Article 4: Leviticus, Canadian Law and Homosexuality
The Q'ran and the Torah consider
utterly immoral for a man to have sex with another man;
in fact, Leviticus, one of the five books of the Torah,
a holy book common to both Jews and Christians, prescribes
the death penalty for such an
offence.1
Of course, this is not the only case where consensual
sex is considered a criminal offence punishable by death
according to Leviticus. There is also the case when sex
is between a man and a woman within certain degrees of
kinship,2
a man or a woman and a
beast3
and between a man and a menstruating
woman.4
To which, of course, we must add the case of adultery.
This being said, to whom falls the duty to carry out
the sentence found in Leviticus? We do know from the Gospels
that in some cases anyway, the individuals who judged the
crime were also the ones who saw to the sentence being carried
through, like in the case where a woman found guilty of adultery
was brought to Jesus Who suggested that the first to stone her
should be without sin.5
Of course, it could be said that Leviticus assumes that
the judging, sentencing and execution is to be carried by
people who have been chosen for that purpose, behaving as part
of society's justice system. This is certainly one way this
text has been interpreted before. Before I examine this option,
certainly more in line with our way of thinking, let me examine
the more extreme one where it is up to the individual to apply
without delay the penalty appropriate to the crime.
The death penalty has been abolished in Canada.
There are no laws in the Canadian Criminal Code against sex
between humans and beasts, a man and a menstruous woman, or
partners of the same sex, nor for that matter against adultery,
as long as the humans concerned in those acts are all
consenting
adults.6
Canadian law does not permit individual citizens to
judge and sentence people: the police alone can arrest people,
the Crown Attorneys alone can put forward charges and the
Courts alone can judge and sentence people (usually with
the help of a jury as far as the verdict) and the prison
system sees that the sentence is carried through. The
Parliement of Canada oversees and amends the Canadian
Criminal Laws that are applied by the Courts. The Supreme
Court of Canada makes sure that every law is compatible
with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
(Some laws can include a «Notwithstanding Clause» which
shields them from the supremacy of the Charter; but
they must be voted anew every five years.)
Furthermore, there is a «Hate Crime Law» in the
Canadian Criminal Code to protect groups from attacks on
the basis of creed, color, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Those guilty of fomenting hate against people of a
religious or ethnic group are incarcerated and their
writings, banned.
This being said, it should be clear that killing an
adult because he had consensual sex with his adult gay
partner is 1) murder and 2) a hate crime according to
Canadian Criminal Law. This implies that anyone who
decides to live up to what that person considers God's
command as found in Leviticus 20:13
«If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a
woman, both of them have committed an abomination:
they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them.» will be found guilty of murder.
There is thus a clear problem for those who consider
this verse as God's word. If it is, they must apply
it or else! If it is not, it follows that not every
verse in Holy Scripture is the actual word of God.
There is no other choice.
As a Christian and a Roman Catholic, I have no
hesitation in choosing the latter proposition over
the former. We have here a case where Canadian
law is more in line with Jesus' message than the Torah,
a case which is in fact quite frequent.
Again, either you believe in this verse or you do not.
Do not claim to believe in this verse if you are not
ready to apply it! Either it is the word of God and
you have to kill those who practise such «abomination»
(as well as all the others mentioned in the Bible
as guilty of death) or it is not.
You cannot believe the first half of the sentence
«If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a
woman, both of them have committed an abomination»
without believing the second: «they shall surely
be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.»
After all, we are talking about two parts of one
sentence found in one verse. You cannot start
picking and choosing like that! (And it would still
be the case that half of the verse would not be of God!)
Again, applying this verse is a criminal offence according
to the Canadian Criminal Code and preaching that this
verse should be taken seriously is also a criminal
offence as it is a hate crime according to the law of
the land. Those who read this text have a real choice
to make: for civilization (Canada) or barbarity
(Leviticus 20:13 and many other verses of the Torah).
But what if we interpret Leviticus' laws as
laws that any State should want to promulgate in its statutes?
What if we consider that it is God's will that Canada
should execute people who commit the crimes mentionned
in Leviticus, and that Canada will certainly loose God's
favour if it does not heed to the Law of God?
I cannot say that I have found many among Christians
who go so far as suggesting that 1) the various acts
prohibited by Leviticus should be criminalized and 2)
the death penalty
should be reintroduced as punishment for them. But this
is as we have seen the necessary consequence of this
text. If we believe that it is the rôle of the
State to apply the laws of Leviticus, then we must see
to it that they are fully applied, and that includes
its penalties.
Solemnity of John the Baptist, June 24th, 2004
1 «If a man also lie with mankind,
as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed
an abomination: they shall surely be put to death;
their blood shall be upon them.» (Lev 20:13)
All the Bible quotes are from the King James Version.
2 «[11] And the man that lieth
with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's
nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death;
their blood shall be upon them. And if a man lie with
his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put
to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood
shall be upon them... [14] And if a man take a wife
and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt
with fire, both he and they; that there be no
wickedness among you... [17] And if a man shall
take his sister, his father's daughter, or his
mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and
she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and
they shall be cut off in the sight of their people:
he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall
bear his iniquity. And thou shalt not uncover
the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy
father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin:
they shall bear their iniquity.»
(Lev 20:11-12;14;17-19)
3 «And if a man lie with a beast,
he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the
beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and
lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the
beast: they shall surely be put to death; their
blood shall be upon them.» (Lev 20:15-16)
4 «And if a man shall lie
with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover
her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and
she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and
both of them shall be cut off from among their people.»
(Lev 20:11-21)
5 «He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her» (John 8:9)
6 «Trudeau [as] Minister
of Justice... oversaw amendments to the Canadian
Criminal Code on abortion and homosexuality, and
divorce reform. His words "the state has no place
in the bedrooms of the nation" are still quoted
frequently in Canada.» from
Canada Online
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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, June 6th, 2004
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