Bottled up | thoughts

Some Dude (LGBT + Religion)

This is a pretty serious topic to start my rant book with, but I had to. I'm in the mood :)

I have two very religious friends.

One of them (let's call her Friend A) doesn't care that I'm an atheist and that I just kind of swing any way. Sometimes I'm like: Maybe heaven and hell exists??  but some days I'm just like: uhhh Idek. Whateverrrr it probably isn't real. So I guess you could say I'm kind of 'undefined'. I simply don't have much interest in religion. 

Anyway, this friend, A. We share a very comfortable relationship, and I love that about most religious people. I like being around her because she never tells me about her religion to a point where it is uncomfortable. It's just never brought up, because it's never needed. Why would she talk to an atheist about that stuff anyway??

But the other friend, Friend B, is the opposite. He tried to make me go to church, which I wasn't comfortable with. He claimed he was trying to 'save' me, and I understood that, as much as I could. I understood that he thought it would be good for me, and I was thankful. Maybe not completely, because I don't understand the religion aspect, but I politely told him no, I will believe in something if I want, when I want, and right now, I can't be forced into this.

And I think that was the right response.

He did end on a note where he said "Someday, I'll make you go to church with me," which kind of pissed me off. I have a grandmother who is religious as well, and she says this to me all the time. I tell her thank you, and I love that she's trying to share a part of her life that she enjoys, with me. Because she makes it sound like that. She makes it sound like it'll be great for me to go, and tries to convince me, not force me. I didn't get that vibe from this friend. He wasn't a family member. He was simply a friend, and I didn't like that he was trying to dictate me.

Anyway, I've trailed off a lot.

My point was that this Friend B, does not believe in gays. No, it's not even that. He doesn't like gays.

I asked him why that was. His reply was simply that he was Christian.

 I'm not a gay rights activist. No one in my direct family is gay, but I have gay/bisexual/pansexual, etc friends. I can hardly keep track because I don't really think it matters. But this friend said he didn't like gays because of his religion. Which I did not understand. I know many other religious people who believe in gay rights!

And there's also the fact that he once said, since he is Christian, he can't have sex before marriage. Yet, he told me many times that he wants to do it before he turns eighteen. Married or not. Which was kind of contradicting to what he said about gays.

Maybe I'm just naive, and maybe I just don't understand the Christian community. But I still think he could have his own beliefs, not just the ones from the bible. If his original response was that "I don't feel comfortable with gay relationships" or "I don't believe in gay marriage," I would've nodded and said I understood, because that's a personal opinion. My friend's mom tends to get uncomfortable when she sees girls kissing on screen, but that's different. To be honest, I think there's a huge difference between those who are uncomfortable with gay relationships, and a simple, downright homophobe.

His community may not socially accept the LGBTQ, but does religion really have to limit his own, personal beliefs?

I am still friends with this guy, don't get me wrong. I didn't call him out on all this stuff. I just thought it in my head. I came to accept that it's his religion and his life and I shouldn't tell him what's wrong with it. But it still bothered me a lot, so I'm glad I just vented about it :))

I guess that's the end of my rant, then.

'Til next time, peeps