Why do so many here have unconventional private lives?

[MOHO]

Maybe this is not the right place for this and I hope my question is taken as a quest for insight and not in any way a slight to our non-heterosexual brothers and sisters here.

 

It seems that there is a rather high percentage of members who are LGBT. The percentage seems higher than the public average.

 

So did the doctrine's apparent contempt for you, in and of itself,  drive you out of Christianity or did it lead you to investigate and THEN leave or ??

Also, if the aforementioned distaste did not exist would you still be Christian?

[florduh]

I made the same observation. It makes perfect sense to me given the mainstream attitudes of the cult.

[◊ Weezer ◊]

Good question.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

I see about the same distribution, but I live near Portland and there's not a culture of shame associated with being "other" here, though there are still violent jerks that are willing to harm anyone who is different. I'd say a quarter to a third of those in my circle have an "other" status (Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Trans, Bi, etc).

[Rounin]

I'm pretty sure LGBT counts as conventional now. It turns out that there are quite a lot of gay people, and thankfully it's not something one always has to keep private anymore.

 

That being said, having a negative experience with Christianity can be a very powerful way to open the door to further questioning, and that certainly was a major factor for me. After all, why question something which one doesn't see a problem with? I'm sure there are many theories in the field of linguistics that are incorrect, but I don't feel the need to research something which doesn't affect me in the slightest. On the other hand, if a political theory gained traction which threatened my livelihood or my lifestyle, I'd be much quicker to take a critical look at it.

 

Religious believers are often taught from childhood to incorporate Christian beliefs into their reasoning and their values, so that it becomes a hugely influential part of their life. In some people, counteracting that influence takes a big emotional or intellectual push. Naturally, those with the greatest motivation to leave Christianity will also have a greater tendency to do so.

 

[LogicalFallacy]

I would posit that those atheists with conventional lives would have faced less emotional/mental harm than LGBT. For example I know some families will tolerate their atheist family members, but if those family members are LGBT then they are cut off. This must put huge pressure on LGBT and thus make the average LGBT atheist more likely to seek help via sites like this than non LGBT atheists. 

 

I can't back this up without data, but its just a possibility that's occurred to me.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

4 hours ago, LogicalFallacy said:

I can't back this up without data, but its just a possibility that's occurred to me.

Absolutely! Beliefs about sex being impure, and especially any "other" sex... Religion, culture, racism, all these abstractions that we treat as absolutes cause so much harm. Seeing natural drive as base, impure, disgusting, evil, etc led monks to cut off their genitals while others indulged and then blamed and tortured women (and boys) for being demons. Insanity that our culture has been taught is true and the very basis of good morals! That made wide reaching trauma for millions of people for centuries. 

 

[♦ ficino ♦]

To me as a gay man in my later twenties, living as a fully believing Christian, eventually God as depicted in Christianity seemed more and more unjust. It would be one thing if I had some unique defect, but for God to set up a world where there were millions of LGBT people and forbid them to find the kind of relationships that were allowed to straight people seemed unjust. Then, when I realized more and more how NT promises about prayer were false, I started to wonder why I believed in the whole system. Eventually the reasons for belief drained away. I probably would have reached disbelief eventually, but I would have had more "temporal" advantages to remaining Christian as a straight man, I think, than I did as a gay man. So I reached the critical questioning point earlier than I probably would have had I been straight - and, if I'd been straight, I may well have built up a life in which more powerful attachments would keep me at least giving lip service to the cult.

[Wertbag]

Be a good question for a poll. What is the actual percentage and does it differ from the norm?