Download or read book Happy: LGBTQ+ Experiences of Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity written by Mark Jennings and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book relates the unique experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) people in Australian Pentecostal-Charismatic Christian churches. Grounded in the theoretical contributions of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Lewis Coser, and others, the book exposes the discursive ‘battleground’ over the ‘truth’ of sex which underlies the participants’ stories. These rich and complex narratives reveal the stakes of this conflict, manifested in ‘the line’ – a barrier restricting out LGBTQ+ people from full participation in ministry and service. Although some participants related stories of supportive—if typically conservative—congregations where they felt able to live out an authentic, integrated faith, others found they could only leave their formerly close and supportive communities behind, ‘counter-rejecting’ the churches and often the faith that they felt had rejected them.