In December, one senior priest, Pope Benedict XV1, 81, and one senior monk, the Dalai Lama, 73, have made comments about sex – a subject wise angels fear to tread.
In his end of the year speech to the Vatican, the Pope warned against blurring the distinction between male and female and stated that it could lead to the “self-destruction” of the human race. The Pope criticised gender theory, a theory that explores sexual orientation.
When the Roman Catholic Church defends God’s Creation, “it does not only defend the earth, water and the air … but (it) also protects man from his own destruction”, the Pope said.
“If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind … deserves it no less,” the pontiff said, calling for “an ecology of the human being”.
In December, speaking in Lagos, the Dalai Lama said chastity offered a better life and “more freedom.”
“Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication,” the Dalai Lama told reporters in a Lagos hotel, speaking in English without a translator.
He said conjugal life caused “too much ups and downs. Naturally as a human being … some kind of desire for sex comes, but then you use human intelligence to make comprehension that those couples always full of trouble. And in some cases there is suicide, murder cases,” the Dalai Lama said.
He said the “consolation” in celibacy is that although “we miss something, but at the same time, compare whole life, it’s better, more independence, more freedom.”
Response to the words of the Pope.
It seems to me that belief in God easily inhibits the exploration of immeasurable love. The Pope, a respected theologian, claims there is God the Creator and the Church knows His will. I know homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, hermaphrodites and cross dressers. I don’t recall any of them telling me they woke up one morning and chose to blur the gender distinction between male and female. Biological forces and other factors are mostly at work here – just as with heterosexuals. To put it in the language of the Church, God created this diversity in our species not the self of the individual. Gender theory simply endeavours to develop an understanding attitude about sexual diversity.
Response to the words of the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lamas, a truly kindly and compassionate human being, can step out of his remit when speaking about sexual relationships. Yet, it is appropriate that he reminds us of the problems of desire and sexuality. The Dalai Lama needs to be reminded that we, who are blessed to have a partner, can make love with love, not with selfish desire He has never made love, never known the preciousness of such shared depths of communication –spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. If we cling to the notion of celibacy, as some monks do, then we will perceive sexual life as always problematic. Celibacy does not offer greater freedom nor does a sexual relationship have the power to take it away. I hope the Dalai Lama gets an opportunity to explore sexual relationship in his next life. He’s been celibate for far too many lifetimes.
I have three small suggestions – apologies if these suggestions upset the faithful – for these two celibate and influential men, both of whom I have much respect for. Their public role is truly a difficult undertaking
1. Stay away from expounding such views on sexuality. You come across as somewhat out of touch.
2. Without sex, we would not have been born.
3. Remember you both wear long skirts. You never wear trousers.