sUsually we hear one of two things from straight religious zealots: They want to save our souls, or that we don’t deserve the love of our savior. Both, quite frankly, are suggestions we want none of. But thanks to a new study, here’s something you can throw back in their face: We love God too!
Some six in 10 gays and lesbians say “faith is important” in their lives, according to the Barna Group (and Christian research firm), which phone surveyed more than 9,000 adults. Compare that to the 72 percent of straight folks who say faith is important, and we’re almost as good as heteros as loving The Jesus (or whoever).
“People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts,” says George Barna, Barna’s founder. “A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and claim to have some type of meaningful personal commitment to Jesus Christ active in their life today.”
Meanwhile, the data also revealed 75 percent of breeders said their “personal commitment to Jesus Christ” is still important, while only 58 percent of gays said so. We blame this guy.
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.
michael
Interesting, I wonder why? Is it because of upbringing and clinging to something familiar and they are afraid not to believe? Or could it be that gay people are forced to re-evaluate their spiritual and religious beliefs and come up with seeing Christianity in a different light than the way most Christians do? I know personally, I grew up Christian, did not buy into it as a child but as a young adult decided to look into it from an adult perspective and came out with a completely different outlook on the whole “Jesus” thing. What I found for myself that it does not matter if Jesus ever existed, nor does it matter if he died on a cross or any of that. That the religion of Christianity is just a different color of the same bullshit as orthodox Judaism was in Jesus’ time modern day Pharisees. But what I found is that Jesus is a symbol of the human experience, of what it means to something bigger than human caught in the limitation of human form. That the characters in the gospels, the 12 disciples, Mary M. mother Mary are all parts of our own consciousness displayed as characters. In other words it is psychology and shows that in reality we are our own savior and just as the wizard told Dorothy, she had the power within herself to return home anytime, and she did, all she had to do was wake up.
Bill
Anyone foolish enough to believe ANY Religion deserves exactly what they get in life.
Jerry Priori
Lots of people love Yoda, too. It doesn’t make him real.
Republican
So, Bill, I’m happily married, reasonably successful, and enjoying life, and you think that’s what I deserve? Cool!
galefan2004
This isn’t a surprise at all. The bigger surprise to many would be to learn that Jesus was at the very least bi-sexual. There is a story of a man that spent the night with Jesus while wrapped in nothing more than a sheet after Jesus made him RISE from the dead. This story is expanded on in the dead sea scrolls. If the straights weren’t so completely ignorant of their own bloody bibles instead of just the passages that they use to bash they would realize that Jesus had quite a few homoerotic/sexual relations in the bible.
galefan2004
@michael: My guess would be because the majority of American christians exist in small towns. Inside this small town you are either part of the christian social network or you are a social pariah. Most of them choose being part of a group they don’t belong to over not being part of any group at all. What is most interesting to me is that these numbers seem to be dropping from previous studies that showed that 80% of the population felt that religion was important to them. It seems we are getting farther and farther away from the sky daddy as we progress.
kevinVancouver
I would be willing to estimate that a large majority of lgbt community would identify themselves as rational thinkers with no belief in a higher power, it is this higher power, be it Yaweh,God,Allah,or whatever that folks believe in that continue to rot and corrode our society…promoting hate and intolerance,myself I have no use for it. It’s regressive and dysfunctional.
galefan2004
@kevinVancouver: So, you are willing to estimate that this study is completely and utterly wrong. Unfortunately, while living in Canada, which is where I assume you are from, you probably haven’t seen the ability for Americans to be completely and utterly blinded by religion as a whole. Even the most rational thinkers still believe in the great sky daddy. Hell, the last church I attended we had 3 doctors and a doctorate’s professor in Sociology/Anthropology that attended it that all believed in creation over evolution. That should say something right there.
galefan2004
@kevinVancouver: You see, in America, people check their brain at the door every Sunday to go sit through their weekly social bonding ritual. At the end of the ritual, they pick their brains back up walk out of the meeting place and live their lives exactly how they want to anyways. Then the next Sunday they repeat the process.
peet
See? This is why generalizations are dangerous and misleading. Black or white, gay or straight, it doesn’t matter; PEOPLE are generally sheep. Ugh. Our species really doesn’t deserve to live.
kevinVancouver
@galefan2004: Don’t get me wrong Canada has its fair share of religious zealots, I for one was raised Catholic and attended Catholic elememtary school and Catholic high school..I just feel that as a gay person, you are at the receiving end of fear ,hatred and intolerance, an intolerance rooted in religion… and when faced with that it forces one to reexamine their beliefs,as it were… I just find that the sample used in the study (9000) is rather small and couldn’t possibly speak to the millions of gays in the U.S and Canada..
SM
Jesus was a liberal
AlwaysGay
Religion is fake. Live your life.
Vegasborn
I am gay, a Christian, and I was born and raised in Las Vegas (Sin City for God’s Sake). I was raised in a church atmosphere and I still believe in the teachings of the Christian Faith (namely, Jesus is the son of God and because he died and I trust in that my sins are forgiven). This does not mean that I don’t make mistakes, but it does mean that I try to live a good and faithful life. I find it very interesting how the majority of the hurtful things that come my way about being an openly gay Christian are not from the straight community or the church, but from OTHER GAY PEOPLE!!! If we are looking for acceptance and understanding form the straight community and the Christian right, then maybe we as a community need to show the same kind of acceptance and respect of people of faith as we expect them to show us.
TANK
Yeah, nonreligious or nonchristian people in the states need to show the christian majority the “same kind of acceptance and respect” that we don’t get from them–in fact, open hostility and active homophobia.
I don’t see why someone who believes in falsehood like spaghetti monster who created the heavens or giant purple marshmellow who controls the weather should be entitled to acceptance and respect? Tolerance? OF course…but that’s all. These are demonstrably false beliefs IMPLICATED in and responsible for harm around the world–millions of deaths. And, it would seem, the persecution of gay people in the united states. Tony Perkins and James Dobson and scores of religious people around this country use their faith as a weapon to demonize us and argue that we are entitled to equal protection under the law…that we aren’t entitled to be treated with the same human dignity as everyone else.
SUre, there’s a lot of gay people who are religious. That’s no surprise…this is a hyperreligious country (The u.s.), and gays are no different in being a product of their culture. THat doesn’t mean it justified at all, or even morally okay to hold onto these beliefs and participate in an environment in which people are persecuted relentlessly with their faith as justification.
D-Sun
See? We’re not so different. There’s delusional crazies, terrified of death, from all walks of life.
RainaWeather
Not Surprising. Most of the gays I know are Christian
dgz
i think there’s a religion gene and people are just born that way.
Russ
What is with the term “breeders”. Is that to imply that gay people don’t breed? I am gay and have kids and know many gays and lesbian parents. That term is b.s. and sends a message that is going to back fire on us.
M Shane
The term ‘breeders’ is relatively old in the gay vocabulary: it has to do with the reasons for having sex. I don’t know why that would backfire on anyone, since the major reason fro gay sex will always be non-reproductive. gay people having intercourse with somone of a different sex is still a breeder activity.
Back to the point. After years away , I’m know living in Minnesota, a bastion of conformity and tedious normality. Mostly No European Lutherans. Gay people here have always made such a concentrated effort to be assimilated into the mainstream that they even have their own churches.
and lived pseudo married lives in the suburbs since I last recall. Considering the population thereis virtually no gay communirty. This is probably a focast for what assimilation will bring the rest of America: no gay liberation or community Jus t a peculiar kind of closeed life. It was the prompting for my leaving for most of my adult years. I regret returning, except thatmy parents were aging..
The spell of conformity and inauthentic lives makes most of them very dense regarding the potential of gay liberation or creative lives.
The Christian thing is just bizarre beyond my conception, however , it seems to be a byproduct of the poor educational system and general failure of creative lifestyles.
strumpetwindsock
@M Shane:
Good for you for taking care of your parents; it’s important, though I am sure it’s an unpleasant sacrifice to be in a place you’d rather not be.
The fact is as gay and different as we are we are still part of the community. Those “breeders” are the ones bringing the next generation of GLBT people into the world.
If you read my post in the other thread you’ll see I think the notion of assimilation is nonsense. Our community is far stronger than that.
We lose nothing by stepping up and taking our place in the general public; being afraid of that is what is keeping the closet door shut.
jjm16
This can’t be true. I once read on this very site that we’re essentially smarter than the str8s.