It’s been nearly impossible to avoid all the media coverage of "conversion therapy"
and other "transformation ministries", in which gays are freed from their
“destructive lifestyle” and converted, with Gods help, to heterosexuality. Try, as
I have, I couldn't seem to get away from this story. Like the monster in a B-rated
horror movie it seemed to be there every time I turned the corner. I have seen it
in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, on C-Span, in Newsweek and on Sixty Minutes
not to mention a lot of coverage in the gay press. And the one thing about conversion
therapy which makes it more scary than a movie monster: It's real. This is very real.
It has little or nothing to do with spirituality or therapy, but a lot to do with
politics and perhaps more than politics.
The Human Rights Campaign has taken this very seriously as political issue, as it
should. HRC has published a report titled “Mission Impossible” in which this pseudo
religious therapy is explored and exposed. This is an important document especially
for understanding the politics of the situation and the manipulative claims of these
“religious” groups. This "healing ministry" is not simply a tactic of right
wing politicos who misuse "therapy" and "religion" to advance
their anti gay political agenda. Something else going on. While clearly a misuse
of religion and therapy; I think there is more to it than politics.
Even if one wanted to, there is not much argument about whether or not one can change
their sexual orientation. Leaving out for the moment where such a motive might come
from, virtually all mental health, psychological and psychiatric professionals reject
the possibility. Yet, manipulating the psyche seems to be a tactic the religious
right is prepared to use, in their political war against gay people. I don’t think
one can overstate how destructive this so called therapy is to the soul. This is
not just bad psychology, its religious addiction.
I “got it”, when watching the C-Span coverage of “The family research Council” forum
on Religion and Homosexuality. These were not just people I disagreed with. They
had a quality which I found really unsettling. It was like, listening to the ranting
of people who were drunk. They seemed intoxicated on their ideas, completely incapable
of reasonable discourse and totally convinced of their own righteousness. On several
occasions, like the senator from Mississippi, Trent Lott , they made the comparison
between homosexuals and alcoholics. This, I suspect, was some attempt on their part
to appear compassionate in their attitudes towards the poor afflicted homosexuals.
But it made all too obvious to me the connection between addiction and their brand
of religiosity.
In his book, When God Becomes A Drug; Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction
and Abuse, Father Leo Booth defines religious addiction as "Using God, a church,
or a belief system as an escape from reality, in an attempt to find or elevate a
sense of self-worth or well-being. It is using God or religion as a fix. It is the
ultimate form of codependency- feeling worthless in and of ourselves and looking
outside ourselves for something or someone to tell us we are worthwhile. Thus it
is an unhealthy relationship with God. It is using God, religion or a belief system
as a weapon against ourselves or others." Watching the C-Span coverage, this
aspect became completely obvious.
Anthony Falzarano from Transformation Christian Ministries was one of the clearest
cases, of transformation gone wrong. He a “former” gay man shared so much personal
pain that his testimonial to the healing power of religion was completely shallow.
It was obviously his mechanism for coping with a very painful experience of young
adulthood. His testimony was sad and painful, yet very difficult to take seriously
as a spiritual matter. This poor fellow clearly suffered in what he called the “gay
lifestyle”. Yet he displayed no sign of one who has found deep inner comfort for
himself, nor a remedy for others. With great caution I raise the issue of religious
addiction, when it applies to another individual. However equally dangerous is not
considering the dynamics of religious addiction when dealing with these so-called
ministries. Left unchecked these programs are capable of doing great harm to the
psychically most vulnerable among us. This, far from therapeutic is a clear case
of using God as a “fix”.
So I conclude, that most of the ‘transformation ministry” we have been reading about
is better understood as religious addiction. It is medicating the painful experience
of a significant number of gay men and lesbians. The rest of us need not worry about
God as the “FIX”. For us, it just might be booze, drugs, sex, relationships, money
or any other “thing” we might use to escape from reality.