Every person has a worldview – principles, beliefs, and a school of thought – by which one encounters and experiences the surrounding world and its events, together with how one governs his person. Most of the time, at least in “Western” societies, a worldview is self-chosen, and thus for most adults becomes an act of the will.

A worldview forms, informs, and encompasses the process by which a person relates to general questions of life, such as – the world and its origin, what it means to be human, the method of human interrelationships, how humanity relates to the rest of nature, how humanity relates to the Divine (if the worldview allows for the Divine), and so forth. Even “unbelief” is itself a form of belief.

A worldview in a broad sense is religious, be it confessing the Divine or denying it; be it extremely organized or loosely structured. Religion in a general sense is that which a person takes as a guiding principle for life. Speaking in a mundane manner, it could be any belief system that provides a narrative for the inevitable questions of life that face almost every human person on planet earth. In that broad sense, there are no non-religious people because everyone has a belief system of some sort.

Inevitably tied up with belief systems are questions and answers relating to humanity and human morals. A person will act, or at least strive to, in a manner that is consonant with his worldview, his religion. Ultimatly, action – fruit – exposes the true worldview of a person.

In America (and the Western world at large) at this time there is, what may be called, a clash of worldviews, and this is at the root of the tension regarding human sexuality (gender) and its proper function (and many other things).

Clearly, Christianity (when I use that word I mean traditional Christianity) has very clear teachings based on its worldview – which is ultimately, as I have argued elsewhere, based on Divine revelation – regarding the proper use of the human person and this includes sexuality, which is part of the proper alignment of the human person.

On the other hand, modern Humanistic-secularism has very clear teachings based on its worldview regarding the use of the human person, including sexuality.

Each view is based soundly on belief; a belief that is formed by a worldview.

Humanistic-secularism claims to be neutral to “religion.” It claims to create a neutral space in which the free exchange of varying ideas may take place. This claim is ultimately false and impossible because it itself has become a form of religion, that is it has its own narrative regarding the questions of life, such as the function of humanity and the Divine. As such it cannot be neutral, nor is it an unbiased mediator between other religions. Humanistic-secularism itself carries a bias with it, as does any worldview. It generally has a condescending disdain for other worldviews (religions) that profess Divinity and Divine revelation. It generally sees traditional ways as modes that must be done away with. The secularist faith generally does not play well with competing faith narratives, a survey of the strong secularist states (encompassing both “communist” and “democratic”) of the past Century reveals this. Generally, violent persecution or basic discrimination of other faiths, most of all those claiming Divine revelation, becomes standard practice.

Humanism is at the root of almost every modern government and corresponding societal agenda, that is – everything is simply “material” – of the material order – and there is nothing supra-natural. Even when a spirituality of sorts is embraced, specifically in the “West,” it is one focused on the human and its pleasures, desires, and satisfaction. Most of the time, if the divine is confessed (or as has become popular, “the universe”), it is there only to fulfill the wishes of the human. Yet, frequently, modern spirituality turns first to matter for guidance, one may simply note the popularity of crystals, horoscopes, spells, and such as manifestations of the modern materialized “spirituality.” “Spirituality” is only for the improvement of humanity’s material existence. Thus it remains humanism.

The morality (using that word very loosely) of embracing and “celebrating” the LGBTQ movement and other sexual variations is directly grounded in the modern secular worldview; it is a deep expression of the secular-humanist religion. Moreover, this religion demands that all other worldviews – religions – submit to its moral stance. The enforcement of June as LGBTQ pride month reflects this disposition. Not very tolerant, by the way. Its message is that all other beliefs must submit to its belief system. Remember, morality and views on human sexuality and its use are products of a belief system. 

All around we witness government agencies, corporations, people, and even certain “Christian” groups, tripping over themselves to pinch incense on the altar of LGBTQism. The grand highpriests of the secular-human religion demand it. And one must obey, lest the heretical title of “homophobe” is bestowed upon you! One must show obeisance before the techno-colored images of the modern enlightenment, or suffer the fate of being cast out as hateful, narrowminded, and backward. LGBTQism is a modern litmus test of one’s allegiance to the “progressive” world order and its religious teachings.

According to true Christian teaching, the “lusts of the flesh” (cf. Gal. 5:16ff) do not have their seat in the body, they are rather the movement of sinful passions. In a person, these passions are the result of the wrong movements and desires of the soul, so the Fathers teach. The right use or misuse of our bodily members is the result of a willful choice. A choice seated in the soul. Sexual promiscuity is not a result of true nature but rather the willing choice to misuse our nature, which includes our bodies. Every act of sexual immorality proceeds from the soul’s attraction and desire for evil. “To will and not to will belongs to the soul; wherefore he [St. Paul] says, ‘ ‘these [the spirit and the flesh] are contrary the one to the other,’ that you may not suffer the soul to proceed in its evil desires,” teaches St. John Chrysostom (Commentary on Galatian, SAGOM Press, pg 128). Humanity is not naturally sexually immoral, it is so by the free choice of following the passions. Sadly, in our times many persons are identified with their struggle with the passionate movements of their souls and a false conclusion is assumed – a person is his passions. But according to Christianity, a person is not his passions, for sinful passions are not natural to man. Simply put, a person is neither naturally an adulterer nor a homosexual.

St. John instructs, “If these things [cf. Gal. 19-21, i.e. acting on the lusts of the flesh] belonged to nature and not to bad moral choice, his expression, ‘they practice,’ is inappropriate, it should be, ‘they suffer.’ And why should they be cast out of the Kingdom, for rewards and punishment relate not to what proceeds from nature but from choice” (Ibid, pg. 130)? Divine revelation in Christianity has always taught that sexual immorality is an unnatural state for humanity, it is a dwelling in the realm of the fallen man, which is the false man. St. John reasons, it is the willful practice of the sinful passions that excludes a person from the Kingdom of Heaven. We choose sin, and by this free choice we choose not the Kingdom of Heaven. It is an act of the will.

Thus, LGBTQ pride month demands that everyone celebrate an act of the will, a moral choice, of a certain segment of people. It does not care that such a choice may be completely contrary to others’ beliefs and worldviews. Orthodox Christians cannot celebrate the willful choosing of sin.

Even when those professing to be “Christians” of some sort embrace and support the secularist profession on human sexual activity and morality, be it LGBTQ or heterosexual promiscuity, they are willingly disregarding the traditional Christian teaching and embracing something foreign. The point is, an act of the will is yet again involved. We, as persons, choose to believe certain narratives and disregard others. Is the Secular-humanist narrative truly more tolerant and loving? Will abiding by it truly allow everyone to coexist? Not really. It itself seeks to eliminate any contrary or competing worldviews. It is simply a self-chosen belief system that a person embraces and confesses and acts upon. Contrary to its claims of “love and tolerance,” it demands that dissenting views be rejected, silenced, and punished. Not very inclusive; actually quite tyrannical.

Ultimately, if humanity has no higher purpose, and is but a freak chance of natural causes, and is simply in an ever general state of evolution – as secular-humanism preaches to the masses – then sexual evolution makes sense. If, according to Social-Darwinistic teaching, morals and even religions are but social constructs, the creations of strictly human origins to satisfy certain needs of humanity at certain times, then why not cast the old aside and promote new constructs? For if there is no abiding truth, since secular-humanism essentially denies ultimate and transcendent truth, then we can be and do anything we want and it cannot be truly right or wrong because right and wrong are only social constructs in an everchanging state of flux. But why stop at devaluing the human person and subverting Christian teaching on things like sexuality? If these were but outdated morals of backward times, what is wrong with murder (or anything else), for example? How is it wrong to perform a mass shooting? If there are no abiding ethics or morals that transcend man because their foundations are in eternity, then anything and everything is open. Those gunning others down, for example, are just applying the secular-humanist logic in an even more radical and concerted measure. It is survival of the fittest after all. The complete ethical and moral relativism of secularism exposes its heart of nihilism.

St. Justin Popovich astutely teaches, “Relativism in the philosophy of European humanistic progress necessarily resulted in relativism in ethics, and relativism is the source of anarchism and nihilism. Consequently, the practical ethics of humanistic man are nothing other than anarchy and nihilism. They are the inevitable, terminal, and apocalyptic phase of European humanistic progress … The ingredients of European progress are such that, in any combination, they inevitably result in anarchy and nihilism” (The Orthodox Church and Ecumenism, Lazarica Press, pg. 94). Celebrating and encouraging LGBTQism is to celebrate and encourage the anarchism and nihilism that is fundamental to the religion of secular-humanism and its dogma of “progress.” It is indeed progressing, right into the abyss as its fruits make abundantly clear in our day.

But, if humanity is the unique creation of God, which has been created with great forethought and purpose – as Christianity proclaims – then proper sexuality is constrained by the standards of the Creator, as are all ethics and morals. Humanity will answer to Divine revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ is the revelation of the perfect Man because He alone is the perfect God-Man. And God has made it abundantly clear in His revelation that sexual perversions, be they of homosexual, heterosexual, transsexual, and whatever else, are destructive and wrong. I cannot celebrate the spiritual destruction of another person and I’m not very loving if I tell folks practicing such things that they will be just fine. In fact, I think, real love is to warn another person of forthcoming danger. We are warned as a race so that we might not destroy ourselves. When we do, it will be our own fault. As with any sin, God always invites humanity to repentance; that is, a return to that life for which He created us; indeed that Life is God Himself. Yet, we are always free to reject His invitation. Either way, an act of our will is involved and we choose the path we are trodding upon. Thus it is in a spirit of love and concern that St. Paul writes, “I forewarn you even as I did forewarn you, that they which practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21),

As marriage between one man and one woman is a fundamental doctrine for true Christianity, so a fundamental doctrine for humanistic-secularism is the acceptance and promotion of LGBTQ practice and general sexual promiscuity.

Thus, the phenomenon of the LGBTQ movement is a religious one; it is based firmly on a very particular belief, confession, and worldview. Thus far, I think we can expect more tolerance from the Inquisition than from it.

(Aside: the modern obsession with sexuality shows its paltry understanding of humanity. Sexuality is but a small aspect of human life, although one that according to Divine Revelation must be utilized properly, as with the many other aspects of human life. The LGBTQ belief reflects the fragmentation which the parent faith of Secularism inflicts.)

June 2022 – this post was expanded and updated.