Homosexuality is a conundrum for society

In the meantime, the homosexual question will continue to be a troubling conundrum for our society.

Philip Tartaglia, Bishop of Paisley, St Mirin's Cathedral, Paisley.

I read with interest, and some abhorrence, remarks of the Bishop of Motherwell at the Gonzaga lecture in St Aloysius College. The matter which I wish to address is the question raised by a member of the audience, of how parents should "come to terms with a child's mission to become a homosexual". I think that I - as the parent of five children, four of whom are heterosexual and the other homosexual - am better qualified to answer than is the bishop. My answer is to treat all of one's children with the same love and compassion, and where differences develop in questions of sexuality - or of religion - to make every effort to provide understanding and support. As for toleration, I don't "tolerate" my children - I love them and hope that they can continue to tolerate me.

James Smith, 19 Capel Grove, East Kilbride.

I am quite sure none of your correspondents has read Bishop Devine's text for the Gonzaga lecture delivered last week. There has been a distinct lack of engagement with the thrust of his argument that the influence of campaigners has led to a transformation in the legal and social understanding of human sexuality.

One is now routinely labelled a bigot for asserting that sex belongs in marriage and marriage can only be between a man and woman. In fact, the recent government-funded document, Challenging Prejudice, includes among its "discriminatory attitudes" the view that sex between two men is wrong. The thrust of the document is to ensure that this attitude is eradicated. That plainly means that the belief on this matter held by Christian and other religious faiths for thousands of years is to be eradicated. Where, exactly, is Bishop Devine wrong when he identifies that Christian values are under attack?

The Catholic Church has a wealth of experience in supporting the marginalised and vulnerable.

That its guidance on human sexuality should be distorted as an act of aggression is testimony to the lack of rigour in the thinking of Bishop Devine's detractors.

John Deighan, Parliamentary Officer, Catholic Parliamentary Office, 5 St Vincent Place, Glasgow.

Is it any wonder that people are leaving the Church in droves when the Church has leaders like Bishop Devine reportedly expressing un-Christian views. As an ordained person I take seriously the responsibility to represent Christ in the world today and the daily endeavour to follow Christ's teaching on the journey of becoming Christian.

How can Bishop Devine talk about the fight to uphold Christian values when his actions fall short of upholding Christ's law to love one another as he loved us (John 13:34-35). During the time Jesus walked this earth, he made it clear by his example that all people are loved by God and no-one should be rejected or discriminated against. Perhaps Bishop Devine should count up the times it is recorded that Jesus socialised and shared hospitality with those considered to be outcasts and the rejected by society such as lepers, tax collectors and women.

Does he not realise that the reason lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people align themselves with holocaust survivors and minority groups is because they are holocaust survivors and a minority group.

It is true that Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for homosexuality 100 years ago but we also imprisoned Emmeline Pankhurst for asking for votes for women and before then thought it acceptable to make people into slaves. I like to believe that as time progresses we are learning more of what it means to love one another as Jesus loves us and would not want to see us returning to times when we treated people with a lack of respect, dignity and humanity.

Surely Bishop Devine should welcome with open arms the stirring up of the established systems to create a more just society by a small, poor and powerless group, for isn't that exactly what Jesus and his disciples did?

Perhaps he needs to be reminded that "God saw all that God had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31) and that includes his lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters.

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Assistant Chief Executive, Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London.

Am I the only person in Scotland to welcome the speech from Bishop Devine? It has to be seen in its wider context. It follows the "supplementary jurisdiction" for Sharia law speech from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the call made to a parliamentary education committee this week by another Catholic bishop to ban anti-Catholic books in schools, on the grounds that you wouldn't expect to see books denying the Holocaust in school libraries, so you shouldn't expect to see any criticising or questioning of the Christian faith.

We must also remember Bishop Nazir-Ali's claim about no-go Muslim areas in Britain, and how Christianity needed to rise again to beat back Islam, and, of course, the Bishop of Carlisle's warning last year that the floods in the north of England were God's punishment for Britain approving gay marriage.

These regular contributions from clergy are proving to be a recruiting sergeant for secularism.

Alistair McBay, National Secular Society, 5 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh.

I don't suppose Bishop Devine is the first clergyman to adopt the Pharisaic approach of sticking strictly to the letter of the law.

It goes without saying that the Catholic Church is not a democratic institution. If it were, would he still be head of the Diocese of Motherwell?

Campbell McInroy, 3 Burnside Avenue, Kirkintilloch.