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Some years ago, the Mount Louisa Uniting Church here in Townsville chose to welcome gay people into its community. This decision led to a division between the church members, some opting to show their disapproval by leaving and forming an offshoot church. This made the local news at the time, but I haven't heard anything more since then.
I would think that few churches would not welcome gay people into their fold, but I also would think that the church would not show 'approval' of what they would consider to be 'a gay lifestyle.' This would therefore likely result in an uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere for both the gay person/s and the other church attendees.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RomulusXXV
I wonder how many churches that claim to welcome gay people have an underlying "Come as you are so we can show you the error of your ways" policy?
or you could educate yourself further on the reality , instead of speculating based on your own preconceived notions and personal bias. Here is a "List of Christian denominations affirming LGBT people"
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 02-18-2024 at 08:36 PM..
Some years ago, the Mount Louisa Uniting Church here in Townsville chose to welcome gay people into its community. This decision led to a division between the church members, some opting to show their disapproval by leaving and forming an offshoot church. This made the local news at the time, but I haven't heard anything more since then.
I would think that few churches would not welcome gay people into their fold, but I also would think that the church would not show 'approval' of what they would consider to be 'a gay lifestyle.' This would therefore likely result in an uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere for both the gay person/s and the other church attendees.
Off-topic, but isn't the name "Townsville" kind of redundant?
Some years ago, the Mount Louisa Uniting Church here in Townsville chose to welcome gay people into its community. This decision led to a division between the church members, some opting to show their disapproval by leaving and forming an offshoot church. This made the local news at the time, but I haven't heard anything more since then.
I would think that few churches would not welcome gay people into their fold, but I also would think that the church would not show 'approval' of what they would consider to be 'a gay lifestyle.' This would therefore likely result in an uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere for both the gay person/s and the other church attendees.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
Off-topic, but isn't the name "Townsville" kind of redundant?
You mean "Town Town"? Yes, it would be redundant if not named after Robert Towns in 1866. So, it's actually "Towns Town". However, "Towns -Ville" rolls off the tongue more comfortably.
I've seen (or know of) gays being welcomed at Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Methodist, and Universal Unitarian churches. Certainly not all of them, but some denominations welcome gays as members.
Some apparently don't ask. A gay guy I know is sometimes the lay reader at his Catholic church.
Technically, UU isn't Christian, but it is "open and affirming" which is not exactly what the previous poster was talking about, in that it doesn't just welcome LGBTIA and want to change them or "hate the sin."
I wonder how many churches that claim to welcome gay people have an underlying "Come as you are so we can show you the error of your ways" policy?
Doubtless some do. If the Unitarian Universalists have a flaw it is that they fall all over themselves in the other direction. This seems to attract LGBTQ folks who are hypersensitive to the slightest imagined slight, such as how the signage on the bathrooms are, and all up in arms about it. Frankly it is tiresome to me and part of the reason I don't go there. A pastor has not lasted there more than a year in recent times and predictably no one wants to serve there anymore, so services are run by he laity. The LGBTQ issue is a specific instance of a broad problem of running such a "broad tent" ministry. It is like herding cats, and you can't please enough people but what some faction or other crusades to get rid of you.
Another problem with that particular congregation is that some activists go there -- the kind that chain themselves to the gates of the local gypsum mines and get themselves arrested -- and you feel distinctly 2nd class if you're not up for that sort of thing.
I suppose a conservative person would point to this as a hellscape of "wokeness" ... and they would not be entirely wrong, if they didn't think that 100% of liberal Christians were this extreme.
I hasten to point out that UU congregations vary depending on region and other factors. In the South for example their liturgy looks more evangelical in style and I have spoken with a UU minister from Georgia who, although the denomination says to accept atheists, personally does not respect it as a belief position. I would imagine that gay folks would encounter more of a gap in theory and practice, even in the UU churches in the South / Bible Belt.
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