responded this week by filing formal charges against the bishop with state government prosecutors.
Poveda also attempted to portray the bishop as a defender of child sexual abuse, when in fact the bishop was showing the similarity between adolescent sexual abuse and homosexuality. When the La Opinion interviewer objected that homosexuality and sexual abuse were different because sexual abuse was not voluntary, the bishop pointed out that there are cases of minors who consent to it and even seek to provoke it.
"It seems that he is justifying the abuse of minors, coming from an institution that has been condemned the most times in the world for sexual abuse," said Poveda. "It is necessary for the hierarchy to be respectful and to know that as citizens they have freedom of expression, but they also have to respect the standards that are set by the laws in this country and in this case they have passed that boundary, therefore we hope that the Attorney General will intervene to prevent such lamentable declarations from being made again."
The FELGT's complaint follows another similar complaint the group made recently against a protestant minister in the province of Galicia. Marcos Zapata is accused of having given a talk on how to encourage heterosexual development in children. The organization has threatened to sue Zapata and has asked the government of Galicia to investigate him because he conducts anti-drug and anti-violence programs in government schools.
To read the full text of La Opinion de Tenerife's interview with Bishop Alvarez, see:
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08011410.html
Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:
Spanish Clergyman Investigated for Encouraging Heterosexual Child Development
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2008/jan/08010304.html
Section of Interview with Bishop Bernardo Álvarez, December 24, 2007
Full Interview Text in Spanish can be Found at http://www.laopinion.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2996_9_12...
Having a vocal, Christian people is one of the only things holding Islam at bay, and that's debatable. What happens next?
Crimethink.
Well if the Spanish courts are anything like the United States judiciary, these pervert freaks will win their suit.
Coming soon to our country.
Do you think he is going to tell where they can stick this lawsuit? No they might enjoy it.
Boy Spain has gotten very weird.
You can’t speak in favor of heterosexual children.
You can’t speak against drugs or violence.
Pretty soon you won’t be able to speak against Muslim suicide bombers.
Hmmm…Oh wait!
As 'antiRepublicrat' noted, "coming soon to the US". Actually, there is a similar case in Canada, that I posted to the forum yesterday.
Toronto, Jan 14, 2008 / 01:52 pm (CNA).- A Catholic magazine in Canada faces severe legal attack and possible censorship after a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleged it made derogatory comments about homosexuals.Canadian Catholic magazine faces legal attack for criticizing homosexuals
What caught my attention in today's article was the legal status of the group - 'Spanish State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals'.
“It is necessary for the hierarchy to be respectful and to know that as citizens they have freedom of expression, but they also have to respect the standards that are set by the laws in this country and in this case they have passed that boundary, therefore we hope that the Attorney General will intervene to prevent such lamentable declarations from being made again.”
In other words, you’ve dared to say something that you believe is right and true, but we dont like and dont care to argue against, so therefore we are going to ask the government to SHUT YOU UP.
>>>I believe that the phenomenon of homosexuality is something that damages people and society. Eventually we will suffer the consequences just as other civilizations have.”
There was an interesting thread yesterday discussing the possibility that homosexual behavior (specifically anal sex) might correlate to the evolution of “superdiseases” such as AIDS and MRSA (sp?), or the high instance of cholera (!!cholera!!, a third-world disease ) in SFO.
At some point in time, there will be a movement to ban the Bible for being violent, sexist and homophobic. Bet on it. It’s a matter of time.
The idea would be to pursue societal awareness and public education against it much like has been done with smoking.
Then the target will be removed from Religious leaders and the battlefield broadened thus making the homosexual groups ineffective in their pursuits in the courts.
“Coming soon to our country.”
that is why it is so important for conservatives to band together, voting for people of character and morals and good conservative values into office at all levels of government. This leftward swing must stop.
Is there any doubt that Europe has gone atheist?
Yes ... I believe it was based on this story from Reuters.
Drug-resistant staph found to be passed in gay sex"
In truth, the GLBT community wants society to normalize their deviant behavior and dump billions of $$$s into finding cures for diseases that result from their behavior. Each dollar spent on curing AIDS is one less dollar needed to find a cure for cancer or heart disease, etc.
>>>>I think it is about time Conservatives get some groups together proving through medical science that sodomy is harmful to a persons health.... there must be medical issues that no one has had the nerve to discuss.
I had somewhat the same thought earlier, because it seems so patently obvious that anal sex with multiple individuals is so dangerous from a sanitation and disease perspective (not to mention that it provides more human “hosts” for the cultivation and mutation of disease organisms).
Last night I referenced the World Health Organization’s study of the water supply in Kathmandu, Nepal, which was found to be loaded with deadly viruses and diseases (meningitis, cholera, Hep A and B, etc) because of the seepage of the raw sewage systems into the “fresh” water systems.
So, just as your average fourth grader might ask “Eewwww.... won’t that make them sick, Mommy?”, society should be forcing these politically-correct health organizations to fess-up on the clearly unsanitary anal sex practices of homosexuals and answer truthfully when they’re asked “Ewwwww.... won’t that make them sick, Uncle WHO?”.
Spain needs a new El Cid. Let the Reconquista begin.
The wheels are already in motion. Sooner or later, society will outlaw belief in a Supreme Being or push believers into mental institutions.
Holy smokes, the have a union? And they beat their nyc counterparts to the punch?
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