Love In Action has filed a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee.
This group can’t decide what it wants to be.
What it is is a ‘reparative therapy’ er, group that got a lot of media attention earlier this year when it came to light it was running a program for teens.
A 16 year old named Zach brought this group to public attention when his parents sent him to a Love in Action program because he told them he thought he was gay.
The concern and outrage on line was swift.
The state investigated the er, program, er, ministry, and it was ruled that there were no abuse laws being broken.
In April 2005 this er, group purchased a larger building so it could help more people become ex-gay.
This er, ministry, er, group remains so outrageous and draconian, I don’t know how to phrase things.
Their claims are bizarre.
Now they have hired the Alliance Defense Fund to sue the state because it is requiring proper licencing.
Of course now they aren’t a reparative therapy program according to their new lawyers.
“There is no legitimate state interest here,” he said. “There’s no health or safety violation, and there’s no fire code or overcrowding concern.”
Kellum argues Love in Action’s ministry has nothing to do with mental health as defined by law.
He claims the state is “trying to turn a Christian ministry into a state-regulated mental hospital.”
“By the state’s reasoning, a homeless shelter would become a medical clinic if a homeless person were taking antibiotics for some minor infection,” Kellum said.
“Do we want the state to shut down private organizations that are helping people who are struggling?”
Helping people who are struggling?
This group rakes in a small fortune from desperate parents, and adults struggling with serious mental, emotional and sexual issues and lifestyles.
Thing is, even if Love In Action winds up broke from court costs, there are about 200 other similar er, ‘ministries,’ er, groups, in the US.
This isn’t ministry.
It’s exploitation, sadly, desperate believers can often be the most vulnerable and gullible and the most easily conned.
a list of previous posts
When I first read about Zach I spent hours researching these religious groups that claim to minister to homosexual people. Some of the stories are heart breaking. I spent many more hours following links and stories of adults who have voluntarily submitted to these kinds of programs.
Fortunately some who have gone through these er, programs, er, groups, er, ministries have found healing and forgiveness in spite of what they went through.
I think they are best prepared to stand against reparative therapy done under the name of God, along with professional medical and mental health groups that have sound research that condemns everything about these methods.
I believe God can heal broken people, I’m one. But I nearly got snared by a religious ministry that had a form of godliness, all the right words, the things that ticked my ears and let me to believe this ‘method’ would work.
Something clicked in time, I got away from it and God in his mercy and love has continued to walk with me and help me put abuse in my past in the past.
My heart breaks when I see groups like Love In Action operate with impunity, fleecing people, fooling themselves and well meaning churched types.
They have a shiny new website to go with that new building and they not going to stop. They need to be stopped. As long as there are broken people, there will be ot;ers that use religion like snake oil. I’m all for separation of church and state, in this case, I hope Tennessee gets the accountability required.
Sadly this group and the others like it can just pick up the pieces and move to another state.
Search
Subscribe 
You are currently browsing the Bene Diction Blogs On weblog archives.
Related Entries
For blog design, Wordpress or MovableType coding or blog consulting, see cre8d design.
While I commend your concern for this individual case, & the potential/actual abuses that take place under the banner of “ministry”, I have found that there is great difficulty in sifting the evidence for reparative therapy in general. For example, your text link for “reparative therapy” leads to a website which quotes Robert Spitzer (2001) against the notion. Doing a quick google of ‘Robert Spitzer reparative therapy’ reveals his conclusions from a paper in Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 403-417 - with opposing conclusions to the 2001 quote from the site you link to in your post.
While it may be easier to see the problems with groups/ministries on the “fringe”, the larger issues underneath are often sensitive personal & ideological footballs - - which findings of Dr Spitzer do we choose to interpret & post on our websites?
Postlude: my own experience within the Anglican church is that there are many conflicting reports, studies, positions of various researchers on so many of these and related issues. Perhaps it is becoming impossible for one outside the circle of actual clinical research to get a full or impartial presentation of all the studies and findings. At least, that is how I begin to feel after trying to do my own research, conversing with a variety of folks in my own academic community (U of Alberta) and my wider church community (with gay people & ex-gay people and tall people & short people & everyone inbetween).
I agree I linked to a quick study - and I could have done better than Spitzer (I commend you for knowing there is more and caring that there is more) there is often more than one issue going on in a persons life - ie: lifestyle, past harm, substance abuse, underlying medical problems…we are complex beings.
I believe that groups such as Love in Action by addressing sexual identity, sexual confusion and sexual lifestyle under only reparative therapy do harm.
Any ministry can spring up, use God and take peoples money.
I believe it takes more than lifestyle changes and rote learning, it takes more than academic learning, behavioral therapy etc.
While I can commend people for wanting to help others - one of the questions I find myself asking is how effectively does this address self deceit and community deceit?
This isn’t going to stop Joseph - frustrated and stressed parents will keep throwing their children into programs because God is used or the counsellors are ‘ex-gay.’
Adults aware their lifestyle is killing them will seek help where ever they can find it.
We don’t know if the counsellors prior proclivities were situational. We don’t know a lot of things and I think that is what can make a program like Love In Action dangerous, it is offering a quick fix, that does what exactly?
The universal church has been responsible thoughout history for great harms and great help.
What is wrong with helping people away from the lifestyle if it is done in a loving and caring way? I know many Christian groups who do this and are successful by the power of the Holy spirit. We don’t need to be so quick to judge people who are trying to help people from being on the path to what Romans 1 says sin leads to.
Are you against any group to help people away from being gay? God can use us to help and heal people and within that is the “Go and sin no more”. To say it isn’t sin I feel is equivalent to sayin Christ was wrong to saying “Go and sin no more.” to the woman caught in adultry.
DH: I’m going to give a short answer because I’m not going to get into a heavy duty discussion.
*What is wrong with helping people away from the lifestyle if it is done in a loving and caring way?*
Nothing.
*We don’t need to be so quick to judge people who are trying to help people from being on the path to what Romans 1 says sin leads to.*
We do and we need to. Many of these ‘ministries’ have sprung up as a reaction to sexual identity poltics.
Are you against any group to help people away from being gay?
Many, yes because many groups base “treatment” on incomplete premises. I’d encourage you to sit down with gay friends and discuss this carefully.
I don’t have gay friends per sae but I have know people who have gay friends. Many of these people were ex-gay and became successful by being turned away from the gay lifestyle in a loving, caring way. Just because a certain “politcal” standard “happens to be the same doesn’t make the ministry wrong.
I feel you are oppoerating from a false premise that all are wrong. You said many. Please identify groups you feel are appropriate to turn people away from the lifestyle.
Interesting you said “sexual identity poltics”. I think many of this began as this lifestyle got promoted. I feel it was the promotion of this lifestyle that is the question not the groups that try to help people.
Do some of these groups do there ministry in the wrong way and are harsh? Yes but to label all of them as this I feel is very much an overgeneralization.
I know you are not quick to point out your own predispositions but your conclusions on these type of subject matter come from the implied attitude that none are correct in their “ministry” because no where do you acknowledge successful groups that have helped people away from the gay lifestyle it is always what some of these groups do wrong. To me this is antagonistic. (this is a loaded term, not being harsh here but it is the only word I could come up with). I say this with respect.
Sorry Bene, but I have to agree with dh on this one. Scriptural evidence is clear, homosexuality is sin. It is therefore consistent with Christian aims to help those overcome by homosexual desire and to lead them to different lifestyle choices.
We can debate the specific value of a particular group and it is always possible that those who intend good may effect harm but in my opinion the undertaking in of itself is a desirable one, from a Christian perspective.
I’m operating on the premise that Love in Action - regardless of intent - has an unhealthy history, and I don’t regret they are being monitored. They can cry persecution while hiring a well known legal outfit.
We’ll have to respectfully agree to disagree on this particular group.
So this begs the question. Define “unhealthy history”? Maybe the premise or conspircy theory you adhere to is what the problem is rather the group itself? What do you think Paul?
You two knock yourselves out.:^)
Here DH. Might help if we speak the same language.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_evan.htm
To be fair Bene your statement, ” This isn’t ministry. It’s explotation”…would suggest that you find the whole notion of Christians seeking to counsel persons with homosexual desires and inspire them to change their behaviors, offensive.
It struck me that your comments regarding the Love In Action group were as much an indictment of this general principal, as it was a criticism of this group in particular.
Maybe I’m reading your intentions wrong but I think the words you’ve used support my contention.
As for me, I believe homosexuality to be a behavior and not personhood. It is morally, biologically and socially destructive. The behavior is comparable to pornography, drug addiction and alcoholism in it’s impact on the individuals engaged in the behavior and on the community at large.
Like every other form of destructive addiction it is in the individual and societal interest to help free the afflicted from the enslavement of their vice. It is, in my opinion, the only option that could rightly be called Christian.
If on the other hand you think that homosexuality is personhood, that it is genetically encoded and worthy of the same respect and consideration as is gender and race, I can see why you would be offended.
Personally, if that is so, I think you would be mistaken.
That’s fair Paul.
I suggest you look up Love In Action in media reports, government reports and on blogs of people who have been through the program.
I’d also like to recommend you study the link I provided DH.
Jesus said if you love me feed my sheep, not fleece my sheep.
The US has 200+ of these ministries. Not all of them are ethical because they use God-talk or psychological language.
That’s fair also, Bene. Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Thanks for the link Bene, it was informative, objective and gives me much to think about. So much so that I have downloaded it into my favourites file and will revisit it periodically when the subject matter arises.
I guess it comes down to wether or not you think homosexuality is a behavior that can be modified or an immutable orientation that can’t. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I belong to the former group and not the latter.
In any case, please be sure that I judge no man or woman as a consequence. To be sure, there is enough on my own plate.
Grace and peace to you,
Paul.
Not wanting to flog the dead horse but I couldn’t help but be confused with one of my interpretations of the “religioustolerance” perspective, Bene. In discrediting reparative studies claiming success, the organization seems to be saying that reparative treatments have only been successful in either encouraging celibacy or in getting bisexuals to suspend sexual interaction with same sex partners.
Perhaps I misunderstand but it seems to me then that they are concluding bisexuality is bahavioral and can be modified, while homosexuality is an orientation that can’t. Still in their preamble I thought I understood them to say that all sexual orientation was immutable.
I’m confused, just a little. Any light you could shed would be appreciated.
I think it is a mirror of our lack of knowledge Paul.
I believe there is situational homosexuality, it is acknowledged in the lesbian community. The question why is a valid one.
I see the site I suggested to DH as attempting to say we don’t know how immutable individual human sexuality is. I can live with the confusion. I think they are trying to say attempting to use a one size fits all therapy or religious solution can be counter productive.
We are talking about people - and because ‘therapy’ is an economic and political hot potato as well as a spiritual, social and emotional one, I’m not prepared to swallow the claims of Love In Action. (If you look at Exodus, LIV isn’t even in their link section)
It’s a competitive business and we need to stop pretending it isn’t.
I admire and appreciate the caution Joseph has exercised above.
Bene, I think you can “feed my sheep” and also do like Jesus said after he helped the woman out of adultry (this could be used for any of the “other” behaviors) “go and sin no more”.
To do what Jesus would do we can help people by the Holy Spirit away from any of those sexual behviors and they must include the “go and sin no more”. This isn’t “fleecing” but doing what Jesus did.
Are people tempted to do the behaviors talked about? yes and that isn’t sin it is the action upon that temptation that makes it sin. We must help these people who are tempted in this area, for that matter any other areas as well as part of discipleship, to be free from the bondages of sin in a loving, respectful and caring way.
I hoppe this clarifies after the reading of your post. You can see the connection we are talking about for proper use of the terms.
i read the love in action website. and the claim that there is no such thing as homosexuality, only homosexual attraction and behavior. somehow suggesting that it’s an illusion, and is completely mutable.
can i just ask - is there such thing as heterosexuality then? do you consider yourself a heterosexual? or would you be happy to think of yourself as just someone with a heterosexual attraction?
i get very offended when a claim like that (homosexuality is an illusion, and that it’s mutable) is made, because it seems for me the type of people who makes those claims, are the ones placed somewhat in the middle of the orientation spectrum to start with, and somehow had indulged in their homosexual attractions. they then later go through these programs, and learn to focus instead on their heterosexual attractions. and then later on proposes this method that can save all, including people like me, who in my early childhood (5-7) recognize an attraction to the naked man, who at 12 talked to other male classmates about liking to look at nude men in changing rooms like it’s the most normal thing (and finds out otherwise), who at a similar age accidently brushed against a girl’s breast and thought the softness was repulsive and wasn’t the least curious about it.
i really hate this “believe and you will be saved, and we know this as the truth” message because all my christian friends think i don’t want to change enough. they tell me if i really wanted, sincerely, to change i will.
i’m somewhat christian in my beliefs, but i’m not certain when it comes to the sin of homosexuality. i just don’t know if it’s right or wrong. but i just think life can be quite cruel, and if i am to believe it’s wrong, i am to live a live of celibacy.
my pastor says, there’s no way god will let me be born into a life like that, that god designed me to be a heterosexual male. i say to him, why not? there are people born handicap, born with deformities, born with ambiguous genitalia.
the world’s not perfect. and comes with a lot of questions with no answers. and i wish you’d stop trying to answer my question just because you think you’ve found the answer to yours.
someone said above: I guess it comes down to wether or not you think homosexuality is a behavior that can be modified or an immutable orientation that can’t.
the orientation is what leads to the behavior. homosexuality is both, if i may say, but rooted in the orientation. i don’t think you’d want to indulge in any homosexual activities if you aren’t even oriented that way in the first place.
the qusetion then is, can the orientation be changed? i don’t know. if you woke up one day, and heterosexuality was outlawed and sinful, do you think you can change? it feels impossible, that’s all i know. like i said, i’ve recognize my same sex attractions even very early in my childhood.
okay god can change it if he wants, but maybe he won’t. to a person who’s born blind, would you tell him “if you prayed really hard god will make you see again, because he didn’t design you to be blind”?
Blah blah blah. There has never, ever been a reliably documented case of a homosexual person changing into a heterosexual person. All these “ministries” do is encourage the homosexual or bisexual person to suppress their natural sexual urges, and behave AS IF THEY WERE straight.
It should be noted that EVERYONE who merely ENTERS into conversion therapy is automatically called an “Ex-Gay” - whether or not they are even still having gay fantasies or even sexual intercourse.
You can round out the eyes of an Asian, you can bleach the skin of a black, and you can get a gay person to pretend to be straight. None of it changes who the person fundamentally is. You can put a monkey in a business suit and call him an acountant, but I’m not going to let him do my taxes.
Furthermore, gay people usually have to hide their sexuality anyway until they are adults. This is why they say they were in the “closet” and had to “come out”.
All Ex-gay ministry amounts to is pushing a gay or bisexual person back into the closet.
As far as why Spitzer seems to contradict himself, the story is well-explained in Wayne Besen’s book “Anything But Straight”.
Another comment, since I just read more of the posts above -
An extremely good question, whoever pointed out that if homosexuality “doesn’t exist”, as Love in Action claims, then does heterosexuality exist? Of course, that would involve these idiots pointing their judgmental fingers at themselves instead of everyone else.
But it is completely nonsensical when people say homosexuality is a only a “behavior”. That means nobody is gay unless they are actually having gay sex, right at this moment. It also means that nobody can actually be called heterosexual either unless they are at this moment having sex with someone of the opposite sex.
It’s ridiculous. And the morons who claim these things would see that if only they would stop judging everybody else and look at their own life for a half a second.
What’s really funny is that the pathologization of homosexuality came out of the scientific movement, and is not religious in origin. These idiots are just clinging to decades old psychoanalytic theory, and then trying to force it into Christianity, which for centuries was unthreatened and uninterested in homosexuality.
Then again, in order to know that, these people would also have to study their own Christian history. Again… too much to ask of people who don’t know how to think.
-R