Maintain
sexual propriety (no adultery, no fornication, chastity (pre-marital or
lifelong vow)
In
addition, each religion has values that are more unique to each, that define
each religion:
Christian:
love (Jesus’ "Great Commandment": love God, love others, love
yourself)
Jewish:
social justice and righteousness
Muslim:
racial and economic equality
Sikh:
social equality
Hindu:
tolerance for diversity
Buddhist:
wisdom and compassion
Baha’i:
global unity
Zoroastrian:
overcoming evil with goodness
Jain:
non-violence
Confucian:
social harmony, family relationships
Taoist:
harmony with natural forces
Shinto:
appreciation and respect for the sacredness of nature
These
unique values are not in conflict with each other. Rather, they compliment each
other. They are what each religion has to offer the entire world. To some
degree, these unique values are already shared by various religions but each
religion has made a "specialty" of one or another of these values.
What each religion has chosen to focus on
is relative. None of these values are more or less important or true. It is a
matter of cultural (and personal) preference.
Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."
Leviticus 20:13: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."
It is interesting to note that while the Hebrew Bible seems to condemn homosexuality, it does not condemn slavery. In our society today (as well as elsewhere around the world) we would condemn slavery but tend to more and more allow and even celebrate homosexuality.
Another approach to seeing homosexuality as immoral is
the appeal to natural ethics: homosexuality is unnatural (which may be why it is condemned in the Bible). It is not how people or animals were designed to interact (an anus is to serve one purpose and that purpose has nothing to do with making a baby or making love).
However, it seems there is no victim in homosexuality (assuming the two people in question are consenting adults). With slavery, we would say that the slave is a victim (who would consent to being a slave?). So the issue of what is moral today seems to hinge on if there is a victim or not.
Are we to be
"our brother's keeper"?
In ancient times (and still among many today), even if there is no victim in the parties involved, society itself might be considered the victim (why the entire town of Sodom was destroyed even though no doubt certainly not
everyone was participating in the immoral act - Genesis chapter 19). If people in a society simply "turn the other cheek" when immoral acts are being committed by others in their society, then those people are also responsible because they failed to stop such an act. This may be what is behind the conservative demand for our society to prohibit such acts that are perceived to be immoral (such abortion and homosexuality) - they do not want to live in an immoral society and they also may fear that God will hold it against them if they even tolerate such immoral acts even if they don't commit them themselves.
Where do your moral
boundaries lie?
Try these interactive exercises: