to the sickness of mind and soul which permeate letters by Mr. G of New Orleans and Mr. W of Enid.

It is the rare individual indeed who emerges from the battle with both his religion and his homosexuality unscathed. I think it a great shame that many abandon religion because of its hostile attitude, but the fault lies in the unbending character of some of the sects.

Perhaps worst is the homosexual who sacrifices his self-respect and forces himself to live in what he feels to be a continual life of sin. These people would be better off rejecting religion rather than themselves.

J. O.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

2) A heterosexual speaks: Dear Mr. Slater:

You quote me as writing concerning your publication, "Such a conglomeration of faulty reasoning and pure nonsense, etc. . I fear that your further publications only confirm my original judgment.

I am not really certain what you want. Or perhaps I am! You soundly condemn the churches for not meeting the needs of homosexuals, for not speaking to them, etc. What you do want Apparently, from a cursory perusal of your material, you want the Christian Church and other religious groups to tell you that homosexuals are not morally awry. In addition, you seem to want to hear that they are also not emotionally disturbed people. Thus, according to your argument, if the church continues to look at homosexuality as a moral and emotional disturbance, the church is somehow supposed to be inadequate.

You make an effort to support the normality of the homosexual by citing certain cultural data. If you want cultural data, I could cite cultures where homicide is not considered morally perverse. Is the church, then, still inadequate because it refuses to accept homicide as moral?

The point is, why limit your attack on morality to homosexuality? One could say that the church is obscurantist and reactionary because it considers adultery, homicide,

or anything else morally unacceptable. Is the church inadequate because it continues to look at these behavior patterns as immoral? Must the church condone behavior before it can minister to the person? Did Jesus tell the woman taken in adultery to keep it up? Or did He say, "Go and sin no more?"

The message of the Christian faith is that Christ, through His death and resurrection, offers deliverance from sin, despair, meaninglessness, and purposelessness. I am much of a sinner as anybody else. In this repect, I am no different from the homosexual, the rapist, or any other deviate. We are all sinners. Thus, we do not speak from self-righteousness but a knowledge of our own sin.

But we can be forgiven and released from the power of sin by repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ. This is the message of the church to so-called "normal" sinners, or to homosexuals, or anybody else. This, to me, seems like an altogether adequate approach to the needs and problems of man. Of course, if a man refuses to face his problems and cope with them, what can anybody do? If a man filled with cancer considers every doctor a fool who diagnoses his illness as cancer, what can be said? To say that the man really has no problem is neither factual nor loving.

The church wishes to minister to the homosexual as well as anybody else. Undoubtedly we have not. been adequate. But we shall never become adequate by denying that homosexuality is a moral and emotional disturbance.

Let me assure you that I should be more than happy to minister to the needs of the homosexuals, and to use all possible resources to discover exactly what those needs are. The person of Jesus Christ is more than adequate for homosexuals-if they will receive His deliverance!

Very truly, George B. Wall Pastor

First Baptist Church of North Hollywood 11210 Otsego St., North Hollywood, Calif.

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