The College Fix

A paper by a cadre of Italian researchers claims that anti-gay, or “homophobic,” attitudes are signs of a possible mental disorder.

That’s right — for, as one of the study’s authors noted, “… for the first time we demonstrated that the real disease to be cured is homophobia, associated with potentially severe psychopathologies.”

But Cornell University’s William M. Briggs scoffs: “Potentially severe psychopathologies? Sounds like the sort of thing that requires treatment, perhaps even against the will of the patients.”

Is this study worthy of its bombast?

Not according to Briggs:

Italy is, of course, largely a Catholic country; indeed, 75% of the respondents identified as Catholic. Faithful Catholics are obliged to hold, and many do hold, natural law views of same-sex attraction, which consider homosexual acts as unnatural, sinful and harmful, or (as the official catechism has it) “objectively disordered.” At the same time, while homosexual acts are condemned in the Bible, orthodox Catholics — along with orthodox Christians generally — are taught to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” These views are central Christian teachings.

Whether they are right or wrong is immaterial to the discussion here. What is relevant is that Christian views toward homosexual acts are, in part or in whole, matters of religion and philosophy, and therefore so-called “homophobia” must be considered in those contexts. Do the scales relied upon by the researchers account for religion and philosophy? No. They do not even pretend to do so.

Consider, for example, some of the questions on the 25-item “Homophobia Scale,” scored 1 to 5, from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”:

–Homosexuality is acceptable to me.
–Marriage between homosexual individuals is acceptable.
–Homosexuality is immoral.
–Organizations which promote gay rights are necessary.
–Homosexual behavior should not be against the law.

Answering any of these in line with the Bible, age-old Christian doctrine and natural law reasoning contributes to a more “homophobic” score.

The conclusion?

[…] the “science” here is just a definitional game dressed up with statistics and technical sounding language and procedures. The “researchers” define any opposition to homosexuality — regardless of the reasons — as “homophobic,” as “irrational fear, hatred and intolerance of homosexual men and women by heterosexual individuals.”

The authors “gave no indication of having considered religious or philosophical explanations,” Briggs says. Yet, somehow they “confidently” come to the conclusion that homophobic attitudes are a (mental) disease.

“This is not science. It is either shameless advocacy, sloppy thinking, or both.”

Read the full article.

h/t: Moonbattery.

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