Religious faith reduces the risk of suicide for virtually every American demographic except one: LGBTQ people. Generations of LGBTQ people have felt alienated or condemned by the church. It’s past time that Christians confronted the ongoing and devastating effects of this legacy.Breaking down the issues both historically and socially, Heavy Burdens (Brazos Press, 2021) provides an honest account of the ways in which LGBTQ people experience discrimination in the church, helping Christians grapple with hard realities and empowering churches to navigate a better path forward. Order on Amazon now.
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The Time is Now to Bring Change
Debate over competing approaches to LGBTQ issues is at an all-time high, and it will only increase in the coming years. With the release of the Nashville Statement in 2017 and the most recent PCA Report on Human Sexuality in 2020, Christians are consistently forced to grapple with issues related to LGBTQ people. However, few Christian resources provide the historical and sociological background necessary to understand the problems we currently face. Heavy Burdens fills this gap by educating Christians on the real-world impact of these issues and guiding readers to consider the church’s complicity in the problems we face today. Start reading now.
Churches Can No Longer Afford to Be Silent
Many LGBTQ people face overwhelming challenges in navigating faith, gender, and sexuality. Christian communities that uphold the traditional sexual ethic often unwittingly make the path more difficult through unexamined attitudes and practices. Drawing on her sociological training and her leadership in the Side B/Revoice conversation, Bridget Eileen Rivera, who founded the popular website Meditations of a Traveling Nun, speaks to the pain of LGBTQ Christians and helps churches develop a better pastoral approach.
Rivera calls to mind Jesus’s woe to religious leaders: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (Matt. 23:4). Heavy Burdens provides an honest account of seven ways LGBTQ people experience discrimination in the church, helping Christians grapple with hard realities and empowering churches across the theological spectrum to navigate better paths forward. Start reading now.
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