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Exodus International President On Hardball: ‘I Have Same-Sex Attractions’

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Alan Chambers, the president of Exodus International, the world’s largest “ex-gay” organization, recently admitted that it’s impossible to “pray away the gay,” and on Hardball last night admitted the same, stating, “I have same-sex attractions.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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From the Exodus website:

We believe that same-sex attractions are multi-causal meaning that there are multiple factors that lend to the development of this struggle. Many researchers, Christian and secular alike, have tried to boil the issue down to simple choice or genetics. We believe that both fail to convey the complexity of this issue and only serve to invalidate the people who are same-sex attracted.

While we have never met anyone who “chose” to feel same-sex attracted, people do have to eventually make a decision to either act on those feelings or not to act on them.  Since 1976, Exodus has served as an organization helping men and women surrender their sexual struggles to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  We do not believe that same-sex attractions are sinful in and of themselves but rather one type of struggle and temptation among the millions that impact each and every human being.

We do believe that any sexual expression outside of a monogamous marriage between one man and one woman falls outside of God’s creative intent for human sexual expression and is sinful.  Homosexuality is no greater or less a sin than any other and is not the determining factor for a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Zack Ford at Think Progress notes:

Sin, celibacy, and fake marriages do not constitute progress from ex-gay therapy. The difference between “don’t be gay” and “don’t act gay” is merely semantic, negligible in practice and unsupported by any scientific research. Exodus-affiliated groups are still working to instill internalized anti-gay stigma while erasing the existence of any kind of sexual orientation diversity. Their desire to not do harm is admirable — and with this change, they may in fact do less harm — but that doesn’t change the fact that anything short of sexual orientation affirmation is still harmful.

Raw transcript via MSNBC:

>>> three years ago, i welcomed my next guest to discuss the american psychological association’s reputeuation of gay to straight therapy. as president of exodus international, the largest evangelical organization dealing with this issue,al l alan chambers believed you could pray away the gay. >> i’m denying the power those things had over me. people say once you’re gay, you’re always gay, you can’t break free from that. that’s not true. >> chambers even appeared with his wife in ads saying change is possible, but now, he’s saying there’s no cure and that therapy doesn’t wipe out desires. he is still president of exodus and husband and father of two kids and is joining me now. what happened? what accounts for the change in position? >> i want to be clear. the fact is, my life is still as it was when i was on your radio program three years ago and i still hold to a biblical sexual ethic, but what i think what’s changed for me is really the overemphasis on this issue in ways that we don’t emphasize other issues in the church and specifically, with regards to repairtive therapy, so much of that type of technique and therapy is focused on changing attraction or changing temptation when i don’t there is a biblical reality that says people will necessarily change their temptations or change their struggles. so i want to be very, very clear about that. >> how about the practical reality? can you pray away the gay? >> i think that praying away the gay has been a lazy stereotype. that’s not what i did. as far as repairtive therapy, for year, we endorsed that and had people within our movement who did therapy, but so much of the focus is changing there where they’re talking about 100% cures and using that word specifically with me in private conversations and even introduce ing things like hetero sexual pornography to help instigate attraction. i don’t find that healthy at all. >> i guess what i’m waiting for you to say is that it doesn’t work because in the times, quote, he said that vir yully exgay he has met still harbors homosexual cravings, himself including. you’re married, father of two. you have homosexual cravings, is that right? >> i have same sex attractions. i didn’t use the word cravings nor would i. my attractions, if you want to know, are specifically and always towards my wife. for me, those things have changed. my life is not the the same as it was 21 years ago when i sought help, but to say that i don’t have temptations or could never be tempted or don’t have same-sex attractions isn’t true. for me as a christian leader and as someone helping people in their journey say those things very, very clearly. >> if you have those attractions because i think i still heard you say you still maintain, not that there’s anything wrong with it, are you trapped in that march of yours? >> i’m not trapped in that marriage. i married my wife 15 years ago because i was in love with her. i remain in love with her. that love has only grown deeper. never in 15 years have i been tempted to be unfaithful to my wife. i love her. she is the object of my every affection. to say i don’t have — >> what would you say to a young person who perhaps three years ago at the time we first met listened to alan chambers and took to heart your message as it then existed and pursued a career path hoping they could turn away from these innate feelings. do you apologize? say i got it wrong and come back to this fold? what’s the message? >> well, inni think if someone hears my message and — that those feelings are going to go away and their lives are going to be anything like my life, i am sorry for that. that has never been my intention. my intention is to simply help people of faith who are in conflict to live either sell bat lives or pursue a life congruent with their faith. >> would a homosexual be precluded admission from heaven on the basis of their sexuality according to alan chambers? >> well, thankfully, it’s not according to alan chambers. my biblical beliefs are that no one is excluded to heaven. i think the bible is very simple in its terms of how you come into a relationship. it says ask and you shall receive. knock and the door will be opened to you. it doesn’t say anywhere there’s any exclusions of people who can seek, ask and knock. >> you defended repairtive therapy a year ago comparing it to a weight loss struggle. >> it’s not picking and choosing people who are gay or lesbian. it really hits all of us. we can look at other organizations who help people dealing with other life struggles. for instance, weight watchers, which has tremendously benefitted by life. should we go after weight watchers and tell them don’t say there’s anything beyond obesity for people struggling with obesity and want an alternative. >> does that still hold up in your view? >> for me, i think those things do hold up. i have benefitted from weight watchers and other types of programs that have helped me in other areas of struggle in my area. i’m not telling someone that is happily gay identified or gay or lesbian that they should choose the life that i live or that god will love them more or less depending on the decision they make. for me and for people of faith who want to choose to live through the filter of their faith and a strong biblical sexual ethic in that regard, that they have that right to do that and so when it comes to issues like therapy. i wouldn’t say i was defending it a year ago. it is a very small and specific type of therapy that a few thera therapyists use. >> in that age old question, genes versus environment. we agree. gene, right. it’s the hand you’re dealt. >> i think what we have to do is stop making it so simple. it’s not simple. i think nature and nurture play a part in my life. we are genetic beings for sure, but we are certainly a product of the environment we grow up in. >> thanks for being here. we appreciate it cht.

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OPINION

Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

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2 mins ago

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April 18, 2024

By

For years U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been called “Pro-Putin.” As far back as 2021, her first year as a member of Congress, the question had been raised on social media: “Is Marjorie Taylor Greene a Russian asset?”

In 2022 The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org reported: “Marjorie Taylor Greene Parrots Russian Talking Point on Ukraine.”

Back then, as the article highlighted, Greene had said, “there is no doubt that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s actions in Ukraine are despicable and evil.”

Now, she promotes a far more favorable view of President Vladimir Putin and his illegal war against Ukraine, a sovereign nation which the Russian autocrat wants to incorporate – at least partly – into Russia.

Just last week Greene spread demonstrably false pro-Russia talking points about a “war on Christianity” while defending and promoting President Vladimir Putin.

READ MORE: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

“This is a war on Christianity,” Greene told far-right propagandist Steve Bannon. “The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians, the Ukrainian government is executing priests. Russia is not doing that.”

That’s just plain false, as NCRM reported.

Largely in response to her strong opposition to the U.S. supporting Ukraine, and her spreading Russian disinformation and flat-out pro-Putin falsehoods, Greene’s fondness for Putin and Russia has been making headlines.

“Republicans Who Like Putin,” was the headline last month at The New York Times, which observed: “A few Republicans have gone so far as [to] speak about Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in ways that mimic Russian propaganda. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Ukraine of having ‘a Nazi army,’ echoing language Putin used to justify the invasion.”

“The Putin Republicans Have the Upper Hand” warned Washington Monthly‘s David Atkins on Wednesday, reporting on “conservative extremists led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

“They admire the strongman as a Christian nationalist leader, and won’t support Ukraine. The global consequences of their besotted love affair with the Russian strongman could be cataclysmic.”

“Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too?” The New Republic‘s Alex Finley wrote last week. The photo at the top of the page? Marjorie Taylor Greene.

READ MORE: ‘Used by the Russians’: Moskowitz Mocks Comer’s Biden Impeachment Failure

Finley pointed to Greene’s interview with Bannon, “about Ukraine’s persecution of Christians, which is a Kremlin talking point aimed at boosting the pro-Moscow wing of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church. The U.S. should be spending money on the border with Mexico, not on Ukraine aid? That’s a Kremlin talking point. Russia invaded Ukraine to defend itself against an expanding NATO? That’s a Kremlin talking point. Call for a cease-fire, and give Russia Crimea and eastern Ukraine? That’s a Kremlin talking point.”

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post last week ran this headline: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she ‘seriously hates’ people who support sending more aid to Ukraine: ‘Most repulsive, disgusting thing happening’.”

Then there is Greene’s obsession with Nazis. Specifically, equating Ukrainians with Nazis, which she did several times over the past week, including on Wednesday. That earned her the condemnation and wrath of U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who demanded: “Stop bringing up Nazis and Hitler.”

Wednesday night, Congressman Moskowitz, known for his use of humor and sarcasm to make his points, declared: “Just submitted an amendment to Bill drafting appointing MTG [Marjorie Taylor Greene] as Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”

Moskowitz’s amendment was in response to Congresswoman Greene’s amendments requiring members to “conscript in the Ukrainian military” if they vote for the Ukraine military funding bill, as Juliegrace Brufke reported.

READ MORE: ‘Big Journalism Fail’: Mainstream Media Blasted Over Coverage of Historic Trump Trial

The Florida Democrat wasn’t joking, as Axios’ Andrew Solender pointed out Thursday morning.

Moskowitz did not stop there.

He drafted legislation on Thursday to name the Capitol Hill offices occupied by Congresswoman Greene after the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, infamous for promoting appeasement in dealing with Adolf Hitler.

Chamberlain also signed the Munich Agreement, which allowed Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia.

See the social media posts above or at his link.

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‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

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2 hours ago

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April 18, 2024

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One of seven jurors selected to serve on the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump has been dismissed after telling the judge she became concerned about her ability to remain impartial. That concern came after too many identifying details about potential jurors this week were reported by the press, leading the judge to admonish the media Thursday morning.

“Although the jurors’ names are being kept confidential, the woman, a nurse, ‘conveyed that after sleeping on it overnight she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in this case,’ New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said before calling her into the room for questioning,” the Associated Press reports. “The woman said her family members and friends were questioning her about being a juror.”

Judge Merchan, after he had questioned the juror, chastised the media, specifically directing reporters to “abide by common sense” and not report jurors’ identifying information, as some in the press had done as soon as jury selection began.

“As evidenced by what’s happened already, it’s become a problem,” Judge Merchan said.

“We just lost what probably would have been a very good juror,” he noted. “She said she was afraid and intimidated by the press, all the press.”

RELATED: ‘Big Journalism Fail’: Mainstream Media Blasted Over Coverage of Historic Trump Trial

Alexander Panetta of Canada’s CBC News adds, “Merchan wants changes in the juror info that gets out to the public. He says jurors’ employer name will be redacted from court records.”

But he also reports the now-excused juror “says family and friends [said] that she had been easy to identify, based on publicly available info about her from the court. She said she definitely has concerns now.”

Merchan also “lamented that media reported another juror has an Irish accent. He asked media in the room to be more careful.”

Responding to the loss of the juror, The Atlantic’s David Drum remarked, “[Trump] juror intimidation gets results.”

The dismissed juror had been targeted by Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Tuesday (video below).

“I’m not so sure about Juror No. 2,” Watters told Fox News views.

Trump on Wednesday, appearing to violate his gag order, had targeted the jurors.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

Former state and federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch Network, commented, “Fox & Trump are coordinating to intimidate jurors.”

Mediate reported, “Donald Trump appeared to violate the gag order set forth by Judge Juan Merchan.”

“On Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social and quoted comments made about potential jurors by Fox News host Jesse Watters on The Five Wednesday night.”

Trump quoted Watters, posting: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

“That post appears to be in direct violation of Merchan’s gag order, a reality highlighted by JustSecurity’s Ryan Goodman,” Mediate added.

On Wednesday Watters had gone even further and presented biographical and identifying details of all seven jurors. That video is currently at the top of a pinned post on the Fox News website.

READ MORE: Fox Personality’s Tweet Called ‘Jury Tampering’ by US Congressman

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OPINION

‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

Published

19 hours ago

on

April 17, 2024

By

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was strongly criticized by two Democratic Congressmen after the Georgia Republican’s remarks about “Ukrainian Nazis” and her attempts to paint Ukrainians as Nazis.

“Stop bringing up Nazis and Hitler,” U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) urged, after Greene’s remarks suggesting there is a large Nazi problem in Ukraine, during a House Oversight Committee hearing. “The only people who know about Nazis and Hitler are the 10 million people and their families who lost their loved ones, generations of people who were wiped out. It is enough of this disgusting behavior, using Nazis as propaganda. You want to talk about Nazis, get yourself over to the Holocaust Museum. You go see what Nazis did. It’s despicable that we use that and we allow it and we sit here like somehow it’s regular.”

Moskowitz began by telling the Committee his “grandparents escaped the Holocaust.”

“So my grandmother was part of the Kindertransport out of Germany. Her parents were killed in Auschwitz. My grandfather, her husband escaped Poland, from the pogroms,” he continued.

READ MORE: ‘Used by the Russians’: Moskowitz Mocks Comer’s Biden Impeachment Failure

“There are no concentration camps in Ukraine. They’re not taking babies and shooting them in the air ’cause they’re Jewish. There’s no gas chambers. There’s no ovens. They’re not railing people in, they’re not ripping gold out of people’s mouth. They’re not taking stuff out of their home. They’re not trying to erase a people. They’re Ukrainians.”

Greene’s remarks over the weekend had caused anger.

“It’s antisemitic to make Israeli aid contingent on funding Ukrainian Nazis,” Congresswoman Greene declared Sunday from her official government social media account, as legislation to support Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan moved to the top of Speaker Mike Johnson’s priority list in the wake of Iran’s attack on Israel. Her implication appeared to be Ukrainians are Nazis – a Putin talking point.

Greene on Wednesday spent several minutes again implying there are many Nazis in Ukraine, as she was refuted by a top scholar, Yale professor of history Timothy Snyder. Dr. Snyder is the author of a dozen books, including two on Nazis and the Holocaust, and is an expert on the Holocaust, Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and serves on the Council on Foreign Relations.

Responding to Greene’s remarks, Snyder told the lawmakers, “no far-right party has ever crossed three percent” in a Ukrainian election.

READ MORE: ‘Scared to Death’: GOP Ex-Congressman Brings Hammer Down on ‘Weak’ Trump

Greene was also criticized by U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who called her out for her “hypocrisy” and reminded her that in 2022 she “spoke at event led by white supremacists.”

That event was hosted by white supremacist Nick Fuentes:

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Big Journalism Fail’: Mainstream Media Blasted Over Coverage of Historic Trump Trial

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