A college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues
Wow, Hermann Cain scored a big win in the Florida straw poll today.
Beat out Perry – who was expected to win – by nearly 22 points.
Herman Cain: 37.11%
Rick Perry: 15.43%
Mitt Romney: 14.00%
Rick Santorum: 10.88%
Ron Paul: 10.39%
Newt Gingrich: 8.43%
Jon Huntsman: 2.26%
Michele Bachmann: 1.51%
Michele Bachmann had Peter Waldron deployed to FL and she still finished lower than Huntsman. Time to follow T-Paw back to MN?
Dakota Ary a Fort Worth area high school student wants an apology from the school district after he was removed from class for a negative comment about homosexuality.
The school is investigating but the media reports have the boy making an offhand comment to another student proclaiming his Christianity and saying he thought homosexuality was wrong. The classroom teacher overheard the remark and sent the boy from class.
If it turns out that the boy was expressing his views in response to a discussion about religion and homosexuality, then I suspect he will not be disciplined and may get his apology. If he was inciting an incident then the situation becomes more complex.
Addtional thoughts: I went back to the first report I could find on this story which comes from an NBC affiliate in the Fort Worth area. The discussion in class was about religions, Bibles and Germany and the discipline referral form quotes him as saying: “no gays allowed in Christianity.”
According the Fort Worth report, the form also said that “the comment was unprovoked and out of context.” The form also said, “It is wrong to make such a statement in public school.”
The school is not commenting so I do not think we can evaluate the situation at this point. According the Liberty Counsel (the same group who falsely said that the AACC is larger than the APA), another student asked how to say lesbian in German. At that point, according to Liberty Counsel, Ary told another student that homosexuality is wrong.
If that narrative is accurate, then I believe the boy’s statement would have been in relation to something else taking place and apparently intended to stay between him and the other student. A teacher should focus the conversation back to the topic. However, if the statement was brought up without provocation and seemed to the teacher to inflame, then a teacher would be correct to address it, albeit in a less dramatic manner.
The school district is not talking but they have relented on the severity of the punishment according to this report from the LA Times.
Recently, Uganda’s Daily Monitor summarized diplomatic cables from the office of U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier. Some of those communications, released on Wikileaks website, implicated Uganda’s First Lady Janet Museveni as the originator of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Today, in the government affiliated media outlet New Vision, Mrs. Museveni responded to charges leveled in those cables. In her article, she denied being involved in the creation of the bill.
The second Daily Monitor report alleges that I am the initiator of the Gay Bill. This ludicrous claim is not only an insult to Hon. Bahati, the originator of the bill but also to me, because it implies that I need to hide behind someone else in order to introduce a bill in parliament.
I believe Ugandans know by now that I have always had the courage to stand by my convictions – even when they go against the grain of prevailing popular opinion. I think I have adequately demonstrated, in my work over the years, that I can boldly stand by what I believe in without fear or favour.
In other words, if she had wanted to see the bill become law, she would have introduced it herself.
Reports of the bill’s origins conflict. Ugandan minister Julius Oyet once claimed that various ministers, including Martin Ssempa, and other Christian leaders in Uganda looked for a member of Parliament to introduce the bill and asked Bahati to be the one. Certainly, Ssempa had involvement with the bill before it was introduced. He sent a copy of the bill to me which originated in a Las Vegas area Christian school (Faith Lutheran) dated August 11, 2009 which was long before the October 14, 2009 introduction of the bill in Uganda. Whether Ssempa helped author it or not, he was privy to the bill before it was introduced.
The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) bills itself as “a scientific, secular organization.” However, this year the organization’s annual conference in Phoenix, AZ will begin with a decidedly religious and political tone. On the first day (Nov. 4) of the conference, Rev. Michael Brown and Sharon Slater will speak. Brown, who recently wrote a book called A Queer Thing Happened to America, will speak in a plenary session, while Sharon Slater, leader of Family Watch International will talk about her anti-gay work internationally and at the United Nations (Slater’s name does not appear on the current conference schedule, however, NARTH’s David Pruden confirmed today that she is giving the speech labeled “The United Nations and an International Overview.”)
Regarding homosexuality, Dr. Brown told religious talk show host Sid Roth in April of this year that some people can be delivered from homosexuality by ridding them of demons. To Roth, Brown said:
Sid: I have met people that have been prayed for deliverance that were homosexual and when the demon was cast out of them even their walk was different.
Mike: Listen, why is it that people can accept demonic influences in other behaviors? Someone’s a heterosexual pornography addict and they get delivered from demons and their free. Someone’s addicted to drugs, they get delivered from demons, someone’s got a horrific fierce temper, they get deliver from demons and their free. Why can’t we recognize that this can happen with homosexuality too? It’s not every person. I was in Israel Sid, talking to a top national leader and he talked to me about some men in his congregation and he said that he watched them in front of his eyes and get truly delivered, he said and they are free. They are different, they are fully heterosexual.
More recently, Brown accused unnamed gay activists of complicity in the murder of Larry King, the young gay teen who was murdered in school by classmate Brandon McInerney. Brown wrote on the OneNewsNow website:
Of course, there is only one real killer, Brandon McInerney, just 14 years old at the time of shooting. He confessed to killing Larry in cold blood in full view of his classmates. But there are others who are complicit in Larry’s terribly tragic death, and rather than point the finger at a “homophobic” society, they should point it at themselves. I’m speaking of course of gay activists, who have made Larry into a martyr for the cause of gay activism when, in reality, he was more a victim of gay activism.
Brown argues that gay students should keep their feelings hidden because such feelings, when expressed, provoke harassment from other students. In the article on Larry King, Brown asked:
If our schools really are so “homophobic” and dangerous, why not encourage these kids to keep their sexual orientation to themselves until they’re in a safer environment?
Sharon Slater is the director of Family Watch International, a Phoenix based group which opposes the repeal of laws criminalizing homosexuality. Last month in an interview, Slater told me that she favored laws in the United States which make homosexual behavior a crime. She and her organization Family Watch International work with United Nations member nations to maintain laws which criminalize gays. About those laws, Slater said
“We do not support any laws that promote violence against homosexuals.” She added that her organization presents research showing that gays can change orientation. Such research is relevant to her stance because, “laws that promote violence would discourage therapy for people with unwanted same-sex attraction.”
I asked Mrs. Slater if she considers a 14-year jail sentence a form of violence. She said that her organization has no position on that question saying, “FWI does not dictate to nations what specific laws people should enact or protect regarding homosexual sex or whether they should fine or jail individuals.”
In December, 2009, I asked NARTH’s leadership about the organization’s position on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill. At that time, some proponents of the bill were suggesting that forced therapy for gays should be included in the bill. NARTH’s David Pruden rejected the forced therapy as ineffective. However, NARTH’s Dean Byrd declined to take a position on criminalization saying,
We are aware of the situation in Uganda but thank you for bringing this to our attention. I am sure that you are aware that as a scientific organization, NARTH does not take political positions; however, we are happy to provide a summary of what science can and cannot say about homosexuality for those who do.
NARTH takes no position on criminalization and yet brings in a non-scientist who supports criminalization around the world in an “applied workshop.” NARTH claims to be a secular organization but brings in a minister who believes some homosexuals can be changed by removal of demons. I cannot imagine another scientific group giving a platform for similar views.
United in Purpose wants to bring biblical change to America via five million newly registered evangelical voters. They want to do this through their efforts called Champion the Vote and One Nation Under God house parties. Watch the plan:
Five million new Christian voters can sway any election, so the thinking goes, because apparently all Christians vote alike.
The collection of groups and efforts are looking for candidates who will vote according to the Bible. Rick Perry (invited but not confirmed) and Newt Gingrich are on the agenda for the One Nation Under God house parties. I’ll bet that will be a rocking party.
Under the umbrella of United in Purpose is the focus of the video above, Champion the Vote. Reportedly, Rick Perry’s prayer meeting (the supposedly non-political The Response) mailing list has been used to solicit people for the Champion the Vote effort. This is unsurprising since this effort advocates churches become ACORN-like voter registration machines. Clearly, our salvation comes from the ballot box and not the Lord.
Champion the Vote has specified a worldview that they would like to see in power. You can read it here. Some excerpts:
A Biblical worldview begins with God in Genesis, chapter one and verse one. A Biblical worldview is viewing the world, the beginning of the world, people in the world, the problems in the world, governments in the world, issues in the world, solutions for the problems in the world, and the future of the world – through God’s Word.
A Biblical worldview requires that you know what the Word of God teaches!
Everyone has a worldview whether they realize it or not. Your response to news about an abortion clinic is based upon your worldview. Your response to school shootings is based upon your worldview. Your response to evolution is based upon your worldview. Your response to issues of life and death is based upon your worldview. Everyone has developed a “system of beliefs” and core values that they operate from. The goal is to be sure that this “system of beliefs” is based totally on the Word of God!
A Biblical worldview cannot be based upon any human system of beliefs and values.
The best way to define a worldview is “simply how you see the world”. If you were to put on a pair of glasses that had “blue lenses” everything you see would be “blue”. If you were to put on a pair of glasses that had “green lenses” everything you see would be “green”. The same is true for a worldview.
There are basically two worldviews: Biblical and atheistic.
You really get a sense of the reductionism with these statements. One is either an evangelical Christian or an atheist. Champion the Vote promotes this “biblical worldview” as a part of the statement of purpose:
Champion the Vote is an initiative of United in Purpose (UiP), a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to actively advance the traditional values of America’s founding fathers.
UiP provides resources and infrastructure for like-minded Christian organizations and ministries to educate and mobilize their constituencies for the common cause of bringing the Biblical worldview to the forefront of American life and politics.
CTV wants you to join if you want your vote to go for candidates with a biblical worldview.
If you’re passionate about America and about God’s Word, if you long to see our nation return to the timeless truth of a Biblical worldview, if you’re willing to be on the frontlines and speak out to mobilize others to act – if you have as little as one hour a week to volunteer — become a Champion!
Of course, the nation never had such a worldview as a foundation. The danger in this group is that they seek to impose a return to something that never was. They seek to make the church into a political machine.
I have no objection to people of like-mind seeking to recruit other people. This is how it works. However, I do have a problem with the blurring of divisions between the cross and the flag, using the church for unintended reasons.