Chalke Talk 13: Juvenile Bible reading endangering LGBT mental health

Irresponsible church leaders, who encourage a literal and juvenile interpretation of the Bible, are partly to blame for heightened mental illness and physical harm among LGBT people, argues Steve in this week's Chalke Talk.

Despite the fact that the Bible’s underlying message is one of justice, compassion and liberation, Rev Canon Steve Chalke – leader of Global Christian charity Oasis – argues in this week’s Chalke Talk that a failure to grapple with the challenges, contradictions and inconsistencies it presents has caused its true purpose to be distorted.  As such it has wrongly been used throughout history to undermine women’s rights, create an unnecessary confrontation with scientists and oppress LGBT people.

While previous editions of Chalke Talk have asked probing questions, this week Steve makes three bold challenges.

How will you and your church respond?