Meow

Don't you love the way that people who declare themselves as Christians seem to demonstrate such unChristian behaviour? (Same applies to any other religion too).

Such hypocrisy.

typical

Black people can be gay too...

And that is exactly my point, they proved that they weren't accepting enough to be loving carers in all circumstances. It wasn't just their views - it was that they would allow their views to influence the way they treated a child, quite possibly to the long-term harm of that child.

Ethos83

Homosexuality is a complex situation - for quite a few people it's possible to be loving of a person and still disapprove of their homosexuality. Just talk to a lot of parents of gay people.

Ethos83

Don't be such a smug atheist. Homosexuality has been an extroardinarily complex issue for most Christian and Jewish denominations so let's cut them some cake while they try to resolve it.

Do we know all the particulars of this case? If the couple said in their interview that they strongly disapproved of homosexuality and if received a homosexual ward they would do everything they could to "convert" the child and would treat him differently than a normal child, that's one problem. But if they merely said that they generally don't disapprove of homosexuality but that it would have no impact on how they would treat the child, it's something else entirely.

We might as well have a checklist. Do believe in global warming? No? Sorry, can't foster a child. Do you vote Labour? No? Sorry, can't foster a child? Do you recycle? No? Sorry, can't foster a child. Let's tick all the boxes and only those with 100% correct "thinking" are accepted. But at the end of the day that eliminates just about all of us.

typical

I am sure they love them, but I do not consider that being loving of them. Sorry.

If you read the article... it's somewhere between the two. "They said they could not tell a child a homosexual lifestyle was acceptable". If a gay child, fearful of their feelings, were to come to them to talk about it - they would not be able to show love and support to that child.

Millhouse

What would have been the right answer?

"so Millhouse, we have a 9 year old boy here for adoption. He is gay though. Is that a problem?"

"No problem at all. I shall get rid of the spiderman wallpaper and paint the room pink"

"Very good Millhouse. Just sign here and you can take care of Ethos until he sets fire to the shed"

"Perfect, do you need my bank details for the monthly payments?"

I know some people who Fostered and sadly most people see it all about the money which is just totally wrong. That said, Fostering is a tough gig. I'm actually quite keen to adopt (although sadly this is unlikely as we are here), but Fostering, no chance.

Ethos83

That is the same problem a lot of gay kids face with their own natural parents....

If you read the article... it's somewhere between the two. "They said they could not tell a child a homosexual lifestyle was acceptable". If a gay child, fearful of their feelings, were to come to them to talk about it - they would not be able to show love and support to that child.[/QUOTE]

Meow

It's exactly that thinking that has led to masses of children remaining in care, rather than being adopted. But that is a seperate issue. The question here is of the potential fosterers being narrow-minded in their views and so not being ideal as carers for a child who may well be troubled or have issues.

And I'll stick to being a smug atheist thanks. It's better than being a deluded hypocrite.

Ethos83

I fall into the camp that something is better than nothing. Actually, one of the best ways to persuade someone that homosexuality isn't a moral wrong or choice but body chemistry is simply to have a gay child/relative/close friend.

I'll stick to being a deluded realist.

Blue Cat

what do you mean?

Norm_uk

Children are of no faith. They are brainwashed into religion by active or passive means by their family and community in most cases....there's a reason we see religions concentrated in areas rather than equally spread throughout the world.

N.

auzdafluff

Playing devil's advocate here, but how can atheists be expected to be understanding about religion's bigotry when secular society has only really been around since the 1850s or so, and in the space of 150 years, come to accept homosexuality as a natural part of humanity, yet the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have all had thousands of years (six thousand in the case of Judaism) and yet they're nowhere close to accepting reality for what it is as the atheists do?

Maybe that's why they're more than a little smug about the whole thing.

Ethos83

Actually, it just isn't Abrahmic religions. Almost every culture from little African tribes to established societies have never accepted homosexuality as a social norm. That the West took great steps and only within the last few decades to see homosexuality as biology rather than deviation is to be commended.

Give people a little credit for grappling with what's still a huge change in how homosexuality is viewed and accepted within only, say, twenty - thirty years compared with several thousand years of historical norm.

Norm_uk

Actually the West has simply come back to it's cultural roots. What we call homosexuality was widely accepted in the Greco-Roman culture and in many cultures around the world (Ancient China, India, Persia and Japan for example)...charges against homosexuality in a pre-Abrahamic religious context tended to be concerns over not making babies or (in the case of males) being a "receiver" rather than a "giver" (which was seen as very unmanly for men in higher positions) rather than caring about which gender you prefer to have sex with.

I don't know enough about African culture, especially since Africa is huge and has some vastly different cultures to be able to agree or disagree with your statement that most do not accept homosexuality as a societal norm. I do know that in places where it is persecuted one can normally find Abrahamic religion closeby.

N.

Talking Stick

I used to coach football in a very affluent area in the foothills outside of Denver, and I used to recruit black kids out of foster homes. Thats the only place you could find them up there so over the years I knew a lot of foster kids and I always got the impression the foster parents did it for the money. You get 4 foster kids and you don't have to work. I remember my best player ever besides one of my sons was a troubled young black boy, he attacked his foster mom with a baseball bat while she was sleeping one morning and they immediately traded him in for a chinese girl, so I lost him. I really believe we could have won the Carnation Bowl the next year if we had him back.