Yesterday, I sent an email from the LoveGodsWay website using their email link([email protected]). I received an email this morning from Shane in response (and then a follow up at the end of this post):
Warren, I am sorry for the delay. Donnie has been swamped with work and all this other stuff as well. I could answer a lot of this stuff myself, but I feel I should wait for him. We are acutally working with one of the local news stations to do an interview. This should put to rest the rumors swirling around Donnie Davies being someone else. I don’t think he would mind me stating that we are new to this. Most of your concerns have no explanation other than the band and the ministry are relatively new. This is their first song. The album will be an independent release. I know that doesn’t help you verify any of this, but that is the truth. I will try to get an answer for you on the Exodus issue.
Thanks,
Shane
– Show quoted text –
On 1/25/07, Throckmorton, Warren wrote:
Donnie – I know you have already responded to me about this question but the questions persist about whether or not this is a clever ruse or a breakthrough new ministry.
I think some of the questions could be addressed if you could give a few more details about your situation. For instance, what church do you serve as a youth pastor? Does the Evening Service have any other music on the internet or recorded anywhere? Why are there no credits on your video, for instance, producer, cinematographer, etc? What is your opinion of Exodus International and their approaches to helping homosexual strugglers.
Hope to hear from you or someone who is handling publicity for your ministry.
With respect, Warren Throckmorton
Whatever this is, these guys are working hard at it.
Elsewhere, drummer Colby Starck denies he’s Donnie. And this pic is evidence against his Donnieness.
UPDATE: 1/26/07 – Someone from LoveGod’sWay Ministry replied to a follow up from me to Shane. I wondered why the website said the band had been together a long time but the email above said “The Bible Says” was their first song.
Here is the reply:
I am sorry for the confusion. It was miscommunication on my part. This is the first song that Evening Service has finished with Donnie and LGWM.
As to why there is little about Evening Service on the internet, they have had various names and members over the years. This video blowing up has surprised them as much as anyone. While the exposure has been great, they are actually very aprehensive what this means for their careers in the long run. So they are laying low for now and deciding how to best move forward.
I hope that clears this up for you.
Clear?
UPDATE#2 – 1/26/07 – A new video message from Mr. D. Looks like Texas in the background.
I’ll take anyone to task who thinks it is funny to disparage another group of people. Maybe that is not a common belief.
The responsibility does not solely lie in the hands of those who created it. I can create pornography…but if nobody distributes it, it doesn’t get far, and isn’t likely to be repeated. That is how I view it. We all hold some culpability – by our viewing and distribution (if that is the case).
Just an opinion.
I think you might want to vent on the one who made this stuff up. I, like many other observers, gay and straight and who knows what, have reported this stuff as a fascinating episode in persuasion. Are you going around to all the gay bloggers taking them to task for publicizing the video and related matters?
Whether this is a “spoof” or not does not make it any less offensive. Substitute this acronym, and perhaps it will change the sensitivity factor:
C.A.O.P.
“changing africans into ordinary people”
not so funny now?
I’m glad that you don’t deny that gay and lesbian people can live happy, healthy lives. Do you communicate this to patients who seek to change their orientation or to those you teach?
If they can lead happy lives, why attempt (likely with poor outcomes, and with the noted risk of harm) to change them?
A “values and beliefs issue” is an interesting phrase to use. The KKK has a value and belief system…I don’t agree with it, but they have the right to hold it. Enforcing their ideal of life would deprive others of basic rights and human dignity. As educated professionals, we know better than to support such policies.
I feel that you (and others who may believe similarly) have every right to hold the beliefs you do. My christian faith differs from your own. However, to my knowledge, our country is not a theocracy – and not subject to any one religious perspective.
Whether or not you believe homosexuality is a sin is rather irrelevant to the issue of respect. Does it matter if it’s a satire?
Jag (why don’t you use your name?) – I do not deny that gay couples can live healthy happy lives. I think it is a values and beliefs issue for people to determine.
If this were not spoof I would be offended by it. I might be anyway, I can’t decide yet because I do not know enough about it, except that it is a satire.
I am a clinician informed by social psych research and I think this whole episode is fascinating from that point of view. I am not endorsing a fictional program.
This cartoon and its representation should be offensive to you as a professional, a christian and a psychologist. Even if you believe it to be a sin (which, I do not)…sin is had by “ordinary people.” This is just another instance of the continued stigmatization of gay/lesbian people.
Why as a professional? As I stated earlier, and you are well aware of… Reparative therapy/Conversion therapy has a terrible rate of success – and even murkier means of measuring the little amount reported. What is change? Not fantasizing, not engaging in activity with, etc.?
Even Exodus has had a difficult time keeping its employees/leaders from reverting back to their natural affectional inclinations, to its detriment. That, along with the APA statements on the potential harms of such therapy.
I understand that gay/lesbian individuals often feel distressed by their orientation living in the discriminatory society that we do.
The APA makes particular note that there is a duty to discuss that being gay/lesbian does not preclude you from living a productive, happy life …and I wonder if a true discussion of this can be had if the therapist does not believe it, and works against causes which could offer this client a more seamless integration into society (equality in employment, housing, marriage, etc..).
Just as any person who comes to therapy might not like who they are, and come to an understanding and appreciation of the wonderful gifts/potentialities of their life….so I hope that the person who struggles with same-sex attractions can find therapy and come to appreciate the beauty of what they offer – being the person they are.
As a profession, even christian psychology needs to be consistent in following the science. We know same-sex couples can lead healthy, happy and productive lives – having fulfilling family lives and life-long commitments.
For someone who claims to follow truth, I am wondering why that one is never proclaimed.
Good to know. While it may seem like a cop-out to blame a lack of preview capability, I actually come across as slightly smarter with preview than without it.
But only slightly. Watching the words appear magically in the preview area as I type is like dangling fine crystal in front of me. Ooooh, sparkly!
Just trying out the new preview feature. Very nice. Thanks, Paul
Clear as mud.
Simon, I agree. When I posted about the follow-up, I said that it was much weaker than the first. He lays the accent and mannerisms on a little thick, and while I can’t be sure, it almost looks like he’s about to burst out laughing about halfway through.
But the whole thing is fascinating. When’s the last time some unknown blowhard got this much scrutiny. Here we are picking everything apart looknig for minute clues the way people comb through episides of “Lost”.
My only dissapointment is that in Donnie’s videos where he speaks he isn’t as convinving as when he acts in “The Bible Says” video.
That’s the problem with trying to judge whether something is satire or not. If you don’t know any better, you would mistake it for the real thing, as Irish sympathisers did initially when they reacted to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.”
But then, when the real thing is put out by a complete idiot, it often begins to look like satire…. Ugh!