A black lesbian plans to launch a Bible app later this month aimed at making gay people feel more included in the Christian community.
Crystal Cheatham, a lesbian Christian, decided to create the Our Bible app after her Seventh Day Adventist church told her that Christianity and homosexuality were not compatible, reports the Christian Daily.
“I couldn’t find any devotional that represented me. And what about you? It has to be difficult for you too,” Cheatham said in a video promotional for the app. “I created Our Bible app because everyone deserves to be nurtured spiritually.”
The Our Bible app, specifically geared toward the gay community and its allies, has 20 Bibles and over 300 devotionals. The app also includes special articles, podcasts and meditation exercises for users. The Bible also refers to God in “gender neutral” terms.
“The Bible should be accessible to everyone. At its core, the holy text was written to be inclusive of all of God’s creation especially those on the margins. With all of the traditional versions of the Bible, Our Bible App will include translations that refer to God in gender neutral terms, and a library of progressive devotionals and other resources,” a fundraising page for the app explained.
People are also encouraged to write and submit “pro-women” and “pro-gay” devotionals for the app.
“A lot of times religious spaces and spiritual resources exclude us from the narrative and exclude us in their content, or their content is actively hostile,” said Eliel Cruz, a bisexual Christian and the director of communications for the app.
Cheatham raised money to fund her app and plans to release a beta version of it later in June to certain people who donated at least $10 to the app’s progress. Another version is set to be released in September.
“There are so many Christians out there that want to be accepting of LGBT people but don’t know how because they haven’t received the resources,” Cheatham said to PBS.
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