Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality - Reflections from Difficult Dialogues exploring Religion, Spirituality, and Homosexuality

Oct 15, 2026

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Article reflects on a student affairs practitioner’s co-instruction of the two-credit, eight-week undergraduate course “Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality” at Indiana University Bloomington. It examines how spirituality and religion may be interconnected or separate, and how overlap with sexual orientation can create conflict across orientations. The piece outlines the course’s objectives for facilitating difficult dialogue, journal-based reflection, readings, and small-group discussions with religious and non-religious leaders.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Multiple Definitions of Spirituality and Sexuality

Course Design

Context for the Course“Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality”

Course Framework

# Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality:Reflections fromDifficult Dialogues exploring Religion,Spirituality,andHomosexuality Lucy LePeau This article describes a student affairs practitioner's experience with co-instructing acourse entitled,“Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality”.The ways practitioners canfacilitate dificult dialogues with students about the intersecion of spirituality andGLBT issues are explored. Recently,the influence of spirituality affecting students'identity developmentas young adults has received more consideration in higher education (Parks,2000;Love,Bock,Jannarone,&Richardson,2005).Part of the challengedescribed in published literature pertaining to the study of spirituality isidentifying whether or not spirituality is interconnected or separate fromreligion (Nash,2001;Love,2002).When issues of spirituality and thedimension of identity through sexual orientation overlap,conflict often arisesfor people of all sexual orientations (Love et al.,2005).Some mainstreamreligious denominations do not view homosexual orientation as “sinful”,butmay view homosexual behaviors as "sinful"making it challenging for people ofmultiple religious orientations to understand(Love et al.,2005;Nash,2001). ## Multiple Definitions of Spirituality and Sexuality Confounding the challenge of understanding students'spiritual development isthe multitude of definitions used to describe spirituality.Love(2002)usesexamples from Palmer and Helminiak to try to differentiate between religionand spirituality.Religion is described as dogma and doctrine and spirituality isdescribed as seeking “authenticity,genuineness,and wholeness”(Helminiak ascited in Love,2002,p.359).However,Nash(2001)describes how bothreligion and spirituality are complementary to one another because studentsshould be able to combine both their heads and their hearts in making-meaning.Multiple interpretations of differentiating and combining spiritualityand religion makes exploring how students see these constructs as particularlyintriguing(Dalton,2001)especially as it relates to sexuality.Recently,a study byLove,Bock,Jannarone,and Richardson (2005)explored spiritual experiences * LePEAU for lesbian and gay college students.In this study,the authors declare that inAmerican culture there is no integration between sexuality and spiritualitywhere heterosexuals can experience a sense of safety,even if this is notnecessarily a healthy practice.In light of the current research exploring lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT)students'interaction between spiritualand identity development,the course“Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality”provided students with a venue to try to understand spiritual and identitydevelopment for themselves,as heterosexuals,and for individuals who identifyas homosexual ## Course Design Context for the Course“Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality” I co-instructed this two credit eight-week undergraduate course through theCollege of Education at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB),a Research I,public university with approximately 38,000 students(Indiana Campus Profile,2005).The course was taught during two semesters,both the Fall of 2004 andSpring of 2005.My co-instructor and I were advised by the Director of theGLBT(Gay,Lesbian,Bisexual,Transgendered)Student Services office and theDirector of Campus Ministries throughout both semesters of the course.Theformat of the course was similar each semester,but my experiences as a co-instructor each semester were very different because of the diversity ofstudents enrolled. The course material raised questions like:What do faith traditions and personalspirituality have to do with diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity?Might gender categories other than male and female inform our sense of thespiritual?Is ‘gay marriage'a political,social,personal,religious,or legal issue?This course provided a safe space for any students(whether gay,straight,orsomewhere in between,whether re

FAQs

Why can dialogue about spirituality and GLBT issues be challenging for students?

The article notes that published literature struggles to define spirituality and whether it connects to religion. When spirituality and identity through sexual orientation overlap, conflict can arise for people across orientations.

What is the purpose of the course “Queer(y)ing Religion and Spirituality”?

The course creates a venue for students to understand spiritual and identity development for themselves, whether heterosexual or identifying as homosexual. It also aims to deepen understanding of how sexuality and spirituality are interrelated.

How was the course structured to support student learning and dialogue?

Each class included a presentation by a religious or non-religious leader, followed by small-group discussions. The course also used journal writing and reflection-based dialogue guided by classroom guidelines.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by jayni