Homosexuality

Abstract

"Keith Riglin's view about the nature of homosexuality (BMJ, 254, April 1996) cannot be claimed to be Christian because it is not founded on the available evidence.1 He over-relies on 'contemporary scientific evidence' so-called. He asserts that what may be regarded as normal or abnormal with respect to sexual orientation is a matter of statistics. In other words, the statistical distribution of orientations in a population simply reports how the land lies (so to speak). The folly underlying the conclusion which is then drawn, that homosexual orientation cannot therefore be regarded a.s abnormal in a moral sense, is to apply statistics prescriptively when all they can properly be is descriptive. That is not to deny the predictive use of statistics, however. The abuse occurs when predictions are made determinatively, as though what has been must always be. When causative factors in a particular scenario are understood, and particularly if they can be manipulated, then forecasting based on the status quois inappropriate. However, Riglin accepts without question that five to ten percent of the population 'will be gay'. That may turn out to be the case, but it need not be so"