Homosexual Animals
Using ‘Science’ to Push a Political Agenda

by Ryan Jaroncyk

28 November 2006

The University of Oslo’s Natural Museum of History, in Norway, has opened a new exhibit called ‘Against Nature?’ The museum exhibit is aimed at providing scientific justification for homosexuality in both the animal world and humanity. Geir Soli, project leader, stated ‘The argument that a homosexual way of living cannot be accepted because it is against the “laws of nature” can now be rejected scientifically.’¹ It certainly sounds scientific, but what’s the real story?

Starting Points

Science is always dependent on one’s starting points. Every scientist begins his/her investigation of the evidence through a particular lens. In the case of the museum exhibit ‘Against Nature?’, zoologist Petter Bockman revealed, ‘There is a political motive.’ Surprise, surprise. The museum says one of its aims is to ‘demystify homosexuality among people … we hope to reject the all too well-known argument that homosexual behavior is a crime against nature.’ So in fact, the Natural Museum of History in Oslo, Norway, is not just concerned about the scientific evidence. It is openly promoting homosexuality to the public. Science is being used to promote a particular philosophical worldview agenda.

Worldview Differences

The Oslo museum promotes a very specific worldview. It is a worldview that now dominates Western Europe and is becoming more potent in the United States. It is a worldview in which human beings are just highly evolved animals. Humans are merely advanced apes that evolved from simple chemicals over 4.5 billion years. We are not special creations, and we are not bound to any moral law. Moral truth is relative and simply dictated by biological operations. Such a worldview has come to thrive under the umbrella of Darwinian evolution. Museums, zoos, newspapers, magazines, public schools, and even many churches openly espouse evolution. However, this worldview is in direct conflict with biblical Christianity. A straightforward reading of the Bible teaches us that mankind is not simply a highly evolved animal. We were specially created in the image of God. The Bible teaches us that God instituted moral laws which we are to obey out of love and obedience to our Creator and fellow man (see The creation basis for morality and Bomb-building vs. the biblical foundation. And the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin—a perversion of both natural and moral law (see exegesis in Response to ‘gay marriage’ article objections). It thus may not be surprising that homosexuals are prone to diseases, gambling and other addictions; God made rules for our good (although health problems are a secondary argument; the primary one is what God’s Word forbids).

Homosexual Animals in Evolutionary Theory

Animals also practice rape and cannibalism … is that ‘normal’ too?

It is true that many animals engage in homosexual behavior. It is also true that a very small percentage of human beings do as well. As Petter Bockman said, ‘Homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species and the phenomenon has been well-described for 500 of them.’ In addition, the article states that a quarter of all swan families are parented by homosexual couples. However, for most scientists, homosexual behavior has been viewed as biologically deviant, since at the heart of evolution is sexual reproduction. Linda Wolfe, head of the anthropology department at East Carolina University, stated, ‘I think to some extent people don’t think it’s important because we went through all this time period in sociobiology where everything had to be tied to reproduction and reproductive success.’ Wolfe disagrees. ‘You can make up all kinds of stories: Oh it’s for dominance. It’s for this. It’s for that, but when it comes down to the bottom I think it’s just for sexual pleasure.’ This sounds much more like arbitrary opinion than scientific fact. On the other hand, there are some scientists who think that homosexuality in the animal kingdom does serve useful, evolutionary purposes. Homosexual behavior could be used for building alliances and gaining the protection of members of the same sex. And in heavily bisexual species, such as bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees, Pan paniscus), homosexual behavior may mean the difference between joining the pack and being ostracized. All of this actually creates problems for the theory of evolution. A viable scientific theory should not be making contradictory predictions. And a theory that is so flexible that it explains everything, in reality, explains nothing at all, as Philip Skell noted.

Animals in the Creation Model

In the biblical creation model, animals and humans are distinct creations. Animals were created with mind, will, and emotion, while humans were created with mind, will, and emotion, and most importantly, a moral and spiritual capacity (see Man: The image of God). The book of Genesis also states that mankind was given dominion over the animals to care for them as good stewards of God’s creation. The empirical evidence supports the creation model. Although many animals express an array of emotions, use simple tools, solve problems, speak a few words, and mourn for their dead, they cannot match the intellectual, technological, and spiritual capacity of mankind. After all, we don’t see animals placing humans in zoos. We don’t see animals training humans to perform physical labor and mental tasks. We don’t see animals building great civilizations. We don’t see animals obeying moral laws, and we don’t see animals building churches to hear the teaching of the Gospel (or building public schools to indoctrinate young animals against the Gospel).

Justifying Homosexuality on Faulty Logic

Those who attempt to justify homosexuality in humanity by pointing to its existence in the animal kingdom have a logical problem. They argue that homosexual behaviour and relationships in animals makes it ‘right’ for the same sorts of things in humans, but animals also practice rape, wanton murder, incest, rampant theft, physical abuse, and cannibalism. By the same reasoning, therefore, we should accept and condone these sorts of things as ‘normal’ too. (See the formal logic of this reductio ad absurdum in Logic and Creation). In reality, there is a vast gulf between animals and humans, and apart from the false presumption of evolution, there is no basis for applying animal behaviour as the yardstick for humans. Our very social fabric and commonsense itself revolts against the notion of accepting rape and cannibalism as ‘natural and normal’, which is itself further confirmation of the reality that we are made in the image of God, not animals. We know that such things are wrong, regardless of what animals may or may not do (although evolutionists have a hard time justifying why they believe rape is morally wrong even though some of them claim it is in our genes—see Rape and evolution). Romans 2:15 refers to the law of God being written on our hearts.

Law and Gospel

The Bible explicitly forbids homosexual behaviour in both the Old and New Testaments. In addition, the Bible explicitly defines marriage as a man and a woman in both the Old and New Testaments (Matthew 19:3–6 citing Genesis 1:27 and 2:24). Homosexuality is a sin, plain and simple, and sin appalls a holy God. All sin grieves the Almighty, and we all stand condemned before His seat of righteous judgment (Romans 3:23). But there’s hope! The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and then conquered death (1 Corinthians 15:14), and when we place our trust in Him, we stand condemned no more (Romans 8:1)! Let us continue to stand on the truth of God’s Word, standing up for biblical morality and humbly exhorting those engaged in sinful lifestyles to seek forgiveness at the mercy seat of the only true God and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

References

1. Sara Goudarzi, Homosexual Animals Out of the Closet, LiveScience.com, 16 November 2006. Return to text