Can one be both gay and religious or its not possible?
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Can one be both gay and religious or its not possible?
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I suppose it depends what religion.
But for me personally I think all religions are outdated. All religion is good for is 1- controlling populations by instilling fear into them, 2- causing discrimination 3-wars
I like to believe in a higher power and all that but I am definitely not religious.
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I don't want to defend the different religions but they're not the cause for every bad in the world. If there was no religion there would still be wars and discrimination.
And yes, you can be gay and religious. Which I'm not overly, so don't misinterpret my post.
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I don't see why not. It would all depend on your religious faith of choice. Personally, I'm far more self identified as 'spiritual' then 'religious', but that could be splitting hairs shrugs To me, spirituality and religion are intertwined, but individual things. Others will disagree.
In the end, it's a personal choice of being religious, spiritual, etc and dealing with the issue(s) that arise out of ones sexuality and sexual identity.
There are plenty of faiths that accept homosexuality. Some require one to be celibate, others don't.
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My boyfriend is, to be honest we are both roman catholic but I went to a catholic school when he did not, his mother is religious and so is he, he went to church school and even taught that what is even really strange for me for I even sang at church's choir for 7 years, but after I finished high school I almost quit it entirely, I'm not atheist or something, I believe, in some way but I don't like my religion whole showy way of proving you are christian so I chose to live it in a more private way, he is not, he does the via crucis, lent, masses, etc. He is very into it and I respect it entirely despite the fact that sometimes we argue about our different views, being both nerds our discussions go really deep and I try my best not to attack his beliefs but sometimes is difficult, he is really smart and the whole dicotomy between that and his religion feels strange to me. My ex was Hinduist, that was trouble, really, meditation, 2 hours during the morning, another 2 before going to bed, etc etc etc etc. I don't mind religious people as long as they don't want me to pull me into their worlds. God, should you believe in it or not, is a concept and the way you relate to that is your own choice but could be a bit challenging when your partners is religious and you are not, one has to compromise in some way, if you really care about the person you are with, that's my case, of course. Â
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Yes, definitely you can.
I know someone who is gay and religious. In my place, the churches I've been to is open to anyone who wants to attend a mass. ;D -
Perhaps the religion makes love God but nothing is stronger than it to incur hatred of man and humanity.
(Boualem Sansal, 2084)
or still valid:
Religion is the opium of the people
(Karl Marx) -
True religion (as opposed to dogma) has nothing to do with sexuality. Believing in some deity/god/spirit and liking men at the same time is perfectly normal!
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Perhaps… depends on the religion. But I don't believe being gay is compatible with mainstream religions like catholicism, evangelicism, most forms of christianism actually, and islam.
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In my opinion, it's extremely hard for someone to be openly gay AND a part of a religious organization. I believe it's pretty okay and normal for gay people to believe in God and pray. But it'd be contradicting to be openly gay and an active member of an organized religion, as organized religions (Christians, Muslims, Catholics, etc) promote homophobia and view homosexuality as both a choice and sin. If you were okay with being gay and refused to go into the closet (which religious organizations often want you to do, suppress your sexuality and stop "sinning"), you'd completely go against what religious organizations preach and would be viewed as someone who is stubborn and choosing to sin. You'd probably get avoided by other members of your organized religion, and only forgiven if you decided to suppress your sexuality and live life as a straight man, getting married to a woman and having children.
Anyone who is openly gay and okay with it wouldn't want to do that. Why would they put that burden on themselves?
Again, remember, you don't need to be a part of organized religion to believe in god. There are gay folks out there that accept being gay and pray every night. Nothing wrong with that!
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In my opinion, it's extremely hard for someone to be openly gay AND a part of a religious organization. I believe it's pretty okay and normal for gay people to believe in God and pray. But it'd be contradicting to be openly gay and an active member of an organized religion, as organized religions (Christians, Muslims, Catholics, etc) promote homophobia and view homosexuality as both a choice and sin. If you were okay with being gay and refused to go into the closet (which religious organizations often want you to do, suppress your sexuality and stop "sinning"), you'd completely go against what religious organizations preach and would be viewed as someone who is stubborn and choosing to sin. You'd probably get avoided by other members of your organized religion, and only forgiven if you decided to suppress your sexuality and live life as a straight man, getting married to a woman and having children.
Anyone who is openly gay and okay with it wouldn't want to do that. Why would they put that burden on themselves?
Again, remember, you don't need to be a part of organized religion to believe in god. There are gay folks out there that accept being gay and pray every night. Nothing wrong with that!
:true:
Very very very well put!
:bravo:
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It's really a matter of definition tbh. Like kwe4r said above, you really have do define "religion", as it can mean both "organized religion or dogma" or simply "belief in some sort of deity or higher spirit/power". This is actually the difference between religion and theism. If you believe in some god and you follow the rules and the morals of the society that has evolved around that (catholic, islamic, orthodox christian, etc.), it's a religion. But if you just believe in god (weather the same as that of an organized religion or some sort of personification of higher power) without following any rules assigned by priests, holy books, etc, you are just a believer or a theist. All religious people are theists, but not all theists are religious. Ergo, having no religion makes you a non-religious person but not necessarily an atheist. However, if you don't believe in any sort of a higher power or deity, you are an atheist.
So yeah, it doesn't really depend on weather you believe in god(s) or what god(s) you believe in. What matters is what moral code, what ethics you follow. If it's the set of morals assigned by your religion, then you can be a homosexual, but most probably you will be forced to hide it (I was baptized a Greek Orthodox Christian without my will and I know the struggle, it took me ages to understand the religion/belief distinction and that in fact "my" religion is just an oppressive set of stupid rules). On the other hand, if your life is ruled by personal morals, or morals that are assigned by other aspects of the society (politics, etc), then yeah, you can believe in god and still be an open homosexual
Also, let's not forget that there are thousands of religions around the globe, and very few of them are de facto against homosexuality. Most of them have simply not taken a stand on this matter because they care about different things more (virtues, spirituality, the human mind, etc). So yeah, this christiano-islamo-centric theory doesn't even stand for other religions (to put it simply, in other religions you might be a homosexual and not be a sinner whatsoever)
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Yes, one can be both gay and religious
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Yes. But like peolple said above, it depends what religion. I think the most common is to believe in a hower power and have a good behaviour/conduct. I follow the Spiritism, a christian-spiritualistic doctrine codified in the 19th century by the Frenchman Allan Kardec because it has good principles and reasonable beliefs, plus an acceptance bisexuality/homosexuality, among other things. Besides, it teaches a dialogue with science. Many "mainstream" religions, otherwise, have a blind faith. I don't like that and I couldn't follow something like Islam or Ortodo Christianity, for example.
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Its possible in non Judaic religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, ancient celtic or egyptian faiths, persian faiths. Not possible with Christianity, Islam and Jews.
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Can one like both guys and girls? Can one be both conservative and liberal? Can one be both an animal lover and a non-vegan?
The questions could go on and on (and others may not even see the relevance of these analogies), but the simple answer to your question – that's based on fact and common sense -- is YES.
First of all, there are some religions that have been accepting of gay or those that are beginning to open up their boundaries to embrace gays into their fold. Second, for those that aren't accepting of the practice(s) of being gay, are there any members of any religious group that are perfect in practicing 100% of all their tenets or beliefs? The point there is that everyone is always selective in whatever law or commandment they'll follow in any religion anyway. So for religions that don't have a problem with being gay, the answer is quite obvious; for religions that have a problem with it, you'll just have to accept and live with the fact that you won't be living certain laws in its entirety… doesn't mean you can't be religious at all. Nothing is black and white.
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In the New Testament, which gives an alternative to the laws of the Old Testament, one apostle saiys to work out you OWN salvation in fear and trembling. It is not tied to the law, especially another man's interpretation of that law, but you own. Also,"and the greatest of these is LOVE." It is totally possible to be gay, or bi, or hetero and religious.
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Its possible in non Judaic religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, ancient celtic or egyptian faiths, persian faiths. Not possible with Christianity, Islam and Jews.
It's been over 10 years since I considered myself a christian. These days I tend to think of myself as a "philosophical mystic".
But from what I learned about the Old and New Testament and also Jewism, nowhere in the OT does Jahve really condemn homosexuality, for a large part it seemed to depend on a certain interpretation of the OT.
As for NT, well, it seems to be clear that Paul spoke openly against homosexuality - and he was the only one to have a word on this issue. But then again, when I examined the life of Paul, it soon became clear to me that he was a hateful bigot before he was turned into christianity and he was a hateful bigot after his conversion. It always mesmerizes me how on earth his writings ever were accepted as a part of the Bible. My only theory is some kind of a corruption and favouritism analogous - but by no means similar - to that of how the Borgia family ever came to rule the catholic church.Without giving any opinion of the validity of the Judaic God or christianity, I can only say that throughout the history of christianity poor, even erroneous, judgements have been made concerning the foopundations of christianity, and from what I remember (I haven't really cared to study much after leaving my church), there have been notable theologians and scholars who would agree with me on this.
So, it might not be impossible in theory to be a homosexual christian, but it may very well be impossible for some individulas to practice christianity because there is still a lot of confusion about the issue in christian society and it may be difficult to find a church that accepts homosexuals. Therefore, in practice, worshipping the christian God may become unbareable at some point due to the view of your fellow christians, sadly.
As for the other Judaic religions, I don't know enough about them to say yay or nay, but it might not be as easy to practice other religions either as a homosexual, those that seem to be more "open-minded" for the exact same reasons: for example, if you want to really practice Taoism as a religion, and not just ponder about its philosophical aspects, you are bound to run into some nasty obstacles if you're a homosexual sooner or later, because some Taosits do believe homosexuality is unnatural (as would some hinduists etc. I'd assume) and they might not be shy to share their views with you.
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In my opinion, it's extremely hard for someone to be openly gay AND a part of a religious organization. I believe it's pretty okay and normal for gay people to believe in God and pray. But it'd be contradicting to be openly gay and an active member of an organized religion, as organized religions (Christians, Muslims, Catholics, etc) promote homophobia and view homosexuality as both a choice and sin. If you were okay with being gay and refused to go into the closet (which religious organizations often want you to do, suppress your sexuality and stop "sinning"), you'd completely go against what religious organizations preach and would be viewed as someone who is stubborn and choosing to sin. You'd probably get avoided by other members of your organized religion, and only forgiven if you decided to suppress your sexuality and live life as a straight man, getting married to a woman and having children.
Anyone who is openly gay and okay with it wouldn't want to do that. Why would they put that burden on themselves?
Again, remember, you don't need to be a part of organized religion to believe in god. There are gay folks out there that accept being gay and pray every night. Nothing wrong with that!
:true:
Very very very well put!
:bravo:
I second that motion :true:
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Well, depends on your definition of "religious". If your definition is faith in God, then you don't need to be religious which is based on a 'religion'. I sincerely and wholeheartedly believe in God, but no longer in religion. I am from the Philippines which is predominantly Catholic/Christian but I am living in Indonesia which is predominantly Muslim for 5 and half years now and having been exposed to countries which is predominant in 2 of the biggest religions in the world, I can already say confidently that religion is man made and is not created by God. There are lots of similarities and as much of differences in these religions, and if one is correct then the other is wrong, which only reflects that religion is fallible just like its creator which is humans. they rather TALK about their religion's gods and spread their bigotry to their worshipers. I remember when I was young, that being religious means being kind to others, but now, being religious means that you need to force your beliefs to others, and those that don't, are enemies of their gods. Also, instead of spreading the love of God, they instead spread the hate. I will not start with all the fallacies of their religions, but believing in true God, and as person who are no longer swayed by popular beliefs, I daresay that religions of the world are man made and are only as good as their creator. If there is one Holy Law that I personally believe in, that is KARMA! If you do good things, you will receive good things. If you do bad, you'll receive bad things. I'd rather do charities and good things to other people, than going to church.Â
