Nicolosi's 'cure for homosexuality" is bad reprogramming
An American psychologist by the name of Dr.
An American psychologist by the name of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi is to speak soon at an event organized by the church group Anglican Mainstream in the UK. Why? He claims to have successfully treated homosexuality. In other words, he says he has helped many people to become heterosexual. He says that he has "increased their heterosexual potential" for 25 years and that he “offers a choice for people who were unhappy being gay”.
On the idea that homosexuality can be “cured”, Rael commented “This is so stupid! It's not “curing” anyone. It’s simply "reprogramming", or "reformatting" or "reeducation", and it's very similar to what was done by communist China against political dissidents by just making people accept what they don't like, by conforming them to a social model.”
Rael went on to say “As I have suggested before and what Raelians should promote is a sort of psychological "treatment" for Christians who are unhappy with their religion, and for sure at least 66 % of Christians would be "cured" - and in this case really cured because being Christian or a god believer is not genetic like homosexuality. (No one is born Christian. People are born gay, straight or bisexual) In fact this is what we do at Raelian seminars, help people to start reconditioning themselves to who they really are...”
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) also responded to Dr. Nicolosi’s statements by saying there was “…no evidence this sort of treatment works, and that it was likely to even cause considerable distress in the individual”. An RCP spokesman said: "There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
The good Dr. Nicolosi says that he offers a choice for people who were unhappy being gay. What is most interesting to ask here is to ask exactly why people are unhappy being gay? Is it that they don’t like the pleasure they receive and give? Certainly not. So why?
Let’s use another embarrassing example to illustrate this phenomenon. For 200 years, and it continues today, the Black population in the US (and unfortunately, in too many other places) have not been ashamed to be black, (even though many in the White race were trying to make them ashamed) but were indeed unhappy and ashamed of the social climate which has been in place and within which they are being forced to live. In other words, there was a paradigm in place which told whites and blacks that blacks should have fewer rights than whites. Whites were often using the Bible to justify these mindsets by quoting the scriptures which condoned slavery and that “since the Bible said it then it must be God’s will”. What has happened over the last 40 years is beautiful in that more and more people are ignoring those scriptures and instead choosing human rights. Slowly, people changed their minds but what largely happened was that the old generation was replaced by a new one which was more aware of the injustice of such ideas. The same thing will happen for homosexuals but not without the struggle which went along with the former example of Black civil rights. We have to speak up. We can’t give up. The cost is embarrassingly high.
As Rael said, sexual preference is genetic but as with so many things in our life, we are a combination of genes and environment. Obviously being told every day that our sexual preference must be only heterosexual and in a married, monogamous relationship, will convince millions that anything else is deviant or perverse. And we know this type of mindset comes from religious dogma just as the notion that slavery was condoned by the Bible.
Human beings are very social creatures and there are many studies which illustrate that we feel a social pressure to “follow the crowd” in most situations – even to the point of not speaking up when we think a building is on fire. It’s true! Many subjects tested did not speak up when they thought the very building they were in was on fire simply because no one else was speaking up. :-) What is important here is to understand that human beings tend to want to “fit in” – at least appear to fit in because that is what is important – that others see them as fitting in. ;-)
No one wants to be judged as “deviant” for their sexual preferences by society. Even many of those who are most outspoken about homosexuality are caught in embarrassing spots. There are several like the American Evangelist Ted Haggard who brutally condemned homosexuality for decades and was caught in a homosexual relationship just a few years ago. In other words, he still secretly lived his genetic code rather than let society know who he really is or accepting himself for who he really is – genetically speaking. In recent interviews he said that he was also being “treated” for homosexuality by someone similar to Dr. Nicolosi. He assured audiences that it was working but even if he stops all homosexual acts all that will have happened is that he will have been reprogrammed to accept a social model just as Rael pointed out above.
The only mechanism in place which teaches homosexuality is wrong is the religious one. As the reader may know, Raelians accept the origin of most religions as well as the Prophets like Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha etc. So how do Raelians reconcile the apparent contradiction between ancient text and our complete acceptance of homosexuality even though the Prophets we acknowledge are reported to have said a few (very few) things against it?
For one, we believe that there has been a succession of mistranslations and a sort of “4000 year telephone game” especially with monotheistic religions. The very idea of monotheism means there is only one truth and is very intolerant of anything else. And the word “homosexual” never even existed in the Bible. Enter Biblical interpretation…
As far as we can read through the different texts that reached us, the ancient Prophets were not monogamous and certainly not condemning homosexuals. They only preached love and acceptation of the differences. Unfortunately, a few centuries later, their teachings were filtered and bullied by a society that wanted to control its members… and what better way to control than putting fear and guilt in everyone’s brain.
In a recent address in Las Vegas, during his annual North American Raelian Academy, Rael reminded the audience that the best gift brought by our Creators through the revelations they made to Rael, is certainly freedom.
‘Nothing is forbidden for Raelians, the only rules that Raelians must respect is ‘absolute non-violence’. But even that isn’t that strict since the Elohim, our Creators, say that it is ok to use violence for self defense, if there are no other way to save yourselves and your loved ones. There are no sins for Raelians, just freedom and an intense pleasure to live fully the unique life given to us to enjoy with our unique genetic code. This is why Raelians will never stop claiming that sexuality is biological in nature, observed in hundreds of species, and that human beings should enjoy their sexual diversity as much as possible, in full respect of the others.
To close, Raelians believe that there is no such thing as “normal” when it comes to sexuality, personality, likes, preferences etc. Heck, we all don’t even like the same foods! It’s hard to believe, but some of you out there don’t even like chocolate! :-)