Various arms of the AFA such as OneMillionYouth.com and the AgapePress have been promoting a new bible distributed by Tim Todd Ministries containing comic book style inserts on various cultural issues. Comics can be viewed at the Truth For Youth website including one on safer sex which is factually incorrect:
Excuse me, did they just cite a factually discredited SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD ARTICLE? I’m sorry, the notion that latex condoms are porous and allow the transmission of HIV is so factually incorrect I shouldn’t even waste your time providing a link. But you know what? I’m trying to keep things a bit more HONEST than Timm Todd and slightly more recent sources. Let’s see what the Centers For Disease Control said in a document dated Jan 23, 2003:
Laboratory studies have demonstrated that latex condoms provide an essentially impermeable barrier to particles the size of STD pathogens. [*]
This goes beyond the notion of “red state / blue state facts” into the realm of deliberate misinformation and downright lying. Tim Todd and the American Family Association should be ashamed to so zealously promote such a publication.
Daniel,
It goes to what I keep harping on (probably to everyone else’s annoyance).
The anti/ex-gay movement practices a consistent pattern of lies. Sometimes, as in this case, they know they are lying and just don’t care. At other times they simply regurgitate “facts” or “findings” without doing even the most basic of due diligence.
I wonder if they ever realize that when they are quoting “… and all homosexuals… in the lake of fire” that one of those dot dot dots is “and all liars”.
The “Truth for Youth” site is really awful.
In the comic about Homosexuality, there’s a young boy who thinks he might be gay. As best I can tell, there’s no reason to think he may have ever had a sexual encounter; he simply THINKS he might be gay.
The “advice” given him is “God can forgive you of the sin of homosexuality but you have to recognize and admit you’re guilty first”.
The rest of the comic is geared to push the ex-gay agenda (you WEREN’T born that way; and you can change… all presented by an ex-gay).
The more I see of the anti/ex-gay crowd, the more clear it is to me exactly what they think is sin. It isn’t any of the acts listed in Leviticus. The sin in the mind of AFA and Exodus and all the others is simply ACCEPTING WHO YOU ARE.
They have no place for gay people choosing monogamy or even abstinance. You have to “admit you’re guilty” whether you’ve ever done anything that the Bible could possibly be translated to condemn.
If you “fall” or “sin” every Saturday night you are just fine with them as long as you are just “struggling” and hate yourself on Sunday, while an openly gay person living a life of chastity (like some I know) are “sinners” and “in the homosexual lifestyle”.
It truly is a perverted and distorted religious view.
I can’t believe that crap. The homosexuality comic has the kid saying that he believes he was born gay because the media told him (as if he did not always feel like that). I love the stupid EMT who left homosexuality 30 years before and at that time no one thought they were gay (which seems strange since gay people helped the APA to change their definitions).
Lately there have been exgay stuff everywhere. Dan Savage had a viscious attack against exgay promotion in Savage Love. Geraldo on Oreilly said it was ridiculous to think gays weren’t born gay.
Jack Chick does manga?Under the “drugs” tab you’ll find the autobiographical version of his life.Of course, there’s no explanation as to how his hair went from blonde to dark.But, one more for the list — that’s yet another bible-thumping God Botherer with a past few ever experience. Why do so many religious conservatives (of any stripe) have such basic issues with self-control or plainly have a pathological fear of a lack of self-control in others??? It is a dynamic that pops up time and time in exgay testimonials etc.
Ha ha, that’s hilarious. OK, guess it’s not so funny in that people might actually believe this, but still, the story of that comic is inane.
It’s telling that the girl isn’t swayed by bibleboy, but by the statistician telling her she’ll get a disease. This is why they lie; they know they can’t get to people any other way. It’s sad, really.
That site is awesome. I can’t believe how bad it is. There are two comics on homosexuality (the other is hard to find). It suggests that a person might be gay if girls in high school ignore him. Which is funny because many gay guys growing up have great female friends in high school (I did–and they all wanted to date me). Then, there is almost an argument for gay marriage because the lover died, and the gay guy was losing the house because of it.
They are all funny, but the evolution one is really funny–and what is that side quote about scientists turning garbage into oil over 30 years ago (umm, if that were possible, wouldn’t we turning our garbage into oil now? Energy issues?)
This is the guy who does the creepy Freddy for Jesus stuff.
Riddle me this Batman–if you had a death experience, and really nasty monster creatures were attacking you, why would you continue to do the same things you did before that led to the monsters? Oh, and doesn’t he say he had three near death experiences?
This is comical, but I wonder to what extent this stuff from the AFA is merely preaching to the choir, so to speak. Does their preaching actually change peoples’ minds, or does it merely reinforce peoples’ preconceived notions?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Regarding Aaron’s “garbage into oil” I heard about that some time ago. It probably hasn’t occurred in some part because garbage usually contains waste metals (e.g. tin cans) that would be highly toxic. There are processes known as coal liquefaction that would turn coal (a solid) into an oil-like liquid. Such processes have been known for well over a hundred years. The price of oil is getting high enough that it would make liquefaction a feasible economical alternative.
It goes to what I keep harping on (probably to everyone else’s annoyance).
Just to let you know, it doesn’t annoy me. Actually, I use peoples’ testimonies from here and elsewhere on other web sites.
Has anyone found this story that the NYTimes is following out of Kansas?
http://www.nytimes.com
op/ed “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”
There is a case there pending the prosecution of Matthew for the statutory rape of his wife Crystal Koso.
M. Koso (age 22) began dating his now wife when she was 12. When she became pregnant a year later, he crossed into Kansas to marry her because the age of consent is 14. They are the parents of a newborn girl.
This brings to mind the archaic laws of consent in that state.
But I recall too a case in Kansas of a same sex consentual oral sex between two boys, ages 17 and 15.
The seventeen year old was fully prosecuted and the judge sentenced him to the full fifteen years. So far he has served over seven.
HIS life is certainly destroyed and not that of his ‘victim’.
The ‘Romeo and Juliet’ law in Kansas didn’t usually prosecute an older male more than a year in cases between males and females.
But in the case of the gay teen, I remember the judge’s admonishment and justification for the harsh sentence.
The judge felt that gays had a more impactful and bad influence on society.
So much for the impartiality of the bench, let alone common sense.
Impact?
The two boys couldn’t get each other pregnant.
But there sure is a HUGE impact when a 22 year old man impregnates a 13 year old girl.
They both live with HIS parents by the way and he’s unemployed.
Which means, her hospitilization for the baby is costly to taxpayers. The pregnancy itself could have been risky or traumatic for this girl.
Dropping out of school and the awesome responsibility of raising a child while you’re still one yourself is somehow less ‘impactful’, than when gay boys who are still both teens is?
This case and the case of Mary Kay LeTourneau speaks for itself.
Heterosexuals can get away with raping the underaged, as long as they marry their victims.
The marriages motivated mostly by the children conceived.
Sex, consent and the lies the abstinence only crowd may tell is why this issue is so schizophrenic and perpetually impossible to address effectively.
OK, this is just too funny. This is an actual testimony on the site:
“This young man from Columbus, GA received a Truth For Youth Bible, read the comic on Rock Music, went home and threw all of his “Spice Girl” posters and CD’s in the trash!”
Yep, you got that right. Spice Girl.
Cuz everyone knows that Spice Girl (is there only one now?) is the personification of evil.
…
Aaron, what is the other comic you reference?
Yeah, those of us that grew up in fundy homes probably have lots of stories of tape/record/cd/book/poster burning in our past (especially when we came home fired-up from youth camps).
How silly it all seems, now, looking back on it. About as silly as writing a testimony about getting rid of Spice Girl(s?) stuff….
Timothy, the site is pretty confusing, and there are different comics in different places. There is the gay one with the EMT, there is another gay one called Father Figure, there is the personal story one (where he is being dragged to hell), and then I checked out the evolution and drug ones. There are a couple of gay ones, but they are found on different pages.
I too had a burning–but it was with my Mormon missionary partner. He burned my stuff in the oven because I had offday t-shirts he did not like.
I can recall only one “book burning” as a child.(Actually, we didn’t ever see the material — Mum took “care of it” in no uncertain terms).Before 1977, the Church of the Latter Day Saints had very negative views about not-white people. An Uncle, Bishop in same, decided we three deserved a years subscription to some youth magazine at Xmas (and, of course, without bothering to tell his sister first). The first arrived and had a charming article about the Curse of Ham — it went straight into the fireplace, as did all those that followed (and, wouldn’t you know it, apparently they wouldn’t stop sending them all year…)That’s the type of material kids need protecting from, not the Spice Girl/s.
Ha ha Aaron — sooner or later this happens to all…The other half had a particular skanky sweat shirt that was beyond the Pale. It had been retrieved from the bin twice (the darn thing was like Lazarus).I finally raided my chemical stockpile, splattered concentrated sulphuric acid all over it to cover it with elongated holes, washed and dried it and returned it to the drawer.It looked like some hideous experimental piece from the early 1980’s, and was FINALLY tossed.Of course, I supposed the scissors would have worked; but why simplify a manic response?
One thing I noticed on the Truth for Youth site is that all the comics involve someone receiveing the Truth for Youth Bible (which can be conveniently purchased on line) which miraculously causes them to repent and be saved. I’m sure raj would agree with me that there seems to be a heavy dose of “buy my stuff” involved with this ministry.
I remember the day I came back from youth camp and realized my satanic music – Rick Astley, Debbie Gibson and a few others – needed to be destroyed. With my thrilled parents looking on, I took my cassette tapes, banged them with a hammer and pulled out the tape…
Thank goodness I got that evil out of my life at an early age. I listen to much better music now. 🙂
I forgot about this, but my missionary partner who burned my stuff in the oven actually convinced me that my record collection back home was evil and needed to be destroyed. He had never heard any of the music, but unless it was classical or made by members, it was wrong and destructive (the Sisters of Mercy was one of the bands and they started at the Mormon church dances, but I don’t think they would be considered appropriate music). He actually created a contract to have me sign that I would agree to make a sculpture when I returned home of my LPS. The resulting sculpture would resemble a missionary praying. Needless to say, I did not create the vulgur sculpture, and my LPs are safe and sound to this day.
My partner was the best one during my mission, but interestingly, he was the one who hated me afterward because I was gay. We actually spent 7 months together. He was French/German, and I am American. I went back to France to visit him after my mission, and I took photos of him and his fiancee for their wedding invitations. I told him that I was gay. He was cordial until I left. He then contacted me and told me he would never speak to me again unless I rejoined the church and “left homosexuality.” To this day, he will not communicate with me over the issue.
Regan DuCasse at August 31, 2005 12:23 PM
]But I recall too a case in Kansas of a same sex consentual oral sex between two boys, ages 17 and 15.
You’re referring to the Limon case.
I’ve read the Kansas Supreme Court opinions in the case. The argument proposed against constitutionality for the discrimination was equal protection: heterosex was treated differently than homosex. One of the idiot judges of the Kansas Supreme Court justified the discrimination based on the fact that heterosex could lead to pregnancy, whereas homosex could not. Huh? I had been led to believe that the state interest was in preventing teenage pregnancy, not promoting it.
Thank you, raj.
Although I’ve written the case name down for reference, I misplaced it.
As you can see comparing the Limon case with the Koso case, the discrimination is going in the wrong direction.
Young Crystal’s life is far more affected by Matt’s behavior-
Whereas, Limon’s ‘victim’ was able to move on with little that changed his life.
As the NYTimes article stated on the article’s title line:
Abuse of the underaged isn’t made right by romanticizing the relationship through marriage.
I have always been mindful of the bias where the underaged is concerned.
Used to be less concern and a wink wink nudge nudge attitude for adult women having sex with underage boys.
Now this Koso case is a glaring example of pushing marriage on a heterosexual adult male and underage female.
Overhaul of the laws is right.
Prosecution of EVERY adult who has sex with someone underage.
And marriage acceptance for ANY two consenting non related adults, regardless of orientation.
Equal protection is supposed to be just that, equal.
Changing the laws around or making them harsher for gay people ONLY….doesn’t protect kids whatsoever or execute the laws as they were intended.
Ken Sain of http://www.sovo.com
http://www.southernvoice.com
Made the same connection that I did regarding the double standards by which the cases of the two Matthews were handled.
I am vindicated in the observations and connections I tend to make when it comes to social and political hypocrisy.