Crystal Cheatham created the Our Bible App with a mission in mind.
“I created the app because I felt like there isn’t enough material for queer Christians out there, and it doesn’t mean that the material doesn’t exist,” the 32-year-old said. “We are surrounded by a ton of progressive Christian pieces of media, all pieces of a puzzle, but we don’t have one common place to consume that media.”
The app is expected to launch before the end of the summer and will include a bookstore with progressive Christian content, a devotional section and a chat function. Additionally, Cheatham said the app will offer different Bible translations, including versions using words like “homosexual” and with references to God including gender-inclusive pronouns.
Cheatham noted the app will not only focus on defensive theology, which pushes back against aspects such as the word “abomination” and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. It will also highlight affirming theology in which users can read about same-sex love, transgender people, gender-nonconformity and other LGBT identities.
Cheatham, who grew up in Michigan, said her family raised her in the Southern Baptist Church. After graduating college, she considered a career in the church.
Then, she came out as a lesbian.
“When I came out, I was told that practicing homosexuals don’t have a place in leadership and can’t be on stage,” Cheatham said. “It was definitely a shock to the system.”
Cheatham moved to Philadelphia in 2009 and said she began exploring who she was as a queer woman of color and of faith, learning that the Bible was affirming to LGBT people. She said this app will help others realize this as well.
In addition to LGBT people, Cheatham said she hopes others will also gravitate to it, including millennials and whom she referred to as “the other kind of Christian.”
“The other kind of Christian is the Christian that doesn’t condemn people for being who they are,” Cheatham said. “My kind of Christianity means that I am going to figure out what my path is, and [that] is my conversation with my God and my conversation with whatever holy book I deem holy.”
Cheatham has been crowdfunding on the app’s website to assist in raising money for its development. That effort has raised more than $100,000 so far, though she said it still needs at least $30,000 more to be successful. Additionally, the site is also selling Zebracorn merchandise, including T-shirts and mugs, to raise funds. These items feature a zebra with rainbow stripes to symbolize multiple identities using the tagline, “Believers of All Stripes.”
Cheatham noted that the misconception that LGBT people cannot be Christian has been “blown out of proportion” and used as fuel for political movements.
“You see that so many Evangelicals are supporting this idea that it’s wrong to be gay. Meanwhile, these are the same people who are voting for Trump,” Cheatham said. “So what we’re trying to do with our message is combat that and say, ‘Hey, there is another narrative and all you have to do is look a little further within the pages.’”
For more information and to donate to Our Bible App, visit www.ourbibleapp.com.