Ex-gay activist Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche — estranged and embittered mother of a certain Hollywood actress — both base their livelihoods upon demonization of Christians who value grace more than they fear the unorthodox and the outcast.
As with their previous works, their recent book “The Complete Christian Guide to Understanding Homosexuality” is utterly incomplete in its perspectives on faith and sexuality. And for all of its butchered Bible quotes, the book falls far short of its subtitle, “A Biblical and Compassionate Response to Same-Sex Attraction.”
Patrick Fitzgerald of Ex-Gay Watch observes, “The book is nearly 500 pages long and most of the information contained is an organized conglomeration of things we’ve been hearing for years and rebutted ad-nauseum.” But, Fitzgerald notes, the book also contains numerous new defamations that require methodical investigation — since the book’s authors regrettably have a history of distorting research, telling half-truths, and — in Heche’s case — lying about her own family history.
Dallas and Heche are not alone in these defamations; they are joined by Exodus International and Focus on the Family veterans Alan Chambers, Paul Copan, Melissa Fryrear, Mike Haley, Bill Maier and Randy Thomas. The book represents the combined opinion of the leadership of Exodus International and key people at Focus on the Family.
Fitzgerald’s book review is lengthy; here are some quick take-home points:
- Exodus denies the existence of sexual orientation and contends that everyone is equally heterosexual.
- Exodus contends that love is counterfeit unless the Christian Right approves of it.
- Exodus promises “freedom” and “liberation” from authentic selfhood, not freedom from one’s sexual orientation.
- Exodus is incapable of explaining how consensual loving relationships are in conflict with the Golden Rule.
- Exodus employs circular logic to declare its interpretation of the Bible to be “authoritative.”
- Exodus cites Leviticus to justify the murder of gay men — and blames the murder victims for Exodus’ violence.
- Heche continues to lie about her marriage and about her daughter.
- Dallas severely mangles the Bible, contradicting himself regarding the supposed “characteristics of homosexual people” while allowing the armed forces to recruit felons, anti-Semites, and racists to replace the tough and talented gay, lesbian, and transgender servicemembers whom he wants purged.
Cloaked in pious humility, this collective work of Exodus’ leaders shows that unholiness, fear, ideological insecurity, lust, sexual predation, and bitterness have consumed an organization that is dangerously inserting itself into the nation’s public schools and church networks as a beacon of purity.
