The case of Fr. David Muscat is not an attack on homophobia but on freedom of religion

The case of Fr. David Muscat proves beyond any doubt that, in Malta, we are not attacking homophobia but we are attacking religion. Homophobia is being used as an excuse so that religions start being silenced just as was the case at the height of Communism.

I am using the term religion specifically. This is a campaign not only against the Roman Catholic faith but one that will definitely include other religious denominations. Those individuals behind this attack want religions to be relegated to a form of cultural expression. They fail to realize in so doing all they are doing is to ram down our throats their own ‘cult’ which one has to accept like it or not. The message is clear. All religions should step out of their traditional role of offering moral guidance.

In Europe, such moral guidance was built on the principles of the Bible. Europe is a political construct built by two eminent medieval philosophers, a Berber from Algiers known as Augustine of Hippo and a 13th-century philosopher by the name of Thomas Aquinas. Together, they set the foundations on which the present-day European continent is formed. Without, these two names, there would not have been a Europe.

It is not my intention to go into what Augustine and Thomas had to say on sexuality and how sexual behaviour governs a nation. If one reads the Gospels, one discovers that what the Almighty wants are broken healers and not prelates who dance to the music of a governing body. This was understood very well by Augustine, who himself, was a broken man before becoming a man of God. Thomas too was another broken person. He was so naive in life that he could not differentiate between a joke and a real fact!

Currently, in Malta, that broken healer is Fr. David Muscat. In his own way, he is constantly reminding us that when society removes the concept of God, all ideologies become worthless gods. In other words, this is now a war of power and domination. This is why I am insisting that this is not a total war against homophobia but against religions.

Fr. Muscat will be dragged to court tomorrow. In the meantime, the Imam of our local Muslim community was invited on a TV show to be asked questions about how his faith views homosexuality. In Islam, homosexuality is tolerated much less than in Christianity. In Christianity, it is seen as a sin. In Islam, it is an abhorrent crime punishable by death.

In Christianity, Thomas Aquinas qualified it as a mortal sin. Now, according to the Catholic Teaching of the Church, it is seen as disordered behaviour. In this, the Church is reflecting nineteenth-century psychiatric teachings on the subject of sexuality. But one needs to add that there are still members of this profession who see homosexuality in this way.

Hence, the problem does not rest on the fact that whosoever upholds such religious principles is a homophobe. The issue rests on the basic fact that persons of religion will not be allowed to speak about their faith on which entire civilizations have been built over centuries.    

What this whole saga is showing is that what was once considered a line of division between Islam and Christianity is drawing to a close and religions will have to unite to face the common enemy. Both religions are under fire from liberal progressives because of theological stands on sexuality. Gradually, these progressives are turning their ‘progressiveness’ into a new ideological cult. Wars were fought between Christianity and Islam over the concept of God. Today, progressive society is waging a war on Muslims and Christians for their converging views on sexuality. Both religions are coming under attack for their moral stand on sexual behaviour, in particular regarding sex between males.

The crux of this narrative is that the Imam in Malta has turned out to be more Christian than our present Archbishop. He ended up in the bizarre situation of being more Christian and knowledgeable about the precepts of the Catholic faith than the archbishop.

During the TV interview, the Imam ended up reflecting on the teachings of the Catholic Church and stated that homosexuality is an act against nature. All acts considered against nature are not attributed to God and this is why the Imam stated that God does not create a person gay, but being gay or gayyaġni is a personal choice. The Imam was following what, in medieval times, was called the natural law. This is the same law that Thomas Aquinas used to construct his whole theological reasoning on which European civilization was based until the Age of Enlightenment.

It should be pointed out that the catechism of the Catholic Church is formulated on this whole concept of the Natural Law. Being gay went against the principles of the Natural Law and this is why it was frowned upon by the Church and gays started to be persecuted by the Secular State. Now in Malta, we are persecuting clerics in the same way clerics and believers were persecuted – and in some countries still are – in the good old days of communism.

When still a cardinal in Argentina, Pope Bergoglio stated that God may create a person gay, but this does not mean that a person can behave like a gay. One does not need to forget that when gay marriage was introduced in Argentina, Pope Bergoglio wrote a letter to the cloistered nuns stating that this was a diabolic plan to bring to an end the creation of Man-based on the concept of a man and a woman. One may or may not agree with this statement, which is based on the principles of Natural law, but this is not the point.

The point is that what we are witnessing is not an attack against homophobia but a general movement from our woke society, where persons of religion or faith, whether Roman Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Muslims, will be dragged to court for stating the precepts about their faith.

The final aim is to completely silence religion and reduce it to an inconsequential ornamental mausoleum. However, history has shown us that faith has proven to be stronger and indeed indispensable to a well-ordered society. A totally libertine society has always brought on chaos in one form or another. Chaos will bring to an end the civilization that embraces this woke ideology.