Pope Benedict on Homosexuality and Environment

Pope Benedict was accused of stoking homophobia today after a speech in which he declared that saving humanity from homosexuality was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

The Pontiff made the remarks yesterday in an end-of-year address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration. He said that humanity needed to listen to the “language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman and behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations was a “destruction of God’s work”.

“The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less," Benedict told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's Clementine Hall.

"What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology,’ understood in the right sense. It’s not simply an outdated metaphysics if the Church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected.”

Quote taken from here.

Very good line of argument by Benedict. It not only speaks the truth but ties that truth to a predominant theme that is at the center of public attention (... and is thus "positionally" set for greater traction and potential impact).

... and while the opposition will bring up "homophobic bullying" the "instances of people being killed ... because their sexual orientation" (... each which deserves individual discussion and treatment), these do not anywhere near approaching the magnitude and gravity of the position he is proclaiming.

[Note: I recognize it does matter for the individuals who suffer and even die as a result of ill treatment and sin, but that's not the topic of my post. My post addresses the issue Benedict has spoken to in looking to the "forest rather than the issues surrounding specific trees" when it comes to mankind.]