The Right to Freedom.

It seems a Christian church in Belfast recently ran an ad that condemned homosexuality, and were ordered to withdraw it by the Advertising Standards Authority who ruled that it was ‘homophobic.’ The church took the case to court, where a judge today found against the ASA on the grounds that they were denying the freedom to legitimate expression of opinion. The ad can stand.

Whatever my opinions on the gay issue, I have to say that I applaud the judge’s decision. We live in a society that not only allows but still encourages the following of religion, and the major religions in the western world are all Judaic. This means that they all use the Old Testament – the Jewish Bible – as the bedrock of their code for living, and according to the Old Testament, God specifically forbids homosexuality. I fail to see how any Christian, Muslim, Jew, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Rastafarian etc, etc can do other than object to homosexuality, since they believe that God regards it as a major sin. How duplicitous and downright idiotic would it be if we allowed people to follow a religion, yet denied them the right to express an opinion that accords with their holy book?

I can’t help thinking that this is another example of the liberal alter-establishment becoming totalitarian. It wants to enshrine in law the freedom of the individual to express and practice his or her sexual orientation, but then deny those of a contrary opinion the freedom to express their view. This is not liberal, but merely confused thinking. Freedom of expression, if it is to be allowed at all, must be allowed to all sides.

And just in case you’re wondering, I don’t follow any religion; if I have a leaning at all, it is towards Buddhism. That means I regard homosexuality as neither right nor wrong; it just is.