Burdened by two scandals, the ex-gay activist group Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality has changed its name.

The change occurred recently without fanfare on the organization’s web site. The new name: “Jews Offering New Alternatives to Healing”

Despite the name change, JONAH’s mission remains largely the same:

• Deny the existence of sexual orientation, a predominant state of sexual attraction to a particular gender
• Promote the myth that homosexual attraction is caused not by biology or brain chemistry, but by a Freudian deficiency of “masculinity” in men that is caused by bad parenting or abuse
• Receive substantial aid from conservative Christian evangelical organizations which teach that faith in Jesus Christ offers the only path out of homosexuality

And its credentials and practices are as scandalous as ever.

Far from “healing” its clients of any sexual confusion or self-doubt, JONAH has a reputation for supplying its clients with Christian evangelical books and subjecting them to unethical abuses that would never be tolerated among true mental-health professionals. And its counselors’ abuses aren’t “new alternatives,” they are century-old snake-oil remedies.

• JONAH’s leader, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is a convicted Wall Street con artist who looted millions of dollars from poor communities. Goldberg has no professional credentials in the mental-health sciences
• JONAH’s senior trainer, Alan Downing, likewise has no professional credentials and stands accused by two former clients of sexual misconduct
• JONAH and its counselors refuse to keep accurate and comprehensive records about their clients, lest such records fall into the hands of objective scientists and be used to measure actual rates of success or failure

Oh look, you can hide your bigotry behind Torah too!

Same old, same old…9/11 happened because of same sex domestic partnerships in New York, Hurricane Katrina was caused by Southern Decadence (not “Days of Decadence,” Yehuda, sheesh!), the tsunami was caused by general unspecified decadence of some sort, and the Haiti earthquake was caused by licentious behavior such as AIDS and homosexuality. Yep, he said that! Watch the Jewish Pat Robertson as he explains it all to us:

(h/t Right Wing Watch)

Here’s part of the statement issued by Levin and a bunch of his other extremist friends* in the Jewish faith:

Thirteen months before 9/11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl.

Riiiiight. But how did the sneaky gays cause Chernobyl? That’s what I want to know. What were the gays doing in 1986? Oh-ho-ho, I got it. That’s right about the time that Cher made her come-back! It’s right there in the word. Cher-nobyl? Mmhmm.

Anyway, watch out Iowa! You may not think of yourself as “earthquake prone,” but some mad rabbi begs to differ! And don’t come whining to me with your liberal theories about “plate tectonics” or anything like that. We all know that earthquakes are caused by Intelligent Shaking.

*A group which, might I add, is so unrepresentative of American Jews it’s ridiculous. If you’re not aware, mainstream Jews in this country (the great majority of them) are some of the most reliably liberal supporters of equal rights we have. It’s guys like that one, above, who are deviants within the faith.

From the comfort of a conservative Christian enclave in central Florida, Exodus executive vice president Randy Thomas loves those Jewish people. He loves them so much that his policy until now has been to not talk to them without praying for their conversion to his own ignorant and immature views regarding Judaism.

After blessing antigay Jewish activist David Benkof with this smug paternalism, Thomas had to be stopped and corrected by his boss, Exodus president Alan Chambers. How is it that someone so lacking in grace and courtesy, not to mention spirituality, is allowed to represent an international ex-gay “Christian” network?

Become ex-gay — or else: Sydney, Australia, Anglican Rev. Richard Lane once wrote to High Court Justice Michael Kirby, urging him to join an “ex-gay” ministry or face the wrath of God. Lane’s letters were publicized at a Sydney forum on religious tolerance and homosexuality. In response, Kirby accused the churchman of using intemperate language, ignoring modern discoveries about sexual orientation and missing the “central loving message of Jesus and the Gospels.” Kirby stated, “There is not a single word of Jesus that sustains the thesis of animosity in your letter.”

Kern’s double-talk: Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) released recordings of its 40-minute meeting with Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, refuting Kern’s subsequent claims that she did not object to antigay discrimination and that she did not agree to meet again with the families of gay Oklahomans.

Exodus support for Kern? Video is now available of Exodus member activist Stephen Black giving his support to Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern and falsely claiming that most gay people are abused or badly parented. Exodus’ national office declined to affirm or condemn Black’s statements.

Door open to future antigay violence: Massachusetts antigay group MassResistance, which has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has declined to condemn violent threats made against Lexington, Mass., School Superintendent Paul Ash. Antigay parent David Parker, whose campaign against tolerance in Lexington schools has been trumpeted by Exodus, conditions his own opposition to the threats by simply saying that violence is not justified “at this time.”

Reclaiming Judaism: A new Hebrew-language website has been launched in Israel to counter ex-gay propaganda published by Atzat-Nefesh. (XGW)

Shock ‘em straight? Maybe not: Officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have accepted an invitation to meet with Affirmation, a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons. Affirmation wishes to discuss the church’s historical support for ex-gay therapies including electric shock aversion therapy, which prompted some Mormons to commit suicide. (BTB)