Dr. Warren Throckmorton on the Stubborness of Some Christian Media
For those of you not familiar with Dr. Warren Throckmorton (though I'm sure most of you are), he's an Associate Professor of Psychology at the conservative Grove City College and does a great deal of work in the world of homosexuality and ex-gay issues. Over the years, Dr. Throckmorton has moved from what I saw as a very staunch pro-exgay view to one that is very more centric.These days I've found Dr. Throckmorton to be one of the most middle-ground voices in the gay vs. ex-gay world, and he keeps both sides under very well needed scrutiny. That's basically why I go to his blog--to get a view of what's gonig on out there that is a nice escape from the pro-gay and anti-gay sites I usually find myself rummaging through.
Let's not forget, though, that he works for a conservative school and comes from a pro ex-gay background. In past blog posts, I feel that this background has given him not only a different perspective, but also unique access to the anti-gay and pro ex-gay world that most other critics don't get. Unfortunately, though, that background doesn't always means he is going to get the time of day.
In a recent blog post, Dr. Throckmorton questions the validity of NARTH refering to their recent summary paper on ex-gay successes as "new scientific research." Unfortunately, the paper does not provide new research--it just summarizes and rehashes old studies. Throckmorton rightfully wondered how a group, a self-proclaimed Christian group, no less, could claim this to be "new scientific research," when none of the research was new. He then took his question to the past president of NARTH who told Throckmorton two times that he did not have time to answer his question (but somehow had time to say that twice).
This leads me (finally) to the topic of this post. After being asked in the comments of his blog post why NARTH feels it appropriate to stretch the truth on such a regular basis, Throckmorton conjectures that maybe it's because the Christian media (the media that is both on their side and most likely to cover them) lets them get away with such things, even when they are shown problems.
Throckmorton brings up an instance where he pointed out to OneNewsNow (of the AFA) that their slant on a story was wrong, and rather than look into the issue, he got the cold shoulder. And this is from someone on their own side. I can only imagine what happens when a pro-gay person points out similar issues.
For now, thankfully, the Paul Cameron's of the world have been fairly widely rebuffed among most major media sources, and even most of the Christian ones don't get near him as a direct source, but thats as far as they go sometimes. They still get away with third-party sources that use Cameron's material. They still get away with misrepresenting studies about divorce rates and adoption. And, as long as they continue to rationalize away their detractors by pretending that anyone not ant-gay is the enemy, they may never change.
posted by Brady @ 11:50 AM
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