[JDeere]

Originally Posted by Greyson

I forgot about this thread. I am a third year student in seminary right now here in the San Francisco Bay Area. My first year as a seminarian I was very surprised to find that there are many, many LGBTQ people in seminary. Most of us are working on getting a Master's of Divinity degree. Some will seek ordination, some will not.

There are many mainline Protestant religions that are open and affirming. Even if "Open and Affirming" is not yet official across the entire denomination, many of the individual church's do indeed welcome LGBTQ people. "Christianity" ain't what it use to be. Most of the Queer Christians and members of other spiritual traditions I go to school with are very concerned with social justice issues.

It is not required for you to attend church to be a Christian, but what you do get by attending many church's is a community. The right wing Christian is not the 21st century Christian. Your choice of religion or spiritual practice is yours to decide. Let us not forget the Humanist, they too are now getting chaplains in the military.

I remember growing up being told by my devoted Baptist grandparents that you have to go to church to be a Christian. As I've gotten older I know better.