www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0033004.cfm
July 27, 2004
by Steve Jordahl, correspondent
Controversial former bishop spews vitriol against former homosexuals.
Groups that say homosexuals can change are frauds and should be put in jail, according to former Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong. And that wasn't the only controversial thing he said during a recent speech at a Methodist conference center.
Spong's comments were surprising to former lesbian Melissa Fryrear, gender issues analyst at Focus on the Family.
"We can't possibly be frauds," she said, "because we're living, breathing, walking, testifying human beings that have been transformed out of our homosexuality because of Jesus Christ."
Spong has a reputation in theological circles as a man prone to deeply controversial statements. He has called the Bible "profoundly human and deeply flawed," has denied the deity of Christ and is the author of books such as "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" and "Liberating the Gospels."
Joe Dallas, past president of Exodus, a resource ministry aiding those who want to come out of the homosexual lifestyle, said he's not surprised Spong would make the statements he has.
"We all know that if you choke the Bible hard enough you can make it say whatever you want it to say," Dallas said. "White supremacists have done that. The Charles Manson family did it. Cultists do it, and now pro-gay theologians are doing the same."