Religion And Sexuality

Trying to figure out your religion can be a challenge. And trying to figure out sexual feelings can be a challenge. Putting the two together is a recipe… a recipe for a big, muddy mess that is even harder to deal with. I had to try to navigate both, at the same time, and it was not fun. It took me six years to figure out how being a Christian and liking other guys like me fit together. I wish I could just tell you what the answers are, but that is not how it works. You should figure a lot of this out for yourself, and while this page is a starting point, your best resources are going to be you, your feelings, people in your religious community, and your holy book… sprinkled with a little bit of critical thinking on top.

No matter what anyone tells you about what your holy book or religion says about sex and sexuality, you have the right as a human being to believe what you want. While the religious community you are in may not approve of your questions or your beliefs, you still have the right to find answers that fit you just like you have the right to whatever religious beliefs you hold. Many religious people have reconciled what they believe with how they feel sexually, and you need to know you have the right to do the same.

Almost all human beings have sexual feelings in some form. Where religion can make those feelings a little fuzzy is when you start talking about how to deal with those feelings in ways that do not hurt other people. Conservative religious people might tell you that humans are not meant to have sex with other girls (if you are a girl), or other boys (if you are a boy), while more liberal religious people might tell you that you get to choose who you have sex with, if you do it in a way that is healthy for you and your partner.

Sex and sexuality can be a really confusing topic by itself, and when you add religion (which can also be confusing and hard), things can seem too difficult to deal with. So break it up! Tackle one thing at a time: Figure out how you feel and what you think the best way to deal with your sexual feelings is, and then figure out what your holy book or religion says about it.

Try to look at the principles they are talking about, and see if there is a common theme to the rules they think you should follow. Do the rules have something in common, or do they all seem different? No matter what your faith background is, there are three general groups of people: Those who only see your faith a certain way, those who are open to talking about what your faith means to you, and those who think that your holy book is the first place to go to find answers.