A man has vowed to continue his controversial work, despite receiving hundreds of hate messages.
Christopher Greenough, from Bootle, is a reader in social sciences at Edge Hill University. His work sets out to see how LGBTQ+ Christians are impacted by their religion - which Christoper, who is gay himself, claims is “quite repressive” with same-sex couples not being allowed to marry in some churches.
After his work went viral, Christopher, who has no faith, had to deactivate his Twitter account because of the initial reaction.
READ MORE: Mum floored as tenant wants to rip out 'lovely' garden to turn it into private parking space
The author, who now lives in Wigan, told the ECHO: “The attention I got was unavailable. I had a lot of emails sent to me and I wanted to know what the response was as I was curious. I had to set up a folder titled hate emails to put them all into. Thankfully, the email system deletes them after some time. I’ve got a lovely set of bibles which have been sent to me, I could set up a bible club.”
Christopher appreciates he works in a “controversial area” studying the relationship between LGBTQ+ sexuality and religion. However, he believes his work is needed as it goes beyond the intersections and explores "what religion means to people as well as what their sexuality and gender mean to them".
The language graduate said: “Religion matters in people’s lives. My work isn’t anti-religious. Even though I’m not religious, religion can still be beautiful. When I take my students into a church, a Hindu temple or a mosque, you can tell it means a lot to people and can bring meaning to life. There is something really meaningful about the aesthetics and these other spiritual worlds.”
The reader also recognises that more and more religious people are now steering away from the traditional views their faith was once associated with.
The former safeguarder added: “The narrative is quite complicated as we can’t generalise. People are starting to have very different attitudes, we can’t assume because someone is Catholic they still hold traditional beliefs. A lot of Catholics these days approve of abortion, LGBTQ+ relationships and divorce - all of which were once seen as being controversial.”
Receive our weekly LGBTQIA+ newsletter by signing up here.
Christopher’s interest in the subject can be drawn back to his childhood - where he grew up Catholic and attended church every Sunday as an altar boy. He added: “When other kids were playing teachers and doctors, I used to play church and it wasn’t a very popular game.”
Christopher quickly realised that regardless of what his research found out - because of the nature of the topic - it was always going to evoke opinion. With this in mind and with the support of his workplace, Christopher began using the “hate mail” as “fuel” to show LGBTQ+ Christians they can reconcile with their faith.
He said: “At first I used to feel paralysed by it, but if I’m ruffling feathers, I’m doing my job. If my work is out there, good, if my work is making people think and feel uncomfortable, good because it's not my job to make people feel comfortable. Everything is experienced at an individual level and we can’t think in binary positions about things anymore.”
What makes it all worthwhile for Christopher is when he receives emails from those in countries which aren’t accepting of their LGBTQ+ population. He added: “It's the best impact your work can have. I don’t write it for that but if it speaks to people that’s what matters. I am reflecting people’s experiences back to them.”
READ NEXT:
- 'Pay Pete's debts' threat before salon windows went in
- Police apologise for Hillsborough failures and for 'blighting lives' of families
- People in Liverpool warned not to open their doors after crime spate
- B&M brings back Ninja air fryer dupe that costs 18p per hour to run
- Ashley Dale murder suspects to return to court this week
