The headline is a direct quote from well-known former ex-gay Peterson Toscano. And I think there’s a lot of truth to his statement.
Change is possible — but the changes that happen are not what Exodus International intended.
Discuss.
Few Atheists Enter Ex-Gay Programs But Many Atheists Exit Them
5About the Author
Michael Airhart is a news editor, digital media technician, founder of Ex-Gay Watch, and advocate for free speech, freedom of religion, and human rights. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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This is music to my ears. With only 16% of the the population being non-believers, the USA is some way behind the rest of the civilized world in this matter – any help to accelerate the Exodus from superstition has to be welcomed. Though it is a shame that people have to go through such appalling psychological trauma to see sense, and realize, that Charles Darwin gave us better answers to life’s deepest questions.
There is nothing better than to think that there is no celestial dictator ready to convict us of thought crime at any moment.
All you have to ask these people is how they know god exists, and how they can claim to be on intimate terms with the mind of god, and don’t let them proceed any further till they give a coherent answer (which they can’t do).
It would be wonderful if ex-gay survivors could tell their stories at events like the Atheist Alliance convention (taking place next october for instance) http://www.atheistconvention.org/
In fact, who needs Richard Dawkins to put people off religion, with crackpots like Alan Chambers? Come one Alan, give us a laugh, exactly how old do you believe the Earth to be?
Ok, but does anybody here mind if I stay Jewish and believing in an Almighty and studying Hebrew Scripture the rest of my life? Does that make me that much less of a person, an intellect, and a human being who has something to offer to the world that with any luck would shift it for the better?
Here’s hoping not.
Emily, as I’m sure you know, there are liberal Jewish groups that are reclaiming scripture from Christian sects that falsely claim to uphold a literalist and historically accurate view of Abrahamic religions.
I believe it would be fantastic to see these groups adopt an aggressive public stand against JONAH and against the anti-Jewish Exodus groups which teach that the only way to happiness is through shallow, self-satisfied, politically correct, religious-rightist ideology and deception.
Unfortunately, Mike, many of those groups that reclaim scripture from Christian literalists end up inadvertantly saying much of what is claimed as being “history” in the Christian Gospels is in fact, not. See: Pharisee. See: Breaking Shabbat to save a life. See: The prodigal son parable.
Well-meaning Christians who claim “Jesus was a faithful Jewish carpenter who turned Judaism upside down! See? We’re so much alike!” are very nice people but don’t have that quite correct.
I don’t think we need to educate Christians on how they get Hebrew Scripture “wrong,” rather; we need to educate Christians about the Oral Torah, which makes up (IMHO) MOST of the Jewish view of scripture. And without this interpretive and ever-changing Tome, there will always be gaps in understanding and even unintentionally hurtful remarks from wonderful, well-meaning people – on both sides.
Emily said: “many of those groups that reclaim scripture from Christian literalists end up inadvertantly saying much of what is claimed as being ‘history’ in the Christian Gospels is in fact, not”
I don’t see what’s unfortunate about that. Let the facts speak for themselves. If there are fundamental historical inaccuracies in the Gospels, Christians need to be told.