Episode 52: Neil Cazares Thomas

Neil Cazares Thomas is the pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, a mostly LGBTQ faith community. He and George talk about the theology behind affirming LGBTQ identifying people and their faith. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation:Neil: It's incumbent on us if we really want to follow the way, the truth, the life, then we have to take up that place of discipline or discipleship and to understand that personally. I don't think the role of the church is to tell people how to live. I think the role of the church is to point people to their better selves.George: Good.Neil: Especially in a community of oppressed peoples who have always been countercultural, who have always been on the margins, who have always been told they're not good enough, they're not acceptable, they may as well go eat worms for the rest of their lives, because they're going to go to hell in a handbasket anyway. It is easy for a group of people, a marginalized people, to not want to buy-in to a system that calls them to behavior.So we've learned, or I've learned, that in my conversations with people, is to actually find a way to help people build a better self-esteem, because if you start to love yourself, there are certain things you won't do to yourself. My job, I constantly believe as a pastor, is to help people to find their self-esteem, to find a place within them that says "I'm worth more than what I've been doing."