God Concept, God Image, and Religious Orientation in Same-Gender Attracted Christians

Abstract

Same-gender attracted Christians can arrive at very different conclusions as to how to live in congruence with their religious values. In an attempt to understand what might contribute to this difference a quantitative examination of God concept (rational knowledge of God), God image (experiential knowledge of God), and the role of religion was conducted. A total of 156 gay-affirming and 59 traditional-believing same-gender attracted (SGA) Christians completed an online God adjective checklist and intrinsic/extrinsic religiosity questionnaire. Results indicated that within both populations there was a statistically significant difference between God concept and God image. A statistically significant difference was also found between the two groups in both God concept and God image. Traditional-believing SGA Christians reported a God concept and God image that was significantly more wrathful than their gay-affirming counterparts. Results also indicated that traditional-believing SGA Christians were significantly more intrinsically religiously oriented than were the gay-affirming participants. Together these findings suggest that there are significant differences between the way traditional-believing and gay-affirming SGA Christians understand and experience both God and religion.