Adam42
03-01-2009, 11:38 PM
Hi, my name is Adam!
It has been such a treat this last week to discover these community forums and find people with a balance of critical perspective and optimism, worldly wisdom and spirit about queer issues, the church, politics, love and life. I thought I would join and chime in from time to time.
I am a college student, soon to graduate, with some confusion about what I should be doing now (if you have ideas, let me know!). I come from an East coast liberal background, went to a relatively queer friendly high school, but got involved in evangelical Christian groups when I came to college. I didn't grow up in the church per se (actually, if anything I grew up Quaker, any Friends in the house?), but I had been exploring the Bible and decided that Sunday school at a local church was the best place to learn about it. I loved worship, prayer, Bible study. I had moments of great joy. But I felt like I was missing something. I threw myself into even more involvement with my fellowships, and joined a group of students who were praying for revival. I ended up meeting some Charismatic Christians who believed that homosexuality and abortion were spiritual attacks on the nation and were praying for miraculous deliverance from all sorts of demons. This was very different from anything I had experienced before. I had had some same-sex experiences, but had been told that it was probably a phase. I felt like that phase was over, and talked about it to some of my new friends. I was a bit of an ex-gay poster boy for them. I felt like I was fulfilling part of my calling.
Then I ended up in a job on an off-term, and came to terms with my sexuality with the help of an older person in my office. I realized that I had been feeling like I was missing something in my life because I hadn't tapped in to the deep energy of my sexuality and had tried to numb out those feelings in my life. Prayer had stopped working, and I finally realized that I needed to embrace my sexuality fully. It was a struggle though, because I had developed a kind of ex-gay story and felt like I was breaking my commitment to church and to my closest friends. In the last year I have learned many wonderful things about myself and truth and beauty, and have a new lease on life thanks to support from many quarters and a wonderful queer community.
I am really interested in how those lessons can be translated into larger movements of justice work, and applied to different kinds of injustice. I have worked with diversity training programs, and am trying to uncover the ways in which privilege can be couched in religious/spiritual and political discourse. I study Russian here and have looked into Soviet and post-Soviet moral discourse and the role of the church in a post-atheist country. I am also very interested, of course, in these issues in our own country. I am trying to learn from and network with people seeking truth and justice in all walks of life.
I am also part of a modern dance ensemble. I dance every day and I love it!
Sometimes I put my thoughts and experiences on my blog:
http://bogabard.blogspot.com
I can't wait to get to know you all more! I really have enjoyed reading through these forums.
-Adam
It has been such a treat this last week to discover these community forums and find people with a balance of critical perspective and optimism, worldly wisdom and spirit about queer issues, the church, politics, love and life. I thought I would join and chime in from time to time.
I am a college student, soon to graduate, with some confusion about what I should be doing now (if you have ideas, let me know!). I come from an East coast liberal background, went to a relatively queer friendly high school, but got involved in evangelical Christian groups when I came to college. I didn't grow up in the church per se (actually, if anything I grew up Quaker, any Friends in the house?), but I had been exploring the Bible and decided that Sunday school at a local church was the best place to learn about it. I loved worship, prayer, Bible study. I had moments of great joy. But I felt like I was missing something. I threw myself into even more involvement with my fellowships, and joined a group of students who were praying for revival. I ended up meeting some Charismatic Christians who believed that homosexuality and abortion were spiritual attacks on the nation and were praying for miraculous deliverance from all sorts of demons. This was very different from anything I had experienced before. I had had some same-sex experiences, but had been told that it was probably a phase. I felt like that phase was over, and talked about it to some of my new friends. I was a bit of an ex-gay poster boy for them. I felt like I was fulfilling part of my calling.
Then I ended up in a job on an off-term, and came to terms with my sexuality with the help of an older person in my office. I realized that I had been feeling like I was missing something in my life because I hadn't tapped in to the deep energy of my sexuality and had tried to numb out those feelings in my life. Prayer had stopped working, and I finally realized that I needed to embrace my sexuality fully. It was a struggle though, because I had developed a kind of ex-gay story and felt like I was breaking my commitment to church and to my closest friends. In the last year I have learned many wonderful things about myself and truth and beauty, and have a new lease on life thanks to support from many quarters and a wonderful queer community.
I am really interested in how those lessons can be translated into larger movements of justice work, and applied to different kinds of injustice. I have worked with diversity training programs, and am trying to uncover the ways in which privilege can be couched in religious/spiritual and political discourse. I study Russian here and have looked into Soviet and post-Soviet moral discourse and the role of the church in a post-atheist country. I am also very interested, of course, in these issues in our own country. I am trying to learn from and network with people seeking truth and justice in all walks of life.
I am also part of a modern dance ensemble. I dance every day and I love it!
Sometimes I put my thoughts and experiences on my blog:
http://bogabard.blogspot.com
I can't wait to get to know you all more! I really have enjoyed reading through these forums.
-Adam