Number of gay Christians increase in US

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more_gays_are_christianWhile Americans are increasingly moving away from Christianity, more members of the LGBT community appear to be embracing the faith.

These surprising trends were revealed in the Pew Research Center report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, released this week.

According to the study of 35,000 American adults, the percentage of people who identify as Christian (the largest religious group in the country) has dropped from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014.

Atheism and agnosticism are now on the rise, with 22.8% of Americans describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or believing in “nothing in particular.” This figure was 16.1% in 2007.

The LGBT community, however, appears to be becoming more religious, with almost half (48%) of LGB Americans saying that they are Christian, compared to 42% in another 2013 study.

The Pew survey also found that non-Christian faiths are represented in the gay community at higher rates than among the general public, with 11% of LGBT respondents identifying with faiths such as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and “other world religions.”

Just 6% of straight Americans, on the other hand, are followers of these faiths.

The author of God and the Gay Christian, Matthew Vines, told The Advocate that, “The ‘Christians vs. LGBT people’ narrative that we hear so often is part of the story, but as the Pew poll shows, it’s not all of it.”

“As LGBT Christians continue to find their voice, they’ll be changing both their churches and the LGBT community for the better,” he said.

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