FACT CHECK: Religions differ on stand on same-sex union
The claim of the Grand Imam of the biggest mosque in Marawi City that same-sex marriage is considered “immoral by all religions” is false.
Alim Abdumajeed Djamla, Grand Imam of the Jameo Mindanao Al Islamie or the Marawi Grand Mosque, issued the pronouncement to explain why he and his followers withdrew their support to Senator Robinhood “Robin” Padilla, after the neophyte senator, a Balik Islam or Islam revert, authored Senate Bill 449 or “An Act Institutionalizing Civil Unions of Same Sex Couples, Establishing Their Rights and Obligations, and For Other Purposes.”
http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/3821034648!.pdf
Djamla strongly condemned Padilla’s sponsorship of Senate Bill 449.
“This is based on the doctrine that same sex-marriage is (considered) immoral by all religions and is forbidden (Haram) under Islamic law,” Djamla said in an undated letter circulated online.
Different religions, however, have a different stance on same-sex union.
Islamic law forbids homosexuality, and the practice of homosexuality is a crime in many Islamic countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/12/07/religious-groups-official-positions-on-same-sex-marriage/
The Roman Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination in the world, prohibits same-sex marriage. In 2003, it came out with a position against any “legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
Pope Francis, who is known for his relatively liberal views on gender rights issues, has not changed his opposition to gay marriage. Sometime in November 2020, however, the Pontiff voiced his support for same-sex civil unions — legal arrangements that give gay and lesbian couples many of the same rights as married opposite-sex couples.
According to the same article, majority of Catholics in Western Europe support gay marriage. Support is highest in The Netherlands (97%) and Belgium (83%). It’s an opposite picture in Eastern Europe where the amount of support ranged from as low as 6% (Ukraine) to 50% at most (Czech Republic).
In the US, where the Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage since 2015, most religious institutions have remained firmly opposed to same-sex marriage. These include the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Jewish Movement, Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Southern Baptist Convention.
Yet, at least eight major religious groups in the US have sanctioned same-sex marriages. The list includes the Conservative Jewish Movement, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA, Reform Jewish Movement, Society of Friends (Quaker), Unitarian Universalist Association of Churches, and United Church of Christ.
Meanwhile, Buddhism and Hinduism have no clear position on the matter, the same article said.
For its part, the Anglicans also differ on same-sex marriage.
“Twenty-four years ago, a supermajority of Anglican leaders agreed in resolution 1:10 that “homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture,” intending to ban same-sex marriages and LGBT ordinations. But since then, progressive church leaders have consecrated LGBT priests and bishops and have married same-sex couples in the US and Canada, among several other provinces,” according to Christianity Today, a global media ministry. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/august/lambeth-conference-anglican-church-global-south-bishops.html
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)
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