Daniel Avila

Religious Right Columnist Suggests That "Satan Is Doing A Good Job Within The Gay Community"

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 11/16/2011 3:46 pm

As first reported on Right Wing Watch, Daniel Avila, the “marriage guy” of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had argued that Satan was responsible for homosexuality. Avila later apologized and resigned for his comments, but he has at least one outspoken defender in the Religious Right: Renew America columnist Michael Bresciani. In earlier columns, Bresciani claimed that “the entire gay and lesbian community is guided by a powerful demon spirit who is subordinate to Satan” and that gay rights are prompting “the rise of the antichrist and the final judgments of God against a rebellious and totally reprobate generation.” Today, Bresciani wrote in defense of Avila, contending that gays and lesbians are part of a demonic hierarchy:

The demoniac of Gadara (Lk 8: 26f) was said to have, not one devil, but an entire legion of devils. That is about 6,000 devils in that one man alone. What makes us think that there are not enough devils for everyone in our world who steps into Satan's kingdom? One third of the angels departed from the presence of God when Satan left. That could be a number we could not fully imagine. Satan needs every one of them to fulfill his temporary job description, which is, 'god of this world.' (2 Cor 4: 4)

There is little doubt that his kingdom is a powerful hierarchy made of ruling angels, demonic spirits and lesser spiritual minions. Their task is to encourage and engage all who want to live outside of the will of the Living God. Why would the perversions of man including the homosexual lifestyle be left out of his hierarchy? Even without a sound biblical theology this is just dumb.

In fact, the Bible clearly indicates that rather than being a bunch of idiot spirits that are sent to inhabit and haunt old houses, demons are sent to seduce, deceive, possess and eventually destroy the unsuspecting souls of men and women.

Only two conclusions can be reached. One is that Mr. Daniel Avila who resigned his position as an on staff advisor in the subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, a part of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, quit for nothing. He had hit the nail squarely on the head but took to running under the pressure of public opinion. A little less Catholic dogma and a whole lot more of scriptural grounding might have saved his job, or at the least gotten him fired with his dignity intact, in God's eyes.

The other conclusion is that Satan is doing a good job within the gay community. Since Jesus exclaimed that in heaven no one would continue to be married (Mt 22: 30) but they would be as the angels of God, what would make anyone believe that there are unions in hell? There are no men trapped in the body of a woman or women trapped in the body of a man in hell. All there is; is people trapped in the flames of eternal hell fire.

Avila Resigns Over Anti-Gay Column

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 11/4/2011 1:51 pm

As first reported by Right Wing Watch, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point person on marriage issues Daniel Avila claimed in a Catholic newspaper, The Pilot, that Satan was responsible for making people gay by “disturb[ing] otherwise typical biological development.” Following our story and criticism from his fellow Catholics, Avila’s column was retracted and both Avila and the newspaper’s editors apologized. The column can still be found here at the Religion News Service.

The Associated Press is now reporting that Avila is resigning his post:

The author of a newspaper column suggesting the devil may be responsible for homosexuality has resigned from his job with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic bishops said Friday that Daniel Avila offered to step down and his resignation was accepted Friday.

Avila's column appeared a week ago in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. Avila had written that there's evidence suggesting the devil is responsible for same-sex attraction. Gay rights groups and others condemned the column.

The newspaper withdrew the article from its website Wednesday. Avila apologized for any pain the column caused. He said his views did not represent the position of the bishops' conference.

Avila had worked on policy and research for the bishops in Washington.

Fellow Catholics slam bishops' 'Marriage Guy' over 'Satan Makes Gays' column

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Friday, 11/4/2011 10:40 am

On Monday we reported that Daniel Avila, the Catholic bishops' "marriage guy," had written a remarkable column in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdioecese of Boston, claiming that Satan, "the evil one," was responsible for turning people gay when they were in their mothers' wombs.  Talking about gays as devil-spawned "natural disasters" struck us as something more likely to come from anti-gay conservative evangelicals than from a policy advisor to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

Just a couple of days after the column appeared, it was yanked from the Pilot website and replaced with a double-barrelled retraction and apology: one from Avila saying his column did not reflect church policy and apologizing for the "hurt and confusion" it had caused; and one from the paper's editors for "for having failed to recognize the theological error in the column before publication." (Avila's not did not say that he personally has abandoned his Satan-Makes-You-Gay theory.)

Journalist Chuck Colbert sheds light on what may have led to the rare retraction and apology, in an article documenting a range of outraged responses to the column from Avila's fellow Catholics. Among the most striking is a letter written by a group of staff members at the Paulist Center, a religious community in Boston:

 In a note to community members, staffers shared the contents of their letter to The Pilot. “We feel compelled to express our dismay,” they wrote.

“Beyond the highly questionable theology of this writer, pastoral ministry and care for GLBTQ Catholics, for any human person, requires first preserving their dignity as children of God. Our shared mission of outreach and pastoral care prohibits inflicting harm and pain on any human person,” the staff added.  

Staffers continued, “This article directly and intentionally causes pain for gay Catholics, their families, especially their mothers, their friends and their worship communities,” adding, “The article has no scriptural basis, vague Catholic theological constructs, and no connection with the Gospel of Christ.”

Colbert notes that some Catholic activists say that this is not the first editorial misjudgment the Pilot has made regarding articles about LGBT people, and some are calling for the editor to resign.

If you missed Avila's devil-blaming column before it was pulled from the Pilot's site, you can read it  here thanks to the folks at the Religion News Service.

Catholic Bishops' 'Marriage Guy' Says Satan Makes People Gay

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Monday, 10/31/2011 1:35 pm

Daniel Avila is the self-described "marriage guy" for the Catholic bishops.  More formally, he is the policy advisor for marriage and family to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. He thinks people are gay because Satan was messing around with them while they were in their mothers' wombs. God, he says, has nothing to do with it.

Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.

Writing in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, Avila cites one scientist’s theory that homosexual orientation is the result of fluctuations in maternal hormones. To that thesis, he adds a gigantic leap: the devil must be doing it. 
In other words, the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture's account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God's handiwork. 
Avila gave no hint of his satanic origin theory of homosexuality when he spoke at the Values Voter Summit in October, though it (and the reference to natural disasters) does sound like the kind of thing one would hear from anti-gay conservative evangelicals.  At the Values Voter Summit, Avila urged people not to accept that marriage equality is inevitable. He claimed that anti-equality forces in Massachusetts are building political strength toward repeal of marriage equality, a notion rejected out of hand by equality advocates familiar with the state.
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Daniel Avila Posts Archive

Religious Right Columnist Suggests That "Satan Is Doing A Good Job Within The Gay Community"
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Wednesday 11/16/2011, 3:46pm
As first reported on Right Wing Watch, Daniel Avila, the “marriage guy” of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had argued that Satan was responsible for homosexuality. Avila later apologized and resigned for his comments, but he has at least one outspoken defender in the Religious Right: Renew America columnist Michael Bresciani. In earlier columns, Bresciani claimed that “the entire gay and lesbian community is guided by a powerful demon spirit who is subordinate to Satan” and that gay rights are prompting “the rise of the antichrist and the final judgments... MORE >
Avila Resigns Over Anti-Gay Column
SUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 11/04/2011, 1:51pm
As first reported by Right Wing Watch, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point person on marriage issues Daniel Avila claimed in a Catholic newspaper, The Pilot, that Satan was responsible for making people gay by “disturb[ing] otherwise typical biological development.” Following our story and criticism from his fellow Catholics, Avila’s column was retracted and both Avila and the newspaper’s editors apologized. The column can still be found here at the Religion News Service. The Associated Press is now reporting that Avila is resigning his post: The... MORE >
Fellow Catholics slam bishops' 'Marriage Guy' over 'Satan Makes Gays' column
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Friday 11/04/2011, 10:40am
On Monday we reported that Daniel Avila, the Catholic bishops' "marriage guy," had written a remarkable column in The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdioecese of Boston, claiming that Satan, "the evil one," was responsible for turning people gay when they were in their mothers' wombs.  Talking about gays as devil-spawned "natural disasters" struck us as something more likely to come from anti-gay conservative evangelicals than from a policy advisor to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of... MORE >
Catholic Bishops' 'Marriage Guy' Says Satan Makes People Gay
SUBMITTED BY: Peter Montgomery, Monday 10/31/2011, 1:35pm
Daniel Avila is the self-described "marriage guy" for the Catholic bishops.  More formally, he is the policy advisor for marriage and family to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. He thinks people are gay because Satan was messing around with them while they were in their mothers' wombs. God, he says, has nothing to do with it. Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the... MORE >