Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - January 10, 2020
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Sexuality and Human Brokenness
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Sexuality and Human Brokenness

As discussed in previous essays, our desires have mimetic qualities in that we tend to desire what other people seem to regard as desirable. This is problematic, because many people being attracted to a few “attractive” individuals invariably results in conflicts that can tear communities apart. The scapegoating process, in which one or more individuals are blamed for communal tensions, can maintain communal cohesion. However, the violence and injustice associated with the scapegoating process is incompatible with what Jesus called the Kingdom of God and Martin Luther King, Jr. called the beloved community.

Rev. Britton Johnson put it quite well:

The mimetic forces swirling around sexuality produce all kinds of madness: objectification of attractive people; contempt for unattractive ones; competition for partners; deceptions about our motivations; perverse substitutes for interpersonal sex when rivalries become overwhelming (such as pornography, fetishes, child molestation); defining certain people as attractive and others as unattractive; economic benefits allocated according to sexual attractiveness. . . Heterosexual and homosexual alike, married or celibate, we are all sexually broken.

I would qualify that “perverse substitutes” are problematic only when individuals are harmed. Given the very wide range of human sexual expression, we should be very cautious when describing activities that we find unappealing. For example, while many heterosexuals recoil at the thought of homosexual activity, homosexuals often regard heterosexual intercourse as repulsive.

All this said, I think Rev. Johnson’s has made an important observation. I think we are “fallen” in that we come up short of the ideal, what Paul describes as the “glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I don’t agree with the theology that our fallen state derives from Adam’s sin, partly because I do not think the Garden of Eden story should be taken as literally, historically true and also because I do not think it reasonable to posit that sin invariably passes from one generation to the next. But, we are imperfect creatures who aspire to live in perfect communities. Can we transcend divisive mimetic sexual desires? I will consider this next.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

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