DREADTV: John Heard On The "Hack Half Hour" - Religion, Freedom & Human Sexuality For TripleJTV, ABC 1 + ABC 2 Television - Correction
:: For the Record ::
During production for an ABC TV program on "sex & sin", DREADNOUGHT'S responses were taken out of context, creatively edited, and then broadcast nationwide. After becoming aware of the situation, a complaint was lodged.* The Executive Producer of the series took ownership of the issue, and apologised.
Correction "On Sex & Sin" - Hack Half Hour, Triple J TV (ABC2 / ABC1)
A correction / clarification has since been added to the series website:
The transcript shows how my responses were cut, and how the section was taken out of context. In the broadcast, I sounded incoherent - and somewhat offensive. Beyond my personal discomfort, and as the program dealt with very serious issues (sex, religion, and suicide) a clarification was in order. The transcript is re-posted here, then, for the record:
STEVE CANNANE: How can you be same sex attracted and also think sodomy is a sin?
JOHN HEARD: Well I think this is an important point to make at the outset because we're talking about religions condemning sexuality and condemning homosexuals. Well for a Catholic this sounds very unusual because there's no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual, there's just male and female. He created them. Every human being has a particular sexual nature and a way towards flourishing and the only thing that you know beyond being a human being that stands in direct interest to that is whether or not you're a male or a female. What that means for a Catholic is that - and I hear it all the time people say "oh but doesn't the Church condemn homosexuality" – absolutely not – the Church condemns homosexual acts which in a proper analysis - things like sodomy, fellatio, which are surprise, surprise the same things we heard our friends talking about earlier as the things you can't have outside marriage.
STEVE CANNANE: So are you allowed to have intimate acts with a man that are not referenced in the Bible because sodomy's definitely referenced but can you do other things with a man and retain your Catholic beliefs?
JOHN HEARD: I'm not sure what kind of acts aren't mentioned in the Bible, I mean the Bible goes from blood and fire to blood and fire and everything in between.
STEVE CANNANE: But I'm asking the question, is it because it says in the Bible that sodomy is a sin you don't act on that but if there was something else that wasn't described in the Bible could you get away with it?
JOHN HEARD: Well the problem with fellatio or a blow job or giving head or something like that whether it's for a male and a female or a male and a male or for a female and a female is that you're using your sexual organs which God has created for a particular purpose, that is to bring two human beings together for life and for love, to do something else, you're inserting your reproductive organs into the digestive tract of another human being and that, in Catholicism, is wrong because God says it's wrong, but also it's wrong because human reasoning indicates that in the same way that, you know you sharpen a knife to make it excellent, sticking a penis into a mouth is not going to make you an excellent human being.
STEVE CANNANE: John can you be intimate with a man or not?
JOHN HEARD: If it's a question of possibility of course you can, and I mean all of us are intimate, we have same sex attractions. You know we're attracted to our fathers, to our brothers, to our mates, you know the blokes in the footy club. I think a vast tradition, at least in the Christian Church, and certainly in the Bible people like Jonathon and David in the Old Testament - these are enduring intimate relationships but they're not sexual. And beyond that they're not sodomy.
:: The Upshot ::
DREADNOUGHT was pleased to be invited to speak on the program, and I was grateful for the hospitality shown by the ABC (flight, accomodation). Unfortunately, the final product did not match my experience of the taping, which was very positive. While I wonder about the editing, and I am concerned about the treatment of some of the other Christian guests, DREADNOUGHT thanks Ronan Sharkey, Steve Cunnane, and Executive Producter Kath Earle at the ABC for the opportunity to contribute to an important discussion.
* (Thank you to the many DREADNOUGHTERS who sent emails, and wonderful messages of support).
During production for an ABC TV program on "sex & sin", DREADNOUGHT'S responses were taken out of context, creatively edited, and then broadcast nationwide. After becoming aware of the situation, a complaint was lodged.* The Executive Producer of the series took ownership of the issue, and apologised.
Correction "On Sex & Sin" - Hack Half Hour, Triple J TV (ABC2 / ABC1)A correction / clarification has since been added to the series website:
"SPECIAL NOTICE The Hack Half Hour is edited between the studio record and broadcast. Consequently not all points made by our guests in studio make it to air. The Hack Half Hour would like to clarify the position of John Heard, one of our guests in the episode "Sex & Sin". The transcript of what he said during the studio record can be found here.":: Transcript ::
The transcript shows how my responses were cut, and how the section was taken out of context. In the broadcast, I sounded incoherent - and somewhat offensive. Beyond my personal discomfort, and as the program dealt with very serious issues (sex, religion, and suicide) a clarification was in order. The transcript is re-posted here, then, for the record:
STEVE CANNANE: How can you be same sex attracted and also think sodomy is a sin?
JOHN HEARD: Well I think this is an important point to make at the outset because we're talking about religions condemning sexuality and condemning homosexuals. Well for a Catholic this sounds very unusual because there's no such thing as a homosexual or a heterosexual, there's just male and female. He created them. Every human being has a particular sexual nature and a way towards flourishing and the only thing that you know beyond being a human being that stands in direct interest to that is whether or not you're a male or a female. What that means for a Catholic is that - and I hear it all the time people say "oh but doesn't the Church condemn homosexuality" – absolutely not – the Church condemns homosexual acts which in a proper analysis - things like sodomy, fellatio, which are surprise, surprise the same things we heard our friends talking about earlier as the things you can't have outside marriage.
STEVE CANNANE: So are you allowed to have intimate acts with a man that are not referenced in the Bible because sodomy's definitely referenced but can you do other things with a man and retain your Catholic beliefs?
JOHN HEARD: I'm not sure what kind of acts aren't mentioned in the Bible, I mean the Bible goes from blood and fire to blood and fire and everything in between.
STEVE CANNANE: But I'm asking the question, is it because it says in the Bible that sodomy is a sin you don't act on that but if there was something else that wasn't described in the Bible could you get away with it?
JOHN HEARD: Well the problem with fellatio or a blow job or giving head or something like that whether it's for a male and a female or a male and a male or for a female and a female is that you're using your sexual organs which God has created for a particular purpose, that is to bring two human beings together for life and for love, to do something else, you're inserting your reproductive organs into the digestive tract of another human being and that, in Catholicism, is wrong because God says it's wrong, but also it's wrong because human reasoning indicates that in the same way that, you know you sharpen a knife to make it excellent, sticking a penis into a mouth is not going to make you an excellent human being.
STEVE CANNANE: John can you be intimate with a man or not?
JOHN HEARD: If it's a question of possibility of course you can, and I mean all of us are intimate, we have same sex attractions. You know we're attracted to our fathers, to our brothers, to our mates, you know the blokes in the footy club. I think a vast tradition, at least in the Christian Church, and certainly in the Bible people like Jonathon and David in the Old Testament - these are enduring intimate relationships but they're not sexual. And beyond that they're not sodomy.
:: The Upshot ::
DREADNOUGHT was pleased to be invited to speak on the program, and I was grateful for the hospitality shown by the ABC (flight, accomodation). Unfortunately, the final product did not match my experience of the taping, which was very positive. While I wonder about the editing, and I am concerned about the treatment of some of the other Christian guests, DREADNOUGHT thanks Ronan Sharkey, Steve Cunnane, and Executive Producter Kath Earle at the ABC for the opportunity to contribute to an important discussion.
* (Thank you to the many DREADNOUGHTERS who sent emails, and wonderful messages of support).
by DREADNOUGHT at 5:12:00 PM
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