How to deal with more people losing faith.
While the vast majority of people around the world still claim to have a religious identity (e.g. Christian, Muslim or Hindu), there is “a clear age gap”, according to the Pew Research Center (PRC) that, in 2018, conducted a global survey to ask about people’s religious affiliation/s, only to find that in 41 of the 106 countries surveyed, young adults are significantly less likely to be affiliated with any religious group at all.
“Looked at another way, young adults are more likely to be religiously unaffiliated,” stressed the PRC.
A key point that is worth stressing is the higher number of LGBTQIA people who do not have religious affiliations at all. LGBTQIA people are, generally, “less religious than the general public”, the PRC similarly found, with 48% not having any religious affiliation at all, compared to 20% in the general public
For Bishop Regen Luna, CCI of the Inclusive Church of the Philippines (ICP) in Dasmariñas, Cavite, this is why there is a need to have a church that is LGBTQIA welcoming and LGBTQIA affirming.
“Majority of churches are anti-LGBTQIA,” said Luna in the vernacular, adding that these churches “teach anti-LGBTQIA doctrines.”
For Luna, there is this tendency to neglect that “when God made us, the love He gave, He gave to all of us. He does not discriminate. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God.”
As a small church teaching non-mainstream messages, “people gossip about us, that we’re a cult. At times while we’re worshipping, some people throw rocks at us, so we have to lock out doors. And there used to be anti-LGBTQIA churches that held rallies in front of our church.”
But Luna believes that the church can also do good politically – e.g. ICP participated in the drafting of the anti-discrimination ordinance that now guarantees the protection of human rights of LGBTQIA people in Cavite. This also meant that they now have a tool that they can use to deal with parties that want to do them harm simply because they are LGBTQIA people of faith.
And in the end, ICP wants to teach about openness – openness to new experiences, openness to new ideas, and openness to people of diverse SOGIESC. Perhaps this could stop the bleeding that churches experience by making people believe again in the unifying power of faith.
“If you are confused (with your faith), visit us,” Luna said. “Let’s talk. Have an exchange of ideas. Who knows you may learn something from us, things you won’t learn from others.” – WITH ARTHUR Abad NWABIA
