In Depth:  Peter May

What are we to make of ‘sexual orientation’?

If many adolescents experience bisexual attraction, if some people change their orientation, if most homosexuals are actually bisexual, and if diverse sexual practices can become strongly addictive, is a fixed orientation actually a myth?

Studies of twins

Studies of identical twins have repeatedly shown that sexual orientation is not determined genetically. Identical twins with identical genes do not always have the same orientation. If one is homosexual, the other is far more likely to be heterosexual. Even though statistically, compared with the general population, there is an increased chance that the twin will be homosexual, this is far from guaranteed. So though there may be a genetic ‘tendency’ toward homosexuality, sexual orientation is not genetically ‘determined’.

Marriage is under attack in the UK. It has been humanity’s default mode of handling sexuality since the dawn of time. Whether or not it was accompanied by public ceremonies or religious rites, heterosexual marriage has been normative. Polygamy, by far the commonest alternative arrangement, has been the habit of only a few.

Such bonding is quite remarkable. Imagine what life would be like without it. If we treated sexual partners like holiday vacations, rarely returning to the same place twice, men would never know how many children they have or who they are. Women would be given the entire responsibility of bringing them up and providing for them. A moment’s thought shows how logical and inevitable heterosexual marriage is.

A small team of solicitors, sent by BMS World Mission to work with the Uganda Christian Lawyers’ Fraternity (UCLF), is engaged in a major project in Kampala, striking at the root of one of Uganda’s greatest needs.

Following in the footsteps of Christian educationalists and healthcare professionals, who have done such pioneering work in Uganda over the past 120 years, these lawyers are laying foundations for justice both now and for the future.

We should all be deeply grateful to Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harrris and now Christopher Hitchens for putting the existence of God at the centre of public debate.

According to the Guardian, Hitchens’s new book, God is not great sold 4,000 hardback copies in its first week, while Dawkins’s The God delusion sold 300,000 copies in the UK. Hitchens’s sales director is quoted as saying, ‘People find it increasingly hard to marry organised religion with their own view of the world and want a more intellectual, contemporary take on the subject.’

The apostle Peter wrote that all Christians need to be ready to give an ‘apology’ (Greek apologia), or defence, of their Christian hope to everyone who asks them, adding importantly, that it should be done with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3.15).

This, therefore, is not an activity just for those who are good at it. We must all be ready to give an answer to everyone. An apology means a defence or answer to justify certain actions or beliefs (e.g. Acts 22.1).