Homophobes likely homosexual themselves.
- Thread starter Siro
- Start date
So does this mean that secretly I really do like broccoli?
It's not my research. For me, if you're homophobic you're simply religious.
So then the strategy to shut gays up and force them to hide their identity is valid? Otherwise they cause those who have successfully "cured" themselves of homosexuality to feel bad about themselves and question their own identity.
Ugh...
I'm not saying religious people are homophobic. I'm saying homophobic people are religious.
AlaskanAssassin
Well-Known Member
I've met a few non-religious homophobes before.
I literally know hundreds of atheists/agnostics in Utah, and I cannot categorize a single one of them as homophobic. Now I am sure they exist. All kinds of people exist, after all. But were those people actually non-religious? Or just indifferent?
By religious, I mean believers. Not necessarily religious fundamentalists. Have you met a non-believing Westerner who was also homophobic?
7StraightIsGreat
Well-Known Member
This study is horse ****. I would classify myself as mildly homophobic and I absolutley love ******.
AtheistPreacher
Well-Known Member
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jimmy eat jazz
Well-Known Member
This is actually an empirical question, and I'd bet there's empirical data on it. Without having seen the empirical data, my a priori hypothesis would be that homophobia (or more generally opposition to homosexuality) is strongly and positively correlated with religiosity.
But as I said, this is not a matter of opinion but one of evidence.
jimmy eat jazz
Well-Known Member
This is actually an empirical question, and I'd bet there's empirical data on it. Without having seen the empirical data, my a priori hypothesis would be that homophobia (or more generally opposition to homosexuality) is strongly and positively correlated with religiosity.
But as I said, this is not a matter of opinion but one of evidence, so I could be wrong.
I would argue that it has more to do with cultural norms in a society. There are lots of prejudices that have nothing to do with homosexuality and/or religion. Religion is simply used to justify homophobia in many cases.
Unfortunately, any studies critical of religion face significant opposition from all of society's strata. The absurd idea that faith is something to be protected is ingrained in American psyche, so it's difficult to find a study that answer that question precisely.
However, a quick Google search yields some results, like these:
https://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2009/03/whats-connection-between-religion-and.html
https://blog.chron.com/believeitorn...on-contributes-to-homophobia-and-gay-suicide/
But we're not talking about those. We're talking about homosexuality. It seems obvious that the vast majority of those opposed to homosexuality come from a religious background.
AlaskanAssassin
Well-Known Member
Yes, a couple of Atheists actually. One was raised Christian but is genuinely Atheist now. They probably wouldn't label themselves as Homophobic (who would?), but they would occasionally use homophobic slurs and consciously avoid associating with homosexuals. Although both were in favor of the right for homosexuals to marry. That's the difficult thing when you throw around a term like homophobic. It manifests in many different ways. If you truly know hundreds of atheists/agnostics, I'm sure there is some % of them that have some level of negative or discriminatory feelings towards homosexuals.
What about the holocaust? Was every Nazi religious?
I am simply talking about homophobia in American culture. Nazism, communism, Spanish Inquisition and so on and so forth happened in different times and contexts. I do not know enough about every single paradigm in human history to even attempt and correlate their beliefs with their attitudes. Those I do understand would simply take too long to dissect and relate to the subject.
The issue at hand is as such : Modern Western ideals do not lend themselves to homophobia (homosexuality is often objectively seen as simply people fulfilling a natural desire with anyone of their choosing). Even the argument for cultural attitudes does not work, because the norms cited are the ones inspired by religion (sexual prohibitions, Western views of marriage, etc). While I am sure homophobic non-believers exist, it is probably a residual effect from the religious inspired cultural norm (mostly). The fact remains, the vast majority of those who oppose homosexuality, or consider its practice morally wrong, are religious.
jimmy eat jazz
Well-Known Member
I believe that in ancient Greek culture (from which Western society, culture, ideas, etc. emerged), pederasty was an established and widely accepted cultural practice, at least among the educated elite. The Romans certainly didn't have our modern sexual hangups either, for good or for ill. It was the emergence of eventual dominance of a much more sexually uptight Christian dogma that Western Society came to its current obsession with sex (or better put, its current obsession with who's doing what with whom and why it's sinful).
I'd say homophobia passed to Christianity from Judaism. In fact, agricultural societies of antiquity tended to be homophobic. I recommend a book called Sex at Dawn. It explains the subject very well. However, the reason homophobic attitudes persist in the modern world is mostly due to religion.
And you seem really smart. I'm glad you joined the conversation.
