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Church counseling is now “torture” …

Posted by: Sister Toldjah on June 9, 2007 at 1:18 am

Apparently to militant gay ‘rights’ activists, voluntary church counseling on the gay lifestyle equates to ‘torture’:

Holsinger has come under fire from gay rights groups for voting to expel a lesbian pastor from the United Methodist Church.

[...]

Also, Holsinger helped found a Methodist congregation that, according to gay rights activists, believes homosexuality is a matter of choice and can be “cured.”

As president of the Methodist Church’s national Judicial Council, Holsinger voted last year to support a pastor who blocked a gay man from joining a congregation. In 2004, he voted to expel a lesbian from the clergy. The majority of the panel voted to keep the lesbian associate pastor in place, citing questions about whether she had openly declared her homosexuality, but Holsinger dissented.

[...]

As for the congregation Holsinger helped establish, Hope Springs Community Church, the Rev. David Calhoun told the Lexington Herald-Leader last week that the Lexington church helps some gay members to “walk out of that lifestyle.”

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is opposing the nomination along with the Human Rights Campaign and other local and national groups, calls such a practice “nothing short of torture” for gays.

James Taranto responds:

This is an attack not only on Holsinger but also on the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, which means that the government has no business dictating its moral preferences to the United Methodist Church. That same First Amendment protects all congregants who find the Hope Springs approach objectionable. They are free to follow their conscience, or to find another congregation, denomination or religion.

… and then quips:

Finally, take note of that quote, which comes from a statement by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, that so-called reparative therapy is “nothing short of torture.” This may shed light on some of the hysterical claims about the treatment of terrorists at Guantanamo. After all, if voluntary counseling is “torture,” then pretty much everything is.

I personally think having to listen to hypocrites who want special rights while demanding the rights of others be taken away from them (as is the case here) is agonizing and should be listed as a form of torture in the Geneva Conventions. Anyone with me?

In: Clueless Wonders, Gay Community Issues, Social Issues | Email This Post | Print This

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5 Responses to “Church counseling is now “torture” …”

Comments

  1. Great White Rat says:
    June 9, 2007 at 1:55 am

    Oh, I’m defintely with ya here, ST. Think we can get the ACLU to take our torture case??

    Seriously, what nonsense. Statements like the one the NGLTF made just show they have no concept whatsoever of what real torture is. Ironically, if they were in the gentle care of those Gitmo inmates they’re so concerned about, they’d be stoned to death as perverts who defile islamic law.

  2. Great White Rat says:
    June 9, 2007 at 1:57 am

    Correction…on re-reading, I see that was Taranto’s comparison, not the NGLTF’s. But the larger point still stands. THAT would be torture, not counseling.

  3. Drewsmom says:
    June 9, 2007 at 5:50 am

    GIVE ME A BREAK. WHAT NEXT?:((

  4. NC Cop says:
    June 9, 2007 at 8:07 am

    I can’t help but think of the quote by Andy Rooney when he said:

    “If I disagree with homosexuality, that’s an opinion, not a phobia.”

  5. rich glasgow says:
    June 10, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    Believe it or not, that roughly coincides with the United Nations’ official definition of “torture.” Here’s the UN has to say:

    “Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other
    cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world,

    Have agreed as follows:
    PART I

    Article 1
    1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term “torture” means any
    act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is
    intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or
    a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a
    third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or
    intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on
    discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at
    the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or
    other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or
    suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”

    Unbelievable, isn’t it?! Here’s what the link:http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/39/a39r046.htm