In his book “Does Jesus Really Love Me: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America,” Jeff Chu doesn’t presume to be an expert in politics or theology. In fact, his book seems decidedly uninterested in all of that fancy talk. What Chu is interested in is the actual people behind a debate that has divided Americans. 

Raised in a very conservative Southern Baptist background, Chu struggled to reconcile his faith and his gay identity, his earthly life and his eternal life. Wherever he turned, he was frustratingly being told what to do and what to think about himself.

Chu has no intention of doing that to you in his book. 

Instead, he puts together a collection of stories told by Christians and homosexuals from across the United States in your hands and beckons you to participate in the conversation, rather than have people such as himself dictate it. Using his own personal story, complimented by his journalistic aptitude, Chu brings you painstakingly real people from the far left, the far right and right in the middle. 

He’ll tell you a wide range of eye-opening stories from a gay man who has decidedly married a woman, to those who try Exodus International’s reorientation ministry in a desperate attempt for resolution and hope. He even dares to venture out to the Westboro Baptist Church community in an attempt to live out the intention of his book. That’s when things get really interesting. 

Now, some of us might be naïve enough to pick up this book and think that the question posited in the title will actually be answered. And in some ways it is: As Chu says, “It depends on whom you ask.” Seems rather circular, but if you approach this book with the idea that you’ll get some answers, you’ll be disappointed---in a good way. The larger importance of Chu's compliation of stories is that it's a conversation piece, because there’s no way you can read this book without desperately wanting to talk with someone about it. 

At a panel at The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on faith and gay identity, Chu was the only one out of the three panelists that hadn’t turned away from his faith, even though he has reason enough to. Some may think he lives a duplicitous life and some may think it would be much easier for him to be an atheist. However, no matter what anyone says, the very necessary truth that the panel brought forth is that the lack of meaningful conversation does a disservice to both parties. So whether you’re religious or not, or gay or not, “Does Jesus Really Love Me?” is openly asking us to not be afraid to know one another.

Here’s more on what Chu had to say about himself and the book in an interview with Neon Tommy: 

On what his book is trying to say: “I wanted for these people, whoever they were and where they were on the theological spectrum, I wanted everyone from when they opened the book and saw their own stories to recognize themselves and feel like I had given them a fair hearing. It was important to me to paint a portrait of how diverse American Christianity is on this issue because I don’t feel like we always understand why people are divided on this issue. It’s too easy for an editorial writer to say or a ‘tweeter’ to say ‘Well, people who are opposed to gay marriage are bigots.’  Well it’s a little more complicated in that. Why? Why are they opposed to homosexuality? It goes deeper and so I tried to seek out as many different viewpoints on this issue as I could and as many different experiences as I could.”

On the responsibility of the pastor: “I think in the case with pastors they are sometimes afraid to raise controversial issues because they don’t want to piss people off and my understanding of pastors is they shouldn’t be afraid of pissing people off. They should care more about principle. I would honestly, even as a gay man in a relationship, I would rather have them be candid than to dodge the issues because what good is church if it’s unable to deal with the most difficult issues in our lives.”

On how his book is different: “What I was trying to do was fill a void that I see in the discussion around this issue, which is the voices of people who have actually lived it from various perspectives. I don’t want to be seen as calling the church to anything except a gracious conversation. I don’t want to tell anybody what they should believe about this issue except that we need to be more gracious in that way that we approach each other. I think that’s the starting point and my ambitions aren’t really to do anything more than that.” 

On the surprises during his journey: “I was surprised at how eager lay people were to tell their stories. I was surprised at the hunger there is in the pews for conversation about this subject and the lack of responsiveness from pastors. Obviously, there are a lot of pastors who are preaching about this stuff, but that’s not the same as having a conversation. I think what people crave is an opportunity to come together and have a candid conversation and wrestle with this subject in a way that it’s not being done."

On labels: "I think we have a problem with labels in America right now. So many words have so much baggage. What does the word Christian mean to you? It will mean something different to you than it does to someone else. The word evangelical has so much baggage and I try to be clear in communicating who these people are but we are so much more than the labels that are applied to us. I think much of the coverage these days is too reductive. There [aren’t] accurate portraits of who people are and what they believe and I feel like we’re losing something from the dialogue…because we’re so stuck on the labels."

 

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