The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1015 page)

(Jap., ‘dharma gate’). The teachings of the
Buddha
. In the Four Great Vows (
shiguseigan
) of Zen, (part of the
bodhisattva
vow), the third is: ‘The dharma gates are manifold: I vow to enter them all.’

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Gk., ‘of one substance’). The word in the
Nicene Creed
to express the relation in the one Godhead of the Father and Son. It was accepted as an anti-
Arian
formula at the Council of
Nicaea
at the urging of the emperor, although many bishops preferred the looser term
homoiousion
, ‘of like substance’. Thus its sense may have been broadly ‘of the same nature’, rather than ‘of the identical substance’ as later theology took it. Homoousion was used again at
Chalcedon
to express the relation of Christ to people; and it was extended to the
Holy Spirit
during the 4th cent.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Homo religiosus
(humans as religious beings)
:

see
ELIADE, MIRCEA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Homosexuality
.

The attitude of religions to homosexuality is obscured by the extremely wide reference of the term (in some religions, for example, particular acts may be condemned, but not the disposition itself, and not all acts), by the ambiguities in the status of eunuchs, and by the uncertainty whether the term covers both males and females. In general, homosexuality is regarded as abnormal (standing outside the norms of nature and practice); there is then much difference concerning the ‘normativeness of the norm’—i.e. how much it has to be covered by law. In Judaism, certain kinds of sexual activity are forbidden, including incest and adultery. The prohibitions against ‘men lying with men as with a woman’ occur in Leviticus (18. 22; 20. 13). According to the
rabbis
, the prohibition is a part of the
Noachide Laws
, and thus applies to all people (i.e. to gentiles as much as to Jews). The penalties are
karet
(being cut off from the people of Israel, Leviticus 18. 29) and death (Leviticus 20. 13). Very little is said about relations between women (known as
mesoleloth
). Christianity inherited the prohibitions and amplified them with the condemnations of homosexual acts in Romans 1. 26–7 (including women), 1 Corinthians 6. 9, and 1 Timothy 1. 10. While some Christian exegesis has drawn attention to a distinction between

(i) context-dependent applications and the more fundamental context-independent command to love, and
(ii) the condition of homosexuality which lies in nature and particular acts which would have to be assessed for morality just as heterosexual acts have to be, the Roman Catholic Church has moved strongly to maintain the condemnation, describing the homosexual orientation as ‘an objective disorder’ (
On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons
, 1986); the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
recognized that homosexuality is basically not a matter of choice, but insisted that homosexual persons are called to a life of chastity.

In Islam, homosexuals (
qaum Lut
, the people of Lot, or Lutis) are condemned in the story of Lot's people in the Qur’
n (e.g. 15. 73 f.; 26. 165 f.), and in the last address of
Mu
ammad
. Some argue that since penetration has to be involved, homosexual acts between women should be less severely punished. In any case,
shari‘a
is, as usual, concerned with public behaviour, so there is no strong condemnation of homosexuality if it is not displayed in public.
In India, the evaluation is more complex, because of the many strands of religious life. In general, it is clear that for
twice-born
Hindus, ‘homosexual acts’ (
maithuna
pu
si
) are condemned (e.g.
Manusm
ti
11. 174 f., both men and women). But attitudes vary. The
K
ma S
tra
specifically states that physical sex between two people of the same sex (as also of the opposite) ‘is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts’. The evaluation depends on the context and on what is appropriate (i.e.
dharma
) for it. Among Buddhists, the issue is subsumed under the general dynamic of Buddhist societies, in which the choice is between monastic celibacy and lay life. While consideration is given to homosexual acts within communities, there seems to have been little isolation of homosexuality as such.
All these considerations were formed at a time when the ‘natural nature’ of homosexuality (and particularly of the genetic contribution to this widespread human condition) were not known. Religions which affirm the goodness of sexuality in its own right are adjusting more easily to new knowledge than those which hold that sexual acts must be open to life, and that the other functions of sex are always subordinate.