I have a confession. Nathan Cherry is a Calvinist – full five pointer too… and yet, he believes people can change their basic nature. So, when he reads of so-called studies about reparative therapy – therapies akin to Nazi Germany medical procedures – he just gets giddy.
First, not the highly scientific method of this study:
People Can Change conducted the study by sending a survey to those on the organization’s email list who are seeking or have experienced “sexual-orientation change,” as well as to therapists and ministry leaders that support these change efforts. In all, 474 people from 19 countries responded to the survey.
Second the survey (survey does not equal study) comes out when California is scheduled to vote to do away with reparative therapy on minors. Parents, if you engage your children in reparative therapy, you are sick yourselves.
Third, while they love the 55% who said they could see a difference in SSA, they said that the 17% who felt harmed in the process was just too high, too wild to be considered accurate.
And yet… it goes from a survey conducted via email to a study as if it actually was. And then… even those who used survey monkey (because, nothing says scientific survey like survey monkey) discount a sizable portion of the results.
News articles like this serve two purposes. First, the obvious political, and second… it helps those struggling with SSA to further hate themselves and believe that if they just found the right doctor, they could cure themselves.
Ain’t that right, Nate?
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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