Gay Rights Fascists to Chief Rabbi: “Shut Up.”

Well, it’s getting harder and harder to deny that gay rights fundamentalists want to deny others their religious freedom after this story:

AMSTERDAM – The Orthodox Jewish community of Amsterdam suspended its US-born chief rabbi on Tuesday for cosigning a declaration which said homosexuality was a “treatable” inclination.

[...]

Ralbag, who was made chief rabbi of Amsterdam in 2005, was temporarily relieved of his duties on Tuesday by the board of the Orthodox Jewish community (NIHS) after he signed a document describing homosexuality as an inclination which “can be modified and healed.”

The document, titled “Declaration On The Torah Approach To Homosexuality” (torahdec.org) called on “authority figures” to “guide same-sex strugglers towards a path of healing and overcoming their inclinations.”

Now, I take no position on whether sexual attraction can be changed.  I have little doubt that there is some flexibility in patterns of sexual attraction, but how much and how frequently these patterns can be changed is an open question.

But I’m an orthodox Jew.  I have no doubt that it is possible for anybody who is sufficiently motivated to observe the Torah in its entirety, including its sexual prohibitions.  These sexual prohibitions include the prohibitions against homosexual conduct.

Why do am I so sure of this?  Because, as an orthodox Jew, I believe in what the Torah says about the feasibility of keeping the Torah in its entirety:

For this commandment which I command you this day, is not concealed from you, nor is it far away.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?”  Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?”  Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it.

So, that’s the Torah’s position.  That it is possible to fulfill its commandments.

But if the fascists get their way it will be (yet again) illegal to preach the Torah.