One of the things I found slightly strange when I first got involved with CFI was how many people who were the most involved… were gay. It’s not that I had a problem with being around gay people, it’s just that they seemed really over-represented. Of course, it didn’t take much thinking to understand why.
For me, atheism was a natural progression, religion just lost its appeal as I grew up. That said, I never found it as toxic as it must be for a lot of gay kids, especially those who grow up in small communities, and especially for those who really want to believe.
Unlike some of my anti-theist peers, I think one can think critically about religion and still believe, and I think encouraging critical thinking, regardless of faith, is something we all benefit from.
ONE year after Matthew Vines was forced to leave the Wichita, Kan., church he had attended since birth — not because he is gay, but because he tried to convince people there was nothing wrong with that — he was sitting facing a crowd of 235 Christians, most of them gay or lesbian, at the Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
This is the sort of thing that makes me happy.