Thanks for your contributions thus far. May I ask a few questions about your and church affiliation? First I shall repost my previous comments.
A few general questions. General but deeply personal. Were you raised in a church-going family? Did Church play a significant role in your growing up? Do you attend / are you a member of a church community? Is your community accepting of GLBT people, etc? Are you OUT in your church? How much does the teaching of your church re/homosexuality affect your living? Positive or negative ?
Monday, July 27, 2009
5 comments:
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Pilgrim said...
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i don´t know, what you expect, but as long, as you´re not intending to become a priest, it´s unumportant in the roman-catholic church, even under public pressure. I told my in a confession to my priest I´m bi, but if could make it to a collegiate/oblate to the jesuites and he said there was nothing speaking against it, as long I live a decent live. Propz Pilgrim
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July 27, 2009 at 11:16 AM
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J said...
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My parents raised me in the United Methodist Church, which I attended throughout my minority even though from early childhood I didn't believe in the fairy tales and miracles. My dad supported the church even though he considered it largely a social organization, and never revealed his personal faith to his children, no matter how often we asked. He thought the church taught kids values and therefore served a useful purpose. I was always a heathen, and created a scandal when I was 7 by getting into an argument with my Sunday school teacher by preaching evolution, and showing her Encyclopedia Britannica articles about the descent of man. My parents never suppressed these views, and the greatest admonition I ever heard from my mother was a gentle, "You shouldn't shake their faith." I have not been a member of a church in adulthood, so I can't speak of its level of tolerance on anything. The community in which I live is definitely not tolerant of homosexuality in any form, which is an excellent inducement for periodic repairs to our more "decadent" cities.
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July 27, 2009 at 8:10 PM
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JustinO'Shea said...
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"I told my in a confession to my priest I´m bi, but if could make it to a collegiate/oblate to the jesuites and he said there was nothing speaking against it, as long I live a decent live. Propz Pilgrim"
Thanks for this further comment. The Catholic Church makes multiple distictions [1] being gay is not evil or a sin: being gay is an objective fact. [2] to engage in same-sex acts is a sin, they say,because it is contrary to our human nature or the natural law; They reluctanly admit only to heterosexual acts between a man and a woman married to each other.
This is what your confessor was saying to you. You could be a priest or in a religious order if you were gay or bi. .provided you did not engage in any sexual activity of any kind. -
July 28, 2009 at 12:02 AM
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Unknown said...
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I was raised in the United Penticostal Church. A family of 7 children. I always did as I was told. Ironically, my sister that never did anything right, has now become a penticostal preacher. That church is so far outside of the norm that you can not even have friends at school, because they don't believe the same way. So everything we did was with the church.
I no longer attend any church. If anything, I would consider myself budist.
I work in the funeral business. I go to services several times a week. I am not out at work. I'm sure that they know. We just don't discuss any of our relationships.
Going to so many different churches, I find that they all think that they are right and everyone else is going to hell. The rules at some of the churches are laughable. I admire the structure, but really, is that going to get you into heaven?
I am glad to have such a strict upbringing, but I have become aware of the realities and the made-up crap. What's more is my mother even appologized for the church.
Both my father and mother have been very happy to accept my husband into the family. I even got them to vote in favor of gay marraige.
We are getting there. We have some churches that accept us and with singers out there such as Jason and DeMarco, people are starting to see that we can be spiritual as well as gay. -
July 28, 2009 at 12:47 AM
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Gary Kelly said...
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A respondent to my web site was talking about religion and how it affected his being gay, and used this phrase to state his position: "The God I believe in..."
There ya go. I reckon that just about sums up religion. -
July 31, 2009 at 10:22 PM
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Thanks, DREW, J and STEW for your sharings. Right now I think I shall save these and when time comes use them verbatim.
Yes, Stew, growing up in an accepting environment makes life so much easier. And like both Stew and Drew I grew up in a strict toe-the-life Church [RC in my case]. Being part of a church family in a wide and open gay town is quite different from other places. I never heard the pastor rant and rave about or against glbt
folk.
Like, I never knew I was "objectively disordered" and "inclined to intrinsically evil acts" as I've heard some gays are told by their church/minister.
When I told dad about this later on he put on his best down-eastern drawl: "Pshhaaaw, boy. . t'aint true! God never made anybody like that! And just ignore that fella and tell him your dad said he was full of shit! You're MY son and I know bettr'n he does!"
Earlier I had come out to my parents about the time I turned 15 having had my first boy-boy lovin' a few months earlier, they said "We know,Justin, we know. We were wondering when you'd get to telling us.. " They were so awesome cool and still are. . more so. When I bring a BF home he becomes one of the family. . .LOL. . they know. .they know.. .we talk! LOL Lucky guy, aren't I? I think so.[btw, they like Peter very much.]
ciao ~~ justin
July 26, 2009 11:17 AM