The following Jan. 29 article from the American Thinker was forwarded by a supporter of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, which has taken on the cause of Jonah.
It almost seems as if certain purported civil-rights activists think homosexuals are like some organized-crime groups: you can join the gang, but the only way you can leave is feet first.
A case in point is a lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey against JONAH International — a Jewish organization that helps people overcome unwanted same-sex attractions — and some of its associates by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And what is the basis for the lawsuit? As co-founder of JONAH Arthur Goldberg explained to me:
[T]he lawsuit was filed under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act alleging the commission of a consumer fraud on the unproven theory that same-sex attraction is inborn and unchangeable. Therefore, the programs and counselors to which we refer people have allegedly committed a consumer fraud because those seeking such services allegedly cannot change. Their goal is to put us (and other small organizations like ours) out of business.
Fraud? People with same sex attractions cannot change? JONAH’s satisfied program participants say otherwise. And here are just a few of their testimonials:
- Daniel Meir Horowitz wrote in a post titled “A Long, Hard Road: How Reparative Therapy Saved My Life,” “I want to shout to all those plagued by SSA who wish they were not: Don’t give up. Please. Despite what you read and hear in our secular culture about the false idea that change is impossible, a ray of light might be just around the corner.”
- Nathan wrote, “The insight [JONAH provided]also allows me to see this pattern [of same sex attraction] for what it is not: the thinking that I was born this way as many elements of society continually preach or a belief that my same sex attraction is so ingrained that it can never be overcome.”
- “Jonah Wife,” whose husband’s same sex attraction had impacted negatively upon their marriage for years, wrote, “[The Therapy] really is working and since JIM [a program JONAH recommends] came into our lives we haven’t had one glitch in our personal life. And that’s really something to shout about!!”
But Goldberg offers more than just anecdotes. He also told me, “About two thirds of the clients referred to us report significant reductions in their unwanted behaviors and feelings. These results are consistent with other programs that utilize both spiritual and psychological work to help people seeking to change.”
Given this track record, it’s not surprising that those helped by JONAH are upset that pro-same sex activists are trying to squelch their freedom. As JONAH recently disseminated in an email:
A respondent who was sexually abused as a young boy reports, …I am so tired of politically correct hate groups that do everything they claim to despise in the name of tolerance – when they tolerate nothing but strict conformity to narrow ideological dogma…. I chose to have gay change therapy.”
A client who struggled with same sex attraction for over 10 years says, “The gay movement is becoming one of the most destructive moments [sic] in history. They who want their rights acknowledged are the first ones to take away mine. I have the right to pursue whatever journey I value in life….”
Yet this is what the tyrannical Southern Poverty Law Center aims to do with an army of lawyers and its $256 million war chest, resources that, of course, JONAH can’t even begin to match. And while the organization is being represented pro-bono by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund — which has already devoted almost a million dollars in legal time to the case — Goldberg tells me that JONAH has suffered significantly from the filing of the lawsuit. Cooperating therapists and those who struggle to overcome same sex attraction have been intimidated. And JONAH has incurred significant costs to deficit finance additional staff, and a variety of other outlays directly attendant to the lawsuit. These are expenses it can ill afford.
But they pale in comparison to the costs of losing the suit. Goldberg warns, “It is important to note that we are simply Southern Poverty Law Center’s initial target.” For sure. The law center calls their action against JONAH a “groundbreaking lawsuit,” and breaking ground is a precursor to further development. What they don’t tell you is that they will be building downwards, on broken hearts, broken hopes, broken families and broken liberties.
If you’d like to donate to JONAH, click here.
Same Sex Attraction (SSA) is a “temptation”.
Different people are plagued with different temptations. We all suffer by one or another.
All temptations can be overcome with the help of God.
CCC: ” 2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.”
CCC: ” 2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.”
Pete, is opposite sex attraction a “temptation”?
YFC, you asked Pete if opposite sex attraction is a “temptation”? Maybe you do not realize it, but for some of us, including myself, it is! But let me clarify. I am not suggesting that every person of the opposite sex would be a temptation to me, no differently than every food buffet I encounter would be a temptation to me. Although, I must admit that some food buffets are definitely a temptation to me.
Temptation is an occasion for sin, but never a sin itself.
Yes, YFC most people have sexual temptations of one sort or another heterosexual or homosexual.
Read the words of JESUS in Mt 5:27-30.
In fact, LUST is always a capital sin.
CCC: ” 2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.”
CCC: ” 2349 People should cultivate chastity in the way that is suited to their state of life.
Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single.
Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others. . . . This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church. “
WE are EACH RESPONSIBLE for our OWN ACTIONS.
When personal responsibility is denied by anyone, bad acts prevail.
In addition we are responsible/participate in the sins of others when –
CCC: ” 1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
– by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
– by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
– by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
– by protecting evil-doers.”
True Love of Neighbor is wanting him or her to get to Heaven for eternity.
True Hatred of self or Hatred of Neighbor is wanting him or her to spend eternity in HELL (for self pleasure).
Couple of points missed here:
1. Anonymous testimonials used for marketing purposes are meaningless.
2. This case is being filed by the SPLC * on behalf * of six plaintiffs–four former participants and two parents.
Consumer fraud is appropriate, as JONAH charges as much as $11k a year for the honor of using bizarre, unregulated, potentially damaging counseling techniques, for a purpose that has been disavowed or condemned by the AMA, APA, and virtually every mainstream medical/health organization, and making claims of efficacy with no demonstrable scientific basis.
You can read the complaint here, which goes into surprisingly lurid detail about the techniques JONAH uses. Judge for yourself.
https://cdna.splcenter.orgdefault/files/downloads/case/Ferguson_v._JONAH_-_Complaint.pdf
More primer on the pseudoscience of conversion therapy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy
Siollan Murphy on what basis do you place your trust in the AMA, APA or other “medical/health organizations ? Do you know anything about their histories? Do you know how the AMA received their monopoly on accrediting medical schools? Have you ever taken a non-AMA approved herbal supplement or “nutritional” food for health reasons? Are you aware of how much the AMA profits from pharmaceutical companies?
I’m not saying the AMA is perfect, but when you have virtually every major industry association opposed to a practice (American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Psychologists… per Wikipedia), and the only ones in favor are explicitly political organizations, or political groups masquerading as official-sounding medical associations (like the American College of Pediatricians), it requires serious suspension of disbelief to not be swayed by that.
The AMA no longer requires their Doctors to take an oath of office ” to do no harm”.
The AMA supports abortion – the murder of innocents.
Many in the AMA support euthanasia.
AMA is not the trusted and honorable organization that it used to be.
Meg, if you investigate and gained knowledge of the AMA’s history, you would begin to question if they were EVER an honorable organization. The same could be true for the other organizations.
The sad reality, though, is that the average herd of people STILL FEEL that all of these “professional” organizations are trustworthy, including your average doctor you trust your healthcare to.
Siollan, of course, no human institution is “perfect”. This was not the point I was making. But really, why would you, and so many others, put your blind trust in the AMA and the other organizations you have mentioned without even considering who they are or why they exist? Most people blindly accept the authority of those organizations for no other reason than they are expected to accept it. (these sadly include many university professors and politicians) You would think, however, that precisely because these “professional” organizations hold so much power and influence over our lives that more individuals would want to know who they really are. Yet, few, including yourself do!
Most people have a herd mentality, as you have clearly demonstrated. But there are real answers to my questions and the answers are probably not what you would expect nor maybe even what you would want to know about. These organizations easily hold onto their power because most people are quite comfortable being told how to think and how to act, no questions asked! This, of course, is a form or self-enslavement. It’s the rare person who desires true freedom.
Not to mention the heart-wrenching personal testimonies of the victims of these charades. Only a heartless neantherthal could listen to these stories and think there is no truth there.
YFC, so now you malign neanderthals. But why not? They are unable to defend their characters on this site!
Thank you for the links. I’ve read the plaintiffs complaint, and JONAH is not the real target. The real target is conversion therapy itself. Even if the relevant allegations against JONAH turned out to be true, it would still be unjust to outlaw all conversion therapy everywhere because of one bad apple. The plaintiff’s agenda, I suspect, is to use a weak opponent (JONAH) to outlaw conversion therapy nationally. “Fraud” is only the cover story.
CCD, thank you for giving these individuals a voice in the putrid swamp of political correctness.
“A respondent who was sexually abused as a young boy reports, …I am so tired of politically correct hate groups that do everything they claim to despise in the name of tolerance – when they tolerate nothing but strict conformity to narrow ideological dogma…. I chose to have gay change therapy.”
“A client who struggled with same sex attraction for over 10 years says, “The gay movement is becoming one of the most destructive moments [sic] in history. They who want their rights acknowledged are the first ones to take away mine. I have the right to pursue whatever journey I value in life….”
Love that first quote. The author manages to work in a oblique, ironic reference to SPLC as a “hate group”, as the SPLC is one of two organizations that identify and maintain databases on real hate groups.
Siollan Murphy, again, on what basis do you accept the SPLC’s determination of which is a “real hate group”?
Did you know that the Department of Homeland Security designated those of us who publicly protested the “HHS mandate” as being part of a “domestic terrorist organization”?!!!!!
There are plenty of legitimate practitioners out there than can help people with SSA. Sadly, the industry (and it IS an industry) is also flooded with fly-by-night “therapists” that use their positions of authority to prey on people and employ techniques such as “cuddle therapy” to lure clients into sexual liaisons. As Siollan Murphy rightly points out, JONAH is apparently one of these fly-by-night groups. Why anyone would want to donate money to them is beyond me.
By defining the terms of the debate, the plaintiffs have already won the first victory. In truth, there is no such thing as “a homosexual.” Neither is there such a thing as “a heterosexual.” There are, however, sinful acts. Sodomy is a sinful act. We should talk instead of homosexual sodomites and heterosexual sodomites. The term “sodomite” maintains the correct focus on the act of sodomy, which is always sinful, whether it involves same- or opposite-sex attraction. This lawsuit is frivolous prima facie.
Don, did you invent your “truth”? Because there is overwhelming evidence that your truth is nothing but ignorance.
For a full elaboration of my thesis, please see “Do Homosexuals Exist? Or, Where Do We Go From Here?,” an article by Father Hugh Barbour, prior of St. Michael’s Abbey in Trabuco Canyon, CA, which appeared in the July ’13 edition of Chronicles Magazine. (Although the new Chronicles website no longer permits free access to the article, it can still be found as a cached web page via Google.)
OUCH!
Don writes:
“…The term “sodomite” maintains the correct focus on the act of sodomy, which is always sinful, whether it involves same- or opposite-sex attraction.”
Thank you for clarifying the bare bones of this issue. Pure logic and the reality of heterosexual sodomy is too often overlooked in favor of emotion and the elements behind Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That is the attempt to change the notion of what is or isn’t wrong instead of changing/addressing the behavior itself.
What a cross for those faithful Catholics with SSA who desire to be faithful to Church teaching and natural law only to have the world say they cannot.
Another Dagger Aimed at the Church and its Wise Moral Teachings:
I-VAWA’S global lie
By Wendy McElroy
The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) wants a lie to go global: Men are not victims of gender violence. Or, if they are, they do not deserve recognition.
I-VAWA is before Congress with strong support from Democrats. The act embeds the prevention of gender violence and the empowerment of women into American foreign policy. But females are the only victims addressed. Not even boys are included…
Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/civil-rights/197947-i-vawas-global-lie#ixzz2t9aJbYXr
SO??? Catholic bishops opposed the domestic Violence Against Women Act because it explicitly excluded women on women violence. It had supported the act for many years before.
YFC, just what is a helpless woman supposed to do without all of those do-gooder politician’s “Acts”?
I myself wish that the Bishop’s would stop putting so much effort into political “Acts” and more effort into teaching Catholic morality. Not only would we women be better off, but the Bishops might even succeed into turning a politician’s career into a boring occupation.
YFC, No they objected to it because it contained the terms “gender identity” and “sexual orientation”. And because it did not allow for conscience protection rights for religious organizations who aid victims of human trafficking. This is legislation that establishes government grants for organizations that serve in areas of violence prevention and aiding victims of violence.
Taking away the rights of any individual to free himself or herself from sexual addiction with the Doctor or organization they personally choose is the real issue.
Many homosexuals do not want others to get help to get out of the mucky sinful lifestyle. Many Active Homosexuals are trying to force their lifestyles on others.