Just released! Catholicism and Mormonism on Human Life Ethics and Same-Sex Marriage

With the developments in Utah this past week and the intense discussions on same-sex marriage swirling around, we decided to release Wilfried Decoo’s “As Our Two Faiths Have Worked Together”—Catholicism and Mormonism on Human Life Ethics and Same-Sex Marriage” from the new Fall 2013 issue for everyone to enjoy.
Decoo finds that “although the Catholic Church and the Mormon Church stand at first glance on common ground in human life ethics, even there the differences are substantial. Giving each other occasional support in publicly debated matters of ‘morality,’ such as with Proposition 8, turns out to be a perilous endeavor. As soon as the differences come into play, the one church cannot support the other anymore, such as with ESCR or with birth control insurance coverage. To what extent the positions on same-sex marriage may diverge in the future remains to be seen, but the various factors mentioned in this article indicate that the Mormon Church is prone to respond more flexibly to social change and human needs.”
Related
See Taylor Petrey’s “Toward a Post Heterosexual Mormon Theology,” since “the issue of homosexual relationships is among the most public struggles facing religious groups in America today. The issue is not as simple as gay people versus religious groups, as rhetoric on either side often suggests, but it has become increasingly apparent that there is significant overlap of people that identify both as homosexual and religious. Mormon writing on homosexuality often has had a pastoral character, aimed either at easing the transition for those seeking to leave the church or smoothing the way for those who desire to remain with in it. Those who have thought to advocate change with the LDS church and culture have focused primarily on ‘attitudes’ toward homosexuality encouraging ‘understanding and tolerance for homosexual people.’ Too often this discussion of homosexuality has focused on either its etiology, or its relationship to the will, though neither the appeal to nature or nurture resolves the question of ethics and meaning.”