I am a cradle Catholic, so I am well familiar with the church's teachings on homosexuality — hate the sin, love the sinner. I concede the point, even if I don't completely understand or agree with the teaching. I just don't accept that Jesus Christ would put up with the intolerance that such moral certitude sometimes engenders.
The same goes for the church's hypocrisy on the issue.
The latter was evident in Havana this week when Cuban church officials protested the Castro dictatorship's growing tolerance and support for gay rights on the island.
"Respect for the homosexual person, yes," said an editorial in Palabra Nueva, the monthly magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana, according to an Associated Press story. "Promotion of homosexuality, no."
For once, the church is criticizing the government.
But for the wrong reason.
The bishops may be speaking in accordance with church teachings, but in doing so they are speaking against a segment of Cuban society for whom the bounds of tyranny recently have been loosened, if only slightly. Cuba needs more of that, even if it might make the church and others uncomfortable. But then again, forgetting the sufferings of its flock, gay or straight — or at the least remaining silent in the face of tyranny — has long been the pattern of the Cuban church.
The Cuban church's condemnation of gay rights would not be so distasteful, and not so hypocritical, if it were accompanied by a similar condemnation of the Castro dictatorship's many sins against all Cubans.
After all, isn't that consistent with the church's teachings, too?
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