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: ex-gay, ex-gay survivor, media, media ex-gay survivor alan chambers
4 Comments:
I watched that ;)
CA
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.
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.
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.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home