Anglican Mainstream

Stanton L. Jones, First Things

The social sciences cannot settle the moral status of homosexuality.

Many religious and social conservatives believe that homosexuality is a mental illness caused exclusively by psychological or spiritual factors and that all homosexual persons could change their orientation if they simply tried hard enough. This view is widely pilloried (and rightly so) as both wrong on the facts and harmful in effect. But few who attack it are willing to acknowledge that today a wholly different, far more influential, and no less harmful set of falsehoods—each attributed to the findings of “science”—dominates the research literature and political discourse.

We are told that homosexual persons are just as psychologically healthy as heterosexuals, that sexual orientation is biologically determined at birth, that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that the attempt to change it is necessarily harmful, that homosexual relationships are equivalent to heterosexual ones in all important characteristics, and that personal identity is properly and legitimately constituted around sexual orientation. These claims are as misguided as the ridiculed beliefs of some social conservatives, as they spring from distorted or incomplete representations of the best findings from the science of same-sex attraction.

Read here

Read the paper in its entirety here

Greg Quinlan is President of PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex-Gays)

"Homosexuality is not a civil right. Civil rights are based on innateness, whether or not you were born that way. To date, there is zero evidence that anyone is born a homosexual. Zero. In fact it's homosexual researchers and scientists that are proving that homosexuality is not innate and has no biological ideology. Homosexuality is not immutable. People do change. People have a right of self-determination. They can choose to change from being gay to straight. Why can't they choose to change from being straight to ga?

"People do it all the time. There are many ex-gays. Anne Heche, to name one. Sinead O'Connor. And myself. I left the homosexual lifestyle almost 20 years ago. Lived as a homosexual activist for 10 years of my life. I'm a registered nurse. I watched 100 of my friends and acquaintances die of AIDS before I stopped counting. I've seen lots of things but homosexuality does not deserve to be codified or recognized as marriage in any state."
 
“I want to talk first of all about something I heard from the very beginning by people of this Legislature that we are bigots as people of faith, because we do not hold that homosexual marriage should be codified. That somehow we are bigots and we are ideologues because we are people of faith. I want to address that hate. Everyone in this room who is a person of faith deserves an apology from one of the sponsors of this bill for calling us bigots.”

By Ann Widdecombe, Express

ALMOST anybody can get help for anything from psychotherapists in this country except apparently gays who do not want to be gay.

A man who wants to be a woman will receive not only the necessary operations but also a huge amount of psychological support and counselling.

So will the infertile who desperately want children. Yet the unhappy homosexual should, according to gay activists, be denied any chance whatever to investigate any possibility of seeing if he can be helped to become heterosexual.

Lesley Pilkington was found to have broken the ethical code of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy when she agreed to a request from Patrick Strudwick to help him become a heterosexual.

Unbeknown to her it was a bogus request designed to entrap her, or as he would put it, to discredit counselling which tries to help an individual change sexuality.

Lesley Pilkington was found to have broken the ethical code of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy when she agreed to a request from Patrick Strudwick to help him become a heterosexual.

That of course is rot because no therapy will work unless the person receiving it is committed to the outcome.

Read here  (Some interesting comments at the end of the article)

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, alongside eleven senior Anglican Bishops and others from public life, are among seventy figures who have expressed public support for a Christian psychotherapist, ahead of an Appeal hearing this week. 

A letter written in support of Lesley Pilkington, the psychotherapist at the centre of this case – which involves, among other things, unwanted homosexuality and therapy – has been co-signed by people from five countries. In addition to the Bishops, there are other Christian leaders of churches and organisations, various experts and mental health practitioners. 

Text of letter and 70 signatories

Lesley Pilkington is a practising psychotherapist who distinguishes very carefully between her non-directive counselling and the biblical and pastoral counselling which, as a Christian, she also offers. She was approached at a conference by a man who said he was unhappy being homosexual, and wanted her to help. Lesley explained to him that she only works in this area within a biblical Christian framework, after which he claimed that he was a Christian. 

After two sessions he announced that he was in fact a gay journalist, wanting to ‘expose’ her and people like her. He then lodged complaints against her with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). He objected to the biblical Christian values used in this case of therapy, and also to the claim that ‘change is possible’ even though he had expressed his willing agreement to undergo this therapy. 

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By Peter Saunders, MercatorNet

A leading activist agrees that homosexual preferences are fluid and changing. If so, why do gays need special treatment?

Many people think that homosexuality is a biological characteristic like race or sex – biologically fixed and genetically determined. They think this because this is the view that has been successfully propagated by the gay rights lobby for decades in order to provide a justification for arguing that ‘homophobia’ is a form of discrimination akin to racism or sexism.

This belief has also been behind moves to treat discrimination against 'practising' homosexuals as a human rights issue by pretending that homosexuals are a biological category like 'women' or 'Asians' whose distinctive features are genetically determined rather than just a group who have simply made a certain life-style choice.

But in fact the strength and direction of erotic attraction, although relatively stable in some people, can be quite changeable in others – it is often not fixed at all.

Similarly, identical twins often have different sexual orientations proving that, although sexual orientation may have some genetic influences, it is not genetically determined. There is, in other words, no such thing as the gay gene.

Read here

From Christian Concern

SENIOR churchmen have backed Lesley Pilkington, a Christian Counsellor whose appeal against the decision of her professional body, The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) will be heard this week. Lesley Pilkington is to appeal and seek to have her disciplinary case ‘struck out’ on the basis that the original hearing was unfair, lacked in due process and discriminated against her Christian faith.

Lesley Pilkington is an experienced counsellor and has, in effect, been barred from her professional register after attempting to assist a homosexual client in a therapy session at her clinic at home. Her client/patientwas actually a ‘gay rights activist/journalist’ and deliberately misled the counsellor by secretly recording the sessions. He then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct – despite the claimant’s recordings not being properly disclosed or scrutinised and her world-class expert witness, being refused permission to give evidence on the issue of 'change therapy'. Her expert witness, Dr Dean Byrd, also received threats and nuisance telephone calls which were reported to the Police.

[...]  Andrea Williams, Director of CLC said: “Lesley Pilkington has been the subject of an ongoing, premeditated attack by a homosexual activist whose aim was to remove her from her profession and to make a political point. Her professional body has failed to protect her. She has not had a fair trial and all attempts at making her case have been thwarted. It is time to stand up to a militant homosexual lobby who are unable to tolerate difference of opinion and who seek to coerce behaviour and thought.”

Read here
 
Read also: Former Archbishop of Canterbury and senior clerics back therapist in row on 'gay conversion' by Steve Doughty, Mailonline

Pink News coverage here and comments here

By Robert Mendick, Telegraph

Leading church figures including the former Archbishop of Canterbury have sparked controversy by championing a psychotherapist who believes gay men can be 'cured' of their homosexuality.

Lesley Pilkington was effectively barred from her professional register after attempting to convert a homosexual man in a therapy session at her home.
 
Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct.
 
The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
 
But ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Rt Rev Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
 
In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported.

His comments – in a letter co-signed by, among others, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes – will cause controversy in the gay community and beyond.

Read here

From NARTH

Current discussions of homosexual sexual orientation change are unavoidably occurring within a sociopolitical climate that makes nonpartisan scientific inquiry of this subject very difficult. In light of this reality, a few considerations are crucial for accurately understanding the sometimes contradictory opinions regarding the possibility of sexual orientation change. First and foremost, it is important to recognize that how change is conceptualized has vast implications for our thinking about change. Some of the more ardent proponents and opponents of homosexual sexual orientation change may view change in strictly categorical terms, where change is an all-or-nothing experience. Proponents and opponents with this view differ only in the direction of their desired outcome. Proponents of change understood in categorical terms may view a homosexual sexual orientation as a lifestyle choice that merely needs to be renounced. Opponents who take this viewpoint, on the other hand, may conceive of sexual orientation as essentially hard wired and simply not modifiable. NARTH does not support either of these perspectives.

NARTH believes that much of the expressed pessimism regarding sexual orientation change is a consequence of individuals intentionally or inadvertently adopting a categorical conceptualization of change. When change is viewed in absolute terms, then any future experience of same-sex attraction (or any other challenge), however fleeting or diminished, is considered a refutation of change. Such assertions likely reflect an underlying categorical view of change, probably grounded in an essentialist view of homosexual sexual orientation that assumes same-sex attractions are the natural and immutable essence of a person. What needs to be remembered is that the de-legitimizing of change solely on the basis of a categorical view of change is virtually unparalleled for any challenge in the psychiatric literature. For example, applying a categorical standard for change would mean that any subsequent reappearance of depressive mood following treatment for depression should be viewed as an invalidation of significant and genuine change, no matter how infrequently depressive symptoms reoccur or how diminished in intensity they are if subsequently re-experienced. Similar arguments could be made for any number of conditions, including grief, alcoholism, or marital distress. The point is not to equate these conditions with homosexuality, but rather to highlight the inconsistency of applying the categorical standard only to reported changes in unwanted same-sex attractions. 

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By Peter Saunders, CMF

Many people think that homosexuality is a biological characteristic like race or sex – biologically fixed and genetically determined.

They think this because this is the view that has been successfully propagated by the gay rights lobby for decades in order to provide a justification for arguing that ‘homophobia’ is a form of discrimination akin to racism or sexism.

This belief has also been behind moves to treat discrimination against 'practising' homosexuals as a human rights issue by pretending that homosexuals are a biological category like 'women' or 'asians' whose distinctive features are genetically determined rather than just a group who have simply made a certain life-style choice.

But in fact the strength and direction of erotic attraction, although relatively stable in some people, can be quite changeable in others – it is often not fixed at all.

Similarly identical twins often have different sexual orientations proving that, although sexual orientation may have some genetic influences, it is not genetically determined. There is, in other words, no such thing as the gay gene.

Read here

On Sunday the pastor, who has links to a controversial body called the Core Issues Trust, is due to be a guest preacher at St John's Church. The trust has enraged the gay community with its approach to homosexuality within society, including recommending therapy to change sexual orientation. Gay churchgoer Patrick Gillan, 56, from Knights Close in Pembury, objected to the planned appearance, saying: "Dr Reynolds is obviously involved with Core Issues, which is already a controversial organisation. "My main concern with Core Issues is that they are involved with therapy of some sorts and there is no explanation as to what this is."My fear is that the church will buy into this programme."

Dr Reynolds has insisted he just wants to improve relations between the church and the gay community. But Mr Gillan was sceptical, saying: "You don't come all the way from America to a church in Tunbridge Wells to tell Christians how to love a homosexual."

Vicar of St John's Church Giles Walter said: "Dr Reynolds had a free slot in his programme and we were asked whether we would like him to be our preacher this Sunday morning, and we said that we would be. "We are certainly aware of his link with the Core Issues Trust and we will listen carefully to what he has to say."

Read here

By Patrick B Craine, LifeSite News

As governments, celebrities, and activist groups declare “gay is good” to stave off teen suicides, some brave souls in Quebec are breaking ground as they launch the first group in the province dedicated to helping men and women overcome unwanted same-sex attractions.

Michel Lizotte, the journalist who founded Ta Vie Ton Choix, said bullying is not the only reason that those inclined to homosexuality consider suicide. “Some of these people who did their coming out and experienced the gay lifestyle, are feeling so bad after a while that they have suicidal ideas,” he told LifeSiteNews. “They will make suicidal attempts and they will commit suicide.”

Lizotte’s group, which launched a website in October at TaVieTonChoix.org, aims to connect those hoping to overcome their unwanted attractions, refer them to competent therapists, and offer sound – but often ignored – scientific information on same-sex attraction.

Read here

From News Letter

A LEADING gay rights campaigner who attended a controversial Christian conference on homosexuality in Belfast at the weekend says there was a significant difference between how the event was initially perceived compared to the actual reality of its content.

The title of the conference, “The Lepers Among Us: Homosexuality and the Life of the Church”, caused heated debate last week across the Province, with some gay rights activists saying they found it hugely offensive.

However, chairman of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association, PA MagLochlainn, attended the conference to find out first hand what it was about.

The event was organised by Northern Ireland group, Core Issues, and took place at Orangefield Presbyterian Church.

Mr MagLochlainn said there was a huge difference between “the perception and reality” of the conference message. Its title came from a book by the keynote speaker, the Rev Jim Reynolds, a pastor and lawyer from Texas.

Mr MagLochlainn said: “Rev Reynolds was arguing that churches must offer a much more welcoming approach to gay people. The conference had a panel on Friday with a representative of the gay perspective sitting on it, which was most welcome to see.”

Referring to Rev Reynolds, Mr MagLochlainn said: “I really liked the guy.

Read here

The powerful music video for the ex-gay song that shook the pop music world. Italian star Povia tells the story of his friend Luca, who once saw himself as gay, but turned to reparative therapy and found healing and wholeness by digging deep within himself and facing the traumas of his past.

By Stanton L Jones, First Things

The social sciences cannot settle the moral status of homosexuality.

Many religious and social conservatives believe that homosexuality is a mental illness caused exclusively by psychological or spiritual factors and that all homosexual persons could change their orientation if they simply tried hard enough. This view is widely pilloried (and rightly so) as both wrong on the facts and harmful in effect. But few who attack it are willing to acknowledge that today a wholly different, far more influential, and no less harmful set of falsehoods—each attributed to the findings of “science”—dominates the research literature and political discourse.

We are told that homosexual persons are just as psychologically healthy as heterosexuals, that sexual orientation is biologically determined at birth, that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that the attempt to change it is necessarily harmful, that homosexual relationships are equivalent to heterosexual ones in all important characteristics, and that personal identity is properly and legitimately constituted around sexual orientation. These claims are as misguided as the ridiculed beliefs of some social conservatives, as they spring from distorted or incomplete representations of the best findings from the science of same-sex attraction.

Read here

By Dawn Wilde, LifeSite News

January 20, 2012 (Catholicsistas.com) – One of the most controversial teachings of Catholicism is its teaching on homosexuality. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (2357)

For most of us, this teaching is challenging, especially if someone we love is gay or lesbian. But what if you are the Catholic struggling with these desires? Is it possible to be faithful to the Church’s teachings and still be happy?

Yes, it is.

I am a 37-year-old Catholic woman who has been happily married for nearly 15 years. We have five children that I homeschool. I also struggle daily with same-sex attraction.

The Torah Declaration is a public statement signed by 180 Rabbis, Community Leaders, and Mental Health Professionals

Societal Developments On Homosexuality

There has been a monumental shift in the secular world’s attitude towards homosexuality over the past few decades. In particular over the past fifteen years there has been a major public campaign to gain acceptance for homosexuality. Legalizing same-sex marriage has become the end goal of the campaign to equate homosexuality with heterosexuality.

A propaganda blitz has been sweeping the world using political tactics to persuade the public about the legitimacy of homosexuality. The media is rife with negative labels implying that one is “hateful” or “homophobic” if they do not accept the homosexual lifestyle as legitimate. This political coercion has silenced many into acquiescence. Unfortunately this attitude has seeped into the Torah community and many have become confused or have accepted the media’s portrayal of this issue.

The Torah’s Unequivocal And Eternal Message

The Torah makes a clear statement that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle or a genuine identity by severely prohibiting its conduct. Furthermore, the Torah, ever prescient about negative secular influences, warns us in Vayikra (Leviticus) 20:23 “Do not follow the traditions of the nations that I expel from before you…” Particularly the Torah writes this in regards to homosexuality and other forbidden sexual liaisons.

Read here

Read also:  Amsterdam’s chief rabbi suspended over gay cure declaration

From Belfast Gazette

A lesbian couple in the US have told the Church of Ireland that there are more important issues it should be concerned about than same-sex relationships.

Writing in a supplement for the Church's magazine, Rev Jan Nunley and her partner Susan Erdey argue that no-one would question their relationship if one of them was male.

[...]  The Church of Ireland Gazette's special supplement on same-sex relationships intends to inform debate on the issue as it prepares for a conference on human sexuality next month and a crucial General Synod debate in May.

Gazette editor Canon Ian Ellis said: "The supplement is intended as a contribution to the wider discussion on same-sex relationships. It is a difficult debate, as our extensive letter correspondence has shown, but it is one that simply must take place. There has to be a mutual understanding."

It also contains an article by an abstaining gay male who is a member of the Church of Ireland, and conservative Anglican Rev Melanie Lacy.

Read here

From NARTH

By David Pickup

Authentic Reparative Therapy really works. It works to help men change their sexual orientation, naturally dissipate their homoerotic feelings, and maximize their heterosexual potential.

However, there is evidence from the Exodus ministry that could be signaling an unawareness of this important message. Exodus has indicated a significant change in their views and policies as evidenced by the remarks of Exodus President Alan Chambers at the Gay Christian Network Conference last week. The official commentary on the peter-ould.net website has brought this to our attention. I believe their interpretation of Alan Chamber’s remarks is correct.

Chambers' remarks essentially indicate that:

1. Exodus will no longer indicate or specifically claim that change from Gay to 100% straight is possible for anyone except for a few rare cases.

2. Exodus has apologized and will continue to do so for making these unrealistic claims, which they now believe have contributed toward misinformation, hurtfulness and homophobia.

3. Exodus will work to achieve a deeper understanding of the truth of homosexuality, which will allow them to minister more effectively and compassionately to those dealing with homosexuality.

In my opinion, as a Reparative Therapist, all of the above indications are laudable, and I thank Alan Chambers for his efforts to move toward truth and compassion. What is gravely absent, however, is the very essence of point #3. In my experience, Exodus has, quite unintentionally for the last 20 years, failed to understand and effectively deal with the actual root causes of homosexuality and what leads to authentic change. I laud their willingness to admit their naiveté’, but I do not see anything so far that indicates they now truly understand the psychological, developmentally-based causes of homosexuality or what produces real change.

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