Distinguished Christian philosopher Richard Swinburne spoke at the Midwest Regional Meeting of the Society of Christian philosophers and defended the view that homosexual acts were objectively disordered and morally wrong. This has been the traditional Christian position from the beginning, until pseudo-sophisticated contemporary “Christians” decided to oppose traditional Christian morality. For Swinburne’s sin against “diversity” and political correctness, Michael Rea, president of the Midwest Region of the SCP, on his Facebook page, sharply criticized Swinburne, stating that Swinburne’s views “are not that of the SCP” and that he (Rea) is committed to “diversity” and “inclusion.” Disappointingly, the Evangelical philosopher Tom Morris and the Thomist, Eleonore Stump, praised Rea’s post. The latter is a particular disappointment, for I have long admired her treatment of St. Thomas, and in the past she was wholly orthodox (with a small “o”) in her beliefs. I hope I am misunderstanding her point.

Rea’s statement that Swinburne’s views do not reflect those of the SCP is misleading–Christina van Dyke argued in a response to Rea’s post that the point was that the SCP does not have official positions on issues.  Van Dyke’s statement is disingenuous, since the tone of Professor Rea’s message was clearly negative toward Professor Swinburne’s positions, and the sense was that any member of the SCP should agree with Rea’s commitment to “inclusion” and “diversity.”

It is a shame that Christian philosophers have decided to exclude people because of their positions on issues, clearly a form of exclusion and a denial of diversity. I hope that orthodox Christians are not forced to form their own separate organization for the protection of their academic freedom, but they may be driven to that point.

So here is my own heresy against political correctness on the issue of homosexual practice: Homosexual orientation itself is not sinful, but is contrary to nature (objectively disordered). However, acting on homosexual desires is morally wrong and a sin against God. It is not the worst of sins; people who hate homosexuals are sinning far worse than homosexuals who act on their feelings. But bad behavior by Christians who oppose homosexual behavior does not make homosexual practice right. That has been the historic teaching of the church, and despite Pope Francis’ ambiguous statements, it is still the official position of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the Eastern Orthodox Churches and a number of conservative Protestant denominations. I will never apologize for this position.