Amazing Love: Changing Scientific Understanding

In the second in a series of blogs Andrew Davison continues to explore sexuality in the context of being human …

Christian understanding of aspects of human sexuality has changed over time, not least as part of our growing understanding of the natural world. For example, when it comes to animal reproduction, it was once widely thought that a woman was basically the ‘field’ into which the male ‘seed’ was planted, and that this seed already contained all that was necessary for human life. Christians who took this view therefore ranked male masturbation close to murder, and they considered it to be even more fundamentally against the order of nature than rape or incest, for instance. However, when people discovered, through scientific enquiry, that this understanding of reproduction was incorrect, the ethical view of many Christians changed accordingly: murder is wrong, it’s just that it doesn’t bear upon the question of masturbation.

In ways like this, our understanding of human reproduction and sexuality has evolved. Thinking about same-sex attraction is part of that. The common assumption used to be that people who are attracted to others of the same sex are abnormal, in the sense that they suffer from a psychiatric condition: homosexuality was understood as a mental illness. We assumed that homosexuality, as a broad category of outlook, behaviour, and association, was in itself ‘unhealthy’, and associated with other physical or medical problems. However, the more work was done to examine the actual lives and well-being of gay and lesbian people, the shakier that conviction became.

By 1973, when homosexuality stopped being classified as a mental illness in the United Kingdom, the scientific and medical consensus had changed entirely. The previous view, of homosexuality as an illness, had been recognised not just as false, but as extremely damaging. The medical opinion on this is rock solid. Homosexuality is not damaging to people; it is the assumption that it is ‘unhealthy’ that damages them.

This is important for our discussion on several levels, not least because Christian ethics has a strong interest in what is natural and healthy for people. The older picture assumed that everyone is ‘naturally’ attracted to people of the opposite sex, but that some individuals choose to go against these natural inclinations in order to have sexual relationships with people of the same sex. That particular vision of nature leads to a particular vision of ethics. In that context, it’s unsurprising that homosexual activity was viewed as harmful, both to the individuals involved and to society as a whole. It was seen as unnatural, perverse, and going against the grain of how the world should be.

Today, this is no longer our best scientific understanding of homosexuality. Clear, robust evidence shows that, for some people, same-sex attraction is natural, inevitable, and beyond their conscious control. As twenty-first-century Christians, rejoicing in our God-given reason, this relatively new scientific picture needs to inform our Christian response to same-sex attraction.

To appreciate what the science shows us, it is helpful to consider two significant developments. One is our better understanding of the importance of emotional and relational aspects of sexuality. The other is our greater sense of the diversity of human experience.

This is an extract from Amazing Love: Theology for Understanding Discipleship, Sexuality and Mission edited by Andrew Davison, available now in paperback for £8.99.