Gay People And Christian Culture

Many Christians have picked out “clobber” passages or verses in the Bible that are supposed to undoubtedly condemn homosexuality. However, these fool-proof “clobber” passages have been contested, such as Leviticus 20:13, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be put upon them.” Many conservative Christians interpret this as damning homosexuality indefinitely; many liberal Christians claim it condemns gay ritual sex in a temple and males having sex in a womans bed. Another verse, Leviticus 18:22, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Again, conservative Christians take this is as condemning evidence but progressive Christians take it as, again, a verse condemning gay ritual sex in a Pagan temple or men having sex in a woman's bed.

In today’s Christian churches there has come about a very controversial subject, one that has been developing for many years, and is now at the fore front of controversial issues dealing with the church. The issue at hand is homosexuality and the Christian church. This controversy has caused there to be a split between the church into two different beliefs, liberal and evangelical, which one is right and which and which one is wrong? Issues such as should homosexuals be aloud in the church? If so how involved should they be? And most importantly what does God have to say about homosexuality? These are tough question brought about by a tough issue and the only way these questions can be

This book Pray the Gay Away by Bernadetta C. Barton discusses about certain areas in the United States called Bible Belts were they have made absolutely no progress in securing rights for gay people. They lag behind the rest of nation were people are accepting homosexuality (Pray the Gay Away 15). Barton argues that in small towns were Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in these areas (Pray the Gay Away 19). This article is related to the play because the two dominant religions discussed in the play was Judaism and Mormonism and both religions strongly oppose homosexuality and this lead to homophobic attitudes and themes within the play.

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

Those who believe that homosexuality is wrong do so by quoting certain phrases from the Bible. For example:

Miller demonstrates in “Our Mutual Joy: The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” the importance in Scripture concerning gay marriage and why it isn’t necessarily valid in all arguments. The gay community suffers biblical scrutiny at all times because there are people, and whole communities such as churches, who don’t agree with their sexual orientation. Miller defends this community by comparing it to a heterosexual marriage because after all, it isn’t any different. “More basic than theology, though, is human need.” (Miller). What any person wants is to love and to be loved; why should this be exclusive to only heterosexuals? Using statistics to prove her points, she turns to a poll: “(In the Newsweek poll, 55 percent of respondents said that married heterosexuals who have sex with someone other than their spouses are more morally objectionable than a gay couple in a committed sexual relationship.)” (Miller). This shows how the idea of marriage has changed. Miller also compares old traditions that are presently

Many Christians supports homosexuality and gay marriages. In fact, I know a few Christians who said to be homosexual. I praise them for standing up for what they believe and this demonstrates despite the fact of Christianity is seen as homophobic, there are Christians that acknowledge homosexuality. Many Christians that are homosexual still believe in the Bible and that God exists. Furthermore, in the article The Relative Importance of Ethnicity and Religion in Predicting Attitudes towards Gays and Lesbians, it expresses that Baptists and Catholics do not fundamentally contrast in their attitudes towards lesbians or gay men. For example, in the book of scriptures it expresses that God created man and woman, He saw that coupling was good and He blessed them and told them to be productive and reproduce. The Bible does make a strong qualification when it comes to marriage; it states that an individual should marry the opposite sex. Not only does the Bible, by default, deny same sex marriages, but tradition and nature prohibits it also. The idea is against every tradition known to human race and is obviously against

Intersectionality is a relevant theory for some gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals. Intersectionality studies "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations" (McCall, 2005). The theory argues, pursues and considers how gender, race, sexual orientation and other categories of identity interact on many and often concurring levels of social relationships, therefore allowing discrimination and social inequity. Intersectionality explains how the notion of social injustice, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and belief-based bigotry such as religion are not independent of one another; instead, they are interconnected, and thereby reflect “intersectionality” in regards to social

In each of those circumstances, we can understand the negativity drawn to homosexuality. However, another passage in scripture states “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (RSV Romans 13:8-10). If love is the true fulfillment of the law, then why would it not be the determinant for which laws we are to abide? Even as this passage encourages its religious followers to accept and love everyone, the firm believers of heteronormativity isolate the LGBT population and remove them from mainstream society.

We have all at some point or another heard someone say that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This saying is an excellent example of how a large number of Christian fundamentalist feel about the homosexual community. Studies have shown that there are more Christian homophobes than there is homophobia in any other group or religion in the United States (Wolff, J. R., Himes, H. L., Kwon, E., & Bollinger, R. A., 2012). Homophobia is the irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. In Christianity, homophobia represents misunderstanding and fear of the unknown.

All around the world, there are people with different sexualities; a tremendous amount of them are judged every day because of their sexuality. Not only did lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders fight for same sex marriage to be legal, but people who like the opposite sex did as well. For dozens of years, people have been wanting to legalize same sex marriage while others wished for same sex marriage to be banned. A myriad of individuals fought for this certain right. Those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or Transgender are judged religiously every day. Despite all the judgement, hate, disrespectful looks, and rude comments, they

Several factors play an important role in the hypothesis that Christians would disagree with same-sex marriage. Regarding the poll, respondents were asked to pick the choice that best represented their stance on the legality of same-sex marriage. Respondents could choose from the following answers: “strongly disagree”, “somewhat disagree”, “indifferent”, “somewhat agree”, “strongly agree”, and “undecided”. The group the hypothesis pertains to are the people who said “strongly disagree” or “disagree”. The first piece of evidence that would lead one to believe that Christians would show, to a certain degree, disagreement with legalizing same-sex marriage involves important passages in their holy book, the Bible. The Bible contains passages that both deem homosexuality as sinful, as well as affirm only marriage between man and woman. One passage that does an adequate job of displaying a view that homosexuality is sinful is located in Leviticus, which reads, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is

In order to answer this question we need to establish that it is a sin to be gay and that this is what the Bible

Opposition to gay marriage has increased since the summer and a narrow majority of Americans also oppose allowing gays and lesbians to enter legal agreements that fall short of marriage. Moreover, despite the overall rise in tolerance toward gays since the 1980s, many Americans remain highly critical of homosexuals ­ and religious belief is a major factor in these attitudes.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of my exegesis research paper , I dared to ask the question, “Does God commend homosexuals?” Naturally, the first reaction by many devout Christians would say, “the Bible does condemn homosexuality”, but again the question still stands, “Does God commend homosexuals?” We can see how the Bible more often than not teaches against any sexual relations except between husband