It’s hard for us to imagine how anyone views religious texts as anything but allegory — products of eras past which at best attempt to implement some reason into the chaos, and at worst were invented just to consolidate power by oppressing and controlling the masses.
But faith is a powerful force, and far be it from us to tell someone they shouldn’t believe there’s a heavenly Father hanging out in the clouds making sure the world doesn’t come completely unhinged. (Side note — if you are up there, please up your game.)
If it isn’t harming anyone, we don’t see the problem with believing Jesus turned water into wine or that unicorns shoot rainbows out of their eyes.
Religion does carry a certain stigma in some circles, though. It’s not hard to see why.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Below, guys who identify as both gay and religious take a trip to confessional on Whisper to share their thoughts:
Will Glitzern
I believe in Santa. It’s true!
1EqualityUSA
What is said about spirit resonates with me. I left my body and saw myself from across the room when I was a youngin. Ever since then, I realized we can still exist outside of this frame. Christ spoke of the spirit. I listened.
BJ McFrisky
“I’m a Muslim
but my religion
dictates I kill
my fellow gays”
Bob LaBlah
@BJ McFrisky: If your feeling guilty about being “muslim” (which I bet you aren’t) then switch on over to christianity and pray with ol’ brother Jerry Falwell Jr. I didn’t even know the ol’ fart had children but the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/05/liberty-university-president-if-more-good-people-had-concealed-guns-we-could-end-those-muslims/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_aof-libertyuniversity%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Cagnazzo82
Queerty trying to give the atheist queens a bit of palpitation this morning 🙂
Giancarlo85
@BJ McFrisky: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/08/turkey-hdp-party_n_7537648.html
STFU already with this crap, bj. Nobody is buying it anymore. We get it you are a perpetual religious conservative asskisser… enough already.
Desert Boy
I have a friend who is very religious. He’s Catholic and attends Mass on Saturday and Sunday. I love to argue with him over religion. He’s a fascinating guy. Strange but fascinating. He holds out that one day soon, the church will fully accept all things ‘gay’, including marriage equality.
Giancarlo85
The Catholic Church will accept marriage equality? LOL. That’ll be in about a century… maybe.
Scott Sherman
Of course, they are dumb gays too
alphacentauri
I have LGBT friends who are Christian but if they were Roman Catholic they now go to a church that is accepting of LGBT people.
Bryguyf69
“Jesus Had Two Dads”
I know a gay couple that adopted a Latin American orphan named “Jesus”…
Kieran
@Scott Sherman: “Of course, they are dumb gays too.”
I think you meant to say “they’re are dumb gays too.” Right?
Captain Obvious
@Cagnazzo82: It’s funny how some gays choose to drop God instead of hoping there is a God and a hell for all the bigots to go to.
Dropping your maker because a human being who didn’t create himself says you’re going to hell for being how you were made makes no sense. But then again I’m sure there are idiotic gay people who think they got here by osmosis like every other atheist.
Even scientists believe there’s some sort of higher power because everything lines up too perfectly with systems that would fall apart without each other.
I guess the gay atheists and the bigots can tap dance in hell together. What a party.
Uncv1
It saddens me that so many people pass up a relationship with God because they confuse that with organized religion. The flaw with organized religion is that is run by humans with their own bias. The chapters of the bible were written by mankind. Was the chapter about being written someone with a personal issue about this topic. They say this and they say that. In the end it doesn’t matter what anyone says. It is about your very own, very personal relationship with God. God made me. He didn’t make a mistake. I love being gay I recognize and appreciate the blessings I have been given. I just know that there is a higher power working in my life, providing for me, giving me strength and opportunity to come out at 44, help my ex-wife and I through our divorce and who is now one of my best friends, blessed me with a wonderful son who full accepts me. I pose a question and somehow life seems to answer. It wasn’t organized religion that helped me through these things. It was my personal faith. Knowing how some people are on here I may get backlash, but hey that’s ok. It works in my life. You can try it or not. Your choice.
AtticusBennett
i was raised in the United Church of Canada – in a congregation with a gay minister, and a few non-Christians in our congregation.
there has never, in any moment in that church, been any message of divisiveness, or even talk of “sin”
earlier in the year the church officially became an Affirming Congregation (google it)
i’ve posted on my blog screenshots from the church program for the day; check it out.
if you’re gonna be a Gay Christian, have the integrity as a human being to be a part of a group that does not discriminate against nor condone divisiveness against ANYONE.
http://littlekiwilovesbauhaus.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-church-i-grew-up-in.html
Giancarlo85
@Kieran: Weak retort. Do you ever have anything smart to say on here?
Stache
@Captain Obvious: “Even scientists believe there’s some sort of higher power because everything lines up too perfectly with systems that would fall apart without each other.” LMAO
Are you being snarky?
Stache
@Uncv1: “It saddens me that so many people pass up a relationship with God because they confuse that with organized religion.”
I makes me cry too. I have a personal relationship with Zeus and hardly anyone sacrifices animals for him anymore.
Giancarlo85
@Captain Obvious: Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Thanks, Captain Oblivious… for sharing these thoughts.
” But then again I’m sure there are idiotic gay people who think they got here by osmosis like every other atheist.”
Oh how insightful. Do you have any more intelligent remarks about atheists? Asides from how stupid you’re sounding right now, do you have anymore gross mischaracterizations of atheists?
“Even scientists believe there’s some sort of higher power because everything lines up too perfectly with systems that would fall apart without each other.”
Now you’re just being stupid. Most polls show that most scientists are either agnostic or atheist. They do not believe in a higher power. I can’t believe you’re bringing up that stupid irreduceable complexity argument. That isn’t a scientific argument and is nothing more than sugarcoated religious fundamentalism.
“I guess the gay atheists and the bigots can tap dance in hell together. What a party.”
And you just push the boundaries of stupidity. How is your god more valid than Zeus or other gods in the past? I’m glad I’m a gay atheist. At least I don’t believe in the same fairytales that your weak mind adopted.
George Carlin said it right “My god has a bigger dick than your god!”. In the end, it’s all made up fairytales to make you feel better about death.
Giancarlo85
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RT6rL2UroE – This man wasn’t just a comedian. He was a visionary and he said things as they were. Religion indeed is a pile of bullshit.
Bob LaBlah
It seems ironic that it comes on Sunday nights but on the Cartoon Network there is a show about a black Jesus. Hey, I only pass on what I think is a pretty decent show. I AIN’T the one who wrote the script nor created the show (though I wish the hell I was because it has been on for three years now).
Stache
@Captain Obvious: I love where did life come from talks. I believe in Evolution (yes we came from the apes) and life to be very common throughout the universe and without any Deity involvement. All you need is carbon, amino acids, h20 and some heat. I hope to still be around then they discover it in far away places.
Randy
Just… No.
Have all the fantasy you want, but don’t try to wrap it in ANY sense of reality. Read a book, watch a movie, engage your imagination however you please, but don’t sell it as truth.
Ratronaut
@Uncv1: Suggesting that a non-believer should “try it” is like suggesting one tries gay conversion therapy. They are each an exercise in futility. And in both cases, any cited success is simply delusion.
Giancarlo85
@Uncv1: Your belief has a major flaw. God. God doesn’t exist. Your god doesn’t have a bigger dick than any other god like Zeus… because your god doesn’t exist.
Yes… Randy is right. Have whatever fantasy you want. That’s fine. Don’t try to tell us it’s real.
CivicMinded
If we were created in God’s image then God contains both aspects of male and female making the transsexuals the most truly blessed.
Typhon
@Captain Obvious: “It’s funny how some gays choose to drop God instead of hoping there is a God and a hell for all the bigots to go to.
Dropping your maker because a human being who didn’t create himself says you’re going to hell for being how you were made makes no sense. But then again I’m sure there are idiotic gay people who think they got here by osmosis like every other atheist.”
[Typhon] Really? Why is this amusing? I would expect the omnipotent, all-knowing author of the universe to understand that i did not choose to be gay and thus not sentence me to an eternity in hell for this reason. A loving deity in short would not make people gay or allow us to be born that way then sentence us to death in this life and eternal torture in the next (if the bible and Koran/hadith are to be believed). Indeed going to hell for being something one was never given a choice in makes no sense as you say but it is more than a random person saying this, it is the purported word of god or divine revelation, conclusion: these books were actually written by men who had no undertsanding of homosexuality at all thus they do not constitute a basis for morality let alone an inerrant statement about reality. Gays in short know (or rather should) these books are man-made for precisely this reason.
Got here by “osmosis”? Our DNA and the fossils under our feet are testimony to another way of getting here i.e. evolution. The bible, koran etc are not proof of anything, they are claims. When held to the same standards of proof as some people of religion apply to eviolutionary theory they collapse under internal and external contradictions. Who or what is then right when these testimonies conflict? The book of nature or ones preferred revelation, one of the 4000 or so religions humanity currently practices?
“Even scientists believe there’s some sort of higher power because everything lines up too perfectly with systems that would fall apart without each other.”
[Typhon] I am a scientist, please do not presume to speak for me… scientists are about as unreligious a lot as you’ll find anywhere. While there may be higher powers evidence is lacking as to their existence let alone their nature.
“I guess the gay atheists and the bigots can tap dance in hell together. What a party.”
[Typhon] Are doubts honestly maintained a sin? The atheist essentially says no I do not believe in your god because of lack of evidence, you start emptying hospital wards with your prayers and raising the dead as the bible says you should be able to and I’ll reconsider…Please name the crime that deserves an eternity of torture and burning in a hell that has no redeeming function but exists merely to exact revenge and cause misery and unspeakable torment from a deity that supposedly loves us? A deity that made man flawed and limited then commanded we be perfect?
It will not (according to the bible) be just atheists and “bigots” (whoever they are) who tapdance into hell, it will be every non-Christian (or non-Muslim or non-Jew or non-Hindu or non-whatever…) doing so as well… depending on who if anyone is right, the “choice” ala Pascels wager is not between atheism and belief it is between atheism and every inaccurate belief with only those who worship god in just the right way entering heaven.
Personally I regard gays who adher to christianity or islam as selfish in so far as they desire the emotional support one can obtain from belief while validating their own sexuality i.e. cheery-picking from religions replete with bronze-age savagery and rabid homophobia…
Ridpathos
Delusional faggots. Only idiots believe in religion. Religion is what gets us ISIS. Religion is what gets us the stupid anti-brown people from the Middle East xenophobia. Religion is what gets us anti-gay hatred and denial of rights. Get educated.
Joseph C Landis-Midnight
So because they are brainwashed, their being gay is relevant? Religion brainwashes many different people
Giancarlo85
@Typhon: Great post. There are indeed very few religions that are friendly to gay people. Maybe Buddhism? But that is even doubtful.
Many of the most bloody wars have been because of religion. We shouldn’t skirt around this reality. Religion is a reason why more people die. If people think Christianity is somehow better than Islam, explain to me the lie that led to the war in Iraq.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-god-told-me-to-invade-iraq-6262644.html
This idiot has used religion in order to invade Iraq. It was all blowback. Dubya lied and created the condition for ISIL to exist.
It was funny how delusional Bush was… and he cited god for his delusions. He talked about ending Islamic fundamentalism, but he created even more.
This is why I just laugh at religious and conservative gays. Human stupidity is everywhere.
Prinny
Oh boy so many fools believing they have a relationship with an invisible peeping Tom.
DarkZephyr
I am an agnostic and Christians who attack gays disgust me, but I am also disgusted by fellow agnostics and gay atheists who attack others and ridicule them *merely* because they believe in something spiritual. NOT because they are bigots, but simply because they believe. This is Queerty.com and not “NonBelievingLGBTPeopleEveryoneElseIsStupid.com”.
Leonard Woodrow
Believe anything you like if it makes you happy, but don’t decry others whose belief differs from yours.
DistingueTraces
@AtticusBennett: I may be misreading, but you speak of the your relationship to the church as if in the past tense — why did you leave it? (if I’m right that you did)
Alan David Smith
the same people who tell me how nuts i am to believe in such nonsense. watch harry potter like it’s prophecy. are convinced that our govt is hiding aliens. and watch slasher flicks of freaky demons killing women. my faith helps me get through times. ilost my partner right before easter in 2010 and my mom right before x-mas 2011. my faith kept me alive. and just because magazines like queerty show every person of faith as a raving lunatic. doesn’t make it true. it just makes them the loudest voices.
Giancarlo85
@DarkZephyr: Actually on here we have gay Christians attacking gay atheists and agnostics.
@Alan David Smith: Here is an example of someone attacking atheists and agnostics by making vapid generalizations about Harry Potter and aliens.
Well I am sorry I don’t believe some 2,000 year old plagiarized outdated book full of myths. I thought as people we were more afvanced than that.
Uncv1
@Giancarlos85
@Ratronaut
Once a hater, always a hater. You don’t know f@ck about my life.
Giancarlo85
@Uncv1: You are free to believe whatever you want. Some are part of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Their beliefs aren’t less valid than yours. But please don’t try to paint your religious beliefs as reality.
RomanHans
After queerty’s 5,000th Whisper post, it still confuses me. You Google to find a picture of something and then write a one-line thought on top of it?
Charlie in Charge
Just wanted to point out that not all the world’s religions have issues with gay folks. Some of the small squirrely ones (for me, Wicca) can be quite enthusiastic about us ‘mos.
Hussain-TheCanadian
We shouldn’t shame each other for believing in God, or not believing in God – All views are interesting and its supposed to make us think and brain storm together if spirituality is an important part of our lives.
Kieran
@DarkZephyr: Well said. I can’t explain the hate and intolerance a lot of atheists have toward Christians. Sometimes they sound as angry and evil as the most rabid member of Westboro.
Giancarlo85
@Kieran: Interesting. I see more hatred towards atheists from Christians. Even by christians here who have bitterly attacked atheists. Have anything else you want to share?
AtticusBennett
@DistingueTraces: i’ll drop by a few times a year, mainly to see the people i grew up with, and the community there who’ve been such a wonderful part of my life.
and while i still identify positively with being a united church member, my beliefs have changed a lot. which, actually, the church is rather down with. their whole thing has never been “you have to believe this” but rather “if this helps you, good”
i’m an agnostic. and an atheist, or rather an anti-Deist. i don’t believe in deities. but i still find a lot to like about the humanist approach of the UCC; it’s a modern approach to ancient texts – how to help you through the week, and be a better person, using stories that inspired people for centuries. no sin. no dogma. no exclusivity. no “you have to believe this OR ELSE”. we don’t even believe in Hell.
😀
the Affirmation service, the contents of which i posted on my blog link, was a remarkable day. an entire congregation wearing pink, to make a statement in support of the LGBT communities. it’s good to know that any other gay kids growing up in that church will be welcomed, and encouraged to be themselves just as they are.
GayEGO
It is up to each of us to let others know that we gay guys are superb! God created us to test the straights values on being loving and inclusive of us! :>)
Hussain-TheCanadian
@GayEGO: What a lovely nice message I like it.
I also think we are the natural barrier to over population, and we are also the natural cultural and mental “bridge” between men and woman.
o.codone
^ Look, look for yourself. Gay men are such strident haters of people of faith. But, you dare to say anything negative about gays and the gays want to put you in jail for hate speech. Hypocrites. This religion hating is self defeating.