Progressive Bible App Wants LGBT Christians to Feel Included

An LGBT activist is creating a new Bible app targeting “progressive” Christians who often feel marginalized by church and biblical traditions.

“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,” founder Crystal Cheatham says on the crowdfunding page.

PBS reports the app will include 20 Bible translations and more than 300 devotional readings, meditation exercises, articles and podcasts for LGBTQ Christians and other progressive believers.

“It’s the place where a transgender teen can find affirming Bible texts,” according to the Indiegogo campaign. “It’s the place where your church will watch and then chat about a sermon, it’s where you’ll find new books and organizations that you care about. It’s an app but it’s also a movement. It’s about ending a stigma against what it means to be a Christian and filling in a pitfall that generations before us have fallen into. We can make that difference for ourselves and for our communities.”

For those who don’t care about the Word of God and just want feel-good inspiration, the app offers that as well.

In an update for the campaign, one user writes: 

Anyone is welcome to participate in this app; there is even a whole Bible-Free section for people like me (and maybe you!). It provides a social network space for the spiritually curious to the spiritually devoted to meet and discuss any aspect of life you can imagine and a collection of community-created “devotionals,” or meditation programs. This is especially important for young folks growing up thinking they were born wrong. Just think, if this had been around for so many people of my and previous generations …!  This is not the same as the Bibles fossilizing with good intentions in your motel nightstand, and this is definitely not the same as the Bibles waved to silence women, LGBTQI and other marginalized folks into self-loathing. This is a cause I’m proud to be a part of, surprising as it may be.

The app has nearly 200 backers, but has only raised just over 30 percent of its financial goal. The app launches June 30. {eoa}