UPDATE, DECEMBER 2012:
In 2012, this book's author Alan Chambers admitted that virtually none of Exodus' client/patients had substantially reduced, much less eliminated, their same-sex desires. He instead called upon gay Christians to either remain celibate and unpartnered for life, or to marry the opposite gender in an admittedly non-sexual marriage.
Chambers also admitted that agreement with antigay ideology might not be required for Christian salvation -- an admission that caused several of Exodus' most judgmental and ideological leaders to form a reactionary splinter group called the Restored Hope Network. The RHN discarded Exodus' already-weak standards of accountability for counselors, who in the past had repeatedly been caught molesting clients.
RHN quietly supports international efforts to criminalize and execute gay people. It encourages parents and churches to abuse, misunderstand, and ultimately ostracize their gay children. And late this year, hardline RHN ex-gay leader Anne Paulk was exposed to be in a sham marriage; her husband, a disgraced ex-gay leader, was reported by his employees to be semi-openly gay and separated from Anne, despite her public claims to the contrary.
Given Chambers' retractions of the claims made in this book, it is surprising that this book remains available for sale.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Alan Chambers deserves applause for confirming some public concerns about his ex-gay organization.
Briefly:
--Chambers promotes freedom from sexuality and his choice to be "leaving" sexuality.
--Chambers authoritatively rejects the acknowledgment of one's likely lifelong same-gender attraction as "unholy." Chambers says that the opposite of sexual honesty is not heterosexuality but "holiness." In other words, same-sex-attracted persons must use false self-labeling in order to be holy. Chambers' opinion in this respect continues to mystify.
--Chambers emphasizes that persons who admit their same-sex attraction/orientation live a "life" that is self-centered and unethical. This assertion is based on no objective evidence, but rather on Chambers' own choice of lifestyle during the one year as a teen-ager when Chambers hung out in singles bars. The alleged self-centeredness of all same-sex-attracted persons is a persistent theme for Chambers. Ironically, Chambers and his co-authors all seem preoccupied with their own self-perspectives. They do not share a diverse range of perspectives from other people, much less respected researchers and mental-health experts. The authors seem unwilling to perceive faith, sexuality, and lifestyle from any perspective apart from their anecdotal selves.
--Chambers ostracizes same-sex-attracted people of faith from their religious communities -- portraying active church, temple and synagogue members as outsiders: prodigals to be evangelized and converted into heterosexual or asexual conservatives by religious rightists. This conservative conversion seems to be necessary to be considered -- by the political correctness police of the Christian right -- in good standing with Jesus Christ.
For Chambers, there is one true road to equal participation in society: Adoption of the political and religious ideologies of the Southern Baptist Convention or Assemblies of God denominations. A look at the member churches of the Exodus Church Network and Exodus counselor network finds little tolerance for mainline Christian denominations. Furthermore, the membership guidelines of these conservative networks require no professional background in mental health, and instead focus upon compliance with Exodus theology and politics.
Chambers' co-author Yvette Schneider -- a former political operative for a religious-right organization that supports discrimination, defends school bullying, and favors incarceration of active homosexuals -- sloppily equates any intimacy between persons of the same gender with "emotional dependency." No reputable professional mental-health organization agrees with her, though, and one might wonder about the emotional safety of persons who would be treated to Schneider's amateur notion of therapy.
Exodus board vice chairman Mike Goeke writes a chapter about ex-gay marriage in which he struggles to shame gay husbands into staying with their wives and vice versa. Goeke urges both to accept that the husband will likely be unable to perform sexually with women due to what Goeke calls "brokenness." Despite this alleged brokenness, Goeke seems to believe that it is God's will to reinforce and strengthen the outward appearance of a healthy heterosexual marriage.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this practical guide for Christians is that it contains no Biblical justification for ex-gay ideology. Nowhere does the Bible blame homosexuality on absent fathers, possessive mothers, or abuse. Nowhere does the Bible offer specific advice to change same-sex attraction. Depending upon one's interpretation, the Bible either regards same-sex-attracted persons as eunuchs, or as people to be stoned to death. And while portions of the New Testament do recommend celibacy over marriage, they do so for ALL Christian men -- not just gay men -- in anticipation of an early return of Christ.
This book does cite numerous Bible verses, but nothing about eunuchs, the death penalty, or the superiority of celibacy over marriage. The chosen verses really do not relate directly to the subject matter at all; instead, they relate broadly to matters of prayer, healing and faith in miracles.
Despite the New Testament caution against marriage, Chambers and his associates at Exodus continue to promote marriage as an ideal for same-sex-attracted persons; Exodus rejects celibacy as something short of God's supposed plan for all individuals. At this point, it's important to note that in his previous book, Chambers also rejects gay celibacy as a sin. Why? Because -- again -- Chambers requires that same-sex-attracted persons relabel and lie about ("deny") their orientation.
In short, Chambers' latest book reminds us that Exodus' perspective is not very Biblical. Exodus is good at weaving together off-topic godtalk about truth and grace, but weak at the substance of Christian spirituality and sexual honesty. The book utterly fails to address the existence of thousands of former ex-gays whose spirituality and mental health were harmed by Exodus programs. And the book sidesteps Exodus' recent role in antigay vigilantism and criminalization campaigns in Barbados and Uganda, the organization's longtime efforts to silence schools' anti-bullying programs, and the organization's position that antigay violence should be punished less harshly than other hate crimes.
This book would have benefited from less amateurish political and religious correctness, and more information from the many professional faith-affirming counselors and researchers who are equipped to improve counselees' self-esteem and assist counselees in reconciling their religious identity, sexual orientation, and mental health in a moral fashion.
