The Book of Queer Prophets Quotes

“At its purest, at its most compelling, faith is love and joy. It is easy to describe the absence of love and joy. It is harder to describe how it feels when it exists. It just is.”
― Ruth Hunt, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“There are those who remain neutral, impartial, or offer solace in private and silence in public. They do not see that their neutrality and theological contemplations are as damaging as the rejection thrust upon us by others. They do not see that the promises that this will get better, but not quite yet, only when the time is right, continues to harm. I forgive them because to not find it in myself to forgive would be heartbreaking. It would consume me and keep me from God.

God finds a way, despite them. LGBT Christians find a way, despite them.”
― Ruth Hunt, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“Recently I was working with a group of LGBTI people where the majority of the group were trans or intersex. I had been asked to lead the Bible study. We looked at the text where Jesus of Nazareth is twelve years old and is among religious leaders. He is astounding them with his insight. But they do not know how to believe that the truth can exist in this kind of human package. We, LGBTI people at a Bible study, asked a question: 'What truths have we known about ourselves since we were young?' People knew what it was to know themselves. They also knew what it was like for their insight to be denied. For decades. The Bible study lasted for hours. People spoke about the indigenous understanding they'd had about themselves since they could think. 'I didn't know the Bible could help us read our own lives,' someone said.”
― Pádraig Ó Tuama, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“I forgive those who have trespassed against me and my communities, because those who exclude us will not ask themselves, "What if I'm wrong?" I forgive them for keeping me from Christ. For building walls instead of bridges.”
― Ruth Hunt, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“I have never read anything in the Bible that made me feel that my sexuality excluded me from the kingdom of God. I have never read anything that made me feel that my love for women, not men, should be suppressed and denied. The Bible did not make me feel less than, just because I am a lesbian. There is too much about love in the Bible to feel the opposite.”
― Ruth Hunt Mai, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“I do not know the words to describe my grief.”
― Mpho Tutu van Furth, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“..I took in the perfection of his chest, the feel of his weight on mine. And then...and then...GOSPEL! A medley of riffs piercing the air. Mary Mary, doing vocal gymnastics for Jesus, in the middle of this most intimate moment, in the middle of an act I still thought of as an abomination. JESUS being sung at full volume, in front of the sachets of condoms and lube I'd retrieved from under the bed. The shame shot through me as I leapt to switch off the speaker and fumbled for my clothes. After years of hiding Jesus away from my sexuality -- and vice versa -- the two had collided. How could I have been so careless?”
― Keith Jarrett, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“I'd like to say to the churches, to people of faith generally, don't forget that among your ranks are many LGBT+ people, who might be passing in order to make sense of their faith, their sexual or gender identity and the many other facets of who they are. I'd like to say to LGBT+ people: there are probably lots of people of faith in your ranks, even if they are still making sense of their identity: you are enough of all those things.”
― Erin Clark, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion

“What needs to be built? Spaces in this world which hold hope to the fore, communities where it is possible to not need to pass, and moments in time in which we can, however briefly, grasp and celebrate and share something of that divine, eternal perspective.”
― Erin Clark, The Book of Queer Prophets: 21 Writers on Sexuality and Religion