LGBT Book & Video Blog

The God Box: an engaging novel by Alex Sanchez

The God Box

A novel by Alex Sanchez

Any list of the top ten most highly-charged issues in human life would surely include these three: religion, sexuality, and being a teenager. In this engaging novel by Alex Sanchez, all three of these issues are woven together in a poignant and moving coming-of-age story for people of faith. Many in the baby boomer generation were certainly bereft of any resources at all that brought together religion and sexuality in helpful ways, let alone all the angst that goes along with being an adolescent. This novel bridges that gap and one can only hope that it will get into the hands of those who today need it most - lesbian and gay teenagers in repressive religious homes or churches with no one to talk to about their lives.

Harry Knox, the director of the HRC Religion and Faith Program, notes that sometimes fiction is exactly the right medium for exploring faith and sexuality. "I only wish," he says, "'The God Box' was around when I was a teenager!" Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, more pointedly observes how this novel "evokes the crucifying experience of adolescents wrestling with their sexual identity and their identity as Christians. This book is a gift not just to teenagers, but to those who love and work with them." Perhaps more pointedly still, the Rev. Dan Peeler, from the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, says that "this book will save lives."

Peeler is certainly not wrong about that. Far too many LGBT people commit suicide every year for religious reasons; one would be too many. Some estimates put that number as high as 1,200 - per year! Today's youth deserve so much better, and this novel is at least one way to get an affirming religious message into their hands. In fact, Sanchez has a whole series of novels that can prove helpful (and entertaining) for both teens and adults

posted by Tom Jackson @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008