God and I are Good – Finding Spiritual Health After Conflict Between Sexual Identity and Non-Affirming Christianity

For LGB people who grow up in non-affirming Christian environments, there exists a perceived conflict between sexual and religious identities that needs to be reconciled. This qualitative research study explores how participants came to terms with this conflict, reflecting on this conflict in relation to justice and using interview tools from Insight method to direct focus toward the interiority of participants and concentrate attention on the moments or experiences that enabled them to reconcile their identity conflict. Using accountable storytelling as well as thematic analysis as a way of interpreting data and member checking, this thesis addresses the lived experiences of the participants and how they came to terms with the gap between their sexual and religious identities. The interviews and stories illuminate themes of justice, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual experiences as integral components of understanding how LGB Christians comprehend and reconcile the conflict between their sexual and religious identities.

Author dc:creator

• Melissen, Jacqueline

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jull, Marnie

• School of humanitarian studies

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/ir-19892

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28287