Here's the rub in the secular world. While it is a sin and it happens to the best of us, the evangelical + wing of the conservative movement comes at the secular world every day with the problem is God has been taken out of the schools. If God were allowed back in the schools, then much of our sinly nature would be curbed. Secondly, the same folks claim that "Godly and a family unit of values" is a natural remedy for these types of "worldly problems". There was also a thread on this forum that discussed the probable link between homosexualality in children and some sort of traumatic abuse of physical, sexual or verbal varieties.
Clearly, as we can see with Keyes and many other promeninet conservative individuals the remedies cited above are not the elixir that cures all. And are you open that the cause of Maya's current problem may be that she was somehow a victim of abuse?
That's not to say that a little more faith wouldn't help, but it's not the cure all it's portrayed to be.
WHile I'm not saying it can't happen, doesn't that give people a lovely start down the road of victimhood?
BLame anyone but the person who makes the choices, it is the liberal way.
I'd like to say something here in regard to "putting God back in the schools." I was raised Roman Catholic, attending Mass every Sunday as well as religious instruction twice a week.
In fact, other than saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, there was no mention or discussion of God in the classroom. Other religions were mentioned in a historical/political context, but there were no major discussions about religion.
What we had in public school (back in the good old days), was God in the background. In other words, the schools accepted the fact that religion was a part of our family life and made no attempt to disrupt or deny that. Before "tolerance" and "diversity" became requirements, the schools were tolerant and diverse.
I remember at Christmas time we worked on enormous murals and door decorations. There were Santas and nativity scenes and stars and menorrahs and Christmas trees. There were no rules about what we could or could not draw or say. We were not taught in school to be sensitive and respectful. Those were things we learned in our homes and wore to school. When a student from a different state, different country, or different religion came to our school, they were not treated any differently. The teacher would introduce the new student and perhaps, for the first week after his or her arrival, would be inundated with friendly questions during recess or lunch. After the novelty wore off, the new student was simply accepted as one of us.
Why did this change? The first incident I remember took place about 15 years ago. A school a few towns away from where I live had various pieces of exceptional student artwork on the walls. Some of the pieces had been up for years. A Jewish couple moved into the area and enrolled their child in this school. During a school event, the couple became aware of one piece of student art which was Christian in nature. Suddenly, the school was embroiled in a lawsuit over the artwork. The Jewish couple claimed it offended their child. Naturally, the ACLU became involved. The Jewish couple won their case and the artwork was taken off the wall.
And so it began...
No, I discard entirely the notion that homosexuality is the result of abuse. Abuse or not, it is a conscious decision people make. They can just as easily make the decision NOT to be homosexual. Blaming "abuse" is just a cop-out.
And frankly, I can't see Dick Cheney or Alan Keyes abusing their daughters anyway.
Sorry, but there's no mileage to be gained from this for the anti-conservative crowd, though that won't stop them from trying.