Bridging the Gap: A Conversation
I am choosing to be part of a unique blogging project today. Thanks to Wendy Gritter of New Direction Ministry in Canada, 50 or more bloggers with a common interest — creating a meaningful conversation between the Christian and gay communities — are involved in this synchronized blog today. It’s called Bridging the Gap, and the host blog, with the links of all those participating, is at http://www.btgproject.blogspot.com.
Who knows what the outcome of this effort will be? My hat’s off to Wendy for putting it together. I thank her for making me a part of it.
For my part, I want to focus today on the latest Barna Group study, which happens to address spirituality in the gay community. To my knowledge, it’s the first time such a detailed survey has been undertaken, even by George Barna, the prolific window into all manner of things Christian. The full results are here
Barna undertook the study because “The gay population, which constitutes about 3% of adults, has generated headlines related to a variety of lifestyle and moral issues over the past few years.” It was time to examine America’s “assumptions about the lives of the homosexual population.”
Christians will be intrigued by what Barna found. The study looked at 20 faith-oriented attributes. Except for a few similarities, the numbers indicated lower rates of spirituality in the gay community, but a substantial faith connection nonetheless. Here’s a summary of the findings. Gay responses appear first, followed by heterosexual responses:
Faith is “very important” in life (60%, 72%)
Self-identify as Christian (70%, 85%)
Absolutely committed to Christian faith (40%, 60%)
Ongoing “personal commitment to Jesus Christ” (58%, 75%)
Qualify as born-again Christian (27%, 47%)
The most important purpose in life is to love God “with all your heart, mind, strength and soul” (50%, 66%)
Life has been greatly transformed by faith (33%, 50%)
Orthodox, biblical perception of God (43%, 71%)
Attend a church service, read the Bible and pray regularly (15%, 31%)
Unchurched (42%, 28%)
Other findings indicate that, “Most gay adults are male (60%) and few are married (19%). Gay adults are considerably younger than average: half are under age 40 compared to just three out of ten heterosexuals are under 40. Gays are less likely than heterosexuals to be white and are also much more likely to earn less than $30,000 annually.”
Barna looked at some political demographics, too:
Politically, gays are less frequently registered to vote than are heterosexuals (76% vs. 88%). Among those registered, gays are far more likely to align with the Democratic Party (53% of gays are registered Democrats) than the Republican Party (18% of gays are registered Republicans). The gap in party alignment among heterosexuals is only ten percentage points (41% are registered Democrats vs. 31% who are registered Republicans). Perhaps the most significant difference, though, is the ideology gap. Homosexuals are three times more likely to describe themselves as “mostly liberal” on social and political matters as to say they are “mostly conservative.” In contrast, heterosexuals are twice as likely to define themselves as “mostly conservative” as to select the label “mostly liberal.”
Lifestyle priorities showed some significant gaps, as well:
In terms of life priorities, heterosexuals consider faith and family to be among their highest life priorities. Homosexuals assign a lower priority to family (30% said family is their top priority in life, compared to 48% among other adults) and placed a higher emphasis upon the importance of their lifestyle (32% placed this on top, versus 16% of other adults).
George Barna concludes, “People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian bashers are not working with the facts. A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a central facet of their life, consider themselves to be Christian, and claim to have some type of meaningful personal commitment to Jesus Christ active in their life today.”
Of particular note is that “millions of gay people are interested in faith but not in the local church and do not appear to be focused on the traditional tools and traditions that represent the comfort zone of most churched Christians,” according to Barna.
So, where does this leave us as Christians with both the biblical mandate and the overwhelming need to create unity within the Body? How do we reach out to our gay brothers and sisters who say they are fellow Christians, but have reordered their priorities based on many years of being outsiders to the Church?
Those questions are what is driving today’s Bridging the Gap conversation. Feel free to share your thoughts.
This entry was posted on June 24, 2009 at 7:49 am and is filed under Christianity, Gays and the Church, Ministry. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: homosexuality, gay theology, George Barna, gay spirituality
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June 24, 2009 at 10:12 am
I want to make it clear that the Bridging the Gap blog synchronization project includes folks whose theology and philosophies differ — in some cases, significantly. Nevertheless, we all realize that finding common ground is a necessary and worthwhile effort.
I am unabashedly evangelical. I am blessed to serve in a church where sinners are welcome (thank God, because that’s all of us) and where real healing and discipling are taking place for those who have an expressed desire for moving beyond seeing their same-sex attractions as the core of their identity.
While many eschew the label “ex-gay” because it implies a greater degree of change than is maybe going on, I also know that we formers exist in significant numbers and that we have a responsibility to lead the charge in seeking to bridge the gap between the Church and the gay community. We have stood with one foot on either side of the divide, so that makes us unique.
I am not afraid of talking with gays who are also believers. I can relate to their struggle. They have some amazing stories to tell. While I formerly believed that Christian and gay constituted an oxymoron, I know that all of us are struggling with some level of sin in our lives. Christian and addicted to porn, alcohol, food or drugs? Christian and depressed? Christian and angry? Christian and a meddling gossip? These ought to be just as unsettling as Christians who have same-sex attractions.
We have a long way to go in bridging the gap. But I am committed to doing my part, with God’s help.
June 24, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I read the Barna study earlier this week. To be honest, some of my fellow bloggers and I were sitting around joking about it, but at the very least, I appreciate that some people can recognize that not all homosexuals are godless heathens.
I would posit that a lot of homosexuals identify as “spiritual” but not “Christian” because they’ve been deeply wounded by the church. I did it for years. I’m not saying this is a good attitude, I know that it’s not fair to paint all “conservative Christians” with a broad brush, since that’s not what we want them to do with us, but I do understand the impulse to pull away from something that’s hurt you.
I have a lot of friends from my college days, back when I was a conservatice Christian who thought that homosexuality was a sin (oops). These people are still my friends today. The funny thing is, once we got past “the gay issue,” we find that we have a lot of common ground to talk about. I’m still the person they always knew, so we still have the same things in common, so most days, we sit around sharing recipes or talking about our cats, and we don’t find a need to constantly debate “the gay issue.” Too many times, people see debate as a tool for changing other people’s minds…if you debate with them, you can make them agree with you, right? I know the desire of my heart, and it is to see my friends not see me as something evil…it’s to see my friends accept that God is my God, too, and that Jesus is my Jesus, too, and I could love my same-sex partner and still love Jesus. But they don’t see it that way, and that hurts me. The thing is, though, I don’t agree with their opinions, and they believe just as strongly as I believe, so I have to step back and let them be who they are and not try to change them all the time. I’m still trying to accept who I am, all of me, and this didn’t come overnight or even in a few years. I can’t ask others to accept me right away, either. And they do accept me, they just don’t accept this part of me…it’s a big part of who I am, and it’s important to me, but it’s not everything.
For us this has been a journey of stepping back and agreeing to love in spite of our differences instead of trying to change our differences. It’s difficult, but I’m willing to try, and I’m glad that they are, too.
June 24, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Thanks for those thoughts. Your attitude is one we could use a lot more of, as I mentioned on your blog. Yes, I definitely believe many gays want to maintain their spirituality, but are reluctant to identify with those Christian traits that mark the very people who have wounded them the deepest. We need to somehow (not with endless debate, as you say) get that into the heads of those church folk who are dangerously close to being “whited sepulchers.” We ought not be cutting the tie that binds us.