Pope Benedict XVI used his Christmas message to assail same sex marriage and to attack “gender theory” as a distortion of human nature. Meanwhile, an Anglican Church in Auckland says that it’s Christmas, it’s time for Jesus to “come out.”
The HuffPost reports on the Pope’s remarks:
The pope pressed his opposition to gay marriage Friday, denouncing what he described as people manipulating their God-given identities to suit their sexual choices – and destroying the very “essence of the human creature” in the process.
Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas address to the Vatican bureaucracy, one of his most important speeches of the year. He dedicated it this year to promoting traditional family values in the face of vocal campaigns in France, the United States, Britain and elsewhere to legalize same-sex marriage….
“…People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” he said. “They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.”
“The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Auckland, St. Matthews in the City has released their annual Christmas billboard–which always generates comment:
A church billboard questioning Jesus Christ’s sexuality is sparking controversy in New Zealand.
As Auckland Now reports, St. Matthew in the City’s holiday billboard depicts the infant Jesus surrounded by a rainbow-colored halo, along with the double entendre-laden statement: “It’s Christmas. It’s time for Jesus to come out.”
Reverend Glynn Cardy defended the church’s sign as being about trying to lift the humanity of Jesus. “The fact is we don’t know what his sexual orientation was,” he is quoted as saying. “Would it make a difference if he was gay? Would that change the picture for you?”