Methodist Bishops question “homophobia law”

SAO PAULO, Brasil, April 23, 2007

To both publicly and privately preach and teach against homosexual practices as being a sin Taxi Heathrow Airport and disobeying of the teachings of God, is an inalienable right of the church according to the College of Bishops of the Methodist Church of Brazil, which questions the so called “homophobia law.”

The proponed law, 5,003 of 2001, being considered by the Brazilian parliament, would make any expression against the sexual choices of persons a crime. For the Methodist Bishops gathered in Sao Paulo April 11 – 12, “a law such as the one currently being considered would be a return to the principles of censoring consciences and opinions typical of Fascism and the dictatorships that have brought so much evil to humanity.”

The College of Bishops admits that expressions of a discriminatory nature of all kinds occur in Brazilian society, including those against homosexual persons, that do not do justice to the rights of the individual in the Christian tradition that recognize all human beings as divine creatures.

The Methodist Bishops point out that in a democratic society the right to listen is recognized, “but also in this society the individual values, and also those of segments, cannot be imposed on the values of other specific communities,” such as those of the Christian churches, for example.

The statement by the Methodist Collage of Bishops goes back to the biblical teaching that God created man and woman, the sexual orientation defended by the church, while the practicing of homosexuality is faced as being sinful. “The fact that the church understands homosexuality this way does not impede it from receiving, accepting and dialoguing with homosexuals,” the statement emphasizes.

The church wants to preserve the right to question human behavior, whatever that may be, “in such a way as to be able to carry out its mission of preaching the reconciliation of human beings with God, their neighbor and themselves.” The Methodist College of Bishops is made up of ten male and one woman bishops.