The Sins of Abortion, Homosexuality, and…Monogamy?

Clearly, God loves fruitfulness.  So if we wish to please God

most, we should bear many children.  And an anti-abortion, anti-gay theology
starts to make logical sense, right?

In church the other day, I
started wondering why conservatives believe that abortion and homosexuality
distress God more than, say, pride, covetousness, and sloth.

Previously, I'd always thought
right-wing theology focused on those two because, for us married middle-class
heterosexuals, those two potential pitfalls are relatively easy to avoid.
So if we think of a God who is keenly focused on a couple of specific
sex-related transgressions, we can soothe our consciences about our
moral failures when it comes to thornier issues, such as charity and
justice.  

Then I started thinking –
you know, you could actually make a case for this.  Because what
do we really know about God's priorities?

Look at Scripture, at God's
first conversation with Adam and Eve: "Go forth, be fruitful, and
multiply." Those whom God loves, he rewards with children. And when
the blessing of children is willfully refused, as in the case of Onan
(who spilled his seed upon the ground to avoid impregnating his brother's
widow), God's punishment is swift and permanent.

If more evidence of God's
priority list is needed, we can simply look around us, at a world burgeoning
with diverse and miraculous life.

Clearly, God loves fruitfulness.

So if we wish to please God
most, we should bear many children. And an anti-abortion, anti-gay theology
starts to make logical sense, right?

There's just one small problem:
If you look at the moral universe through the lens of fruitfulness,
where is the virtue in monogamy? Certainly, if you look at the Old Testament,
it's clear that God wasn't always too fussy about marital fidelity.
So if more partners would mean more pregnancies and more life, why not?