Imitating God’s Heart

By pwsbuilder | March 11, 2020
A pink background with a quote that says lent is the appointed time in which we do our spiritual spring cleaning and get real before our.

I grew up in the Baptist Church and we did not commemorate the liturgical season of the Christian Church.  When I became a pastor, it was my church in Sacramento that schooled me on Advent and Lent.  I developed a deep appreciation for the spiritual concepts of developing patience (a core part of anticipation of…

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The LGBT Crisis in Poland

By pwsbuilder | September 9, 2019
A sticker with the word lgbt on it sits on top of a magazine.

By: Christoph Slomski (KKBS, Berlin) and Matthew Schmid June of 2019 saw celebrations across the United States marking how far the country has come on LGBT rights. It’s hard to believe that this year’s World Pride events in New York City—lasting an entire month, bolstered by innumerable corporate sponsorships and centered on a parade that…

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Faith Journeys: Converging Community

By pwsbuilder | September 4, 2019
Faith journeys logo with a bridge and the words faith journeys.

In part two of our interview with an LGBT interfaith couple,  we explore the open and affirming religious institutions and community spaces where they can express their faith freely. Believe Out Loud accompanied them to an interfaith Iftar, which bridged the spiritual traditions of Islam and Christianity. This interview was recorded anonymously to protect the…

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Faith Journeys: Coming Out, Together

By pwsbuilder | September 4, 2019
Faith journeys logo on a blue sky.

Believe Out Loud sat down to interview an LGBT interfaith couple about how they met and how their religious upbringings influenced their ability to live authentically as LGBT persons of faith. This interview was recorded anonymously to protect the couple’s identity. Created by: Victoria Anderson and Ben Ohene Background Tracks: Archive.org – Encyclopedia Britannica “Pakistan”…

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Hurricanes, Homosexuals, & Other Culprits of Convenience

By pwsbuilder | March 13, 2019
A blue car on top of a wrecked house.

Since the intentional misreading of the Sodom and Gomorrah story in Genesis 19 in the Bible where the twin cities were supposedly destroyed because of homosexual depravity, the causes of natural disasters always find ways to be placed on the backs of LGBTQ Americans. We have become an easy, go-to explanation. And, usually by Bible-thumping…

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Pope’s Damaging Message To Transgender Teens

By pwsbuilder | March 12, 2019
Pope john paul ii waves to a crowd of people.

Pope Francis’ long-awaited apostolic exhortation—“Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love”—was released earlier this month. The good news is that Pope Francis urges church leaders to be pastors rather than church bureaucrats. The request wasn’t surprising because Pope Francis immediately taking the reigns of the Catholic Church displayed a pastoral countenance to his papacy. Pope…

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Personal Transformations: Learning to Embrace “The Gay”

By pwsbuilder | March 12, 2019
A monarch butterfly is hanging from a light fixture.

Nearly all of our best and most important transformations are prompted by personal connections, when what was once theoretical becomes achingly personal and powerful enough to blast through our preconceived, long-held beliefs. It’s why, with fewer and fewer gay people staying in the closet, more and more of us are being transformed by those personal connections,…

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Why This Queer Baptist Wants Religious Freedom, Too

By pwsbuilder | February 28, 2019
Empty church pews with a cross in the background.

Tomorrow is Religious Freedom Day, a day that celebrates the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Passed in 1786, this piece of legislation. As a queer Baptist, my faith is often trivialized by those who do not believe it is possible to be both queer and Christian.  I also know that my Baptist tradition…

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