Does Jesus Really Love Me?

Chu, Jeff. Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America. Harper, 2013.

Jeff Chu embarks on a search throughout the United States to see what different organizations and denominations believe about the intersection of faith and sexuality, specifically whether God does indeed love gay people. He visits the infamous Westborough Baptist Church, Exodus (an ex-gay organization), the Metropolitan Community Church, the Gay Christian Network, and many other organizations on various ends of the spectrum. His research is thorough and he tells the stories of many individuals he encounters on his travels. Interspersed throughout the book are Chu's email conversations with Gideon, a young man from a very conservative Christian family who has recently come out to himself and is considering coming out to his parents.

This book is very thorough; I can tell that Chu has done his research. I can also tell that this topic is very important to him, as is his faith. My coming out and "counseling" sessions were very similar to Gideon's, and I did enjoy this book as a description of the current pulse of the faith community of the United States, although much of the information was not new to me. I would recommend this book along with Justin Lee's Torn and John Shore's Unfair! to those who are interested in the Gay/Christian debate.