How to Stop Arguing About Religion but Make Your Point Recording & Training Toolkit

Religious objections still interfere with the equality of LGBTQ people, and arguments from the Bible, tradition, and religious authorities, are cited by critics to justify discrimination and abuse. We've heard the arguments and responses for over 50 years yet they continue, producing more heat than light as well as frustration for the arguer. Few walk away from such discussions feeling good about their responses.

A resource of PFLAG Academy Online

This workshop’s goal is to put religious arguments into perspective, not to argue about, for example “what the Bible really says,” but to explore strategies to defuse and redirect even the most difficult arguments effectively into the issues that lie beneath the religious arguments where the healing can begin. All attendees will receive a PDF copy of the booklet When You’re Having a Religious Argument.

Presented by Dr. Robert N Minor

Robert N. Minor, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. His eight books include When Religion Is an Addiction; Gay and Healthy in a Sick Society (called one of the “Top Gay Books of 2003”), and Scared Straight: Why It’s So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It’s So Hard to be Human (finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Independent Publisher Book Award). He is a single parent of a 42 year-old son and a seven-year-old grandson. He has served on, and presided over numerous boards and taskforces in the area of human rights and lectured and led workshops on gender, homophobia, racism, and healthy activism for universities, colleges, national and regional PFLAG conferences and meetings, churches, businesses, government organizations and religious groups and workshops on LGBTQ growth beyond “coming out.” He received GLAAD’s Leadership Award for Education. His website is fairnessproject.org.

One of our key goals is to help you take the information that you learned in this session and use it to make your chapter stronger and more effective. To do that, we’ve created this page to provide you with tools, resources, and references to materials mentioned in the workshop. As always, the PFLAG National staff is here to help. If you have any questions, comments, or just need some good advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Getting Started:

The Fairness Project

When You’re Having a Religious Argument, Dr. Robert N. Minor (PDF)

When Religion is an Addiction, Dr. Robert N. Minor

Scared Straight: Why It’s So Hard to Accept Gay People, and Why It’s So Hard to Be Human, Dr. Robert N. Minor

What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, Daniel A. Helminiak

Additional Articles:

For those who are interested in re-examining passages (other than the usual ones cited from the Jewish and Christian Bibles) with a non-homophobic and strictly historical perspective to see how differently they can be understood, Dr. Minor has a series of online articles available at Whosoever :

Going to Argue Scripture with Someone? Here’s One Thing Never to Say —January 3, 2020

When Homophobia Is the Prejudice Through Which You Interpret the Bible —January 18, 2020

Maybe Jesus Actually Did Say Something About Homosexuality After All — February 5, 2020

Who Are Those ‘Eunuchs Who Have Been So from Birth’ in the Gospel of Matthew? — May 16, 2020

What Does the Biblical Legend of Jonathan and David’s Same-Sex Relationship Say About Homophobia? — March 5, 2020

What Would a Same-Sex Relationship Between Two Women Look Like in the Bible? — April 11, 2020

The Christmas Story Is About Who’s In and Who’s Out — December 24, 2019