Ten years ago, in the same year that Living Out launched, one of our founders, Sam Allberry, published a short book titled Is God Anti-Gay?: And Other Questions About Homosexuality, the Bible and Same-Sex Attraction. This year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the book’s publication, Sam has released an updated version. We thought it would be good to ask Sam a few questions about why he decided to update the book.
Why did you decide to write an updated version of Is God Anti-Gay?
Ordinarily, I don't read my own books once they're published (it's like listening to a recording of your own voice!). But several months ago I needed to look something up in Is God Anti-Gay? and as I was thumbing through it I realised how much our culture and the conversation around sexuality had moved on since the book first came out. It was ten years ago now. Same-sex marriage wasn't a legal reality in the UK or the US. It was a different world in many respects. The questions I typically get asked have evolved. Some of the language has shifted somewhat as well. So, I figured it needed a bit of an overhaul for its 10th birthday. I hope this new edition will be better placed to serve the kinds of discussions we're having right now.
How do you think the conversation around faith and sexuality has changed over the last decade?
I think it's changed a huge amount. Back in 2013 the big question I kept hearing in all the churches was ‘Does the Bible really prohibit same-sex relationships?’ or ‘Surely if a relationship is faithful and committed that's all that matters?’. Now the question I most hear, inside and outside the church is, ‘How can a God who restricts our sexual freedom be good?’. The issue now is to do with whether a Jesus who says what he does about sex and marriage can possibly be good. The assumption today is very much that romantic fulfilment and sexual self-expression are such fundamentals that anything infringing on them is deeply harmful.
Much has changed across the Christian landscape over the past decade, too. Living Out has always been able to serve a breadth of broadly evangelical churches, but evangelicalism is now much more divided, especially in the US. Differences, even relatively minor ones, lead to lots of suspicion. This has actually made it harder to have some of the conversations we need to be having. The cultural shifts that have continued to take place have left many parts of the church angrier and more abrasive both to non-Christian LGBTQ people and to those struggling within the church.
At the same time, there are many more churches looking to be both biblically faithful and pastorally sensitive than ten years ago. So there's much to be encouraged by, too.
What’s new or different in this edition of the book?
I've restructured the book to better reflect the shift in which questions are more urgently asked today. So the section on biblical passages that address same-sex relationships is now at the back of the book, rather than the front. I've added material on the goodness of Jesus, expanded some sections where I think we needed slightly more depth and condensed other parts to make some space for that, as I didn't want the overall length of the book to change much. I've also tried to make it more directly accessible to someone who might not be a Christian, as I've heard so many accounts of people giving the book to friends outside the Church. I hope there will be greater pastoral awareness at various points, too. Some of the language that would have been more commonplace a decade ago felt less fitting now, so I've changed some of the terminology in the book. The theology has remained the same!
Who do you think will benefit from reading your book?
I hope anyone will, but I've had two types of people particularly in mind throughout the whole process: the teen struggling with sexuality and wondering if God could ever love them. That person (who I've met many examples of over the years) has always felt like the priority. But I've also had the non-Christian in mind, too, who might be wondering how on earth Christians can believe the things they do about sex and marriage. I hope it will be clear and compelling to them, too. I've had many people write to me to say they'd become Christians through reading the book. Over the years many youth leaders have told me that the format and length has been great for using with teenagers, so I've tried to make sure that is still the case.
Is God Anti-Gay?: And Other Questions About Jesus, the Bible, and Same-Sex Sexuality is published by The Good Book Company and is available now.
