Jason Collins

5/5

Jason Collins on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Honestly, about a week ago I had no clue who Jason Collins was. By now, however, you have probably heard that he is the first athlete to come out as gay in a major sport. He has gotten a lot of media attention and a lot of support around the sports world and beyond. I am very happy that he has support and he is not being scrutinized or insulted. Everyone should be treated with a certain degree of respect. I know that we had a post a few weeks ago devoted to gay marriage but I wanted to revive the issue in light of this new story. What I see in society today is that people that come out are seen as heroes and are praised, and maybe their praise is due. Unfortunately gays have lived through tough times of hate and insults and it does take a tremendous amount of courage to come out. However when someone like myself voices their opinion against homosexuality itself(not necessarily the person) then people bash you and insult you, which I find extremely hypocritical. I recently read an article about one ESPN analyst who voiced his opinion against homosexuality, citing his christian faith as a reason, and many Christians share his view. However, the presumably yahoo sports writing turned the article into an opinion blog and he bashed the ESPN analyst. In the article he tried to channel his inner theologian and say that while in the Old Testament the bible says that men should not sleep with other men, that it also says that you shouldn't eat shellfish or where a certain type of fabric. He also says that in the New Testament it says to love thy neighbor. I don't know how many times I have heard this fundamentally flawed argument but it is really getting on my nerves. Taking it from a true theological view, there are very specific rules in the Old Testament because man and God still had a very young and short relationship. Its like a father implementing strict rules to his son to protect him and make him a better person, and when the son asks why, the father just says "because I said so" because the child cannot really comprehend the importance of the rules. In the New Testament, mankind has matured and Jesus comes to talk to us as grown children to explain the rules, maybe lessen restriction, and give us more responsibility to account for our own actions. The Mosaic law of the Old Testament was removed from Christianity because St. Peter, at the Council of Jerusalem, decided that Gentile converts do not need to convert to Judaism first and be circumcised and follow the dietary laws. Now, going back to Jesus. Just because Jesus told us to love everyone, does not mean that everyone can do what they want. In many ways Jesus even challenged us more. He said to not even think lustfully or else we have already committed adultery and also condemned divorce. It is true that Jesus did not explicitly mention homosexuality or gay marriage, but for Catholics, we believe that the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit to be in unison with God and his Will. The Catholic Church has been ardently against gay marriage, most notably citing the inability to reproduce in a gay marriage. I am going to take the Church's word for it.