It could be a discussion with a family member who hasn’t accepted what they call the “lifestyle.” It could be a discussion with anyone we hope will at least listen to what we have to say even though they’re not fully supportive. It could be
We continue to see both the religious right-wing’s obsession with sex and sexuality and the fact that its addictive use of religion makes its sexual sickness a destructive force in everyone’s lives. The weekly examples of hypocrisy in these matters make any new revelations hardly
How much longer do we have to pretend that it matters when we hear people justify their prejudices by claiming: “The Bible says”? It’s such an easy excuse for sanctifying any position, that people who’ve never even opened the Bible use it. It’s saying something
It’s a habit people get into – they encounter a person and make judgements about how they look. To them it’s as if there’s a universal standard of what a beautiful man or woman looks like. This judgement not only affects how many critique cisgender
A world religions professor faces mortality You’d think after studying religions around the world that I’d have formed some definite ideas about the afterlife, but alas, I haven’t. And I know that I’m in good company — some of the religious leaders that I admire
Should you stay, or should you go? It continues to be one of the major crises for religious believers today. What should we do with “these people” whom our denomination has marginalized for centuries? For some it’s LGBTQ+ people. The United Methodist Church, for example,
Translating the triggers: A handy primer Of course, we want to believe that everyone means what they say. We’d love to believe that more educating and presentations of the facts convinces people. We think that explaining ourselves repeatedly and spending a lot of energy to
Pat Robertson saying it in the name of Jesus didn’t make it Christian Probably the most used basis for justifying discrimination, whether it’s against LGBTQ+ people or others, is the appeal to religious claims. But is religion any more than a scapegoat to hide everything
They’re paralyzed with fear Imagine a story where Jesus comes up to someone who’s been an invalid for 38 years and who’s been waiting for who-knows-how-long at a place known for its healing properties — and the first question Jesus asks him is: “Do you
Every culture has them. And we know what ours are. They’re the stereotypes, the popular definitions, the expectations, the images of what a lesbian, gay man, bisexual person, transgender person, queer person, or any of the others in that alphabet are supposed to be. They’ve