ABSTRACT

In this article, we investigate the experiences of Latter-day Saint college students as they navigate and negotiate the complexities associated with maintaining their beliefs about homosexuality while, at the same time, engaging in friendships with gay and lesbian persons. Based on analyzes of 30 interviews, we show that these students face conflicts of: culture versus faith; politics versus faith; and friendship versus faith. We then focus our investigation on four distinct managements strategies that these students use to respond to conflicts of friendship versus faith, including: avoidance; hate the sin, love the sinner; agency; and differential moral responsibility. We situate these findings in relation to the broader literature, especially that of contact theory, and we explore the implications of our research for how cultural and social differences can be navigated and negotiated at both the micro and macro levels.

摘要

在本文中，我们调查了后期圣徒大学生在导航和谈判与维护其对同性恋的信仰相关的复杂性的同时，与同性恋者之间建立友谊的经历。根据对30个访谈的分析，我们显示出这些学生面临以下冲突：文化与信仰；文化与信仰之间的冲突。政治与信仰; 而友谊与信念。然后，我们将研究重点放在这些学生用来应对友谊与信仰冲突的四种不同的管理策略上，包括：避免；恨罪，爱罪人；代理; 和不同的道德责任。我们将这些发现与更广泛的文献（尤其是接触理论）联系起来，并探讨我们的研究对于如何在微观和宏观两个层面上解决和协商文化和社会差异的意义。