Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia
The article deals with the representation of the gay population in the discourse of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The declarations of Church bodies and officials, as well as unofficial public statements of prominent believers regarding gay persons are analysed. There is an ambivalent attitude towards...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Ljubljana
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Družboslovne Razprave |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://druzboslovnerazprave.org/clanek/pdf/2013/73/5/ |
| _version_ | 1829462285021609984 |
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| author | Miloš Jovanović |
| author_facet | Miloš Jovanović |
| author_sort | Miloš Jovanović |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article deals with the representation of the gay population in the discourse of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The declarations of Church bodies and officials, as well as unofficial public statements of prominent believers regarding gay persons are analysed. There is an ambivalent attitude towards gay people that is usually expressed in the ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’ formula. There is also a different kind of ambivalence: the Serbian Orthodox Church as well as its faithful either stick to the ‘policy of silence’ regarding LGBT(Q) issues, or they resort to a very strong moralistic judgment and condemnation. This was particularly noticeable around the time of the gay parade taking place in Belgrade in 2010, as well as during the public discussion before the passing of the anti-discrimination law in the national assembly in 2009. The inclusion of philosophical and medical concepts in theological discourse can also be ascertained. As a result, besides the expected ‘sin’, the categories of ‘unnatural/contrary to nature’ and ‘(mental) illness’ are often mentioned in the Church discourse, which is usually saturated with accentuated anti-Westernism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:06:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-10f9c415306742d1b5895ea86afd6654 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0352-3608 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:06:56Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Družboslovne Razprave |
| spelling | doaj.art-10f9c415306742d1b5895ea86afd66542022-12-22T00:24:58ZengUniversity of LjubljanaDružboslovne Razprave0352-36082013-01-0129737995Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in SerbiaMiloš JovanovićThe article deals with the representation of the gay population in the discourse of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The declarations of Church bodies and officials, as well as unofficial public statements of prominent believers regarding gay persons are analysed. There is an ambivalent attitude towards gay people that is usually expressed in the ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’ formula. There is also a different kind of ambivalence: the Serbian Orthodox Church as well as its faithful either stick to the ‘policy of silence’ regarding LGBT(Q) issues, or they resort to a very strong moralistic judgment and condemnation. This was particularly noticeable around the time of the gay parade taking place in Belgrade in 2010, as well as during the public discussion before the passing of the anti-discrimination law in the national assembly in 2009. The inclusion of philosophical and medical concepts in theological discourse can also be ascertained. As a result, besides the expected ‘sin’, the categories of ‘unnatural/contrary to nature’ and ‘(mental) illness’ are often mentioned in the Church discourse, which is usually saturated with accentuated anti-Westernism.http://druzboslovnerazprave.org/clanek/pdf/2013/73/5/gay populationSerbian Orthodox Churchambivalent attitudemoralistic condemnation |
| spellingShingle | Miloš Jovanović Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia Družboslovne Razprave gay population Serbian Orthodox Church ambivalent attitude moralistic condemnation |
| title | Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia |
| title_full | Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia |
| title_fullStr | Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia |
| title_short | Silence or condemnation: The Orthodox Church on homosexuality in Serbia |
| title_sort | silence or condemnation the orthodox church on homosexuality in serbia |
| topic | gay population Serbian Orthodox Church ambivalent attitude moralistic condemnation |
| url | http://druzboslovnerazprave.org/clanek/pdf/2013/73/5/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT milosjovanovic silenceorcondemnationtheorthodoxchurchonhomosexualityinserbia |