Christianity

Hi, I'm a Christian. As a gay man, I understand all too well why those words conjure up fear, loathing, and dramatic eye rolls among my LGBT friends. But I'm proud of my faith. I love its emphasis on grace, mercy, and love. I love Jesus' teachings about forgiveness, service, putting others first, and giving people more than they deserve. I love that he was known for befriending the outcasts and "sinners" while condemning the religious leaders. We could use a little more of that attitude today! But as much as I love my faith, sometimes my fellow Christians make me want to scream. [ Read more → ]

For the past thirty years, the Bible has been so tightly intertwined into politics that we’ve been confused as to what makes up the Bible and what makes up a political platform. “Traditional family values” — what does this even mean? [ Read more → ]

Whatever one’s religion, it is but a thought, a belief, and should never be imposed on anyone else. That’s why we have separation of church and state. Believe what you want, but don’t establish what you believe as a means to enslave others to your belief. To do so is to impinge on the human rights of others to live in freedom. The freedom to love those who consent to love us and express that love sexually, is not a belief, it is a universal right... [ Read more → ]

Hey Linda: You’ve been spouting off at the mouth a lot of utter nonsense about how dangerous it is to allow gays in the military. ... Linda, some of the most powerful, victorious, and abundantly brave – breathtakingly heroic actually – armies in history had in their rank and file – and leadership – gay men. ... And now with your ignorance and hate you demean their memory and you scorn those who want to wear a uniform of honor in order to serve this country and risk their very all to do so. How dare you. [ Read more → ]

In 1960, the young Reverend Robert Wood (1923-present) published a first-of-its-kind book, entitled “Christ and the Homosexual,” in hopes of inspiring a movement of dialogue, new writing, and deeper understanding regarding the gay community, particularly by the Church. [ Read more → ]

ROME, Ga. -- A tenured librarian at Shorter University is the latest among nearly 60 staff members to leave the Christian liberal arts college over the school’s ban on gay employees. [ Read more → ]

When I left home in the fall of 2008 and started school at Harvard, I was amazed at how much openness and support there was for LGBT students on campus, mainly because it was worlds apart from the conservative Christian church in Kansas that I’d come from. Back home, gay issues were never discussed, every family and every wedding was heterosexual, and the few people who eventually came out waited until they had moved far away. 
The message was largely unspoken, yet crystal clear: If you don’t fit into a heterosexual identity, you aren’t welcome... [ Read more → ]

The splitting of Christianity in two — what I (and I would certainly guess others) call Christian Reformation II — is being occasioned by the gay issue, which in many ways is to the Christian church today what the sale of indulgences were in the days of Luther. [ Read more → ]

I feel that in order to understand why the culture war is a "war," we must understand what those who fight against us feel that they are losing. To them, it is about Power. With LGBT people placed upon an equal playing field as them, they have lost their status as the movers of society. [ Read more → ]

Last night I dreamed that I was standing in the sanctuary of an immense church. Broad beams of light colored like jewelery cut across the air above me, coming to land upon a majestic pulpit. Sensing that something important was in the pulpit, I climbed... [ Read more → ]

If part of a person’s expression of faith means treating people unequally, denying rights of others and making them a target of their fear, that faith is not aligned with the God of the Bible. They may be aligned with a God of a party or a denomination, but they are missing the heart of the Father God, the One who created and loves His children. Every one of them. [ Read more → ]

Naturally, religious right groups and some of those on the right in general aren't happy with the Obama Administration's announcement this week against LGBT persecution worldwide, or Hillary Clinton's speech in which she declared "gays rights are human rights." It’s a sad statement on what Christianity has become in America. [ Read more → ]

Neither Rick Perry nor Rick Santorum will ever get to the White House. In fact, their behavior on the campaign trail makes one wonder just how did they attain their original elected offices in the first place. They are both like a bad dancer who has tripped his way through a recital and now thinks of himself as a Baryshnikov. [ Read more → ]

Evangelical, fundamentalist Christians -- by which I mean, specifically, Christians who believe that being gay is a moral abomination, an appalling affront to God -- talk to me, please, about this kid... [ Read more → ]

"I spent sixteen years as a fundamental evangelical Christian, trying to get God to fix me. I studied theology and Biblical counseling for three years in the hopes of discovering what I was doing wrong that was keeping God from answering my prayers to make me straight...." [ Read more → ]

I think that the one constant in my life these days is knowing that no matter what an LGBTQ person does, in any fashion, you can be certain that a member of corporate Christianity will find a way to make it as demonic, sinful, and dehumanizing as possible. [ Read more → ]

ROME, Ga. -- Shorter University, a Christian liberal arts college in Rome, Ga., has announced a policy which will require its more than 200 employees to sign a “Personal Lifestyle Statement” rejecting homosexuality. [ Read more → ]

What “Is homosexuality a sin?” really means—what anyone asking that question is really asking—is, “Are acts of homosexual sex sinful?” That’s the question to which the whole Christian debate about homosexuality invariably and necessarily boils down. [ Read more → ]

In the conversations centered around such tragedies as the recent Jamey Rodemeyer suicide, we very often find conservative Christians defending themselves against the accusation that the theology in which they believe -- and specifically their belief that homosexuality is a sin against God -- ultimately contributes to that which informs, motivates, and encourages the bullying of gay teens. [ Read more → ]

It is critical that people realize that religious zealots have a radically different vision of this country than most Americans. If their power keeps increasing, they will be able to drastically reshape this country ... bigotry, intolerance and religious conformity would become the law of the land. [ Read more → ]