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'Gay Curer' Psychologist Claims Africans 'Better Off' As Slaves

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Impish:
Another example of the immorality of the extreme Christian Right:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/42881/

Sheesh!

Marge_Innavera:
Several thoughts on this:


--- Quote ---"There is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," writes Gerald Schoenewolf, a member of NARTH's Science Advisory Committee. "Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle… Life there was savage … and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off."
--- End quote ---

They were careful not to mention this, but that's very close to one of the religious justifications for slavery in the 19th century: that it was a rescue mission of sorts. Slavery was argued to be a means for "the savages" to attain Christian salvation which they would not otherwise have had if left alone.


--- Quote --- the Schoenewolf essay was erased from NARTH's website the same day as the Focus on the Family conference. Then, on October 6, NARTH posted this statement to its website: "NARTH regrets the comments made by Dr. Schoenwolf about slavery which have been misconstrued by some of our readers. It should go without saying that we do not wish to minimize the suffering of those who have been mistreated because of race, sex, religious beliefs or sexual orientation." The statement makes no mention of the civil rights movement.
--- End quote ---

Red flags should always go up when an alleged apology is phrased in terms of some obligation not met on the other side; e.g., NARTH not regretting the comments themselves but that readers had "misconstrued" them. In other words, they're not repudiating the comments, and this is essentially a sham apology.


--- Quote ---So what exactly is NARTH's position on equal rights for non-whites? On the NARTH website, the section marked "NARTH and Civil Rights" states: "It is NARTH's position that science, not activism, should inform legal decisions and public policies," a position that could easily be read to support Schoenewolf's hostility towards the civil rights movement.
--- End quote ---

Aside from the double standards of groups like this being quite comfortable with their own political activism, it's interesting that they make a reference to "science" without coming out and saying what kind of science they think should inform "legal decisions and public policies." Sounds very close to the old canard about nonwhite groups being genetically inferior to whites, although at this point in history they're not going to come out and say that.

delalluvia:
Why would anyone take these guys seriously?   ::)

*sigh*  Sadly people do.  The same sort of people who live in homogenous areas and do not like to educate themselves any further than their own comfort level.

Pathetic.

Bucky:
You know I don't know why I think this but it has always seemed to me that extreme right wing Christians and the psychologist who thinks he can change people's sexual orientations are secretly into sado-masochism.  I would love to find out just what some prominent right wing politicans, evangelists and psychologists secret lives are really like.  I bet their secret lives would put the stories in the supermarket tabloids to shame. ;D 

delalluvia:

--- Quote ---Sometimes I say..'think Deliverance...but not that open minded'
--- End quote ---
  :o  :o

Scary, very scary injest.

You brought up an excellent point, prompted by Becky's post:


--- Quote ---The intense interest in a man's physical suffering, bordering on a passionate thing...which is why when they reenact it (and they DO with great fervor) they call it a Passion Play! There is a church here that on Easter puts a man in rags and makeup and he drags a cross around the loop around the city! Last night there was a pickup in front of me with a huge cross laying in the bed with some 'repent ye' sign on it.

I think they have really strayed from Christ's message...I wonder if some of these people secretly think of this like people who go to see scary movies...that same sick thrill that SOME people get from seeing people hurt...and since they are not allowed to go to the movies or watch TV they have to substitute religion and persecution for their entertainment.
--- End quote ---

There are a fair number of people who belong to religions such as Christianity for which suffering is a major part of their creed.  You have to suffer.  You have to revel in it.  Somewhere along the way, the religious expression of pagans in pleasurable things was taken to its opposite extreme by early Christians trying to be different.  They found their god in pain and suffering and took pleasure and felt purity and righteous in it.

Is it any wonder the ancient Romans were baffled by the Christians who were executed?  Indeed, some writers of the era didn't think much of their martyrdom, because they did it out of sheer stubborness and not because of any real suffering.

So now, many of these type religious people feel they and everyone around them has to suffer or be put through suffering for them to be really religious.  It's totally bizarre if you think about it.

Many Christians in this country have a persecution complex.  Despite a church being on every street corner, the entire country celebrating a major Christian religious holiday and a born-again Christian in the highest office of the nation, they are on the defense.  Declaring with complete sincerity that Christianity is under attack and they're on the verge of being persecuted and martyred for their religious beliefs.

This from people who are living very free and comfortable existences.  It's as if they feel they have to make up some sort of persecution to avoid Divine Punishment for not suffering during this lifetime.

Very very strange people.

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