Born That Way

The movie, The Bad Seed (1956), asks the question "Are bad people born that way?" The theory examined is that it might be possible that some people are born bad. Now, by "born bad" I'm not referring to the historic Christian doctrine of Original Sin. I'm talking about a specific propensity to do evil. In the movie (based on a novel of the same name by William March), a little girl, Rhoda, is a cute little 8-year-old psychopathic killer. Completely lacking conscience, she kills for what she wants, whether it's a snow globe she likes or a penmanship metal she thought she should have or to prevent someone who knows too much from talking. As it turns out, Rhoda is adopted. Her birth-mother was a famous "black widow" type who killed for what she wanted. The idea is simple. Is it possible that you can be born with a gene or something that you inherit that makes you bad?

The notion isn't too far fetched, actually. There are studies that suggest that an addictive personality can be an inherited thing. It is possible, for instance, that even if you never knew your father, you could inherit his alcoholic tendencies. The same seems to be true for other addictions such as drug, gambling, or sex addictions. These things, at least it appears, often run in families, and not always with the "offending parent" present. It just seems to be a matter of inheritance.

So, we find the argument from the homosexual community that "We are born that way." The argument is, "Since we are born this way, it is not immoral." I won't really address the question, "Are you born that way?" It seems a viable question, really. Science has failed to locate the "smoking gun." There is no demonstrable "gay gene" that has been found. For every study that suggests it might be so, there seems to be another study questioning it. While most of the scientific world believes without question that there is a Global Warming problem, it's hard to get any kind of consensus out of science on this question about the claim that homosexuality is a birth condition. But I'd prefer to set the question aside and ask, "Are you sure you want to go there?"

Most people seem to have already agreed that homosexuals are that way by birth. It's a peculiar thing, given the lack of scientific evidence, but let's leave it at that. What can we conclude from this particular condition of birth? The argument is that it cannot be immoral if it's by birth. Are we really ready to use that argument? If so, should we also argue that it is perfectly moral to be a drunk or to gamble away all your family's money because you're born that way? If it is indeed true that some people might be born with a prediliction to murder, should we then say, "Well, they're born that way; it can't be immoral"? I cannot imagine that "We're born that way" is really the argument you would want to defend.

What about the bisexual? Are they born that way? I've never heard that one argued, but what if they are? Is there a different gene that they have and does that make it moral? How about the homosexual that marries a heterosexual? If the gene determines right and wrong, wouldn't that, by definition, be immoral? And, look, everyone knows how it is with male heterosexuals. They're horn dogs. They want to have sex with any female they can find. They're born that way. Surely you can't label their sexual exploits as "immoral" if that's simply the way they're born, can you?

I don't know. I don't think that's making a lot of sense. Worse, I don't think that is actually a good argument for the homosexual community. "If you're born a certain way, doing what you want to do is moral." That seems like a very precarious position to take. A lot of Christians try to argue against the "born that way" position. "It's a choice, not an orientation!" It's true that there isn't a lot of science to support the counter argument. Still, I don't think it's really necessary. I'm quite sure that we don't want a legal system that says, "Whatever you want to do is okay as long as you're born that way." I'm quite sure that we cannot adopt a moral system that uses "born that way" as its basis for right and wrong. If that's the case, you'll likely find some people who are born haters of homosexuals and that will be just fine, right? It's not fine by me. I don't think it's fine by anyone else, either.