“How many of us are strangers to ourselves in order to please the church.”
~ George Azar
On this week's show, we sit down with author and ex-pastor George Azar to discuss his new book, My Gay Church Days. The book is a profoundly raw, honest, and open memoir about his experiences within Christianity and ministry as a gay man. It's a journey of self-discovery from someone who's just like all of us - in search of love, acceptance, belonging, and community.
From an early age, George knew he was different, but he longed to fit in and feel at home in this world. Evangelical Christianity provided a space to belong and find fellowship, but that all came at a price.
Within religious circles, you're always welcome as long as you fit into a certain mold. It's a conditional community that speaks often of grace and love but actually requires conformity and control. It's in these places that the life-giving words of Jesus are drowned out by pious judgment, cultural fears, and systemic misogyny and bigotry.
George's memoir chronicles the struggles of processing and embracing a faith that taught him that his homosexual feelings were sinful and that being part of the LGBTQ+ community made him an abomination fit for the wrath of an angry God. Undoubtedly, teachings like this taught him (and others) to hate himself and hide who he was from everyone around him - even himself.
It's a powerful story of the ways religion can be soul-crushing and dangerous to those who don't fall in line, but it's also a hopeful tale of resilience, self-acceptance, and learning to love yourself.
We'll talk about all that and more snark.
Buy George Azar's book, My Gay Church Days: Memoir of a closeted Evangelical pastor who eventually had enough, on Amazon.
For more on George: www.mygaychurchdays.com
Twitter/Instagram: @mygaychurchdays
Note: A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to The Trevor Project - The leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.
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Come along for the ride as we skewer through life, culture, and spirituality in the face of a changing world.