if one needs

RELIGION

by Allen Windsor

One's viscera has more to do with his religion than most realize. There are other factors which determine one's religion, of course-geography, environmental conditioning, family influence, etc. But basically if one's biological makeup leads him to be the cool, reflective, and intellectual type. like Adlai Stevenson, there is every chance that he will be a Unitarian rather than a Jehovah's Witness. And if he is a searcher for order, absolutes. and the truth like Bing Crosby, there is every chance that he will be a Catholic rather than a Congregationalist.

As a matter of fact, if God Himself were to declare, in a front-page editorial of The Times, that a particular religion or a certain bible were the only "true" one, can you imagine how overnight there would be hundreds of millions of unhappy human beings who necessarily could not make the emotional adjustments to the new "true" religion. Assume that the announced "true" religion were Hinduism, and can you imagine the nervous breakdowns which would be experienced by Cardinal Spellman, Nehru, Eisenhower, Sartre, Elvis Presley, or Jane Russell in abandoning their old religion in order to please God? How would the reader react under similar circumstances?

Recognizing this, most sane individuals do not try to "missionary" their religious beliefs, for they are insufficiently proficient as biologists to

one

predict whether or not anyone else would be satisfied with any specific variety of religious belief. Similarly, the individual on the streetcorner who attempts to convert all others to his point of view is fighting against hopeless biological odds, which explains his

rare successes.

The homosexual who searches for a religion, then, should keep in mind that he is searching not for a religion that has worked for others but for one which will work for him. Already on the market are several hundred choices devised to suit the most varied of biological tastes, and if none is attractive the individual can always tailor-make his own. However, two points appear to be quite evident:

-The homosexual who is comparatively happy with his present religion by all means should hold tight.

-The homosexual who is partially satisfied with his present religion should try participating more wholeheartedly.

These are "evident," because most of us are simply not constructed biologically and emotionally to withstand the tremendous impact which comes when one switches religions.

The following observations are also advanced:

1. THE CATHOLIC should be "sure" that that to which he changes is as constructive as that from which he changed; there might be a tend-