Natural law

• what are NML thoughts on homosexuality?

  Natural Law ethics sees right and wrong as fixed things. They do not change according to the situation or what might happen as a result, but are linked to some greater idea of an eternal law devised to help humans flourish. Acts are judged right or wrong in relation to the extent to which they meet their ultimate end.
• The process of judging what is right or wrong involves the use of reason, and reason leads us towards doing good. According to Aquinas, reason, reflecting on the world, reveals that certain primary precepts are good: protecting life, ensuring reproduction, education and loving God.
• Natural Law states that homosexuality is absolutely wrong. Homosexual sex does not support Aquinas’ precepts as it is not good for sustaining a flourishing human society. Homosexual sex might feel good, but this is an apparent good, not a real good, because the primary purpose of sex are frustrated.
• what is a weakness?

  One of Aquinas's biggest problems, not just with sexual ethics but with most ethical issues, is the topic of conflicting precepts. It's a major knock to his theory. If you use the example of homosexual adoption you are pitting two precepts against one another: rejection of reproduction but upholding an ordered society. So which is right? What do you do? If an exam question asks how useful/relevant/helpful/other-buzz-word religious ethics is as an approach to sexual ethics, you can bring this up and make Aquinas look stupid, which is a great feeling.
• what is a weakness?

  The other problem surrounding Aquinas's view is that Dean Haemer argues that there may be over five million separate genes that come together in the human body to influence sexuality which may be a potential biological explanation of homosexuality. This severely knocks Aquinas's argument that homosexuality isn't natural - what if it is to some people?
• what is a weakness?

  •One of our primary precepts is to reproduce, so the Catholic Church has derived a secondary precept saying the act of gay sex is wrong. The Church says gay men should remain celibate. Some NL theologians disagree, as celibacy doesn’t lead to reproduction either. They would look at other Primary Precepts, like ‘ordered society’, and argue that it is good for gay men to be in relationships.
• what is a weakness?

  •Sex also has non-reproductive purposes, such as uniting a loving couple.

  •The lack of intent to reproduce can also be applied to heterosexual couples, as not every sexual act leads to a baby.