As I predicted in my May 29th post, the fundies are going absolutely crazy over the White House acknowledgment of Mary Cheney and Heather Poe as the parents of Vice President Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney’s new grandson. The Life Site News web site has a lengthy discussion of the commentary of professional ex-gay Stephen Bennett (See:http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07053008.html). I hope they make Chimperator Bush's life Hell in a way only they can do. Here’s part of the story on Bennett’s diatribe:
Stephen Bennett, a pro-family advocate who left the homosexual lifestyle and now has a ministry to convince others of its dangers, expressed his concern about the White House’s decision to caption the photo this way. “What is extremely troubling is the official White House caption that appears underneath the photo on the official White House website,” said Bennett. Rather than merely stating that the child is the “child of their daughter Mary Cheney," the White House photo caption states, “... His parents are the Cheney's daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe.”
Stephen Bennett, a pro-family advocate who left the homosexual lifestyle and now has a ministry to convince others of its dangers, expressed his concern about the White House’s decision to caption the photo this way. “What is extremely troubling is the official White House caption that appears underneath the photo on the official White House website,” said Bennett. Rather than merely stating that the child is the “child of their daughter Mary Cheney," the White House photo caption states, “... His parents are the Cheney's daughter Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe.”
“Since when have two homosexual women been able to naturally procreate?,” commented Bennett. “Fact is Mary Cheney, the Vice President's daughter - in one way or another - received a male's sperm. She is the biological mother, parent number one, and some man, somewhere out there, is Samuel David's real biological father, parent number two.”
Of course, Mr. Bennett is anything but an objective commentator. He has made a career out of being an alleged “former homosexual” and operates Stephen Bennett Ministries which promises that: “SBM’S FIRM UNWAVERING STAND: NO ONE IS BORN “GAY” AND COMPLETE CHANGE IS COMPLETELY POSSIBLE. THERE IS REAL HOPE – DON’T SETTLE FOR OR BELIEVE ANYTHING LESS.” If you don’t believe me, check out his “ministry’s” web site: http://www.sbministries.org/. It looks to be quite a business operation and seeks "donations" to support the "ministry." A few years back, Mr. Bennett initially threatened to sue me when I contacted him and challenged his use of bogus scientific research put out by Paul Cameron (Cameron’s organization has been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center). When I responded that I would welcome a a lawsuit and an opportunity to prove in court that the SBM claims were untrue, Bennett suddenly became conciliatory and claimed that he had no idea that the false information was on his website. Here’s his e-mail to me:
From :
Stephen Bennett
Sent :
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 4:51 PM
To :
"Michael Hamar"
Subject :
Re: Your Implied Legal Threats
Michael: I am aware of Cameron. News items are sent to us for publication on our news page and I personally was unaware this linked to Cameron. As a Christian, I am interested in promoting the truth - and you will never convince me otherwise - that homosexuals can change. Also, I come from an evangelistic standpoint, to share the gospel of Christ with all – homosexual or heterosexual. I speak the biblical truth on homosexuality - because God does. If the Bible never mentioned it, believe me, I wouldn't either. We base our ministry and beliefs on the Bible - and that will also never change. I sincerely appreciate you bringing this link to my attention and yes – that article/link will be removed.
From :
Stephen Bennett
Sent :
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 4:51 PM
To :
"Michael Hamar"
Subject :
Re: Your Implied Legal Threats
Michael: I am aware of Cameron. News items are sent to us for publication on our news page and I personally was unaware this linked to Cameron. As a Christian, I am interested in promoting the truth - and you will never convince me otherwise - that homosexuals can change. Also, I come from an evangelistic standpoint, to share the gospel of Christ with all – homosexual or heterosexual. I speak the biblical truth on homosexuality - because God does. If the Bible never mentioned it, believe me, I wouldn't either. We base our ministry and beliefs on the Bible - and that will also never change. I sincerely appreciate you bringing this link to my attention and yes – that article/link will be removed.
Stephen Bennett
Unfortunately, Bennett still associates himself with organizations that continue to cite Cameron's bogus research based on some of the recommended links on his web site.
1 comment:
Amazing! It's one thing to have "faith," it's another to beg credulity.
Unless my debased mind misunderstands the word "truth" and "biblical truth on homosexuality," all appeals to "truth" usually feature (1) correspondence to empirical evidence and experience, (2) a rationally-sound conclusion that follows of logical necessity from verifiable and sound premises, (3) one or both, (4) but never neither.
So, when Mr. Bennett claims, "If the Bible never mentioned [homosexuality], believe me, I wouldn't either," I have to question what "truths" he thinks he is divining?
The word "homosexual" never appears in the Bible. The word, a 19th century neologism and oxymoron coined in Holland, is itself a contradiction. "Homo" means "same," and "sexual," from the Latin secare, or "to divide," means sexual reproduction through a division of labor between a male and a female member of a species. Same-sex attraction and expressions are not, indeed cannot, be sexual. But none of this language is in the Bible, perhaps because (1) the term did not exist, (2) it is a contradiction and (3)oxymoron.
Rather, "men who lie with a male as with a woman," "unnatural lusts," and "unnatural intercourse," are the language used. And based on this curious language, Mr. Bennett thinks the Bible mentions "homosexuality?" I believe Mr. Bennett is again seriously mistaken.
Outside Evangelical Religious Constructionism, thousands of natural scientists from every discipline have confirmed over 450 different species that interact in ways that one presumes the actual language of the Bible suggests. So, the most confident form of human knowledge discredits the notion that these natural interactions are an "unnatural." Indeed, they are very, very natural and widely-expressed among hundreds of different species. How can those facts "square" with the biblical claim to the contrary?
But these empirical facts should present another dilemma for Mr. Bennett: If Saint Paul is correct, "ever since the creation of the world God's power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood [inferred] and seen through things God has made" (Rom 1:20), then we can all see many things in the world of nature, especially men-who-have-intimacy-with men, and similarly women-with-women, that should reveal the "truth" of the naturalness of same-sex intercourse, and the falsehood of "unnatural intercourse." If these commonly-observed and ubiquitous features of the world have their origin "through things God made," God authored what Bennett considers "homosexuality." Bennett's claims are factually, empirically, and rationally false, so the Bible is false, or Mr. Bennett is seriously confused. (BTW, I don't infer God's existence from viewing and understanding things seen, but the implausability of such an inference.)
So, either "biblical truth" is a glaring falsehood, or it is a "private/privileged language game," or is itself an oxymoron, or an equivocation, or all of the above, but it does not even proximate any standard of "truth" that most people mean when they use the word "truth."
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