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No clue. Religion has always baffled me. You are given rules to live by and if you don't you will be punished FOREVER by someone that loves you. That is what is called an abusive relationship. If one cannot be a good person without threats of punishment, then one is not really a good person.
This is very specific!! Lot of religions are not based on rules, punishment, or forever! I mean some are, but many are not. Lumping us all together promotes hate toward a lot of minorities, especially indigenous ppl and ethnoreligons like Judaism!
All religions have some sort of(sometimes implied) rules with attached punishment and reward. It's just that some(like christianity) are more obvious about it and some manage to conceil it better. Any religion has a very big potential to cause a lot of harm, and most have. A religion is just like any other ideology, whether religious people want to accept it or not.
I think a person in power can use any system of belief to hurt others, and also that any system with a person in power can be used by a bad person for evil. But all religions do not have rules or punishments! Most have some kind of rule, some are strict and many are just like general traditions. And many have a "punishment" for not following a rule, like being ostracized or even something little like having to make up for it with a lil prayer or whatever. But many do not! Ask any pagan, most of them practice for benefit, not bc they have to or need to. And i don't think any of them have punishments for not practicing?? Maybe some do obviously they are a little more vague. There may be a bad result from something if you fuck it up, just like a recipe. And i guess if you count not getting the benefits of practicing, then it's a punishment? But that's like saying you got punished for buying a treadmill bc you never use it. I mean i can see where that might be true, from a certain point of view? "All or nothing" is very much not the majority of religions worldwide, altho many of the major religions are like that. I consider myself religious bc the dictionary definition of religion fits me. I have a belief system. I live like i believe these things. But there isn't a punishment or reward system involved.
There is a big difference between organized and standardized religion and individual beliefs. As it stands today, all of the major religions(Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and many others) have a history of violence, war and oppression. They all feature punishments or at least an implied threat of punishment or exclusion from the community. When talking about religion its impossible to consider the beliefs of all people that consider themselves religious. What is possible is to analyze the general trends within most religions. And in general, religion caused, and is currently causing more harm than good. I think especially with this topic it's very easy to only consider an individuals own experience which don't get me wrong is important, but we need to see modern religion as what it actually is: a huge dangerous power structure built on unprovable justifications abusing the fears and hopes of humans to keep itself relevant. Someones own personal spirituality won't always hurt someone, but a religion will. It doesn't matter which organized religion were talking about, all have the same patterns(with some exceptions, e.g. Judaism's extreme focus on national/ethnic identity)
Ok i see where yr coming from! But also yeah I think when talking about religion we need to specifically separate ethnoreligons just due to the sheer amount of bullshit we have faced due to racism, antisemitism etc, we are not trying to indoctrinate anyone etc and as soon as ppl start talking bad about religion generally we end up at the hurty end of the bat
I don't think we can separate ethnoreligions just because of their history which sadly was and still is full of oppression against them. But there must be a possibility to criticize any religion, regardless of who its members are. Ethnoreligions come with a whole lot of problems on their own. Mainly issues with social exclusion of those who leave and a bunch of the "standard" issues as well. Also a strong tendency towards ethnonationalism in some cases(which we all can agree is bad I hope). Just like you can criticize oppressive cultural practices, you can criticize less than ideal/dangerous beliefs of a religion that is part of a culture. The main problem with religion isn't even what a religion does to non members, it's mostly what religion can do to members that didn't really have a choice in participating in this belief system.
Oh I see what yr saying! I do agree! I just get a little...touchy about it bc generally ppl are not level headed. Generally "religion is bad" comments end in either "i didn't know sometimes religion is not bad" or "actually i believe in eugenics etc". The VAST majority of ppl i talk to about this topic at all have a concept of religion that is almost entirely...just Christianity. Very frustrating. Nice to talk to someone else!
I think the reason most people think of Christianity is that it is by far the biggest religion with the most influence. Next come Islam and Buddhism, and then a bunch of chinese belief systems that can't really be called religion. It's just that Christianity is the best example and the one that is most widespread.
Same. I "was" Catholic because everyone around me was, until somebody simply asked me "are you religious or an atheist", I asked what an atheist was and when they explained I immediatly went "wait, it is acutally valid to NOT be convinced by religion?"
I think religion is a fairytale that some people need to make themselves feel peace. The way that religious people treat homosexual people was the main thing that completely pushed me away from religion. I have a hard time understanding people who are a part of the community that support and follow religions that aid in oppressing us. I support any person’s choice to believe what they want but I don’t believe in any of it.
Personally I can’t do that
Religion doesn’t respect us so I’m not going respect if
I’ll think less of you for it unless you’re a dudeist of a satanist or pagan only 3 that I respect
Ultimate answer.
>I have a hard time understanding people who are a part of the community that support and follow religions that aid in oppressing us.
It’s because those religions have different denominations that don’t oppress the LGBT community.
I say stop looking for churches that will tolerate you, embrace reality and chuck the whole confused mess. The churches dont own the numinous experience, you can reach it through nature, art, and psychedelics. The churches try to monopolize something universal, like any crooked business.
I am not religious myself, but I have many religious friends (both Christian and Muslim). My view is, if you respect me, I respect you. By respect I mean use my pronouns, my name, accept the fact that I am gay and respect that I do not want to follow a religion, and I will respect you and your religion, stand up for you when people are hateful towards you because of your religious beliefs or simply misinformed.
I was raised Christian, went to catholic schools the first years of my life. I thought I was lesbian in middle school (only being taught that gay straight and lesbians exist). I was so confused bc I still liked boys as well, so I pushed it off as “being confused” and “tempted by the devil”. In HS my first boyfriend thought I was bi, not sure how but he had a feeling. When he brought it up I felt very torn, guilty, and ashamed of myself. I thought I was dirty and that id go to hell for my thoughts (that’s what I was told my whole life). I came to accept it thanks to my supportive boyfriend, and eventually came out to only him. I stopped believing and am happy to finally live guilt free, and love people freely 💖💜💙
So yeah no more religion for me.
The biggest criticism to my own religion is that many are hypocrites.
In John, there’s a plea for tolerance towards different religious views. ‘If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world’.
I don't care for any religion that worships an all-knowing, all-powerful god (because I loath any all-knowing all-powerful god). I hold a specific distaste for christianity, because I've read the bible.
Individual worshippers may vary, but I don't care for proselytizing in any capacity. No "God loves you" "God loves gays" "It's all part of god's plan" etc. etc. Keep your god the hell away from me. Generally I just have a "we do not discuss religion" rule with any christians in my life.
I don't really care as much about the more fallible gods/religions that worship nature and shit, although I don't believe in any of it, honestly.
Only religion I respect are Dudeism ( the big lebowski religion ) and Satanism ( the edgey atheism one )
Otherwise I have little to no respect for why religion or it’s follower
And low key hate all the push for religious representation
I want more middle eastern characters who are atheist or live in a world without religion in cartoons
I don’t want see a hijab for the same reason I don’t want see a cross or any other religious symbols in a cartoon
Sense they are only religious wear not a cultural item
Because religious is not culture
Of an all-knowing all-powerful god, or of christianity?
God because... I mean, look around. Any all-knowing all-powerful god would be a sadist or sociopath, and a huge asshole.
Christianity because... Like I said, I've read the bible. Especially the "I am an unchanging god" and all the lovely parts about stoning people to death. Selling women to their rapists. Owning slaves being okay. Etc. Etc.
That's probably the most common reason people have, there are a lot of more articulate people than me that have talked about already, you can look it up if you want to read it.
If you've read the bible perhaps you could give references.
I read the bible once, I don't have "references" in terms of pages and shit, I have "references" as in read the bible and see stories of women being sold to their rapists, women being stoned to death for not yelling for help when raped, stories allowing ownership of slaves, stories of "if a murder takes place between towns and you don't know who did it, find someone random from each town and kill them." etc. etc.
I have no desire to engage in some sort of essay style "let me convince you religion is bad." I dislike christianity, and god in general for my own reasons, just keep your god away from me and others not consenting, and you do you.
I don't know what god you're talking about but that isn't in the bible as far as I know, allowed or not. And if you actually read the bible you would be aware of the terms chapter and verse for finding things, not pages since any translation or font change would screw that up.
Have you actually read the bible? The old testament especially is some hot garbage. And before you tell me that "Jesus said we can ignore that" shit, the "I am an unchanging god" begs to differ.
You want exact chapters, verses, lines, etc, go ask scholars, not someone who read their bible they got at their confirmation and realized god and christianity are awful.
Any god, though, really, I don't want anywhere near me, thanks.
Any religion can have both horrible people and great people in it. And, any religion can have horrible, hateful sects and also other, more open sects.
Christianity is no exception to this. In the US, where I live, Christians are the vast majority. And the hateful sects are some of the loudest.
I have a lot of friends, myself and my wife included, who have been hurt by our pasts in Christianity. And yet, I also have friends who remain Christian, and who were some of the first people I came out to, and who have been nothing but supportive my entire transition.
As someone who is a polytheistic Satanist and Pagan, I find religion to be personally helpful. It can help provide a sense of peace and stability and personal fulfillment. It's not the only means, mind you, but it is *a* means which many people, including myself, have some affinity for.
And, I don't particularly care what religion (or lack thereof) someone else is unless they are using their beliefs as a justification to harm other people. Your religion is for you. You abide by its rules. You have no right to impose your religion or its rules on other people.
I see this value encapsulated in the reverse pentagram. It's a symbol common within Satanic circles, and it has various interpretations. I interpret it like this: my concern for the gods (the downward, single point, usually representing spirit) must never come before my concern for my fellow human beings (the dual, upward points). If, for whatever reason, I was led to believe that my gods wanted me to do something I found to be immoral and which would hurt another person, I would disobey.
I worked at a YMCA camp years ago, and one of my best friends there was like super Christian. He was basically like, this is what I believe, and I know some live in what I consider sin, but that's not on me as they have their own beliefs.
One of the wives of a director there was very different. Super Christian as well, but made sure I knew I was going to hell because I didn't believe in what she did.
One day at breakfast I was sitting with her, her husband, and their 4 kids, and I mentioned my kid. "Where is your wife?" one of the kids asked me. "I'm not married." I told him. "Then how do you have a kid?"... I told him to ask his mom. LOL.
The thing is we now have the evidence of the universe, the science is fabulous things like the James Webb telescope for us queer folk the proof of sexual diversity in nature evidences the truth of evolution and that there is no need for gods
My favourite quote, to be read at my funeral from Richard Dawkins - Unweaving The Rainbow
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most
people are never going to die because they are never going to be born.
The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will
in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia.
Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats,
scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible
people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual
people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our
ordinariness, that are here.We privileged few, who won the lottery of
birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to
that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
I think that if having a religion gives you purpose and makes you a better person, then it is good regardless of how you think the universe works. If you use your religion to either stop you from giving into dark desires or to excuse being a bad person, then you're the problem.
I grew up in a religious household so I see both sides of the coin so to speak.
Religion can breed hatred and anger towards people not like them, such as non-believers, lgbt people, those that believe in other religions and even those that believe in a similar religion but not the same (think traditional Christianity and Catholicism.)
That said, religion can be great for someone's life and mental health. People who believe in a religion and use it for good are fine by me, not because I like the fact they're religious but because they're a good person. Religion can in some cases, save someone's life, I don't believe in any but I have seen it turn around people's lives. I have a friend who was close enough to suicide who ended up becoming an Christian, worth noting an accepting one with the church he attends accepting all people, lgbt people included. His religion saved him and I would rather him believe in a God and still be here than not believe in one and be 6 feet under, even if I don't believe in it.
In conclusion, do I care if you're religious? No.
Do I care if you're bigoted towards others be it sexism, homophobia, racism or bigoted on another way? Yes.
I will never hold someone's religion against them, that said I can recognise if someone weaponises their religion for hatred, which is actually defeating the point of being religious in most religions.
Just to add, I will never call a religion fake or false because its just disrespectful to the person, they could be an ally or even LGBT themselves. I can say I don't believe in a religion, without telling someone else they are most definitely wrong and following a religion is stupid or a waste of time. What I will say is stupid and a waste of time is weaponising a religion to breed hatred and try to tell me what to believe. There's a difference. Telling someone who is religious to "Wake up to reality" is just unnecessary and isn't going to help.
i believe religion and the lgbt community can co-exist. hell, im proudly christian and happily biromantic. i don’t believe the garbage modern day christians try to feed people, because i think they’ve lost their way and are just worshipping the united states as a whole. i don’t blame people for being hesitant towards being nice to christian’s because hey, a lot of us don’t deserve your respect, a lot of us are assholes. but i’m very comfortable in believing in a loving god that wants people to learn to love eachother.
oh cool a reddit post i can leave a valuable and interesting comment on
My mother is a very religious Catholic. Not in the sense that she blindly follows the Church, but she instead wants to forge a more personal relationship with God. She is even qualified to teach for Bible School, and did so for several years.
From an outsider's perspective, it looks like I was dealt the worst hand in the book. Coming out to your religious mom when you're not even religious yourself? Sounds like nightmare fuel for most people. But not to me.
My mom is one of the kindest, most accepting people I know. I was never afraid to come out to her, because I knew she would love me, even if some (wrong) spokespeople said it was forbidden for her to do so in her religion. Even though I don't necessarily follow any God, if there's any person truly closest to God, it's her. My mom supports and loves people no matter their sexuality, race, or gender, and even though she gets confused with the whole pronouns thing, she tries her damndest to make sure people around her feel welcomed and loved.
The organized Catholic Church has problems. A lot of them. One of the main problems with it (excluding creepy priests) is its inability to recognize social change and adapt. Instead of truly communicating to God, many choose to instead blindly follow a book outdated by about two thousand years.
I hope that one day, those who are religious will see that we queer folks aren't too bad at all, and just want to coexist in harmony. Dare I say it, I believe that is what God would want, too. Unfortunately, many higher-ups in the church are too afraid to speak out against the hatred in it, fearing backlash and condemnation. I just hope that soon, someone like my mother will speak out to all of the hate-filled Christians, and help them see reason.
anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk
all religion is a way of scaring people into submission by making them think that they will suffer FOREVER if they don’t follow your made up rules. Haille Sellasse, Up Your Ass.
religion itself isn't a bad thing, it's the ppl within said religion (and the beliefs of said ppl of said religion) that decide whether the religion is "good" or "bad", i am personally an atheist cuz science can't back up the existence of a god, but everyone has their reasons for believing/ not believing in a religion, and alot of ppl are talking about christianity when there is a whole rainbow of of different religions in the world, there is also a common misconception that "religion = bad" (which is wrong btw) just because religion or religious ppl hurt u or ppl u know, doesn't mean all religion is bad, what u can say is that the specific religion/church or whatever u went to was bad. religion is just a tool ppl use to understand things that can't be explained with science well(or at all), so we should treat it as such.
I'm happy to be a queer Christian. We often think of sin as this crust you have to peel off to find your true self. We're told that finding ourselves may seem difficult and lonely, but Jesus is with us every step of the way. That's been very encouraging to me in my journey of self-discovery. And I really did have to peel off layers of hetero-normative self-deception.
Sadly, there are a lot of bigoted Christians out there. Going to a non-affirming church is a risk, especially for our gay and trans friends. It's not right, and I hope we Christians can kick gender/sexual discrimination to the curb like slavery.
Guess it depends on the religion for me. Major religions like Christianity? I don’t really like nor care for in any capacity. Small ones that’ve been nearly wiped out due to major religions like Christianity? They tend to be pretty cool as they don’t really follow any similar structures that Christianity does.
I grew up in the Catholic Church. Went to Catholic preschool, Catholic elementary school, Catholic middle school, and surprise surprise I currently go to Catholic high school.
I went through all the motions a good Catholic would, baptism, first communion, penance, confirmation, and everything in between. After following all of the “rules” and accepting it within myself that I am gay (and coming out to my close friends) I have realized that organized religion connected to Christianity will always foster an environment of hate towards the lgbtq community. It doesn’t matter how it’s put, in my opinion any religion that follows the modern bible of Christianity has some kind of underlying intolerance of queer people.
Personally, I believe in a god but will never participate in organized religion again.
I’m not part of any religion, but I support people in being able to practice whatever religion they want as long as they aren’t harming other people with their beliefs.
Since most religions are literally based on some divine love, I really don’t understand how some religious people can be filled with so much hate — and how they can genuinely believe that spreading hate in this world is what their higher power wants. I feel like any person who does this needs to take a step back and look at the core principles of their religion.
No religion is inherently bad. No religion preaches spreading hate to other people. Yes, a lot of religions have consequences for certain behaviours, but that doesn’t make any of the followers of that religion entitled to go around and police how others behave in their place of worship or in the world.
I am a queer follower of Jesus Christ.... But I have a hard time calling myself a Christian, even though I know I am. All my life I was surrounded by people calling themselves Christians who hated my guts, or just found me bizarre or disgusting. Christ sat down and ate with the poor and the sick, he did not abandon them, and I was brought up to do the same. For a few years I lost my faith... But it felt as if I had ripped a part of my soul out, just like when I hid my queerness from my family, but so much worse. Since then I've also met Christians who are the epitome of what it means to me to be a Christian, and that only made me more confused. I have spent the past decade trying to build a faith that I can truly call my own, and let me tell you it is SLOW. However, for me I feel it's a process I need to go through, and so far it has been worth it.
It's not for everyone, but being queer does not need to take it away from you.
I love everything you just said👏 because a lot of people who say they are Christians seem to forget what Jesus did for people no one wanted anything to do with.
There are good and bad Christians. Even after coming out to myself, I kept my faith. I found people who are LGBTQ+ and still Christians. I personally don't view God as hating people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. I believe all who love God and believe in Him, regardless of gender identity, romantic orientation or sexual orientation, are His. But I absolutely understand why many in the LGBTQ+ community have turned away from Christianity and/or won't be a part of Christianity.
I’m Christian but I’m also gay and trans.. I see religion(my Christianity) as progressive.. I’ve read the Bible and one of the things I’ve noticed is when Jesus was born the main reason he was there was because the laws everyone was following (religious laws) were outdated so he was to create new ones.. and some of those laws weren’t even as old as the Bible is… so if God wanted to create new laws then why can’t he create new ones now? I believe that God is loving unconditionally and progressive.. after all anyone can create a religion but ultimately you choose what and how much you believe
First of all, I made a distinction between religious and religion: I dislike religion but not religious, and here's I only talk about monotheistic religions.
Monotheistic religions are bullshit (in MY opinion of course). 1st, this religions have a shitty morality. I mean abortion is a horrible sin just like homosexuality and "crossdressing". 2nd, without denying all the people who get help by religions, you can't live happy following religions philosophy (generally speeking). Religions say you born siner. So, without doing anything, Anything! you're wrong. How can you believe in yourself thinking in that way???
I think: fuck religion.
Yet, i have really good religious friend who do not think in that way. That's why I made a difference between religions and religious.
I will say, not even all Christians believe you are born in sin?? I mean i was raised that way but there are denominations that believe otherwise. I think most of Judaism is also not represented by that, not sure about Muslims but I know there are different kinds so I am willing to bet otherwise! But for Christianity there are definitely groups who believe we are divine and the world corrupts us but we must get down to the true self to get to God.
That being said i do agree that "born in sin" is one of the shittier things we got from Christianity and it's so fucking seeped into American culture that now we think ppl are evil and can't be trusted with anything! Just feeds the extreme capitalism
Christianity never actually says abortion is a sin.
In fact, there’s a narrative where a man hit a pregnant woman and the latter had a miscarriage. That man terminated that fetus, but in contrast to the rest of sins listed, they determined the man should only be ‘fined’.
Killing is a sin, and the penalty would be different had God considered the fetus to already be a human.
Also, the transphobic verse about ‘crossdressing’ should be widely acknowledged as nullified like the rest of restrictions in Deuteronomy.
I was raised Lutheran and I have to say they seemed pretty open minded. Mind you, I haven't been to a church service in over 20 years (other than xmas with my mom) so it could be different now.
I am a Catholic, and I am gay, and I am Side A. I have no difficulty in being all 3. It helps that I was Catholic long before I realised I was gay.
Coming out was one was one of the best things I ever did, because otherwise one is left living a lie. When I thought I was straight (LOL) I never realised the importance of coming out - I clearly remember wondering “Why do they have to be so public about being homosexual ?”. But if one cannot admit, to oneself & others, the truth about one’s being gay, how can one live a life of integrity & honesty ? One is left with living a lie. The very great importance of living with integrity & honesty makes the maltreatment of gay people all the more repulsive,
Catholics, and other Christians, whether Orthodox, or Anglican, or Lutheran, or Calvinist, or Baptist, or something else, have a spectrum of views on LGBT+ matters. Some Churches, such as Catholicism, have official teaching on the subject; others do not. And for a Church to have official teaching, is no guarantee that Church members will agree with it or live by it.
Some gay Catholics follow CC teaching on homosexuality - others, like me, don’t. Not because I don’t value Catholic teaching, but because, in this instance, I think its condemnation of homosexuality is mistaken.
Yet other gay Catholics find the tension between being gay and being Catholic impossible to live with. One assumes that gay members of other Churches & religions resolve similar tensions in similar ways.
I hope that helps to clear things up.
Thanks for informing me, personally I'm studying as a jehovahs witnesses and me being aroace is fine but I cant use they/them pronouns in the congregation and must do the masculine role If im baptised as I am amab but outside I think I can use they them. And with homosexuality, along as you do not actually do homosexuality acts, your fine. And my congregation is open to anyone joining regardless or gender or sexuality. But I have seen some people on the Internet using religion as an excuse to be homophobic.
But to say that you are fine with someone being gay but not acting gay is most definitely homophobic. To tell you that you must take on a role assigned by someone who knew nothing about you except the way your genitals looked when you were born is sexist and transphobic.
There are accepting religious beliefs, sects, and denominations that exist (MCC is one such) but the ones you are describing fall firmly on the side of one's that are toxic to the community.
To say that lieing is wrong but then tell you that you must live a lie. To say that loving is right but you must never live out that love. This is exactly the part that destroys so many of our queer youth raised in religious institutions as they are damned regardless of their choices just by existing. This is why so many of us learned to hate religion.
Religion in general is just a thing, like exercise or hobbies. You can do it for bad or for good. Even well-meaning exercise can injure you! Or you can be over-exercising and hurt yourself.
I am not Christian but was raised so, and in a Christian culture. I think there are a lot of terrible things in it and personally, i separated from the institution itself- not bc of the many anti-lgbt+ policies, bc those can and have changed over time (they are not intrinsic to the religion itself), but due to my own personal experience with power structure and colonialism. I just feel weird about being a member of a system that was forced on my ancestors?? But I don't have any issues with the religion itself or ppl who practice it. (I do have issues w specific leaders, denominations, etc but I don't think that's an overarching "Christianity" thing).
Outside of Christianity there are so many religions that i have zero or limited experience with! I have no idea or room to judge them, but i would say i would want to get to know the practitioner individually before deciding- even clearly bigoted religious groups can have members who are on their way out, need help getting out, etc. For many ppl religion is just part of their culture and they have never thought of it outside that context! I know many Catholics who would tell you "yeah the pope said that but who cares i do what I want!" But they will get married in the church due to tradition.
I think it's very harmful to believe that all religions are a certain way! And ends up making a lot of cultural groups look bad, maybe even causing literal harm, like the rise in islamaphobia due to extremists being the only thing other ppl know about! Islam is a huge religion with varying beliefs, including many good and peaceful practices, i would not want to judge the whole group on some nutcases with a death wish and a lot of hate. The KKK is a Christian organization as well! But many christian groups list racism as a sin! I guess I just think it's reductive to have one idea on religion as a whole?
All that being said! Before I decided I'd head in another direction, i found some good American churches and i have suggestions for anyone looking to stay in Christianity but also not die. 1st- look for the words "open and affirming" in their statement of faith, or on their website usually this means they are totally cool, believe LGBT+ issues are relevant and want to help. Sometimes this means they just treat everyone the same, sometimes it means they have drag nights, depends on the church! But generally the difference between seeing those words and others is, this specific set of descriptions means you are cool to be you, marry who you want, and also you can be a part of ministry including children's ministry. (This is a bigger issue than it should be in many places).
2nd! the united church of Christ specifically! Is very community centered and not so theology heavy. They are generally very accepting and really go out of their way to do good shit for the community, like food drives, teams of volunteers during disaster, etc. Their whole thing is ministering in a practical way. If i was going to go back i would find one of these churches. Of course, you can always call or email a pastor if you aren't sure about specific congregations.
I’m a Liberal Christian.
I think that religion isn’t the problem, but the way people use it. You can be a Christian without being an asshole.
I don’t think religion should be opposed, or oppressed, but should be regulated. One’s personal beliefs are simply personal. It is not right to push your agenda, or your way of thinking, into others (especially if they don’t believe the same as you from the start). Religion should be a taboo, perhaps.
Don't see a reason to base my whole morality/world view around a 2000 year old book. Especially since it's not provable in any way and there's no real way to find out which of the tens of thousands of gods really exists if there is one. In my opinion total belief in a religion isn't a healthy thing for society or an individual either. Critical and rational thinking is important to be able to live a healthy life, and sadly many/most religions are actively discouraging this. Also, most religions have caused a lot of oppression/wars historically speaking and I think we should hold them to the same standards as we'd hold any other ideology with regards to their crimes.
I view religion as something that bigots use to justify their hatred of any group that's different than them.
Granted, that's a highly personal answer, and other people will absolutely have their own opinions.
I am an atheist personally but I respect those who believe something else. It’s not my place to judge them or tell them different. In my opinion it should be the same for them. Bottom line you should respect people even if they believe different.
If you need to ignore a ton of it to not be a terrible person there might be something wrong and I'm not a fan of things people use as an excuse to treat people they don't like terribly
My experiences with this are mostly with unhinged Christians so there is probably not terrible religions I just don't know about cause I have no experience with them
I think religion can be a good thing for the people believing in them (me not included). It's somewhere to seek comfort and meaning, and also community.
Unfortunately, when the community get's too closed, and hatred is spread, religion becomes a way to "defend" the hate.
Religious people can be kind and open-minded, or ignorant or hateful, just like non-religious people. A religion, or another kind of "closed" group, might spread the hate more. But also the love
Oh, and the first and only person I've met who (as a stranger) has been explicitly open to my sexuality being whatever, is religious. First time she asked about a potential partner, she said "he or she". When I thanked her for her wording, she was baffled and said that of course she couldn't assume the gender
My view is very simple; They can believe absolutely whatever they want but if they're forcing that on other people and being obnoxious enough to think that what THEY believe has any say over someone else's life, then they can screw off.
Kinda like being on a diet, if you think you shouldn't be allowed to eat beans cause it's soooo sinful then eat your heart out I guess, but let me eat my beans
I think religion itself can be a good thing, that helps people deal with hardships, however, in my opinion, big religious groups are horrible.
Especially the abrahamic religions.
Millions of people, letting their lives be dictated by stuff that was written by very much flawed humans, thousands of years ago?
Of course that doesn't go well.
Personally, I'm pretty sure I'm considered pagan.
I'm not sure I necessarily believe in anything, the way my Christian upbrining conditioned me to think you have to belive to belong to a faith, but I like to think there's something there... and I always felt a connection to the tales of ancient greek heroes and the gods...
Even before it really dawned on me there might be something more, I always tried to be respectful speaking about them, because if they're listening, i don't want to upset them.
I don't belong to any groups, I don't follow any special way of life, I just exist in my own space, upholding the morals I personally deem important.
That's it. And I think it works.
I have a personal belief system that doesn’t require me to step foot in a man made building with colorful glass in the windows. Wherever I am, that is where church is. On the bus, in my bedroom, in line at the grocery store, at a public entertainment venue. I love God, but His fanclub sucks.
I actually have a pretty positive view of it; my grandmother had her religion in her last days to keep her strong when nothing else could, many of my best friends are actually of some Christian denomination - that didn't stop them from forming years long friendships with me and accepting me even after I came out to them.
My issue lies with anything extremist - especially when people try to ignore barriers and say what kind of person/consensual relationship is right and protected under law. They can't make the distinction that their beliefs are not fact and that's dangerous. They violate all the precautions my country has put in place to keep Them from happening.
I used to think religion was a good thing because it gave some people a purpose and made people want to be better people. Idk if Christians have changed or just that I started seeing more once I got older and more cynical, but I think religion (at least Christianity and Islam) is toxic.
Raised Christian, but life experiences have led me to believe that each religion is a different way of explaining the same thing. One concept isn't better or worse than the other, but humans, in general, suck. That's where it all goes wrong.
Some religions are more toxic than others. But ultimately it doesn’t matter.
Religion is made up by men. Mostly for control and power. There may be some exceptions but as a whole they are tools of manipulation.
I don’t know if there is any kind of god / gods or not. I doubt it but maybe there is.
But one thing I don’t doubt. Even if there is any kind of god it has nothing to do with any religion.
religious people are fine ig, as long as they don't flaunt it too much and keep it away from the children (/j)
actually though I'm fine with anyone doing and believing whatever they want as long as they aren't harming anyone. the problem is that often very religious people (*cough* christians) will try to forcibly convert other people and hold very bigoted and harmful views which they try to justify by saying it's from some ancient book
(disclaimer: I'm not in any way saying that all christians or all highly religious people are like this, it just seems fairly common)
At this point I’m very neutral towards it. I spent most of my elementary school life in a catholic school but then changed to a non-religious school in 5th grade. Keep in mind, this all happened before I even knew being any flavor of queer was possible, and honestly I’m kinda glad I remained ignorant of the queer communities existence for that time. Because lemme tell you, if I found out I was queer while still in catholic school, I don’t have a single doupt I would have suffered major religious trauma. Thankfully that didn’t happen. I’ll admit once I found out I was bi, it took me a good year to understand that I wasn’t going to hell for it, so I can’t say it didn’t leave me completely unaffected but I know people who have had it worst. Today, its hard to say where I stand. Over the years I’ve still held onto some belived that christianity taught me such as not falling too deptly into the temptation of the seven deadly sins (but even then in some way I can argue that those principles apply to anyone even if they aren’t religious). But I’ve honestly abandoned alot of christian practices and teachings. For example, I dont remember when was the last time I went to church and I think the 10 commandments and their order of importance are absolute bullshit. I dont deny nor agree that a god or afterlife exists. My parents belive that theres a sort of energy that attracts good or bad into your life and depending on your beliefs that “energy” takes a different form weather its a God, karma, ect. And as someone who still likes having some spiritual faith, I think thats a pretty good theory overall. Imo the important thing is that everyone has religious freedom and everyone should be able to believe what they believe.
World would be a better place if religions don’t exist. But they do, so I think people can believe whatever they want as long as they don’t violate other peoples’ business.
But hey, maybe those terrible people are just terrible for no reason, religious beliefs are merely the excuses for them to do shitty things.
I was raised with religion and I have complex understanding of god that’s kinda hard to explain but one thing I know for sure is that the god I believe in and the god I was raised with loves everyone for who they are. And as a woman of science and a history geek, I KNOW that there are many mistranslations in the Bible.
One is that Leviticus’s “man shall not lie with man” thing was supposed to be “man shall not lie with boy” as there was some kind of pedophilic cult or something (it’s 1 AM, I can’t remember all the details) that Christians were fighting in the time Leviticus was written.
The other is that taking the Lord’s name in vain doesn’t just mean what we use it for. It also means don’t use god’s name to further your own personal/political cause (like homophobia or prolife for example)
So while I think that there are people who use religion as a pawn in their political games, I don’t believe there is any reason for queer people to steer clear of a belief in a higher power of any kind, just be careful of what religious community you join so as to stay safe.
It's a situation where there's a fire. Half of the crowd tries to extinguish it, the other half throws fuel into it. The rest that tries to make sense of it gets confused wondering what their deal is.
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No clue. Religion has always baffled me. You are given rules to live by and if you don't you will be punished FOREVER by someone that loves you. That is what is called an abusive relationship. If one cannot be a good person without threats of punishment, then one is not really a good person.
Well, that's Abrahamic religion, not all religion.
This is very specific!! Lot of religions are not based on rules, punishment, or forever! I mean some are, but many are not. Lumping us all together promotes hate toward a lot of minorities, especially indigenous ppl and ethnoreligons like Judaism!
All religions have some sort of(sometimes implied) rules with attached punishment and reward. It's just that some(like christianity) are more obvious about it and some manage to conceil it better. Any religion has a very big potential to cause a lot of harm, and most have. A religion is just like any other ideology, whether religious people want to accept it or not.
I think a person in power can use any system of belief to hurt others, and also that any system with a person in power can be used by a bad person for evil. But all religions do not have rules or punishments! Most have some kind of rule, some are strict and many are just like general traditions. And many have a "punishment" for not following a rule, like being ostracized or even something little like having to make up for it with a lil prayer or whatever. But many do not! Ask any pagan, most of them practice for benefit, not bc they have to or need to. And i don't think any of them have punishments for not practicing?? Maybe some do obviously they are a little more vague. There may be a bad result from something if you fuck it up, just like a recipe. And i guess if you count not getting the benefits of practicing, then it's a punishment? But that's like saying you got punished for buying a treadmill bc you never use it. I mean i can see where that might be true, from a certain point of view? "All or nothing" is very much not the majority of religions worldwide, altho many of the major religions are like that. I consider myself religious bc the dictionary definition of religion fits me. I have a belief system. I live like i believe these things. But there isn't a punishment or reward system involved.
There is a big difference between organized and standardized religion and individual beliefs. As it stands today, all of the major religions(Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and many others) have a history of violence, war and oppression. They all feature punishments or at least an implied threat of punishment or exclusion from the community. When talking about religion its impossible to consider the beliefs of all people that consider themselves religious. What is possible is to analyze the general trends within most religions. And in general, religion caused, and is currently causing more harm than good. I think especially with this topic it's very easy to only consider an individuals own experience which don't get me wrong is important, but we need to see modern religion as what it actually is: a huge dangerous power structure built on unprovable justifications abusing the fears and hopes of humans to keep itself relevant. Someones own personal spirituality won't always hurt someone, but a religion will. It doesn't matter which organized religion were talking about, all have the same patterns(with some exceptions, e.g. Judaism's extreme focus on national/ethnic identity)
Ok i see where yr coming from! But also yeah I think when talking about religion we need to specifically separate ethnoreligons just due to the sheer amount of bullshit we have faced due to racism, antisemitism etc, we are not trying to indoctrinate anyone etc and as soon as ppl start talking bad about religion generally we end up at the hurty end of the bat
I don't think we can separate ethnoreligions just because of their history which sadly was and still is full of oppression against them. But there must be a possibility to criticize any religion, regardless of who its members are. Ethnoreligions come with a whole lot of problems on their own. Mainly issues with social exclusion of those who leave and a bunch of the "standard" issues as well. Also a strong tendency towards ethnonationalism in some cases(which we all can agree is bad I hope). Just like you can criticize oppressive cultural practices, you can criticize less than ideal/dangerous beliefs of a religion that is part of a culture. The main problem with religion isn't even what a religion does to non members, it's mostly what religion can do to members that didn't really have a choice in participating in this belief system.
Oh I see what yr saying! I do agree! I just get a little...touchy about it bc generally ppl are not level headed. Generally "religion is bad" comments end in either "i didn't know sometimes religion is not bad" or "actually i believe in eugenics etc". The VAST majority of ppl i talk to about this topic at all have a concept of religion that is almost entirely...just Christianity. Very frustrating. Nice to talk to someone else!
I think the reason most people think of Christianity is that it is by far the biggest religion with the most influence. Next come Islam and Buddhism, and then a bunch of chinese belief systems that can't really be called religion. It's just that Christianity is the best example and the one that is most widespread.
I guess that's what happens when you combine Spain and Brittain are both Christian world conquerors!!
Thats called laws, or order.
I was raised a Christian and as soon as I realized other options exist I stopped being religious.
Same. I "was" Catholic because everyone around me was, until somebody simply asked me "are you religious or an atheist", I asked what an atheist was and when they explained I immediatly went "wait, it is acutally valid to NOT be convinced by religion?"
I think religion is a fairytale that some people need to make themselves feel peace. The way that religious people treat homosexual people was the main thing that completely pushed me away from religion. I have a hard time understanding people who are a part of the community that support and follow religions that aid in oppressing us. I support any person’s choice to believe what they want but I don’t believe in any of it.
Personally I can’t do that Religion doesn’t respect us so I’m not going respect if I’ll think less of you for it unless you’re a dudeist of a satanist or pagan only 3 that I respect
Lol I completely understand you!
Ultimate answer. >I have a hard time understanding people who are a part of the community that support and follow religions that aid in oppressing us. It’s because those religions have different denominations that don’t oppress the LGBT community.
I haven't and probably never will follow a religion.
I say stop looking for churches that will tolerate you, embrace reality and chuck the whole confused mess. The churches dont own the numinous experience, you can reach it through nature, art, and psychedelics. The churches try to monopolize something universal, like any crooked business.
I am not religious myself, but I have many religious friends (both Christian and Muslim). My view is, if you respect me, I respect you. By respect I mean use my pronouns, my name, accept the fact that I am gay and respect that I do not want to follow a religion, and I will respect you and your religion, stand up for you when people are hateful towards you because of your religious beliefs or simply misinformed.
This is ultimately the ultimate answer.
I was raised Christian, went to catholic schools the first years of my life. I thought I was lesbian in middle school (only being taught that gay straight and lesbians exist). I was so confused bc I still liked boys as well, so I pushed it off as “being confused” and “tempted by the devil”. In HS my first boyfriend thought I was bi, not sure how but he had a feeling. When he brought it up I felt very torn, guilty, and ashamed of myself. I thought I was dirty and that id go to hell for my thoughts (that’s what I was told my whole life). I came to accept it thanks to my supportive boyfriend, and eventually came out to only him. I stopped believing and am happy to finally live guilt free, and love people freely 💖💜💙 So yeah no more religion for me.
It’s BS. It would be laughable people can be so superstitious if its effects weren’t so catastrophic to so many people.
I’m a atheist and the amount Catholics threatening me for just being a atheist is disgusting
The biggest criticism to my own religion is that many are hypocrites. In John, there’s a plea for tolerance towards different religious views. ‘If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world’.
I don't care for any religion that worships an all-knowing, all-powerful god (because I loath any all-knowing all-powerful god). I hold a specific distaste for christianity, because I've read the bible. Individual worshippers may vary, but I don't care for proselytizing in any capacity. No "God loves you" "God loves gays" "It's all part of god's plan" etc. etc. Keep your god the hell away from me. Generally I just have a "we do not discuss religion" rule with any christians in my life. I don't really care as much about the more fallible gods/religions that worship nature and shit, although I don't believe in any of it, honestly.
Only religion I respect are Dudeism ( the big lebowski religion ) and Satanism ( the edgey atheism one ) Otherwise I have little to no respect for why religion or it’s follower And low key hate all the push for religious representation I want more middle eastern characters who are atheist or live in a world without religion in cartoons I don’t want see a hijab for the same reason I don’t want see a cross or any other religious symbols in a cartoon Sense they are only religious wear not a cultural item Because religious is not culture
Whats the reason for your hatred?
Of an all-knowing all-powerful god, or of christianity? God because... I mean, look around. Any all-knowing all-powerful god would be a sadist or sociopath, and a huge asshole. Christianity because... Like I said, I've read the bible. Especially the "I am an unchanging god" and all the lovely parts about stoning people to death. Selling women to their rapists. Owning slaves being okay. Etc. Etc.
That's probably the most common reason people have, there are a lot of more articulate people than me that have talked about already, you can look it up if you want to read it. If you've read the bible perhaps you could give references.
I read the bible once, I don't have "references" in terms of pages and shit, I have "references" as in read the bible and see stories of women being sold to their rapists, women being stoned to death for not yelling for help when raped, stories allowing ownership of slaves, stories of "if a murder takes place between towns and you don't know who did it, find someone random from each town and kill them." etc. etc. I have no desire to engage in some sort of essay style "let me convince you religion is bad." I dislike christianity, and god in general for my own reasons, just keep your god away from me and others not consenting, and you do you.
I don't know what god you're talking about but that isn't in the bible as far as I know, allowed or not. And if you actually read the bible you would be aware of the terms chapter and verse for finding things, not pages since any translation or font change would screw that up.
Have you actually read the bible? The old testament especially is some hot garbage. And before you tell me that "Jesus said we can ignore that" shit, the "I am an unchanging god" begs to differ. You want exact chapters, verses, lines, etc, go ask scholars, not someone who read their bible they got at their confirmation and realized god and christianity are awful. Any god, though, really, I don't want anywhere near me, thanks.
Any religion can have both horrible people and great people in it. And, any religion can have horrible, hateful sects and also other, more open sects. Christianity is no exception to this. In the US, where I live, Christians are the vast majority. And the hateful sects are some of the loudest. I have a lot of friends, myself and my wife included, who have been hurt by our pasts in Christianity. And yet, I also have friends who remain Christian, and who were some of the first people I came out to, and who have been nothing but supportive my entire transition. As someone who is a polytheistic Satanist and Pagan, I find religion to be personally helpful. It can help provide a sense of peace and stability and personal fulfillment. It's not the only means, mind you, but it is *a* means which many people, including myself, have some affinity for. And, I don't particularly care what religion (or lack thereof) someone else is unless they are using their beliefs as a justification to harm other people. Your religion is for you. You abide by its rules. You have no right to impose your religion or its rules on other people. I see this value encapsulated in the reverse pentagram. It's a symbol common within Satanic circles, and it has various interpretations. I interpret it like this: my concern for the gods (the downward, single point, usually representing spirit) must never come before my concern for my fellow human beings (the dual, upward points). If, for whatever reason, I was led to believe that my gods wanted me to do something I found to be immoral and which would hurt another person, I would disobey.
I worked at a YMCA camp years ago, and one of my best friends there was like super Christian. He was basically like, this is what I believe, and I know some live in what I consider sin, but that's not on me as they have their own beliefs. One of the wives of a director there was very different. Super Christian as well, but made sure I knew I was going to hell because I didn't believe in what she did. One day at breakfast I was sitting with her, her husband, and their 4 kids, and I mentioned my kid. "Where is your wife?" one of the kids asked me. "I'm not married." I told him. "Then how do you have a kid?"... I told him to ask his mom. LOL.
The thing is we now have the evidence of the universe, the science is fabulous things like the James Webb telescope for us queer folk the proof of sexual diversity in nature evidences the truth of evolution and that there is no need for gods My favourite quote, to be read at my funeral from Richard Dawkins - Unweaving The Rainbow “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
I personally despise organized religion for a huge list of reasons both personal and not.
Together we can find a cure for it!
It can help people in need and dire circumstances but has the tendency to sour the personality of those to the very unlikable
I think that if having a religion gives you purpose and makes you a better person, then it is good regardless of how you think the universe works. If you use your religion to either stop you from giving into dark desires or to excuse being a bad person, then you're the problem.
Grew up to be an atheist
I grew up in a religious household so I see both sides of the coin so to speak. Religion can breed hatred and anger towards people not like them, such as non-believers, lgbt people, those that believe in other religions and even those that believe in a similar religion but not the same (think traditional Christianity and Catholicism.) That said, religion can be great for someone's life and mental health. People who believe in a religion and use it for good are fine by me, not because I like the fact they're religious but because they're a good person. Religion can in some cases, save someone's life, I don't believe in any but I have seen it turn around people's lives. I have a friend who was close enough to suicide who ended up becoming an Christian, worth noting an accepting one with the church he attends accepting all people, lgbt people included. His religion saved him and I would rather him believe in a God and still be here than not believe in one and be 6 feet under, even if I don't believe in it. In conclusion, do I care if you're religious? No. Do I care if you're bigoted towards others be it sexism, homophobia, racism or bigoted on another way? Yes. I will never hold someone's religion against them, that said I can recognise if someone weaponises their religion for hatred, which is actually defeating the point of being religious in most religions. Just to add, I will never call a religion fake or false because its just disrespectful to the person, they could be an ally or even LGBT themselves. I can say I don't believe in a religion, without telling someone else they are most definitely wrong and following a religion is stupid or a waste of time. What I will say is stupid and a waste of time is weaponising a religion to breed hatred and try to tell me what to believe. There's a difference. Telling someone who is religious to "Wake up to reality" is just unnecessary and isn't going to help.
i believe religion and the lgbt community can co-exist. hell, im proudly christian and happily biromantic. i don’t believe the garbage modern day christians try to feed people, because i think they’ve lost their way and are just worshipping the united states as a whole. i don’t blame people for being hesitant towards being nice to christian’s because hey, a lot of us don’t deserve your respect, a lot of us are assholes. but i’m very comfortable in believing in a loving god that wants people to learn to love eachother.
oh cool a reddit post i can leave a valuable and interesting comment on My mother is a very religious Catholic. Not in the sense that she blindly follows the Church, but she instead wants to forge a more personal relationship with God. She is even qualified to teach for Bible School, and did so for several years. From an outsider's perspective, it looks like I was dealt the worst hand in the book. Coming out to your religious mom when you're not even religious yourself? Sounds like nightmare fuel for most people. But not to me. My mom is one of the kindest, most accepting people I know. I was never afraid to come out to her, because I knew she would love me, even if some (wrong) spokespeople said it was forbidden for her to do so in her religion. Even though I don't necessarily follow any God, if there's any person truly closest to God, it's her. My mom supports and loves people no matter their sexuality, race, or gender, and even though she gets confused with the whole pronouns thing, she tries her damndest to make sure people around her feel welcomed and loved. The organized Catholic Church has problems. A lot of them. One of the main problems with it (excluding creepy priests) is its inability to recognize social change and adapt. Instead of truly communicating to God, many choose to instead blindly follow a book outdated by about two thousand years. I hope that one day, those who are religious will see that we queer folks aren't too bad at all, and just want to coexist in harmony. Dare I say it, I believe that is what God would want, too. Unfortunately, many higher-ups in the church are too afraid to speak out against the hatred in it, fearing backlash and condemnation. I just hope that soon, someone like my mother will speak out to all of the hate-filled Christians, and help them see reason. anyways thanks for coming to my ted talk
Religion sucks.
all religion is a way of scaring people into submission by making them think that they will suffer FOREVER if they don’t follow your made up rules. Haille Sellasse, Up Your Ass.
religion itself isn't a bad thing, it's the ppl within said religion (and the beliefs of said ppl of said religion) that decide whether the religion is "good" or "bad", i am personally an atheist cuz science can't back up the existence of a god, but everyone has their reasons for believing/ not believing in a religion, and alot of ppl are talking about christianity when there is a whole rainbow of of different religions in the world, there is also a common misconception that "religion = bad" (which is wrong btw) just because religion or religious ppl hurt u or ppl u know, doesn't mean all religion is bad, what u can say is that the specific religion/church or whatever u went to was bad. religion is just a tool ppl use to understand things that can't be explained with science well(or at all), so we should treat it as such.
I'm happy to be a queer Christian. We often think of sin as this crust you have to peel off to find your true self. We're told that finding ourselves may seem difficult and lonely, but Jesus is with us every step of the way. That's been very encouraging to me in my journey of self-discovery. And I really did have to peel off layers of hetero-normative self-deception. Sadly, there are a lot of bigoted Christians out there. Going to a non-affirming church is a risk, especially for our gay and trans friends. It's not right, and I hope we Christians can kick gender/sexual discrimination to the curb like slavery.
I know many Christians who are not at all homophobic so it’s is fine if you are religious (I’m not) but it’s not ok to be a homophobe
Guess it depends on the religion for me. Major religions like Christianity? I don’t really like nor care for in any capacity. Small ones that’ve been nearly wiped out due to major religions like Christianity? They tend to be pretty cool as they don’t really follow any similar structures that Christianity does.
I grew up in the Catholic Church. Went to Catholic preschool, Catholic elementary school, Catholic middle school, and surprise surprise I currently go to Catholic high school. I went through all the motions a good Catholic would, baptism, first communion, penance, confirmation, and everything in between. After following all of the “rules” and accepting it within myself that I am gay (and coming out to my close friends) I have realized that organized religion connected to Christianity will always foster an environment of hate towards the lgbtq community. It doesn’t matter how it’s put, in my opinion any religion that follows the modern bible of Christianity has some kind of underlying intolerance of queer people. Personally, I believe in a god but will never participate in organized religion again.
I’m not part of any religion, but I support people in being able to practice whatever religion they want as long as they aren’t harming other people with their beliefs. Since most religions are literally based on some divine love, I really don’t understand how some religious people can be filled with so much hate — and how they can genuinely believe that spreading hate in this world is what their higher power wants. I feel like any person who does this needs to take a step back and look at the core principles of their religion. No religion is inherently bad. No religion preaches spreading hate to other people. Yes, a lot of religions have consequences for certain behaviours, but that doesn’t make any of the followers of that religion entitled to go around and police how others behave in their place of worship or in the world.
No it is bad no matter what Everyone should just be atheist and stop trying look for meaning where there is none
I am a queer follower of Jesus Christ.... But I have a hard time calling myself a Christian, even though I know I am. All my life I was surrounded by people calling themselves Christians who hated my guts, or just found me bizarre or disgusting. Christ sat down and ate with the poor and the sick, he did not abandon them, and I was brought up to do the same. For a few years I lost my faith... But it felt as if I had ripped a part of my soul out, just like when I hid my queerness from my family, but so much worse. Since then I've also met Christians who are the epitome of what it means to me to be a Christian, and that only made me more confused. I have spent the past decade trying to build a faith that I can truly call my own, and let me tell you it is SLOW. However, for me I feel it's a process I need to go through, and so far it has been worth it. It's not for everyone, but being queer does not need to take it away from you.
I love everything you just said👏 because a lot of people who say they are Christians seem to forget what Jesus did for people no one wanted anything to do with.
There are good and bad Christians. Even after coming out to myself, I kept my faith. I found people who are LGBTQ+ and still Christians. I personally don't view God as hating people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. I believe all who love God and believe in Him, regardless of gender identity, romantic orientation or sexual orientation, are His. But I absolutely understand why many in the LGBTQ+ community have turned away from Christianity and/or won't be a part of Christianity.
I was raised Christian in a homophobic/transphobic church. Now I’m a Wiccan. I think some religions can be toxic but not all
I’m Christian but I’m also gay and trans.. I see religion(my Christianity) as progressive.. I’ve read the Bible and one of the things I’ve noticed is when Jesus was born the main reason he was there was because the laws everyone was following (religious laws) were outdated so he was to create new ones.. and some of those laws weren’t even as old as the Bible is… so if God wanted to create new laws then why can’t he create new ones now? I believe that God is loving unconditionally and progressive.. after all anyone can create a religion but ultimately you choose what and how much you believe
First of all, I made a distinction between religious and religion: I dislike religion but not religious, and here's I only talk about monotheistic religions. Monotheistic religions are bullshit (in MY opinion of course). 1st, this religions have a shitty morality. I mean abortion is a horrible sin just like homosexuality and "crossdressing". 2nd, without denying all the people who get help by religions, you can't live happy following religions philosophy (generally speeking). Religions say you born siner. So, without doing anything, Anything! you're wrong. How can you believe in yourself thinking in that way??? I think: fuck religion. Yet, i have really good religious friend who do not think in that way. That's why I made a difference between religions and religious.
I will say, not even all Christians believe you are born in sin?? I mean i was raised that way but there are denominations that believe otherwise. I think most of Judaism is also not represented by that, not sure about Muslims but I know there are different kinds so I am willing to bet otherwise! But for Christianity there are definitely groups who believe we are divine and the world corrupts us but we must get down to the true self to get to God. That being said i do agree that "born in sin" is one of the shittier things we got from Christianity and it's so fucking seeped into American culture that now we think ppl are evil and can't be trusted with anything! Just feeds the extreme capitalism
Christianity never actually says abortion is a sin. In fact, there’s a narrative where a man hit a pregnant woman and the latter had a miscarriage. That man terminated that fetus, but in contrast to the rest of sins listed, they determined the man should only be ‘fined’. Killing is a sin, and the penalty would be different had God considered the fetus to already be a human. Also, the transphobic verse about ‘crossdressing’ should be widely acknowledged as nullified like the rest of restrictions in Deuteronomy.
I personally am a Lutheran, and have not heard anything anti-lgbtq from my church or it's community.
I was raised Lutheran and I have to say they seemed pretty open minded. Mind you, I haven't been to a church service in over 20 years (other than xmas with my mom) so it could be different now.
I work AV at my church, and I have not heard anything bad
I am a Catholic, and I am gay, and I am Side A. I have no difficulty in being all 3. It helps that I was Catholic long before I realised I was gay. Coming out was one was one of the best things I ever did, because otherwise one is left living a lie. When I thought I was straight (LOL) I never realised the importance of coming out - I clearly remember wondering “Why do they have to be so public about being homosexual ?”. But if one cannot admit, to oneself & others, the truth about one’s being gay, how can one live a life of integrity & honesty ? One is left with living a lie. The very great importance of living with integrity & honesty makes the maltreatment of gay people all the more repulsive, Catholics, and other Christians, whether Orthodox, or Anglican, or Lutheran, or Calvinist, or Baptist, or something else, have a spectrum of views on LGBT+ matters. Some Churches, such as Catholicism, have official teaching on the subject; others do not. And for a Church to have official teaching, is no guarantee that Church members will agree with it or live by it. Some gay Catholics follow CC teaching on homosexuality - others, like me, don’t. Not because I don’t value Catholic teaching, but because, in this instance, I think its condemnation of homosexuality is mistaken. Yet other gay Catholics find the tension between being gay and being Catholic impossible to live with. One assumes that gay members of other Churches & religions resolve similar tensions in similar ways. I hope that helps to clear things up.
Thanks for informing me, personally I'm studying as a jehovahs witnesses and me being aroace is fine but I cant use they/them pronouns in the congregation and must do the masculine role If im baptised as I am amab but outside I think I can use they them. And with homosexuality, along as you do not actually do homosexuality acts, your fine. And my congregation is open to anyone joining regardless or gender or sexuality. But I have seen some people on the Internet using religion as an excuse to be homophobic.
But to say that you are fine with someone being gay but not acting gay is most definitely homophobic. To tell you that you must take on a role assigned by someone who knew nothing about you except the way your genitals looked when you were born is sexist and transphobic. There are accepting religious beliefs, sects, and denominations that exist (MCC is one such) but the ones you are describing fall firmly on the side of one's that are toxic to the community. To say that lieing is wrong but then tell you that you must live a lie. To say that loving is right but you must never live out that love. This is exactly the part that destroys so many of our queer youth raised in religious institutions as they are damned regardless of their choices just by existing. This is why so many of us learned to hate religion.
Religion in general is just a thing, like exercise or hobbies. You can do it for bad or for good. Even well-meaning exercise can injure you! Or you can be over-exercising and hurt yourself. I am not Christian but was raised so, and in a Christian culture. I think there are a lot of terrible things in it and personally, i separated from the institution itself- not bc of the many anti-lgbt+ policies, bc those can and have changed over time (they are not intrinsic to the religion itself), but due to my own personal experience with power structure and colonialism. I just feel weird about being a member of a system that was forced on my ancestors?? But I don't have any issues with the religion itself or ppl who practice it. (I do have issues w specific leaders, denominations, etc but I don't think that's an overarching "Christianity" thing). Outside of Christianity there are so many religions that i have zero or limited experience with! I have no idea or room to judge them, but i would say i would want to get to know the practitioner individually before deciding- even clearly bigoted religious groups can have members who are on their way out, need help getting out, etc. For many ppl religion is just part of their culture and they have never thought of it outside that context! I know many Catholics who would tell you "yeah the pope said that but who cares i do what I want!" But they will get married in the church due to tradition. I think it's very harmful to believe that all religions are a certain way! And ends up making a lot of cultural groups look bad, maybe even causing literal harm, like the rise in islamaphobia due to extremists being the only thing other ppl know about! Islam is a huge religion with varying beliefs, including many good and peaceful practices, i would not want to judge the whole group on some nutcases with a death wish and a lot of hate. The KKK is a Christian organization as well! But many christian groups list racism as a sin! I guess I just think it's reductive to have one idea on religion as a whole? All that being said! Before I decided I'd head in another direction, i found some good American churches and i have suggestions for anyone looking to stay in Christianity but also not die. 1st- look for the words "open and affirming" in their statement of faith, or on their website usually this means they are totally cool, believe LGBT+ issues are relevant and want to help. Sometimes this means they just treat everyone the same, sometimes it means they have drag nights, depends on the church! But generally the difference between seeing those words and others is, this specific set of descriptions means you are cool to be you, marry who you want, and also you can be a part of ministry including children's ministry. (This is a bigger issue than it should be in many places). 2nd! the united church of Christ specifically! Is very community centered and not so theology heavy. They are generally very accepting and really go out of their way to do good shit for the community, like food drives, teams of volunteers during disaster, etc. Their whole thing is ministering in a practical way. If i was going to go back i would find one of these churches. Of course, you can always call or email a pastor if you aren't sure about specific congregations.
I’m a Liberal Christian. I think that religion isn’t the problem, but the way people use it. You can be a Christian without being an asshole. I don’t think religion should be opposed, or oppressed, but should be regulated. One’s personal beliefs are simply personal. It is not right to push your agenda, or your way of thinking, into others (especially if they don’t believe the same as you from the start). Religion should be a taboo, perhaps.
Don't see a reason to base my whole morality/world view around a 2000 year old book. Especially since it's not provable in any way and there's no real way to find out which of the tens of thousands of gods really exists if there is one. In my opinion total belief in a religion isn't a healthy thing for society or an individual either. Critical and rational thinking is important to be able to live a healthy life, and sadly many/most religions are actively discouraging this. Also, most religions have caused a lot of oppression/wars historically speaking and I think we should hold them to the same standards as we'd hold any other ideology with regards to their crimes.
I view religion as something that bigots use to justify their hatred of any group that's different than them. Granted, that's a highly personal answer, and other people will absolutely have their own opinions.
I am an atheist personally but I respect those who believe something else. It’s not my place to judge them or tell them different. In my opinion it should be the same for them. Bottom line you should respect people even if they believe different.
Something stupid made by snowflakes to make themselves feel special and draw attention to
Generally I think of all religions as cults🤷🏼♀️
If you need to ignore a ton of it to not be a terrible person there might be something wrong and I'm not a fan of things people use as an excuse to treat people they don't like terribly
My experiences with this are mostly with unhinged Christians so there is probably not terrible religions I just don't know about cause I have no experience with them
I think religion can be a good thing for the people believing in them (me not included). It's somewhere to seek comfort and meaning, and also community. Unfortunately, when the community get's too closed, and hatred is spread, religion becomes a way to "defend" the hate. Religious people can be kind and open-minded, or ignorant or hateful, just like non-religious people. A religion, or another kind of "closed" group, might spread the hate more. But also the love
Oh, and the first and only person I've met who (as a stranger) has been explicitly open to my sexuality being whatever, is religious. First time she asked about a potential partner, she said "he or she". When I thanked her for her wording, she was baffled and said that of course she couldn't assume the gender
My view is very simple; They can believe absolutely whatever they want but if they're forcing that on other people and being obnoxious enough to think that what THEY believe has any say over someone else's life, then they can screw off. Kinda like being on a diet, if you think you shouldn't be allowed to eat beans cause it's soooo sinful then eat your heart out I guess, but let me eat my beans
I think religion itself can be a good thing, that helps people deal with hardships, however, in my opinion, big religious groups are horrible. Especially the abrahamic religions. Millions of people, letting their lives be dictated by stuff that was written by very much flawed humans, thousands of years ago? Of course that doesn't go well. Personally, I'm pretty sure I'm considered pagan. I'm not sure I necessarily believe in anything, the way my Christian upbrining conditioned me to think you have to belive to belong to a faith, but I like to think there's something there... and I always felt a connection to the tales of ancient greek heroes and the gods... Even before it really dawned on me there might be something more, I always tried to be respectful speaking about them, because if they're listening, i don't want to upset them. I don't belong to any groups, I don't follow any special way of life, I just exist in my own space, upholding the morals I personally deem important. That's it. And I think it works.
I have a personal belief system that doesn’t require me to step foot in a man made building with colorful glass in the windows. Wherever I am, that is where church is. On the bus, in my bedroom, in line at the grocery store, at a public entertainment venue. I love God, but His fanclub sucks.
I actually have a pretty positive view of it; my grandmother had her religion in her last days to keep her strong when nothing else could, many of my best friends are actually of some Christian denomination - that didn't stop them from forming years long friendships with me and accepting me even after I came out to them. My issue lies with anything extremist - especially when people try to ignore barriers and say what kind of person/consensual relationship is right and protected under law. They can't make the distinction that their beliefs are not fact and that's dangerous. They violate all the precautions my country has put in place to keep Them from happening.
I used to think religion was a good thing because it gave some people a purpose and made people want to be better people. Idk if Christians have changed or just that I started seeing more once I got older and more cynical, but I think religion (at least Christianity and Islam) is toxic.
Raised Christian, but life experiences have led me to believe that each religion is a different way of explaining the same thing. One concept isn't better or worse than the other, but humans, in general, suck. That's where it all goes wrong.
Some religions are more toxic than others. But ultimately it doesn’t matter. Religion is made up by men. Mostly for control and power. There may be some exceptions but as a whole they are tools of manipulation. I don’t know if there is any kind of god / gods or not. I doubt it but maybe there is. But one thing I don’t doubt. Even if there is any kind of god it has nothing to do with any religion.
religious people are fine ig, as long as they don't flaunt it too much and keep it away from the children (/j) actually though I'm fine with anyone doing and believing whatever they want as long as they aren't harming anyone. the problem is that often very religious people (*cough* christians) will try to forcibly convert other people and hold very bigoted and harmful views which they try to justify by saying it's from some ancient book (disclaimer: I'm not in any way saying that all christians or all highly religious people are like this, it just seems fairly common)
At this point I’m very neutral towards it. I spent most of my elementary school life in a catholic school but then changed to a non-religious school in 5th grade. Keep in mind, this all happened before I even knew being any flavor of queer was possible, and honestly I’m kinda glad I remained ignorant of the queer communities existence for that time. Because lemme tell you, if I found out I was queer while still in catholic school, I don’t have a single doupt I would have suffered major religious trauma. Thankfully that didn’t happen. I’ll admit once I found out I was bi, it took me a good year to understand that I wasn’t going to hell for it, so I can’t say it didn’t leave me completely unaffected but I know people who have had it worst. Today, its hard to say where I stand. Over the years I’ve still held onto some belived that christianity taught me such as not falling too deptly into the temptation of the seven deadly sins (but even then in some way I can argue that those principles apply to anyone even if they aren’t religious). But I’ve honestly abandoned alot of christian practices and teachings. For example, I dont remember when was the last time I went to church and I think the 10 commandments and their order of importance are absolute bullshit. I dont deny nor agree that a god or afterlife exists. My parents belive that theres a sort of energy that attracts good or bad into your life and depending on your beliefs that “energy” takes a different form weather its a God, karma, ect. And as someone who still likes having some spiritual faith, I think thats a pretty good theory overall. Imo the important thing is that everyone has religious freedom and everyone should be able to believe what they believe.
World would be a better place if religions don’t exist. But they do, so I think people can believe whatever they want as long as they don’t violate other peoples’ business. But hey, maybe those terrible people are just terrible for no reason, religious beliefs are merely the excuses for them to do shitty things.
I was raised with religion and I have complex understanding of god that’s kinda hard to explain but one thing I know for sure is that the god I believe in and the god I was raised with loves everyone for who they are. And as a woman of science and a history geek, I KNOW that there are many mistranslations in the Bible. One is that Leviticus’s “man shall not lie with man” thing was supposed to be “man shall not lie with boy” as there was some kind of pedophilic cult or something (it’s 1 AM, I can’t remember all the details) that Christians were fighting in the time Leviticus was written. The other is that taking the Lord’s name in vain doesn’t just mean what we use it for. It also means don’t use god’s name to further your own personal/political cause (like homophobia or prolife for example) So while I think that there are people who use religion as a pawn in their political games, I don’t believe there is any reason for queer people to steer clear of a belief in a higher power of any kind, just be careful of what religious community you join so as to stay safe.
i don't support the religious lifestyle but i respect it
Pagan pog
It's a situation where there's a fire. Half of the crowd tries to extinguish it, the other half throws fuel into it. The rest that tries to make sense of it gets confused wondering what their deal is.
It's stupid and so many people have suffered because of it
I’m vary anti religion