From ancient times to today, some interpretations of Abrahamic religions have presented challenges for LGBTQ+ inclusion; I’d like to explore the history of some of these interpretations and how they have impacted LGBTQ+ lives.
I’d like to focus on one disturbing meme. For the avoidance of doubt, and I don’t think anybody here probably was in any doubt, I stand firmly beside my LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters and other siblings; I am an egalitarian humanist. Furthermore, for the avoidance of any doubt, I’d like to repeat something of a mantra of mine which summarises my position and reason to be here very nicely (it is something that I sincerely believe to be true):
The vast majority of Jews, Christians and Muslims are, for the vast majority of the time, kind, intelligent, sympathetic, empathetic, compassionate, decent folk who make the World a better place for their part in it… but this DESPITE their respective religions, not because of them.
It is, then, with sensitivity for all concerned that I wish to broach a rather difficult topic. The meme I want to explore in this OP is this:
- Homosexuals being punished for their homosexuality by being thrown from high places.
I’m likely going to offend a lot of religious people here in this OP. That is not my goal; it is an unfortunate case of collateral damage.
My basic thesis is this:
- Anti-homosexual sentiment was present in Judaism from ancient times
- This gave birth to to a harmful meme in Christianity
- This evolved into a harmful meme in Islam
- The meme persists to this day and affects real people’s lives
Folks who are heavily invested in Christianity and Islam who are personally sympathetic to our beloved homosexual brethren will be glad to know, and I thought I’d clear up any confusion on this point in advance:
The current-day canonical Christian Bible does not contain the meme
The Qur’an does not contain the meme – and whilst it is in some hadith, they are not hadith that are accepted by many Muslims the World over as authentic
So… let me tell the story of the meme and justify my view with some evidence, eh?
We start with ancient Judaism. I doubt anybody here hasn’t considered “the clobber verses” at some point or another, but I will quote just one of them because it’s very clear; any strictly observant Jew or any fundamentalist Christian will likely tell you that they believe the following is a direct [translated] quotation from the creator of the universe Himself:
If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The next piece of the jigsaw I’d like to explore is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Whilst the story does involve the suggestion of homosexual acts (from which, indeed, we derive the modern English word “sodomy”), it is of note that the traditional Jewish understanding of the story (which involves God’s wrath enacted on two out of five of the “cities of the plain”) is that the sin of Sodom was not sodomy but, rather, inhospitality. It wasn’t until the later Christian interpretations that the notion that the cities were destroyed on account of their open practice of homosexual acts really took hold. The Christian interpretation can be seen explicitly in the Epistle of Jude:
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
And now we come to the birth of the very troubling meme that is the real focus of this OP… we find it in a book that used to be considered canonical in early Christianity but which fell from favour and was dropped from the canon: The Apocalypse of Peter. Here is the earliest record I know of of this despicable meme (from a passage in the Apocalypse of Peter depicting the inner workings of Hell):
And other men and women were being hurled down from a great cliff and reached the bottom, and again were driven by those who were set over them to climb up upon the cliff, and thence were hurled down again, and had no rest from this punishment: and these were they who defiled their bodies acting as women; and the women who were with them were those who lay with one another as a man with a woman.
Fast forward, now, to the birth of Islam… which, just as Christianity inherited memes from Judaism and evolved them, inherited memes from Christianity and evolved them…
The meme of the story of Lot and the cities of the plain shows up in the Qur’an, of course, with Lot becoming Prophet Lut (N.B. the views expressed on this site should not be considered representative of the majority of Muslims’ views). I’ll list all the parts of the Qur’an that touch on the story of Prophet Lut here, for anybody interested in doing some research into that (the following links absolutely represent the majority Muslim views, being directly in the Qur’an):
- Surah Al-A’raf (Chapter 7): Verses 80-84 [Quran 7:80-84]
- Surah Hud (Chapter 11): Verses 74-83 [Quran 11:74-83]
- Surah Al-Hijr (Chapter 15): Verses 58-77 [Quran 15:58-77]
- Surah Al-Anbiya (Chapter 21): Verses 74-75 [Quran 21:74-75]
- Surah Ash-Shu’ara (Chapter 26): Verses 160-175 [Quran 26:160-175]
- Surah An-Naml (Chapter 27): Verses 54-58 [Quran 27:54-58]
- Surah Al-Qamar (Chapter 54): Verses 33-40 [Quran 54:33-40]
The story thus far has basically mirrored that in the Jewish Bible but adopted the interpretation of the Christian Bible… there is nothing there, though, that suggests anything to do with high places… for that, we have to turn to what I will repeat for clarity are considered inauthentic hadith… and if you can bear to read it [warning: it’s violent and reprehensible hate speech of the worst kind – and note: it is NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE VIEWS OF THE MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS] I encourage those with a strong stomach to take a peak at this site. I’ll quote just a small passage from the section entitled “Punishment for Homosexuality in Islam”:
And some of them(†) thought that they(‡‡) should be thrown down from a high place then have stones thrown at them. This was the view of Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him).
(†) the companions [equivalent to disciples in Christianity], which the site claims all agreed on the death penalty, disagreeing only on the correct method of execution
(‡‡) practising homosexuals
And finally, I’d like to point out (I won’t link to anything here, but feel free to do your own research, not that I recommend it) that some factions within ISIS act on the (again, non-mainstream) views and throw homosexuals off of high places.
Well… there’s the story of a meme.
Some things to note:
- The Jewish Bible is explicit about the death penalty for active homosexuals.
- The modern canonical New Testament of the Christian Bible does not recommend punishment in this World
- The Qur’an does not recommend punishment in this World
- To think of ISIS as representative of Islam is as stupid as thinking of the Nazis as representative of Christianity
And finally, a question for discussion:
Do you think that some members of ISIS would be throwing homosexuals off of high buildings today if it weren’t for the Apocalypse of Peter?