Sodom and Gomorrah & Iraqi Prisoner Abuse

With the photographs of American soldiers using their
power to subject men whom they conquered to sexual
humiliation, before our eyes we see an example of what
Sodom and Gomorrah was like.  

When any sane person irrespective of sexual
orientation views those acts they are repulsed, it was
indeed an abomination - THEN and NOW.  Most religious
scholars get hung up on homosexuality in Sodom &
Gomorrah, as though it was a central them.  Just
because homosexual acts were involved doesn't mean the
actors were homosexual.  Any objective person must
admit that the character and the nature of what is
described in Sodom and Gomorrah doesn't accurately fit
two persons seeking marriage or even just having sex
in today's world.  The public nature of what went on
in Sodom and Gomorrah does not even resemble a typical
gay relationship.  Male aggression, violence, public
humiliation are central themes in the Iraqi prisoner
abuse scandal and in the ancient story of Sodom and
Gomorrah.

I want to make a final point, to drive this issue
home.  The tone of the scriptures regarding Sodom and
Gomorrah also involve the theme of uncleanliness.  And
therefore homosexuality has been smeared with this
similar charge as unclean, nasty and thus an
abomination.  Murder and rape do not even carry this
same association.  Well, what was captured by those
photographs of American GIs abusing prisoners was
unclean, nasty and thus an abomination.  

Public molestation and rape, fit right in with
bestiality, and incest - not just because they are
unhealthy; but because they were the practice of the
people to whom the scriptures were revealed.  The
Torah and the Qur'an gives law to address the specific
behaviors of the people contemporary with their
revelations.  The Quran's condemnation and repeated
references to female infanticide is virtually not
applicable to the modern world.  And it would be
foolish to look for a modern expression of that act to
apply the Qur'an's legal code to; it was an artifact
of the time.  So it is with Sodom & Gomorrah there is
no modern equivalent of that cultural practice,
although there are some that are similar - homosexual
rape in prison, etc.  The Iraqi prisoner abuse mimics
Sodom & Gomorrah but even those events are not
congruent.  The practice itself, as well as the
scriptures that address them are artifacts of their
time.  This is why one most be careful when looking
for analogous situations in the present to equate them
with.  But in this case I think I found one - the
Iraqi prisoner abuse.  Search your heart and your mind
and ask yourself which situation most resembles Sodom
and Gomorrah; a same sex couple or the photographs
we've seen regarding the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.  If
all of the homosexuals on the planet were removed, the
sexual abuse of those prisoners would have occurred. 

Salaam,

Elisha





	
		
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