In a 1998 essay, Peter Sweasey discussed sexual identity as part of the path toward spiritual discovery. Do his insights hold up some 27 years later? In 1998 it was true that religion by and large seemed hostile to LGBTQ people. Sweasey said, “Just as religion rejects queers, so queers reject religion. Angry people, wanting to fight back after suffering years of oppression, find an obvious enemy in religion…” Despite this mutual hostility, there remain many LGBTQ+ people, Sweasey had to acknowledge, who find both spirituality and sexuality to be sources of strength and joy.
Sweasey learned from his research that for many lgbt people sexuality wasn’t a hindrance to a spiritual path but was often the catalyst for spiritual searching. Moreover, many found embracing and appreciating their sexuality became part of their spiritual growth. “When you’re confronting your own sexuality, you’re confronting yourself at the very deepest level of your being and it’s in that deepest level of your being that your spirituality dwells as well”, wrote Sweasey. He quoted lesbian Rabbi Elizabeth Sarah, “when people think of religion they think of…control… [but] The word spirituality seems more autonomous…it’s about what it is to be human, what it is to be alive, what it is to be part of creation.”
He also quoted Chris Ferguson, a gay Buddhist, “Religion is trying to make you what you’re not. Spirituality is trying to make you who you are.” Sunshine Cathedral is more investigative than dogmatic, more spiritual, you might say, than religious. Perhaps that was bound to be the case for the World’s Leading Queer Church. We are here to discover and celebrate wholeness, and that will by necessity include our sexuality.
