"Almost two-thirds of LGBTQ+ people who were raised Christian have left the faith, studies have shown. They're acting on the Church's mostly unwelcoming appeals against gay believers. There are exceptions, like the Universalist Unitarians, the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, and Episcopalians, still around after conservative Anglicans broke away from that denomination, unhappy with women's ordination and gay members."
"But the official stand for the large majority of churches in the U.S. is "no (non-celibate) gays allowed"; unofficially, it's a kind of ecclesiastical "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," with clergy overlooking gay congregants who (in turn) overlook the overt homophobia among the Baptists, Catholics, and other more conservative denominations."
"For believer Monty Bennett, reconciling her faith and sexuality became increasingly difficult when she was confronted with them together at her Southern Baptist college in Tennessee. "One of my classmates suggested that people might be born gay. Would this require a more compassionate response?" the student asked the professor. He was "unfazed," Bennett wrote in The Atlantic."
""I'm sure there is a biological component, and that doesn't change my view," the professor said. "You can have cancer that is not your fault, and some people are born with cancer of the soul." Her church, Bennett wrote, has left no room for "embracing our sexuality alongside our faith." Is it any wonder, then, that the gay faithful are leaving?"
Almost two-thirds of LGBTQ+ people raised Christian have left their churches. Many churches maintain official positions excluding non-celibate gay people and operate with informal tolerance that overlooks homophobia in more conservative denominations. Some denominations remain exceptions, including Universalist Unitarians, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, and Episcopalians, after conservative Anglicans broke away over issues including women’s ordination and gay members. For gay Christians, reconciling faith and sexuality becomes difficult when teachings and responses deny room for embracing sexuality alongside faith. Monty Bennett described being confronted with these views at a Southern Baptist college, where a professor compared being gay to “cancer of the soul,” and her church offered no space for integrating sexuality and faith.
#lgbtq-and-christianity #church-inclusion #southern-baptist #religious-hypocrisy #faith-and-sexuality
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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