The Slow Death of a Gutless Religion – Secularism

Any criticism of the gay lifestyle is not tolerated by its proponents. They will seek to silence it, even at the cost of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and of religion. One California marriage and family therapist, David Pickup, claims:

• “From talking to gay activists, this is a programmed step toward the complete elimination of all types of reparation therapy [RT]” [to support gays who want to exit the gay lifestyle]. (Salvo, Issue 22, 34)

Pickup refers to the passage of California bill SB 1172, which prohibits juveniles from seeking professional counseling in order to deal with what they regard as a problem -same-sex attraction (SSA).

This bill violates every professional standard and constitutional guarantee. Ironically, there is nothing to prevent a hit-man from seeking professional counseling in order to help him continue undaunted with his profession. Why then has the California legislature turned its back on these standards? Why has it caved-in? Pressure!

Secular establishments fear gay activists. One leading activist wants to go much further than SB 1172. Wayne Besen writes:

• With overwhelming evidence that reparative therapy is a fraud, legal organizations and legislative bodies are finally beginning to focus on cutting off the supply…Reparative therapists should be stripped of their college degrees, expelled from professional associations, and banned from practicing. (Salvo, 32)

Is RT a fraud? How can it be? While some RTs claim to reduce SSA, other RTs merely play a supportive role for those trying to cope with SSA. What’s so wrong with that, especially in light of the many negative costs - including suicide - endemic to the gay lifestyle,?

However, there is much objective evidence – not to mention the anecdotal evidences - that RT actually brings positive results:

• There are two major studies most often cited to support the potential benefits of reparation therapy. One, originally published in book form in 2007, was conducted by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse. A follow-up to the study, which appeared in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy in 2011, concluded not only that it was possible to change one’s homosexual orientation, but also that psychological harm was unlikely to result from the effort.  (34)

The Robert Spitzer study was published in 2003 in the Archives of Sexual Behavior:

• After studying efforts on 200 volunteers who had experienced predominantly homosexual attractions for many years before beginning therapy, Spitzer found that, for all subjects, “there was a marked reduction [of homosexual tendencies]…not only on the three measures of overt behavior and sexual orientation self-identification…but also on the seven variables assessing sexual orientation itself.” (34)

However, recently, Spitzer apologized to the gay community for his study. Why the retraction?

• Others have reported that since the time Spitzer first published his study, he has suffered a professional fall from grace and has been vilified by friends, colleagues, and the gay community. Now elderly and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he has reassessed his findings, perhaps in hope of rehabilitating his reputation among homosexuals. (34)

However, according to Pickup, the Journal would not accept Spitzer’s retraction:

• “The journal that had originally published his study refused to accept his retraction because he offered no new evidence…the findings are still the same.” (34)

Kudos to this journal, but many others are folding under the pressure. Just recently, the University of Texas caved-in and ordered an ethics investigation, at this instigation of gay activists, against their researcher, Mark Regnerus. His study had found that children of gay couples suffered disproportionately in comparison to those of heterosexual couples – a politically incorrect conclusion. Although UT cleared Regnerus of any wrongdoing, this unwarranted investigation provoked fear among others who might want to conduct research in this field.

The militancy and intolerance is intense. A UK homosexual journalist, Patrick Strudwick, wrote,

• We want to root out therapists and psychiatrists who are practicing these [RT] techniques and ultimately bring an end to them through exposing them…The ultimate aim was to prevent religious groups from offering ‘counseling’ which aims to change sexual orientation.” (35)

Strudwick had targeted a Christian therapist of 20 years, dishonestly claiming that he wanted to overcome SSA. Meanwhile, he was secretly recording the sessions and sold the story to a newspaper and reported the Christian to the British Association for Counseling & Psychotherapy (BACP), which pulled her license, even though Strudwick wasn’t a real client. Evidently, the BACP had caved to the pressure of political correctness long ago.

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) caved-in to pressure and declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Once again, the APA is caving - this time to pedophilia.      

• In the first edition of the DSM-1 [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder – the bible of mental illness], published in 1952, the mental disorder of pedophilia was listed as a “sexual deviation.” DSM-II, published in 1968, maintained the classification. But in 1980, DSM-III listed pedophilia as a “paraphilia,” a new euphemism introduced therein for sexual deviations. This changed the psychiatric understanding of adult-child sex from something that is deviant to something that is different, shifting the sense of meaning toward moral neutrality. From this vantage point, child molestation could arguably be understood, at least as far as the DSM was concerned, as “just another sexual orientation.” Then, in 1994, the diagnostic criteria shifted such that a diagnosis of pedophilia hinged not on a perpetrator’s objective behavior, but on his subjective feelings about the behavior. (Salvo, Issue 22, 12)

This meant that child molestation can now be considered “normal” as long as the pedophile doesn’t feel badly about it. This now opens the door to “pedophilia… [as] an alternative sexuality.”

What will this mean in our society? If the journey to homosexual acceptance and promotion is any indication, it means several things. Talking against pedophilia could then be considered a “hate crime,” and many have lost their jobs and licenses because of this. Pedophiles could then not be discriminated against in hiring, whether as a teacher or a day-care worker. It might also mean that sensitivity training would be introduced into the schools to promote pedophilia as a legitimate sexual alternative. Parents might also loose their right to shield their children from pedophiles and pornographers.

In a clear case of the “cave-ins”:

• The British television broadcaster Channel 4 has cancelled the screening of a controversial documentary about the history of Islam after the presenter [Tom Holland, author, Islam: The Untold Story] was threatened with physical violence.

This means that, even in the West, the activists are in control. Secularists have consistently enabled them to determine policy and procedure. It also means that we should only expect unbalanced news in certain areas. We will only hear the good about Islam. No one will risk saying otherwise. This can only breed cynicism and contempt for our secular gate-keepers and brainwashed, manipulated minds for the citizenry.

What happened to the Great Britain that resisted Hitler? What has happened to the secular West that it can no longer resist threats and the pressures, like a moribund body that can no longer resist any virus? Why have the “cave-ins” become endemic to the West? Why have so many decent people been intimidated into silence, according to their own admissions?

I think that this is revealing of a sickness deep within secularism’s bosom. Secularism lacks courage and vision. It has lost any understanding or appreciation of absolute moral principles, and, of course, is unwilling to sacrifice for its “principles.”

When secularism killed God and His promise of the final reward, secularism killed its own dignity. It condemned itself to bear the identity of a beast – just another animal on the evolutionary gradient. When secularism sold out for pleasure and the fleeting joys of sexuality, it pawned-off its very soul - its resources to stand against injustice and the courage to stand for truth. It has relativized itself away into gutlessness.