Yet Another Evangelist Comes Out
What’s going on in Colorado’s
Evangelical community? First Ted Haggard was forced to step down in disgrace,
and now for the second time in as many months a prominent conservative Christian
leader is embroiled in a gay sex scandal.
What’s going on in Colorado’s Evangelical community? First Ted Haggard was forced to step down in disgrace, and now for the second time in as many months a prominent conservative Christian leader is embroiled in a gay sex scandal. This time it’s Paul Barnes, founding pastor of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel, who admitted to his congregation, in a taped confession that he has had sexual relations with other men.
Unlike Haggard, Barnes has limited political connections and has stayed out of Colorado’s gay marriage debate, although he has preached that God views homosexuality as a sin. During his tearful confession, the 54-year-old acknowledged struggling with his identity since childhood and being racked with self-loathing because of his “firm moral family.” Despite being unable to escape himself, even after being reborn, Barnes claimed he could not accept that people were “born that way.” But if nature did not make him gay, does that mean his strict religious upbringing is the root cause of his lifetime of guilt?
Most folks aren’t especially tweaked when they learn a friend or relative is gay — unless they’re strung out on one or another religion that says you’re a sinner. Phew!
The claim by Ted Haggard that he had tried unsuccessfully to treat himself for a “repulsive and dark” part of his life, reflects a concept espoused by many religious conservatives, and disputed by many mental health experts.
“Haggard is Exhibit A of how people can’t change their sexual orientation,” said Wayne Besen, a gay-rights activist and author. “With all that he had to lose — a wife, children, a huge church — he had to be who he was in the end. He couldn’t pray away the gay.”
Haggard did not specify how he had sought help or describe the healing-and-restoration program he vows to pursue now — but did say he deserved to be “disciplined and corrected.”
Clinton Anderson, director of the American Psychological Association’s Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns Office, found Haggard’s statement dismaying.
“There’s a profound sadness that someone should be saddled culturally with such a negative attitude toward a part of themselves,” Anderson said. “From our vantage point as psychologists, his self-repulsion is not necessary, it’s not justified.”
It's been decades since scientific study led psychology away from considering homosexuality as "deviant". Cultural lag is one thing. Clinging to foolish notions and harmful practices on the basis of religious ideology is absurd.
Posted: Tue - December 12, 2006 at 06:35 AM