Skip to main content

Faith Under Fire Uploaded

Two years ago Alan Chambers and I appeared on the TV program Faith Under Fire on the PAX TV network. The show, hosted by Lee Strobel, has since gone off the air. This conservative Christian-based talk show attempted to take on the issue of the Ex-gay Movement.

Recently I found some old video tape of it (which must have melted a bit in my attic crawl space where I stash this stuf so that sound and video are a little funky), and with my highly technical equipment, I uploaded the first half of the segment on YouTube. If you want the second half, I can upload it too.

The transcript on of the program can be found over on Ex-Gay Watch.


(oh and I LOVE the ads for other PAX TV programs--Xtreme Fakeovers! Cold Turkey 2--oh, the irony)

UPDATE:
Okay here is Part Two (wow and I got a visit from Disputed Mutability with a comment!)
Labels:

Comments

Contemplative Activist said…
I watched that ;)

CA
8:25 AM
David said…
Wow, that was very enlightening. It's astonishing to see how much Exodus' public face has shifted - even backpedaled, I would say - over the years. He comes out much clearer as claiming that people can change away from homosexuality to their natural heterosexuality, which Exodus has, at least in some circles, now been downplaying. The phrase "not just settling for celibacy" is particularly revealing. It makes me wonder how these groups will progress in the future.
11:23 AM
Anonymous said…
I'm intrigued by the differences in how people act and present themselves, depending on which side is hosting the discussion. In this PAX clip, Alan is more in the driver's seat, more confident--and you're a bit more defensive and uptight. The dynamics on Montel and Tyra are completely opposite, at least from the clips I've seen.

Along the same lines, I'd suggest to David that while there may be some backpedaling, I think a bigger part of it is that Exodus tends to take a very different approach with a Christian audience than with a broader audience. As recently as last year, Exodus' book (intended for Christians) came down rather hard on celibacy, as I discussed on my blog here. So I'm not sure if they've changed their position so much as they present it differently depending on who they're speaking to.
3:46 PM
Peterson Toscano said…
CA, Yay! That's about when we met!

David, Thanks for the comments.

DM, all good points. This was my very first media appearance so I was a nervous wreck which I am sure comes through. I have calmed down somewhat with a little practice.

Yeah, and the host makes it clear in the second segment that he agrees with Alan on the issues. He opens and closes the segment with Alan and gives him more air time, which makes sense for conservative show. (You may notice that they actually cut some of what Alan said because the host let him go on and on during the taping)

What I find most moving is the way that Alan talks about his time as a gay person, how free and natural it felt for him. That struck me at the time he said it and again today.

I'll upload part two this afternoon.
3:57 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Gay Husband--A Spouse Speaks Out

The other day I received the following e-mail from Susanne, a woman who found out her some years ago that her husband has same-sex attractions. I felt so moved by her words that I asked her permission to share them with you on the blog. I (recently) saw your Doin Time... and I was the one who asked about your wife during the discussion period that followed. I just read your thoughts on What About the Spouse ....and I can say, most women who find out their husbands are gay feel ALL of those things you wondered about....some in more degrees than others... When my husband was dragged out of the closet because of his irreverent, immoral, and amoral behavior that our, then, 14 and 16 year old sons had to find on our home computer, I went into the closet. I didn't know what to pray for.... Do I pray that this will go away? Do I pray that he could go back to the way things were in our family before we knew about him,? Do I pray that I could go back to the way things were? After all ,...
122 comments
Read more

The False Image of LIA

John Smid and me-Graduation 1998 (above) & John Smid today (left) By now many have heard that Tennessee's Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities determined that the "ex-gay" program, Love in Action, is operating two “unlicensed mental health supportive living facilities”. LIA has until Friday, September 23 to respond. If LIA statements in Eartha Jane Melzer's article are indicative to how the "change" program might respond, we may see LIA change right before our eyes from a clinical mental health compound into a house of praise and worship. Gerard Wellman, business administrator for Love in Action, and a former Love in Action client, said Sept. 13 that the organization has been in contact with the state but would not comment further. “As a church, we operate under a different set of rules,” Wellman said. Curious, and what rules might these be? What is even more curious is that according to LIA's site only one staff member ...
158 comments
Read more

Puzzled

Last night I performed Transfigurations-Transgressing Gender in the Bible at Imago Dei Metropolitan Community Church in Glen Mills, PA (about 15 miles outside of Philly). I had a diverse audience of about 45 people -- college students, Quakers, straight, bi, trans and lesbian, young and old. I took my time with the piece maintaining a gentle meditative pace. For the ending when I reveal the identity of the narrator, I had instructed the light tech to dim the lights. Then as the closing music swelled, I asked her to raise the lights to their brigthest intensity. With the music playing, I exited. Always (up until last night) at this point the audience applauds, I wait 5 seconds then come out to take a bow. Last night I exited and then nothing. No one clapped. They sat quietly as the music played. I stood back stage puzzled, baffled. Now what do I do? Wait? Go out anyway? And I wondered for a moment, Did they hate it? Did I confuse them? Offend them? Bore them into a coma? After what ...
18 comments
Read more