Bishop Gene Robinson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, has written an article for The Huffington Post entitled "How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth". In it, he lays much of the blame for the high suicide rate of LGBT teens directly where it belongs, at the feet of religion.
"An increasingly popular bumper sticker reads, "Guns Don’t Kill People — RELIGION Kills People!" In light of recent events I would add religion kills young people: gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender young people."
Robinson concedes there are other contributing factors to the anti-gay rhetoric which results in such a high rate of suicide, but even when discussing the matter with gay teens who had no religious background, he found that the atmosphere created by religious hate speech is known to those unfamiliar with the Bible…
"You don’t have to grow up in a religious household, though, to absorb these religious messages. Not long ago I had a conversation with six gay teens, not one of whom had ever had any formal religious training or influence. Every one of them knew the word "abomination," and every one of them thought that was what God thought of them. They couldn’t have located the Book of Leviticus in the Bible if their lives depended on it yet they had absorbed this message from the antigay air they breathe every day."
It’s a spot on analysis by someone in the middle of religious America. I urge you to read it.
"How Religion Is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth" by Gene Robinson
