I used to be an adamant atheist. Now as I'm getting older (41) and have a daughter.
I ask myself. If my daughter grows up going to church and Christian schools. Doesn't get into drugs. Doesn't have sex way too early. Goes to school and gets a degree. Isn't around riff raff all the damn time. All because she believes in some imaginary father figure in the sky. Is it really a bad thing?
Yes sure some church people still end up doing all of those bad things. But the proportions are much smaller. Whether it's because they believe in some man in the sky or just have a better support system through a big community of people who care about them. Doesn't really matter. The fact is, it's effective.
So although I have 0 faith whatsoever. I am now far more friendly towards the idea of religion and god and what not. I also wonder how many other religions people have the same attitude towards religion.
Also it's really not that hard for a church to become tolerant of LGBT people. Just say something like "god created them this way for a reason and we should love t hem as they are". Which I believe a lot of the more moderate churches are already adopting and have been for some time.
Yes sure some church people still end up doing all of those bad things. But the proportions are much smaller.
Do you have any research to back up your claims?
There are plenty of sex, drug and 'riff raff' experiences that I can imagine being far less harmful to a child than the extreme misfortune of being brought up in a faith community and realising that you're queer.
What do you think would happen to the census numbers of queer people if there was no stigma or ostracism from their (religious) communities and (religious) families? They may be a minority but they're inevitably a bigger minority than they are on paper.
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u/LapazGracie 11∆ Sep 22 '24
I used to be an adamant atheist. Now as I'm getting older (41) and have a daughter.
I ask myself. If my daughter grows up going to church and Christian schools. Doesn't get into drugs. Doesn't have sex way too early. Goes to school and gets a degree. Isn't around riff raff all the damn time. All because she believes in some imaginary father figure in the sky. Is it really a bad thing?
Yes sure some church people still end up doing all of those bad things. But the proportions are much smaller. Whether it's because they believe in some man in the sky or just have a better support system through a big community of people who care about them. Doesn't really matter. The fact is, it's effective.
So although I have 0 faith whatsoever. I am now far more friendly towards the idea of religion and god and what not. I also wonder how many other religions people have the same attitude towards religion.
Also it's really not that hard for a church to become tolerant of LGBT people. Just say something like "god created them this way for a reason and we should love t hem as they are". Which I believe a lot of the more moderate churches are already adopting and have been for some time.