This is a pretty interesting topic and I think its probably going to polarize the class pretty strongly. While there haven’t been any completely conclusive studies that have come out it seems like the scientific community is leaning towards sexual orientation being something that is biologically influenced and is therefore out of the control of the individuals. I personally believe this and in light of that I find a lot of religions hard to swallow because of the vast amount of intolerance toward people who have non-heterosexual orientations that seems omnipresent in lots of different religions. Now this in mind I think all religions have a unique opportunity in this to reverse the years of intolerance that have been present throughout history. This of course would require the religion in general to admit that they were wrong, which seems unlikely, but I think to oppose science would be a really idiotic move. This brings ups a question I have concerning Islam. If something is proven, scientifically, is that enough to abrogate statements in the Qur’an? I know that there are some religions that say that if something is proven to be a fact that disagrees with the religion, then the religion needs to be modified, not the science. Also the idea that being homosexual isn’t wrong but practicing it is wrong seems like intolerance veiled by trying to be politically correct. It’s lumping homosexuality in with sexual deviancy or some sort of disorder, acting as if supressing it will make things better. If it’s wrong to practice it then why say it’s ok to have the feelings? Also in response to the latest post on these topics just because a person is sexually attracted to the same gender doesn’t mean it will distract them from doing what they feel is their religious duty. First off being homosexual doesn’t mean they are attracted to all people of the same gender, the person still has to be sexually attractive to the homosexual individual. Secondly, since being homosexual doesn’t affect anyones cognitive processes, I imagine they would pray just like they would do everything else. If a person is heterosexual, does that mean they can’t talk to or around people of opposite gender because they might get distracted by sexual attraction? It happens but it is something that most people control pretty well, considering many people get by in life without molesting every person they are attracted to. No one is perfect and people might slip up but I think that probably there are heterosexuals who are distracted by their own thoughts at times during prayer and I imagine it would be no different for homosexuals.