Regarding the Sept. 1 letter by Jennifer Kim titled "The Catholic acceptance of gays": Yes, I know, this isn't the first time I've locked horns with Kim over the issue of gay rights, which is really about human rights. Homosexuality is no longer a sin, a crime, or an act of insanity. It's simply another expression of human nature, hopefully the more loving nature.
Much as I supported racial equality in the 1960s, I've always supported gay rights or gay "behavior." Did Jesus ever suggest that homosexuality was a sin? If I recall my Sunday school lessons, we are all sinners (if you believe in the myth of Adam and Eve). I've always admired pre-Christian Polynesian culture. The early Polynesians had no concept of shame or sin when it came to human sexuality. They wouldn't have understood Western man's ideas about "original sin" or the idea that nudity was offensive to God.
Mark Twain delighted in visiting the Hawaiian islands back in the mid-19th century. He took note that the native Hawaiian had no knowledge of hell or damnation, no sense of shame or Christian sin and most importantly, no need for such neurotic theology. Those Hawaiians were a happy people. Ah, to have lived in Hawaii or Tahiti before the Christian missionary arrived! That would have been a paradise on this Earth. Paul Gauguin certainly thought so, though even he arrived a bit too late.
Twain was convinced that if Jesus ever did return, the last thing he'd ever want to be is a "Christian."
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.