From Change to Congruence: Evergreen International to Merge with North Star International

Box Turtle Bulletin points out today that Latter Day Saint ex-gay group Evergreen International is merging with North Star International, a group less focused on change of orientation and more geared to living in alignment with LDS teaching. This is a significant development in that North Star has not supported reparative therapy or efforts to change orientation. The merger will not change that approach, according to a statement on the North Star website:

Recognizing the uniqueness of individual circumstance, North Star reaffirms that, with the incorporation of the Evergreen organization, it will continue to take no official position on the origin or mutability of homosexual attractions or gender identity incongruence.

The English language Evergreen website is being “rebuilt” will eventually forward to the North Star site.*  The website now has a link to SameSexAttraction.org. SameSexAttraction.org is managed by Larry Richman’s Century Publishing company. Richman is the go to person for Latter Day Saint social media and web presence and was once chair of Evergreen’s board.
Apparently Evergreen International Director David Pruden will not make the switch but will remain at the helm of NARTH. I reached out to Pruden for comment but he did not return my email.
From my vantage point, it appears that the change paradigm has suffered another blow with this merger. Over the past decade, evangelical outreach to GLBT people has moved from trying to get gays to change to offering support to evangelical gays in their efforts to live in alignment with traditional teaching, what I have called the congruence paradigm. With this merger, it appears that LDS ministries are moving in the same direction.
*North Star president Ty Mansfield informed me that the Evergreen and SSAVoice websites will be owned by North Star and and will forward to their site.

Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy Rated #3 Plagiarism Scandal of 2013

According to plagiarism software maker Ithenticate, the Driscoll controversy ranks at #3 of the top five stories in 2013. Here is the list:

#5 – German Bundestag President Norbert Lammert and Taiwanese National Defense Minister Andrew Yang
#4 – Jane Goodall
#3 – Marc Driscoll
#2 – Shia LaBeouf
#1 – Rand Paul

Go read the article to learn more about each story. About the Driscoll scandal, the post author Jonathan Bailey writes:

Takeaway: The actual allegations against Driscoll were not particularly spectacular, just a few passages in a book and a few ideas in another. However, the fallout was very large, in particular in the religious community, partly because of Driscoll’s position as a polarizing religious and political thinker, but also because of the allegations he worked to silence the criticism against him. True or not, the scandal raised serious questions about journalism in matters of religion and those questions will not likely die away any time soon.\

I agree that the story raised serious questions about religious journalism, but I would not stipulate that the allegations were not “spectacular.” There are more than a few passages and ideas involved. In any event, the story made an impression on people in this community which accounts for its inclusion in this post.
For all stories on this topic, click here.

Another Publisher in Conversation With Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll

Now NavPress is getting involved.
This update was posted yesterday on Becky Garrison’s article published by Religion Dispatches:

We [NavPress] have chosen to respond to Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church directly and will keep the conversation private among both parties.

There is no indication what the conversation is about but I can guess that it involves the use of Dan Allender’s work from The Wounded Heart (published by NavPress)  in two of Driscoll’s books, Real Marriage and Death By Love.
Recently, Crossway indicated that they were investigating their books written by Driscoll to ensure proper citation and documentation.
Elsewhere, according to Seattle’s The Stranger Blog (SLOG), Driscoll put out a private statement to Mars Hill members about two weeks ago with what appears to be a vague reference to the plagiarism/ghostwriting controversy. However, there is no apology for any wrongdoing, rather the apology is for “concern” caused to congregation.  This statement to Mars Hill references the Tyndale press release where Driscoll said, “mistakes were made.”
For all posts on this topic, click here.

Top Ten Posts in 2013

Here are the ten most visited pages on the blog for 2013. Two posts were written prior to 2013 but continue to be quite popular. I designate them in the list below by the year of publication.
1. On The Allegations of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll
2. Janet Mefferd Removes Evidence Relating to Charges of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll; Apologizes to Audience
3. Ingrid Schlueter Resigns from Janet Mefferd Show Over Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy
4.  John Piper Calls Out Famous Guys (Like Mark Driscoll) on Ghostwriting
5. Was the National Rifle Association Started to Drive Out the KKK?
6. A Major Study of Child Abuse and Homosexuality Revisited (2009)
7. Mars Hill Church Alters Statement of Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy
8. Narth Loses Tax Exempt Status
9. Mars Hill Sermon Series Battle Plan Reveals Source Behind Mark Driscoll’s Book on Peter
10. The Trail of Tears Remembered (2011)
Clearly, posts about the controversy surrounding Mark Driscoll and allegations of plagiarism and ghostwriting were popular. With Driscoll’s apology the attention left the issue, even though he did not address several other instances in other books. To some degree, he was probably also aided by Christmas break and the Duck Dynasty hullabaloo. I was surprised that the most popular post about David Barton was about his claim that the National Rifle Association was started to counter the KKK. There are so many other claims that are even more outrageous. As far as I can determine, donations to NARTH are still not deductible. The two posts from past years have consistently shown up on the top ten lists since they were published.
The move to Patheos has been smooth thanks to the great folks there and I want to thank readers for making the switch and welcome all the new readers here.

Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson Uses Fake George Washington Quote

Phil Robertson is getting all manner of scrutiny these days. Given his high profile and recent controversy over his remarks to GQ, it is understandable that his prior speeches will be examined. In the one below, Robertson appears to advise marriage for young teens. I say appears because I don’t have the entire video. He did however marry his wife when she was 16 and added that one should get parental permission.
Various bloggers (e.g. Rawstory where I saw it first)  have examined Robertson’s dating advice which is just silly if he really means it. I want to call attention to use of a quote falsely attributed to George Washington. At 1:10 into the clip, Robertson says:

The reason you Georgia boys can deer hunt, duck hunt, squirrel hunt, hog hunt, (holding up his Bible) that’s the reason you can do it. What I’m holding in my hand right there. That’d be a Bible. You said, now let me get this right. If it were not for this, you would not hunt here. No sir. Here’s a quote, Georgia. ‘It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.’ George Washington, your first president. You know what they said? Name the capital of our country after him!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBzOjcqWWkA[/youtube]
This quote has been misused frequently over the years and can be traced back at least David Barton’s 1992 book Myth of Separation. Barton took heat over use of such quotes and issued a list of what he called unconfirmed quotes. Nonetheless, those who get their history from Barton, and perhaps Phil Robertson is one of those folks, still use the spurious quotes to bolster their Christian nation view of the Constitution, in this case the Second Amendment. Mount Vernon addresses this particular quote here and even Barton now acknowledges that there is no indication Washington ever said it.
This is another illustration of why getting history right matters. Mr. Robertson has been misinformed by some religious leader who claimed expertise in history. He probably trusted the source because of common religion. As I said in a prior post, evangelicals claim to have a message of love and reconciliation and yet they often mix it up with lots of other messages, based on faulty information, that detract from the core.