Usually, when someone becomes affirming, it is because they have seen the bad fruit of non-affirming theology. They know you can judge a tree by its fruit, and the fruit of the Spirit are useful tools for discernment. They usually know someone who is queer or know of them in some circle of proximity. They want to love their neighbors, and see that God is love, and can no longer support the theology of fear, hate, exclusion, suffering, and death they have previously been told is correct. They have usually had some sort of awareness (whether through gender or abuse or promises that never panned out or science or a thousand other things) that what is “traditional” in the church is not always what is faithful, best, or loving. At some point, they have to ask, “Is this really what the Bible says about LGBTQIA+ people? Is this really what God wants for his people and his church? If this is orthodoxy, what does that say about the gospel? Can I keep my faith and love my neighbor?”
Continue reading “Queer theology and the Bible”Archive
Queer Christian resources
It’s not an easy spot to be in. The Christian community tells us to be straight. The LGBTQIA+ community tells us to leave behind religion. But we are living proof that there is a vibrant, welcoming, loving family where you can be both, fully Christian and no less queer. These sites below can connect you to church finders, resources, advocacy groups, small groups, books, social media accounts, newsletters, job listings, events, podcasts, and more.
Continue reading “Queer Christian resources”The point of all this
I want to be absolutely clear: The end goal is no more nonaffirming churches. Not a “diversity of thought” that’s just rewriting purity codes. Not a “range of opinions” with a variety of ways to exclude and dehumanize and tolerate “separate but equal.” Not a bare minimum. Not an “I love you but.”
Whether these churches accept correct, just, God-honoring theology or simply fade into history as factories of shame and harm and fake-nice, the collective liberation vision does not include nonaffirming theologies. Affirming theology *is* correct theology. We have beat around the bush long enough.
The mainline squandered opportunity after opportunity to draw that line, and we’re seeing the fruit of that, but we’re also seeing the fruit of the risk, the courage, the willingness to say NO to fence-riding and big-tent and “inclusive of all, the marginalized and the powers behind marginalization.”
In Christ, gender is not a factor for whether a marriage is holy, for whether sex is sinful, for whether someone is qualified to lead, serve, parent, teach, adopt, or write, for when passion is lust or love is healthy. That doesn’t mean we abandon discernment, but that gender isn’t relevant to it.
We are uncompromising in that. Lesbian, gay, bi/pan/+, trans/nonbinary/genderqueer, intersex, asexual/aromantic/agender, and all other kinds of queerness are not just permitted but *required* for the full reflection of the image of God and the accurate representation of the Kingdom come on earth.
Churches that factor in gender to who is permitted to do what are not only harmful, even deadly, for a small subset of the population. That is too minimizing. They are lacking in faithfulness. They are missing out on our gifts and our presence, but they are also missing out on the real, true God.
Conviction isn’t the enemy. Just like how becoming affirming isn’t “throwing out sexual ethics” or “there are no rules” or “rewriting history/the Bible,” it also isn’t an accommodation we’re asking for, a way to boost your Good Person points, or a secondary issue. It’s accurate, correct, right.
Have the courage to say so. Have the willingness to exclude the intolerant beliefs and opinions while honoring the need to listen, learn, grow, influence, and teach. It’s not about excluding individuals; it’s about setting our doctrinal truth, our policies, our reason for being.
Conservatives will panic: “See, the crazy liberals want to erase us! They want to eradicate us! They discriminate against us! The intolerant left!” Yes. I do. I want to erase the possibility that any queer kid grows up thinking God hates, Jesus is ashamed, or the Spirit would take away their joy.
I want to eradicate queer death, suffering, rejection, and homelessness. I do discriminate against bigotry and hate and fear-peddling propaganda lies. I want the world to stop tolerating violence, inequality, and terror in the name of “religious freedom,” “thought diversity,” and “broad umbrellas.”
We refuse anything less as the destination. The future is one where every church is practicing and preaching the truth, the life, the freedom, and the blessing that is only reflected with full queer welcome, inclusion, affirmation, belonging, and leadership at every level.
Bread Trek 2025
I had two big goals for the year: I wanted to watch all of Star Trek, and I wanted to bake my own bread. Neither of which I had any experience in.
With the exception of the 3D animated show Star Trek: Prodigy, I have accomplished the first through a year of binge watching. But the second is not one of those things you just do once and check off the list.
It started out rough, as I was warned it might. The dough overwhelmed the pan and dripped all over the oven because I didn’t know to put a baking sheet underneath. The dough was messy and sticky, and so much got on my hands that I wondered if it would affect the size of the loaf. I didn’t have a stand mixer, and this was far beyond the capabilities of my hand mixer, so I tried using a wooden spoon to knead instead, which was much harder and not very effective.
Continue reading “Bread Trek 2025”Occurrences
It occurs to me tonight to put my rainbow grocery bag in the trunk. Not just because that’s where it belongs, but to not give anyone an excuse to take out their religion on my car window.
It occurs to me that if I were in a redder county, I would never have left it visible to begin with.
It occurs to me on a Walmart run after work that I should have taken off my company staff badge with the Pride flag on the back while walking alone in the dark.
It occurs to me that in other places, I would never have been allowed to put that sticker on my identification to begin with.
It occurs to me to move my black ace ring to my left ring finger in a protective lie, signaling to the men of the crowd that I am another man’s property. If they don’t respect my humanity, they may respect the rights of possession—or at least the fear of violating them.
It occurs to me that I have the privilege of safety in being gender conforming, able to chameleon my way into invisibility.
It occurs to me that I have to constantly remind people I know what I’m talking about, that my experiences are erased, that I am here too, that we are not new or a trend or a bonus feature.
It occurs to me that I do not require documents to be changed, or medicine to be seen as myself, or a search for my literal voice with the help of lessons.
It occurs to me that I am likely the only one you know. That when I speak, I must point to many others like me but not like me, so you have a broader view.
It occurs to me that I occupy a space of assumed privilege as others explain marginalization that I live every day myself. Amusing at times, but mostly frustrating.
It occurs to me that my intersections give me advantages to steward so others will be heard.
It occurs to me that most people don’t have to wonder if their friends, family, church, or job will disown them over basic identity facts. If they confess who they are, will they receive a birthday card this year, will they have any references for their job applications, will they be welcomed home at Christmas, will they still have an emergency contact?
It occurs to me that others have faced far worse: Will they still have a home, food, a functional body, their lives?
It occurs to me that there is safety in numbers, and my numbers are small, often just me and my carabiner and my rainbow T-shirt.
It occurs to me that an ally up the mountain was murdered for less.
It occurs to me that I can change my shirt, but others can’t change their voice, their government, their bones.
It occurs to me that some allies will only care to the point that it is comfortable to be with us. Our humanity is an issue on which they agree to disagree with friends and colleagues and those who can help their careers.
It occurs to me I must have patience for the indoctrinated.
It occurs to me that I don’t have the tolerance to wait.
It occurs to me, too, that even the wait is privilege. Others, our youngest, are running out of time.
Queer Christian History
We have a long, complicated history as a queer Christian community. It’s crucial that we preserve, learn, and grow from that history with each generation that follows so we know who we are, that we are not a new trend, and that “tradition” is in the eye of the historian. We are proud to have a deep, rich history of faithful love and justice work, standing strong in our God-given identities. LGBTQIA+ Christians have always been here. Our stories were just erased. Make the invisible visible again in remembering them:
The LGBTQ+ Religious Archives Network
The LGBTQ Religious Archives Network (LGBTQ-RAN) is an innovative venture in preserving history and encouraging scholarly study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) religious movements around the world. LGBTQ-RAN has a two-fold basic purpose.
Second, LGBTQ-RAN provides an electronic information clearinghouse for these archival collections and other historical data about LGBTQ religious history for the use of historians, researchers and other interested persons.
First, it assists LGBTQ religious leaders and groups in determining how best to preserve their records and papers in appropriate repositories.
Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion
The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) was established at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California and opened its doors in the fall of 2000.
Whosoever Magazine
Since 1996, Whosoever has existed to publish resources, primarily in the form of curated content, for those who seek a deeper understanding of the truly loving God, whose unconditional love is experienced as boundless grace.
Queer Saints Project
The Queer Saints Project began as a collaboration between the artist, Jason Tseng, and Judson Memorial Church, a historic church located in New York City’s West Village neighborhood. In 2018, Judson commissioned Tseng to create icons of LGBTQIA+ ancestors, to celebrate their inherent divinity, honor their contributions, and reclaim them as queer saints. The goal is to raise awareness and funds for the LGBTQIA+ community using these transcendent images that glorify and celebrate the miracle that is queerness.
The LGBTQ History Project
- Robert Clement, Church of the Beloved Disciple
- Council on Religion and the Homosexual
- Reverend Ed Hansen
- Paul Breton, Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activists Alliance, Metropolitan Community Church
QSpirit: LGBTQ Saints, Queer Saints
Kittredge Cherry provides profiles and a saints day calendar that ask “What if” in queering the Bible and Christian history, as well as recognizing modern-day and historical queer people of faith in ways the church has largely ignored. Dare to imagine, explore, question, and enjoy beyond the normative and cisheteropatriarchical-assumed stories we’ve been taught.
Making Gay History: Rev. Carolyn Mobley-Bowie
Growing up in the segregated South, Rev. Carolyn Mobley-Bowie knew the challenge of finding an accepting place in the world—a challenge that only grew when her attraction to women came into conflict with her devotion to God. The predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church offered refuge.
OutHistory: Religion and Homosexuality in the United States, by John D’Emilio and His Students
An essay by historian John D’Emilio “On Teaching Religion and Homosexuality in the U.S.,” and six chronologies on religion and homosexuality in the United States. First published on OutHistory in 2014.
Associated Press: A brief and incomplete, but helpful, overview of mainline denominations’ shifts on LGBTQIA+ inclusion in ordination, leadership, and marriage.
This timeline highlights key milestones and flashpoints within the UMC, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, as well as in civic life.
By affirming denomination
Your experience may vary, but overall, these denominations have come to a broadly LGBTQIA+ affirming stance and hold socially progressive theology.
Metropolitan Community Church
- MCC history overview at Inside MCC
- In-depth MCC historical archives (Google Drive)
- MCC’s role in launching the lawsuit that led to legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada
When We All Get to Heaven
When We All Get to Heaven is a documentary project that tells the story of one of the first gay-positive churches, the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, and how it faced the personal, social, and political trials of the AIDS epidemic, including the deaths of 500 of its members.
The Classical Ideas Podcast: EP 197: We Who Must Die Demand a Miracle and MCC San Francisco w/Dr. Lynne Gerber
Dr. Lynne Gerber (she/her/hers) is an independent scholar. She is the author of Seeking the Straight and Narrow: Weight Loss and Sexual-Reorientation in Evangelical America (Chicago, 2011). She is currently working on a history of religion and HIV/AIDS in San Francisco.
Queercore podcast: The Radical Priest: Rev Troy Perry (Season 4; Ep 8)
He’s preaching revolution! In this episode, Reverend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, joins us to chart his unlikely journey from Southern Baptist roots to gay‐affirming ministry and queer liberation. He recalls founding MCC in his living room in 1968, officiating groundbreaking same-sex marriages, and fighting for dignity when society told him faith and queerness could never co-exist.
There were fires—literal and metaphorical—that threatened his church, courtroom battles, and protests in the street. Through it all, he held onto something radical: that God loves us all, fully and without apology. Tune in to witness faith as resistance and prophecy as sanctuary.
United Methodist LGBTQIA+ History
Affirmation was founded in 1972 and went on to establish Reconciling Ministries. Affirmation was the first group to include Transgender people and was the first to provide direct support to LGBTQ+ people in Uganda and Kenya.
As the Church embraces a more inclusive and hopeful future, the Center exists to intentionally collect, preserve, and share the stories of Queer individuals whose voices, ministries, and faith have long been marginalized. Through this work, the LGBTQ+ UMC Heritage Board is tasked with ensuring LGBTQ+ people and their legacy in the Church can move forward unapologetically to be seen, celebrated, and empowered in the fullness of who they are.
Dedicated page for profiles of notable clergy and lay people, oral histories, online exhibits, and digital archive collections from the UMC.
- A complete UMC affirmation history slideshow with notable dates of the UMC and political victories
- Reconciling Ministries Network timeline from the 1980s onward
Episcopal LGBTQIA+ History
- TransEpiscopal – TransEpiscopal is a group of transgender, nonbinary, and allied Episcopalians dedicated to fostering the full embrace of trans and nonbinary people, and our loved ones within the Episcopal Church and to inspiring faith-based advocacy for trans and nonbinary justice in the wider world.
- LGBTQIA+ Episcopal History – Faithful Episcopalians have been working toward a greater understanding and radical inclusion of all of God’s children for nearly a half-century.
United Church of Christ LGBTQIA+ History
- Open and Affirming Coalition – Beginning in 1969, the United Church of Christ has advocated for the LGBT community. From the campaign to decriminalize same-sex relationships to support for marriage equality, the UCC has made a difference in the lives of LGBT citizens and their families. The issues have changed over the decades, but the basic commitment to full inclusion and human rights remains the same.
Presbyterian Church USA LGBTQIA+ History
- Timeline of LGBTQIA+ History – The Presbyterian Historical Society has created a timeline of LGBTQIA+ related history in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The stories included show how church members’ perspectives as well as the language used to speak about sexuality shifted throughout decades of advocacy work by LGBTQIA+ Presbyterians and allies.
ELCA (Lutheran) LGBTQIA+ History
- HRC: Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with approximately 3.8 million members, has passed repeated resolutions to welcome LGBTQ+ people since 1991.
Brethren and Mennonite Council LGBTQIA+ History
- Oral history project at the Center for Queer Studies – Amy Short, in her work on the BMC Elder History Project, has been busy collecting stories, primarily from older BMC individuals, but also from some younger ones as well. Currently she has over 40 hours of taped interviews that will be preserved for their archives, with some utilized for trainings or simply shared as a celebration of their strength and variety as a community.
- “Repent of the Sins of Homophobia”: The Rise of Queer Mennonite Leaders by Rachel Waltner Goossen
United Church of Canada
Quakers in Britain
Other notable groups in LGBTQIA+ Christian History:
- Catholic – Dignity USA history
Many more to come! If you have more queer Christian history/archival sites to suggest, please submit them via DMs on Bsky, Threads, Instagram, Substack, Discord, or Facebook (all under @ jennadewitt), or send me an email at jennadewitt (at) gmail (dot) com.
Mindfulness in public discourse
Vital considerations for mindful public discourse:
Is it “division” and “both sides” or is it systemic hate and prejudice driven by conspiracies versus the people being hated, judged, and conspired against.
Is it “a difference of opinion” or is it dehumanization and the resistance to it.
Is it a “controversial issue” or plans for your continued existence versus plans for you to be eradicated.
Is it a “point of contention” or is it a web of lies and manipulation being fact-checked.
Is it a “need for unity” or is it a need for collective liberation where tolerance of oppression is not the end goal.
Is it avoiding an echo chamber or is it giving legitimacy, platforms, and normalization to bigotry in the name of nuance and being educated.
Is it a diversity of opinion across the denomination/party/organization or is it refusal to take a stand and put an end to the harm caused some of your own.
Is it avoiding extremes or is it avoiding conflict and being unwilling to grieve and repent.
Is it being open minded and empathetic or is it prioritizing the feelings of bigots over the needs of the people they are working to kill. Is it a new generation or is it a fight we’ve been having for the better part of a century or longer about a stigma or taboo topic.
Are you a safe place for all to put aside their differences and disagreements or are you asking predators and prey to share a meal together with no accountability, acts of repair, acknowledgement, or expectations for changes.
Your life is not a hero trial
And God isn’t interested in creating obstacles for you to earn heaven points.
“Everything within me wants [romantic and sexual] love, but as queer Christians, we have to trust that if God is denying us what we desire and making us suffer, then it’s for the best!”
OR perhaps you can trust that not only does God create you with good and holy desires but you weren’t meant to reject them. God is not interested in crafting tests for you so that you can prove you’re worthy. Trust God enough to see the evidence around you that you can call goodness good and not wait around for a secret mystical reveal that you can earn more holiness, prosperity, heavenly treasure, or a bigger payoff through a morality obstacle course divinely designed to trip you up.
The mythology of gods who make games of people’s lives out of boredom or demand tests to prove loyalty and worthiness are not our stories. That’s not Christianity rightly practiced, even if that’s Christianity traditionally practiced. We can stop doing this. The world has enough loneliness and suffering as it is. God has bigger stuff going on than toying with you or creating hero trials.
Collective liberation theology is the antidote to this. You do not have to manufacture pain for yourself. If you are denying healthy, natural, freeing love in favor of imposed suffering, there is nothing of God in that. We have too much to do here to be distracted by “how far is too far” rules.
God does not create you with an orientation or gender you are supposed to spend all your time, energy, resources, etc. changing or suppressing or creating elaborate rules for. Our time, energy, resources, and more are so precious and limited. Just be who you are and get to work for justice and good. The needs and crises around us are too great.
We have far too much pain in the world already that we are the God-given answer to. We are the solution, not burdened with creating more fake problems. When we’re busy over here debating whose romantic and sexual relationships are valid or who gets to be their gender, we can’t fulfill our calling.
I don’t understand those seeing hunger, loneliness, homelessness, fear, addiction, despair, prejudice, injustice, and more and then going, “You know what we need? MORE of this! God must have a plan to redeem it if we just trust and obey gender roles! That’s where our money and energy and time should go! More sex rules, exclusion, and rigid gender boxes!”
Collective liberation means affirming theology isn’t about “selfishness,” etc. It’s about getting all of this legalistic shit out of the way so we can be free to focus on the real work. Let people live, love, transition, marry, and be how they were made. The real stuff is too urgent.
If your “values” and “beliefs” are about creating gender-based rules and sexual morality codes and labeling it a “calling” to suffer through for the sake of holiness than creating more peace, hope, joy, and love in the world, change your values and reset your priorities. We have too many actual, practical problems we must act on. We can’t waste our lives policing our thoughts and behaviors and relationships to keep them from trying to align in integrity with our God-given identities. Not to mention other people’s relationships and bodies that don’t affect us! Every minute spent on trying to adhere to a norm we can never fit and creating more suffering to be one day rewarded for our heroic self-denial is a minute that could have been spent on alleviating the actual suffering in the world, including our own very real problems and the fallout of others’ queerphobia.
Biblical celibacy is part of biblical sexuality: It isn’t about which genders get married or have sex. Biblical celibacy and biblical sexuality are when you aren’t distracted from the real calling of loving others by rule-following, drama, angst, self-imposed or church-imposed misery, loneliness, temptation-resisting tests, and all the other manufactured fears and obstacles. These keep us focused on ourselves and our own purity so that we never get to the part where we get free, where we dismantle injustice, where we oppose and defeat patriarchy, White supremacy, queerphobia, ableism, systemic poverty, xenophobia, and all other evils.
You have to do what is more effective and efficient for the real work of bringing justice and flourishing, on earth as it is in heaven. Be celibate if that’s what is freeing you to do the work in authenticity, in wholeness, without distraction (like it is for me!). Have sex if that’s what frees you to do the work in authenticity, in wholeness, without distraction. Living your values should empower you to do justice and love mercy, not burden you with morality hand-wringing and pearl-clutching. Follow the fruit of the Spirit in your life toward liberation for all. That will have you focused more on bringing love, hope, and flourishing to the world than looking at your own behaviors and purity performance to pass a vague and cruel divine test.
Our God is not abusive or cruel or bored or dangling a carrot while hitting us with a stick. God is not a drill sergeant or a prosperity promiser or a manipulator or a lab rat maze designer or a puppet master. God doesn’t work like a capitalist or a merit badge system or a game show host or a trickster con man.
God IS Love. That love is demonstrated, unashamed, and unearned. It is not deception or a hustle or a scheme. It doesn’t create problems for the sake of a trust exercise or set contradictory expectations to raise life’s difficulty level. Love doesn’t hide at the finish line after a lifetime of gold stars and perfect grades and queerness-control performance reviews. Ours is the God of vibrant life, of integrity and of constancy, a God of Creation and joy, of overflowing goodness and hope and peace, a God of gentleness and patience, of faithfulness and kindness, of the self-control that comes with empathy and generosity. The truth sets us free, and with that freedom, we can tear down obstacles like holy hustle tests, purity culture, gender roles, unnecessary distractions, and systems of oppression. With collective liberation, we can focus on spreading love and flourishing throughout all the world.
Look to the Helpers
Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash
I often see people saying “Look for the helpers is for kids, you’re the adult, YOU’RE the helper!” a lot, but Mr. Rogers wouldn’t have said kids can’t help, and he definitely wouldn’t have said adults should “just do it” instead of looking around for people who are already doing the work, learning from them and following their lead, and then joining in with where their abilities meet the actual needs and requests of those they are helping. The work is already being done, and we can’t just “be the helper” without understanding it and our place in it.
You are not too young to be a helper. And you are not too old to need help, to defeat despair with hope, and to join in the work already in motion. Remember it’s about when we are shocked by tragedy and overwhelmed by suffering. It’s about what you do when you’re staring down images of death and disaster, and then it’s about where to look next. You see the debris on TV. You see the virus totals. You see the crying kids. But then… you see the firefighters, doctors, nurses, volunteers, etc. Ah. There.
It’s still Giving Tuesday as I’m writing this, and maybe you can be a helper in a recurring or one-time donation. Maybe you don’t have money but you have a few hours to spare, if you bring the kids along with you. Maybe you don’t have time or money, but you have a social media following to inform others, a place of influence in policy, an organization you lead, a church or club you can rally, a professional skill you can use pro bono, a boat or a car or a business to run aid and relief efforts from.
Whether you’re defending human rights by filing suits and explaining contracts, or book-keeping for a nonprofit, or paying a construction crew out of your own pocket to rebuild the community center after a big storm, there’s a way to help. You can be an 8-year-old shopping for an Angel Tree gift or a 90-year-old knitting blankets for foster babies or a 60-year-old making phone calls and grocery runs for a disabled neighbor. You can look, LEARN from the helpers, and go do it too.
But please, I say this delicately, do not jump in like a missionary, hero-complex White savior and try to just “help” without looking to the helpers first. No one needs the worn-out-snow-coats sent to Haiti after the earthquake incident ever again. No one wants your broken appliance as a “donation” they have to be grateful for. Nonprofits can’t spend all their time making you feel needed. No finding youth pastors a house in a Latin American country for teens to paint over and over each summer as a mission trip or service project. Remember when the hospitals asked us to stop hand-making masks and dropping them off at the start of COVID because they aren’t adequate medical PPE and weren’t safe/sterile/tested, and well-intentioned crafters bringing them in might be carrying the virus?
Looking to the helpers was Mr. Rogers’ way of redirecting attention from despair to hope, from overwhelm and panic into action and progress. But it’s also just exactly what a wise, veteran minister or leader would say after seeing so much suffering to shepherd people through. Who’s already doing the work? Who already has systems and strategies and coalitions and networks? Who is asking and what are they asking for? How can I help and serve, not how can I make myself feel like a hero? Look and ask and follow before leaping into “helping.”
Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian, but in a moment of ecumenism he might have appreciated, I’ll add an Extremely Methodist Take for you.
You’ll often hear me say “Stop trying to ~manifest~ a miracle to save the world. You are the miracle!” I’m a social gospel Methodist always asking people to get up from begging for supernatural shows of power and divine interventions to BE the body of Christ in the world. It’s us! We’re the answer God has provided to the problem of pain! We are the divine intervention. But know that it is always with this context: root yourself in the Wesleyan quadrilateral first. “Tradition” aka, learn from the past and from those around you who’ve been doing it. Reason, aka, does it make sense in facts and data, is it actually what anyone needs or wants or is asking for? And the experience of the Spirit within you will remind you how far you’ve come and what’s been impossible made possible before you, and They will lead you forward, even when the odds seem against you and hope is scarce and the problem is too big for you or your group alone. We trust the Spirit of Love, higher than us, to work to bring us all together so each person or group’s contribution matters in a bigger picture we can’t see from here.
Look to the helpers in humility when you need help, in example when you need an education, and in leadership when you are ready to serve and join in to be a helper yourself, in any age, ability, skills, gift, contribution, or capacity you can bring to the work of collective liberation.
Progressive Christianity and neurodivergence
Justin, Ell, and I hosted a gathering for neurodivergent progressive Christians for Disability Pride Month 2025. Though this year’s event was not specifically for asexual and aromantic people, there is significant overlap with these communities, which was reflected in this discussion. (See our previous conversations about the a-spec Christian intersection here.)
Discussion questions:
- How has your neurodivergence affected your experience of Christianity?
- How has your faith affected your experience of being neurodivergent?
- How have you been supported by your community?
- What challenges have you encountered in your communities?
- How can the Christian community as a whole better support and uplift neurodivergent people? What can Christianity learn from neurodivergent people and their lived experience?
- What encouragement/words of affirmation can you share with other neurodivergent Christians?
- What spiritual practices, resources or supports have helped you with your neurodivergence and faith?
If it’s not for all of us, I don’t want it
Collective liberation is not found in violent revenge and dreams of becoming oppressors. Collective liberation is not about demanding fealty and enemies bowing at your feet. Collective liberation is refusing to accept such and rejection of oppressive systems.
It is an invitation with an expectation: No dehumanization allowed. It does ask something of us, a dress code of sorts, that we bring love, real love, to the party. We come with the understanding and shared value that no one is an acceptable casualty of liberation.
Sometimes we must remember the long road. We must take the closest imperfect bus to our destination when it doesn’t go all the way and march our way down the road, generation after generation. Passing along what we have gained and refusing to go back.
Collective liberation doesn’t see my freedom as your continued harm. If you are freed, I cannot be your new target to get the acceptance of oppressors. Exclusion is the thing we exclude. Vitally, we do have one thing we must agree on, that we are tyrants for: No more tyrants.
From Cone to Kendi, from Stonewall to Sherronda J. Brown and Judith Butler and my friends on social media, from the earliest church to the women of modern books, Substacks, podcasts still resisting a patriarchal faith, we learn the only liberation worth having is collective.
If our gospel leads to death for some, it isn’t the Words of Life for any. If our work is only legitimized by those we leave out of it, it isn’t the work of Christ. We start imperfectly and evolve continually to be better. If we uphold the harm, we cannot liberate from it.
Fury of the righteous
You’re right, of course.
We should be raging.
Every minute of every day
That a person goes hungry
That a hospital is bombed
That slavery is and has been
That the planet is burning
With hate and fear and pride
But mostly as a sacrifice
To the ravenous god Mammon
Who demands a child die
For each dollar it grants the wicked
You’re totally right.
We should be unable to breathe
To sleep, to have peace
Until each war is ended forever
Until violence is mutinied
And bullets no longer rain
on the schools and churches
And cities and countries
Until all are free from the demons
In the legislature
and in their minds
In the pulpit
and in their homes
You’re right. We are complicit.
You’re right.
We live in abundance
while others starve
And freeze and lie ill
or scream of anguish
On our very streets
We pass by and we scroll on
We can’t take another headline
We ask in despair if anything matters
And wonder that anyone has survived this long
This cruel planet,
and its stupid inhabitants
Destroying it as fast as possible
In our worship to our golden god
You’re right.
It should make us boil in rage.
You’re right.
We have no excuse to stay silent.
And our bodies are also right.
We cannot take constant grief and rage.
We are not built for this 24/7 world.
We need rest and hope and humor
We need to hold so much in our hearts
Not just the anger fire
But the still waters
Not just the injustice
But praise of the good
The birds of the air
And the palm trees that line my street
Know something I don’t
And they don’t know what I know
So I learn from their wisdom
And ground myself to the earth
That will be here long after we die
Welcoming us back to the dirt
I can feel and do and be
And speak from
My full self
Unashamed
Unwavering in righteous anger
Rooted in peace within
Committed to what is mine to do
Rejoicing with those who rejoice
Taking pleasure in the ephemeral and savoring transcendence
Holding in tension
Multidimensional
Loving and raging and
fighting and calming
Hosting and giving
And resting and creating
So that my body,
mind and heart
Survive long enough
to turn my grief
Into a legacy.
There has yet to be
peace on the Earth
But don’t stop seeking
Until it’s born.
Invisible Cake Society 