The debate on the stance on homosexuality taken by Christian pastor Ouyang Weng Feng, whose church is said to be “inclusive” of gays, is set for broadening.

Already Reverend Ouyang Weng Feng’s views have drawn criticism from Wilayah Persekutaan PAS Youth that the church founded by the openly gay pastor was “challenging Malaysia’s social institutions.”

ouyang weng feng Points made by Ouyang ( right ) in response to the PAS criticism that appeared in Malaysiakini yesterday, particularly references the pastor made to a biblical episode that supposedly corroborated Ouyang’s stance, were contested from another quarter.

In remarks made to Malaysiakini today, Rufus Bruno Pereira, who teaches Scripture in the Catholic archdioscese of Kuala Lumpur, said his purpose in contesting Ouyang’s interpretation was not polemical.

“It’s merely to put across a picture of the Sodom and Gomorrah episode in the Old Testament that is at sharp variance to the one conveyed by Reverend Ouyang,” said Pereira.

Ouyang had said the biblical proscription of homosexuality was based on a mistranslation of the episode.

“I beg to differ,” offered Pereira.

“The relevant verses in the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis speak of the men of Sodom and Gomorrah going to the house of Lot, who was a relative of Abraham, after having seen two angelic-looking men who were visiting Lot and were invited by their host to stay the night.

“Lot came out of his house after the men had surrounded it and had demanded that his guests be handed over to them. Instead of acceding to the demand, Lot suggested that the men shift their attention to two daughters of his whom he was prepared to hand over to them.

“Seeing that this diversion did not work, the guests advised Lot to take the other occupants of the house and flee and after that the bible says God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,” said Pereira of that biblical episode.

“I’m afraid Pastor Ouyang has given a partial and inaccurate interpretation of the Sodom and Gomorrah episode in Genesis,” opined Pereira.

Don’t mistreat homosexuals

He said there were other verses in the Old Testament, for example in Leviticus, and in the letters of Saint Paul to the Romans, in the New Testament, that clearly proscribe homosexuality.

Pereira said Christian gay rights advocates were inclined to claim that since Jesus did not pronounce any malediction on homosexuality, the denunciations of homosexuality in the epistles of St Paul were consequently not authoritative.

“Jesus taught in a Judaic milieu in which homosexuality was taboo. Paul taught the faith in Greek and Roman territories where people engaged in that practice,” he said.

Pereira said there was no biblical warrant for the view that the Judeo-Christian tradition does not explicitly proscribe homosexuality.

He said the official catechism of the Roman Catholic Church views homosexuality as a “morally disordered” condition but counsels the faithful against mistreating those with a homosexual orientation.