LGBT people and religion

I'm a Christian. I have been for years and I think I always will be. I go to an accepting church with a lesbian pastor so nothing negative is said about the LGBT community

 

I'm a secular humanist, although I try to follow a spiritual warrior code. Although I am queer, I do not feel that the code does not exclude me, and I know for a fact that the people who follow it embrace me.

 

Ex-Catholic.

Now atheist and anti-theist.

 

When I was younger I tried to "pray the gay away". Obviously it didn't work (thank god) so I decided to research more and became atheist. I don't want to follow a religion that is partially to blame for our equality issues and I know a lot of people are gay Christians and I don't think there's anything wrong with being religions. I see what's in the bible and that's how I take it and even if it was misinterpreted I still wouldn't believe in God because I require a substantial amount of evidence before I make such large claims.

 

There's not a single Muslim out of 61 voters? Wow.

 

I am an ex-christian. I used to go to a united methodist church, but they kicked me out when they thought that I might be bisexual/gay/not straight.

So.. now I consider myself to be atheist. My belief in God really went away after how some of his followers treated me.

 

Very fortunate to never have any religious influence upon me, although I would like to think I still would have rejected it if I did.

 

I don't really like to define my religion, I believe in a few things, and I learn from many different religions.

 

I'm sorry that you had that experience. My mom went to a United Methodist church for a while and knew the pastor personally. The parent church was (and maybe still is) anti-queer at the time, but the pastor wasn't.

 

I really really liked that. In fact it explains better than I ever could some of my own spirituality. Can I steal this?

 

Was raised Catholic, attended CCD and such (the Church is right across the street from my house ). However, I now consider myself to be atheist and do not follow any religion.

 

I'm sorry but what's difference between not religious (spiritual) and irreligious (agnostic)? I would consider myself an agnostic theist but I'm not sure which option I would pick since I have my own beliefs about things like life after death.

 

Raised as Jehovah's Witness. I believe everything I've learned but homosexuality doesn't exactly mix with it. Technically if I avoid homosexual friendships and relationships and sex, I could stay a Witness. . . But my heart is going two different directions. Basically I'd have to be a nun. I'm not sure what I'm doing exactly.

 

I am a Christian and was raised in the Anglican church (I believe that is the Episcopal Church in the US) I still attend my neighbourhood Anglican church every Sunday and I am fortunate that it is a very welcoming and inclusive congregation. I am not out, but there are many people in my church who are, and this summer we had 2 gay weddings at our church, one couple who are actually members of our congregation. The other couple live in the neighbourhood and thought our church was a) beautiful and b) they knew we were welcoming and we had no problems with marriage between any two loving, accepting adults.

Don't get me wrong, there are a few members who have issues with homosexuality, but they are few and far between. Many times our priest has reminded them that God made us all in His image and that means everyone. He created us to love one another, regardless of gender.

I promise, I am not preachy, and I think I am almost more secretive of my religious affiliation than I am of my sexuality. So many people label you when you state you are Christian. They automatically assume that you are hard core ultra conservative and you are a bible quoting bigot who is out in the world to convert the heathens.

I am far from it, I think we all have our own beliefs and support systems and we all have to find what is the right fit for each of us. I don't care about a persons religious beliefs, I care about a person's moral compass and their qualities. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself and have some compassion and understanding for your fellow human.

 

Has anyone noticed that there are a ton of people who are either Jehovah's Witnesses, former Jehovah's Witnesses, or interested in that religion in this thread?

Anyways, I was raised vaguely Christian (the Christmas and Easter type), but I had abandoned that religion by the time I was 14. I drifted around looking into various philosophies like deism and ignosticism and various neopagan ideologies, until I finally settled upon a sort of pantheist philosophy. I would like to visit one of the various pantheistic religions, such as Neo-Druidry or Taoism or something, or a religion that doesn't contradict with it like Buddhism maybe.

 

I was raised without religion, but I am now a Buddhist. I am not affiliated with any denomination and prefer to seek out my own understanding of the dharma, and path to liberation. As the Buddha said "be a light unto yourself".

 

Meditation has not to be of Buddhism always, it can come from Hindu, Yoga, or any such. Its a way to gain internal peace.
However Buddhist meditation is just only one method in Buddhism, one very important when you know its teachings, but def not everything. and there's no proof meditation is going to teach about Buddhism, as it's up to the instructor to decide what he's going to teach in those sessions. It could be even nothing on the teachings but instructions to follow meditations.

If you really want to learn what Buddhism has to offer, you've got to learn its fundamentals. Why some people say there's nonsense or that its hard to follow in nowadays society is that they haven't grasped its basics, but just myths or cultural traditions from various branches or their own misconceptions. Then its useless despite of how much time one has spent on it. And there's no internally scoffing or dogma in it as to my understanding. Its a philosophy to gain peace in mind and life.

 

I was raised going to a catholic church on rare occasions and my mom said to believe in whatever I please. But then she was sad when I said i was atheist.