Monday, December 13, 2010

Family Research Council digging itself deeper in the hole in war against hate group label

If you want more proof of the Family Research Council's anti-gay bias, check out this exchange between organization members Tony Perkins and Peter Sprigg, courtesy of People for the American Way:

Perkins: So it's really an act of desperation. They've been on the defensive for slapping the label on the Family Research Council and there's some stuff coming out in the days ahead that is really going to push back and put them even more so on the defensive.

But let me zero in on some of the issues they bring up. As I stated earlier, it's all old stuff that's been out there for a long time, so it makes the timing of this very, very questionable. But one of the issues that seems to bother them the most, which I've had to debate now on a couple of TV programs, is the connection between - and this is what the social science, peer-reviewed data shows - a correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That seems to be a real problem for them.

Sprigg: Exactly. And yet it's important to spell out what we're saying and what we're not saying on that issue ...

Perkins: It's not what we're saying; it's what the social science professionals ... we take the date, we kind of break it down and communicate it to policy makers, but this is not research we've done.

Sprigg: Oh no, we've just surveyed the research that has been done. Although what's problematic is that a lot of time the researchers are unwilling to accept the logical conclusions of their own findings.

No doubt Sprigg is hinting on the complaints by researchers such as (Judith Stacey, John Horgan, Gary Remafedi, as well as many others) who have voiced objections on numerous occasions to the religious right groups - like FRC - distorting their work to push a phony notion that "homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle."



Now according to Sprigg's biography on FRC's webpage, he is an ordained Baptist minister, a former actor, and received a Masters of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

I didn't read anything about his expertise to assess or interpret scientific research, so I am guessing that he has none.

Therefore if Sprigg wants to talk about logic, then he should obviously focus on just how in the world can he, with no expertise in scientific research,  interpret studies better than the creators of said studies?

The truth is that he can't. Sprigg's expertise lies in his ability to speak well in front of the camera and groups of people (which a minister and an actor has been trained to do) and make even the most illogical comments seem logical.

Such as his calls for gays to be exported out of the United States or "homosexual acts" to be declared illegal.

Keep talking FRC. You are only helping the Southern Poverty Law Center prove its case that you are truly an anti-gay hate group. If Sprigg is your idea of an "expert" in terms of scientific studies, then you have bigger problems than supposed "radical gay activists" or SPLC.
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2 comments:

ColdCountry said...

They are so busted, and they are so going down in flames. How long before the politicians start seeing these folks as a liability and abandon them? I think it's inevitable; let's hope it's soon.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure they will really go away any time soon. There is too much money to be made in the cottage industry called "gay bashing." Politicians have made entire careers out of deamonizing people to get votes. Mostly Republicans and the Catholic and LDS church. And they want to play victim when we call them on it. Give me a break.