Apropos to the recent series of posts examining the recent report from Paul and Kirk Cameron on life expectancy is this action from Exodus International. Up to earlier today, Exodus had a page titled “Is there a connection between life expectancy and homosexuality?” with various assertions about the health status of homosexuals as a group. One point claimed a very short life expectancy for homosexuals (in the 40s). Now when you access that page, you see this message:
This article has been removed due to the inaccuracies surrounding the research of Paul Cameron.
Alan Chambers made a statement on ExgayWatch about this action.
I have also learned from the British Medical Journal that, in contrast to his statement in recent news releases, he is not considered a reviewer by that journal.
Going back to the general subject of the Camerons’ research, whether gays die young, it looks as if we homos are not the only people with abberant, deviant traits who are dropping like flies:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease – damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain.
While it could be a chance finding and the evidence is far from conclusive, numerous reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, Dutch researchers note in their report in the journal Epidemiology.
“Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated,” write Dr. Made K. Ramadhani and colleagues from University Medical Center Utrecht. It is estimated that about 1 in 10 people are lefties.
Mary: I completely agree with you: “As a ministry and not a research arm of the ex gay issue, they should refrain from posting research.” They could avoid SO much trouble — if they would only adopt this as one of their basic operational guidelines!
I would like to add: “As a ministry, and not a political arm of the ex-gay issue, we refrain from engaging in politics.” EXODUS began as a ministry — an outreach to bring hurtiing gay people into a personal realtionship with a loving God, and with enough faith, maybe someday we might turn out straight.
No one I have ever met really did. But, it was still a pretty good idea. At least al lot of people learned about God. EXODUS was a ministry. It should have always remained so.
I would also observe that the FAQ in question had a blank footnote with a comment indicated that they still needed to find a reference? Who posts something like that anyway?
Why was the footnote blank? The statistics obviously came from somewhere. Whoever wrote that “fact” on that web page obviously got it from another source because he/she copied it quite accurately. And yet, the blank footnote.
The ONLY reason I can imagine for leaving the footnote blank was because they knew Cameron’s name wouldn’t fly. And whoever authorized publishing that web page with the blank footnote appeared to believe it was more important to publish a damaging statistic than it was to publish an accurate, substantiated one.
Well homogenic sex is a sin, or for some having a homosexual orientation is itself sin or evidence of sin/evil/demon-possession. A conscious choice is generally associated with sin, a tendency to sin even if biological is no excuse. Except we’re talking about sexuality and its interplay with one’s need for intimacy. Somehow having that intimate relationship with Jesus doesn’t fill in for real human contact and love when you cannot change your orientation and must remain celibate. And it doesn’t help that the people who are telling you all of this claim their intimate relationship with Jesus does themselves all sorts of good… but they go home to their wives or husbands for that which even Jesus cannot provide.
It’s not as though EXODUS has not been warned about ill-conceived affiliations and dubious “researchers”. For example, for years people have been cautioning them to not to affiliate with NARTH — because of its obvious, unscientific bias, off-the-wall articles and wacky “advisors” — but the relationship continues. Isn’t one of the spiritual gifts “discernment”?
oops sorry – that would be 13 years – my bad – that’s what happens when an accountant does figures without his 10 key.
The following article by Mark Pietrzyk was first published in The New Republic on October 3, 1994.
http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/26867.html
Good Grief! I can’t believe some of you are giving points to Alan and Exodus for taking 17 years to get around to taking his hate off their website.
Perhaps, as a ministry and not a research arm of the ex gay issue, they should refrain from posting research. Or they could assign a person or team with a statistical and scientific background to review such items before simply posting them.
I don’t think there’s some huge need for some huge penance. “I’m sorry I lied about you and said horrible things” would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.
Well, because that would be a lie – they are not at all sorry for saying horrible things. They will gladly say more horrible things just as soon as they come up with them.
The problem isn’t their research training. The problem is their willingness to believe, adopt, and proclaim anything whatsoever that is negative about gay people.
I really wish that Alan and the rest at Exodus didn’t think it was their job to demonize homosexuality and anyone who doesn’t “walk away”. Why can’t they just say “we’re here to help those who want to follow their values”?
But they’ve become like the rest of the political world – not willing to argue positions, but relying solely on the politics of personal destruction. Democrats can’t just be wrong any more, now they have to be doing the work of Satan to destroy the American family. No longer can Republicans be mistaken on policy, now they have to be fascists seeking control of the world for their selfish greedy means. Homosexuality cannot be something that one finds inconsistent with one’s faith, now it is a threat against the family and rife with every evil thing that can be imagined.
It’s all so disgusting, this constant barrage of spin, lies, deceipt, and demonization.
You would think Christians would avoid this destruction of their fellow man. We all know it leads to bitterness, animosity, and frequently to outright literal war. But alas, Christians and religious leaders – right and left – seem to be the worst.
Warren: The multiple retractions, apologies and dis-affiliations are all well and good. But it’s not good enough. This stuff happens WAY too often. EXODUS doesn’t need to be trained in research design. They need to develop more caution and more common-sense. Simply put, they need to learn (and I am surprised they haven’t after all these years and so many mis-steps) how to be more careful.
Not sure how Protestants do penance but I think their retraction is a good thing. I remind myself that Exodus leaders are not trained in research and quite often evaluate research based on their own experience. If their experience with homosexuality is negative then it might be quite easy to believe negative research findings, without being able to evaluate the biased research methods.
If Exodus were truly Christian they would consider doing penance for the sin committed in giving Cameron a voice through Exodus for this length of time.
It sill amazes me how quickly EXODUS can move when it’s public image is at stake and the pressure is on. How quickly they can distance themselves and remove things from their webpage.
Other less “urgent” matters (like posting a strong stand against anti-gay hatred) take a lot longer.
I’ll go one futher. I’m not only a reviewer, but I’m a frequent published author (via comments).
You can include that in your next news release too 🙂
Sure he’s a reviewer of the British Medical Journal. Just like Timothy Kincaid is a reviewer for the Warren Throckmorton website.
hey, I review it daily to see what’s up