By Kelly Dickerson, Staff Writer
(LiveScience) Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) are much less likely to be religious than non-LGBT Americans, according to a new Gallup poll.
Just less than half of LGBT Americans said religion is important in their daily lives, compared with about two-thirds of non-LGBT Americans. Moreover, about 40 percent of non-LGBT adults identified themselves as highly religious, compared with just 24 percent of LGBT adults. About the same percentage of LGBT and non-LGBT Americans said they considered themselves moderately religious (29 percent). But LGBT Americans were much more likely to identify as not religious at all: 47 percent considered themselves not religious, compared with just 30 percent of non-LGBT Americans.
Participants were categorized as "highly religious" if they said religion played an important role in their day-to-day life and they attended a religious service every week, according to Gallup. A person was considered "not religious" if they said religion is not important in their daily life and they seldom or never attended any religious service, according to Gallup. "Moderately religious" people reported that religion is important to them but they do not regularly attend services. [10 Milestones in Gay Rights History]
Part of the reason for the disparity in religiousness may be that LGBT individuals do not feel welcomed into religious communities whose doctrine does not support any kind of nonheterosexual relationship, Gallup representatives noted.
However, religious doctrine is not the only explanation for the difference in religiousness between the two groups: Gallup representatives pointed out that LGBT people may be more likely to live in areas where religion is less common, and more likely to adopt the same mind-set and practices of others in the area.
Age may also play a significant role, according to a statement from Gallup. Overall, the U.S. LGBT population is much younger than the non-LGBT population, and young adults are less religious than any other age group in the United States. This could partially explain the lower rates of religious people among the LGBT group, according to Gallup.
However, even after breaking up the data by age, LGBT individuals are still less likely to identify themselves as religious. More than half of LGBT young adults (ages 18 to 34) reported they are not religious, while only 39 percent of non-LGBT young adults said they are not religious.
LGBT individuals were most likely to identify with Protestantism (35 percent), followed by Catholicism (20 percent). LGBT individuals were also much more likely to identify with a non-Christian religion (8 percent) than non-LGBT individuals (2 percent).
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Presbyterian Church voted to allow ministers to marry LGBT couples if their state has legalized same-sex marriage. If religious communities continue to become more accepting, the religious gap between LGBT and non-LGBT individuals may close, Gallup representatives said.
The results of the poll are based on 104,000 telephone interviews with U.S. adults ages 18 or older between Jan. 2 and July 31.
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Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Friday, July 19, 2013
Vatican prelate in 'gay romance' with Swiss guard?
AFP - The Vatican's "gay lobby" was back in the headlines on Friday after the alleged exposure of a homosexual prelate appointed by Pope Francis to a key position at the Vatican bank.
The Italian weekly L'Espresso said prelate Battista Ricca had gay relationships during his time at the Vatican embassy of Montevideo in Uruguay as well as an affair with a Swiss guard which ultimately saw him sent back to Rome in disgrace.
Vatican expert for L'Espresso Sandro Magister said Ricca provided lodgings and a pay check for captain Patrick Haari in 1999 and was once left badly beaten after trawling notorious gay hangouts before his behaviour saw him transferred out of Montevideo in 2000.
An internal bid to protect him and cover up the scandal meant Francis apparently had no idea about Ricca's past before he appointed him as his personal representative at the scandal-hit bank this year.
Ricca went on to hold several prestigious positions in Rome, including the director of the Santa Martha residence where the pope lives.
Magister said the wiping of Ricca's records was an example of a "gay lobby" at work in the Vatican.
Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi brushed off the story as "not credible" but the magazine insisted the allegations were confirmed by primary sources. It said "numerous bishops, priests, religious and laity" in Uruguay had testified against Ricca.
Religious watchers said the leaks about Ricca's past may be an internal attempt to block the prelate from carrying out reforms.
In June, Francis admitted the existence of a "gay lobby" inside the Vatican's secretive administration, the Roman Curia.
"In the Curia, there are truly some saints, but there is also a current of corruption... There is talk of a 'gay lobby' and it's true, it exists," he was quoted as having said during an audience with CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women).
The admission followed Italian media reports in February which claimed that a secret report by cardinals investigating leaks from within the Vatican included allegations of corruption and blackmail attempts against gay clergymen, and on the other hand, favouritism based on gay relationships.
If the allegations are proven to be true, it would be a blow to Francis's attempts to clean up the scandal-hit Vatican.
Link:
Friday, May 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Catholic Journal (Archdiocese of Boston - The Pilot) Withdraws Column that Suggests Devil Responsible for Homosexuality
(AP) BOSTON – The oldest Roman Catholic newspaper in the United States has retracted an opinion column suggesting the devil may be responsible for gay attraction.
The column, which appeared Friday in the Archdiocese of Boston's official newspaper, The Pilot, was titled "Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction." It was written by Daniel Avila, an associate director for policy and research for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the column, Avila says "the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil."
It also says "disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart." It says that when "natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God."
The 182-year-old newspaper withdrew the column from its website on Wednesday, saying it had failed to recognize the "theological error" before publication. It posted an apology from Avila saying the column didn't represent the position of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose stated purpose is to "promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind," and wasn't authorized for publication.
Avila said he deeply apologized for the "hurt and confusion" the column caused.
Archdiocesan officials said Avila's apology would appear in the issue of The Pilot to be published this week, The Boston Globe reported.
The Boston archdiocese, the bishops' group and Avila were involved in communications leading to the decision to retract the column, said archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon, who called Avila "passionate about his faith and passionate about his church."
"This one," Donilon said, "clearly just got away from him."
Several gay rights organizations, including DignityUSA, an association of gay Catholics, and Mass Equality, a Massachusetts group organized to support same-sex marriage, didn't immediately return telephone or email messages seeking comment Wednesday night.
And from the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper:
And the first page of the article as it appeared before it was removed:
Links:
The column, which appeared Friday in the Archdiocese of Boston's official newspaper, The Pilot, was titled "Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction." It was written by Daniel Avila, an associate director for policy and research for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the column, Avila says "the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil."
It also says "disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart." It says that when "natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God."
The 182-year-old newspaper withdrew the column from its website on Wednesday, saying it had failed to recognize the "theological error" before publication. It posted an apology from Avila saying the column didn't represent the position of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose stated purpose is to "promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind," and wasn't authorized for publication.
Avila said he deeply apologized for the "hurt and confusion" the column caused.
Archdiocesan officials said Avila's apology would appear in the issue of The Pilot to be published this week, The Boston Globe reported.
The Boston archdiocese, the bishops' group and Avila were involved in communications leading to the decision to retract the column, said archdiocese spokesman Terrence Donilon, who called Avila "passionate about his faith and passionate about his church."
"This one," Donilon said, "clearly just got away from him."
Several gay rights organizations, including DignityUSA, an association of gay Catholics, and Mass Equality, a Massachusetts group organized to support same-sex marriage, didn't immediately return telephone or email messages seeking comment Wednesday night.
And from the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper:
Editor's Note: Daniel Avila issued the following "Retraction/Apology" Nov. 2 in regard to his opinion piece "Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction" which was published in our Oct. 28 edition. In addition to echoing Mr. Avila's statement of regret, The Pilot also wishes to apologize for having failed to recognize the theological error in the column before publication. The Pilot has removed the column 'Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction' from its Website.
Retraction/Apology from Daniel Avila
"Statements made in my column, 'Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction' of October 28, do not represent the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the column was not authorized for publication as is required policy for staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The teaching of Sacred Scripture and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church make it clear that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and have inviolable dignity. Likewise, the Church proclaims the sanctity of marriage as the permanent, faithful, fruitful union of one man and one woman. The Church opposes, as I do too, all unjust discrimination and the violence against persons that unjust discrimination inspires. I deeply apologize for the hurt and confusion that this column has caused."
And the first page of the article as it appeared before it was removed:
Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction(The article had a second page...)
Daniel Avila
More than once I have heard from or about Catholics upset with the Church for its insistence that sexual relations be limited to marriage between husband and wife. Does not this moral rule force people with same-sex attraction into lives of loneliness? If they are born that way, then why should they be punished by a restriction that does not account for their pre-existing condition? God wants everyone to be happy, and for persons with same-sex attraction is not their happiness to be found in the fulfillment of that attraction? Some seek to change the Church's teaching on marriage or have left the Church because of it. They believe either that God through the Church ignores the needs of people or that the Church misunderstands what God desires.
That is, if God causes same-sex attraction, and yet commands that it not be satisfied, then this is divine cruelty. Or, if God causes same-sex attraction, then it must be the divine will that those with the attraction should act on it and it is the Church that is being cruel in its teaching or at the very least tragically mistaken about what God wants. In either case, the belief that the Church is wrong on this issue starts from a faulty premise. God does not cause same-sex attraction.
The best natural evidence of what God causes and wants for us is our genetic code. Science has isolated certain genetic combinations that are typical to human creation and development. The most basic and the first genetic expression is that which occurs at our conception, when at the same time our individual human life begins our sexual identity as male or female begins. That which is genetically encoded, for believers, points to a codifier, and communicates through its design the codifier's intent. Interpreting from a spiritual perspective the genetic code which supplies our sexual difference, we have to conclude that God wants us to be male or female.
No one has found a "gay gene." Identical twins are always, of course, the same sex, providing further proof of male and female genes. If there was a gay gene, then when one twin exhibits same-sex attraction, his or her identical sibling should too. But that is not the case. The incidence of finding identical twins with identical same-sex attraction is relatively rare and certainly not anywhere near one hundred percent. Something other than the hardwiring found in the genetic code must explain the variance.
So what causes the inclination to same-sex attraction if it appears early and involuntarily and "who," if anyone, is responsible? In determining the answer to the "what" question, the most widely accepted scientific hypothesis points to random imbalances in maternal hormone levels and identifies their disruptive prenatal effects on fetal development as the likely and major cause.
The most recent and most comprehensive discussion of this research is found in a book published earlier this year by a scientist who also happens to be a gay-rights advocate. Even though it discounts other environmental factors that other scientists believe also may play a role, Simon LeVay's publication, "Gay, Straight and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Attraction" is worth the read.
LeVay is not interested in the "who" question and describes same-sex attraction as just a variation among other human inclinations. Catholics do not have the luxury of being materialists. We look for ultimate explanations that transcend the strictly physical world and that stretch beyond our limited ability to mold and reshape reality as we know it. Disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart...
Links:
- Catholic Journal Withdraws Column that Suggests Devil Responsible for Homosexuality
- Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Lutheran Church widens its tent
MARLBOROUGH —
After St. Ann’s Catholic Church was closed in 2004, Stacie LaBoissiere and her husband began looking for another spiritual home. But they ruled out joining another Catholic parish.
“My sister is a lesbian, married to a woman,” LaBoissiere explained. “I knew that I did not want to remain Catholic as a result of their views on homosexuality. I could not become a member of a church that would condemn my sister. If a church would not accept my sister, then they would not accept me.”
The couple joined Marlborough’s St. Stephen Lutheran Church, after its pastor Scott Howard reassured them that the church welcomed everyone....
Full Text of Catholic Catechism Regarding Homosexuality
#2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
#2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
#2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Gay brother makes Anne Hathaway quit Catholic Church for Episcopalianism
NY Daily News:
"Anne Hathaway left the Catholic Church after her brother opened up about being gay. 'The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out,' says the actress. 'Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?' So what religion is Anne now? 'I'm nothing,' she admits. 'F- it, I'm forming. I'm a work in progress.' (source)
"Anne Hathaway left the Catholic Church after her brother opened up about being gay. 'The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out,' says the actress. 'Why should I support an organization that has a limited view of my beloved brother?' So what religion is Anne now? 'I'm nothing,' she admits. 'F- it, I'm forming. I'm a work in progress.' (source)
Full Text of Catholic Catechism Regarding Homosexuality
#2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
#2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
#2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Joel Osteen blesses Houston's new (gay) mayor Annise Parker
(USA Today) - Annise Parker, the newly-elected happens-to-be-lesbian mayor of Houston was sworn in Monday and the opening prayer was given by ... Rev. Joel Osteen.
Is your head spinning? Osteen heads the nation's most mega of evangelical non-denominational megachurches, Lakewood Church in Houston where about 45,000 people cycle through a revamped sports stadium for services every weekend.
Osteen has been all over telling folks (Larry King, Whoopi Goldberg) for years that homosexuality is not "God's best." I presume he means "God's best choice" because otherwise I'm lost in the dropped or implied rest of the sentence. But "God's best" is phrase Osteen never finishes so I'm just guessing.
Yet, Osteen hasn't joined the more strident wing of the religious right in damning gays. Indeed, Osteen takes heat from other evangelicals who condemn him for not laying down a line of fire about sin of any kind. That's not his style, says the preacher known for his broad smile and sermons that God wants you to be happy. Osteen's best seller was titled, Your Best Life Now.
By Jessica Kourkounis, AP
I think it would be useful for our community to adopt a more nuanced view of religious leaders. By doing so, we might find ourselves with unexpected allies.
Joel Osteen does not agree with my understanding of Scripture; but his disagreement does not make him a hater or a bigot. And I recognize the value in having a lesbian politician -- elected despite her opponent's religion-based homophobic campaign -- being given blessing by the pastor of the largest congregation in the nation.
Does this change your idea of Osteen? For better or for worse?
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