Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Us Versus Us by Andrew Marin (2016)

According to the research given in Us Versus Us, 86% of people who identify as LGBTQ+ were raised in a faith community (from ages 0-18). That means that the discussion of what to do about homosexuality isn't a fight between us - folks in the church who are anti-homosexual - and them - those people, outside of the church, with their gay agenda. Instead, it ought to be a conversation between who are a lot more alike than we often recognize, especially when it comes to faith.

As Andrew notes, "Marin gives a detailed discussion about how the LGBTQ+ movement is not simply a movement outside of the church. Members of our churches right now are wrestling with this issue in their own lives, particularly high school students in youth groups.
The book is based upon a research study done by the Marin Foundation, and the book is broken up into six chapters, each one based on a striking statistic found from the survey, such as '76% of LGBTQ+ people are open to returning to their religious communities and its practices.' The 2006 study was done with over 1,712 usable surveys of people all across the United States, and it contains multiple open-ended questions to allow for full responses. Most important to this survey, the responses were all anonymous, allowing for honesty without reprimand. Marin also notes how 96% of LGBTQ+ have prayed to God to stop their homosexual desires."

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