To Be Christian and Homosexual

Martine Gross (1)

1 CEIFR - Centre d'études interdisciplinaires des faits religieux

This paper draws on a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews to explore how gay and lesbian Christians in France deal with their dual identities. The journey of those who leave a traditional church to join an inclusive church is like an act of conversion. From such participants' testimonies, it is apparent that they go through various phases: entanglement, break with the past, and a search for a new meaning. As in any act of conversion, they must free themselves from their old ties; in this case, they must break free from submission to a religious institution they previously saw as the only legitimate body representing Christianity. Not all of them are necessarily ready to do so. Many stay in traditional churches, which accounts for the small number of inclusive churches in France. Respondents in this study demonstrate many of the same identity negotiation strategies found by other researchers, some of which seem to be experiences in a way that is particular to France, due to the hegemony of Roman Catholicism.

Mots clés: cognitive dissonance; christianity; homosexuality; inclusive Churches

Domaines: Sociologie; Religions

Martine Gross. To Be Christian and Homosexual: From Shame to Identity-Based Claims. Nova Religio, 2008, 11 (04), pp.77-101. ⟨hal-00263622⟩