Abstract
This article addresses the current controversy in churches concerning homosexuality, especially the claim that the sexual orientation of homosexual males may be changed through religious interventions. Following personal accounts of the uses of “religiously mediated change” discourse in discussions of homosexuality in mainstream Protestant churches, the article focuses on the frequently cited article by Pattison and Pattison (1980) that evaluates 11 white males “who claimed to have changed sexual orientation from exclusive homosexuality to exclusive heterosexuality through participation in a Pentecostal church fellowship” (p. 1553). We evaluate the article in terms of its research design, findings, and conclusions; discuss its claim that the men “changed” in light of Freud’s concept of the sublimation of socially unacceptable psychic energies; and assess the Pentecostal church’s contention that homosexuality is an expression of psychological immaturity. We conclude that in light of the fact that the sublimation of sexual desires and impulses is a common experience among men, and homosexuality is not an expression of psychological immaturity, “religiously mediated change” discourse needs to go beyond claiming that change is possible and present a convincing argument that the change, if effected, will have demonstrable benefits to humanity that would not be realizable if the change did not occur.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Capps was not alone. In the next issue of The Lutheran, the “Letters to the Editor” pages carried the heading, “Pastor’s book ad draws fire.” One letter writer noted that the “book comes at the reader like an old softball but quickly turns into a homemade hand grenade disguised as pastoral care for the ‘suffering homosexual’ and confused Christian.” Another said that he “did what should have been done in the first place: threw it away,” and quoted a bumper-sticker, “I believe in the separation of church and hate.”
A bit of comic relief was afforded Capps, however, when sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, he picked up a copy of the magazine Talk (May 2001 issue) and discovered that quite a different controversy was raging over a certain James Loder’s claim to be the illegitimate son of Hollywood actress, Hedy Lamarr.
We hasten to add that there were professors at the seminary who did not share Loder’s views. Choon-Leong Seow (1996), editor of Homosexuality and Christian Community, a collection of essays by Princeton Seminary professors, wrote: “I have met many students here at Princeton Seminary who have a strong sense of the call to ministry and all the obvious gifts for it, but they cannot obey their call because of who they are. They are hurt by the church. I cannot believe that we are called to perpetuate such pain and suffering in the world. I am compelled now to trust my observations and experience. . . . I have no choice but to take the testimonies of gays and lesbians seriously. I do so with comfort, however, for the scriptures themselves give me the warrant to trust that human beings can know truths apart from divine revelation” (p. 25, emphasis added). Seow’s statement is clearly informed by the wisdom tradition of the Hebrew Bible, the area of his special expertise.
See footnote 3.
As we will see, Glesne’s account of the study is replete with factual errors. He says that the average age of the men was 23, when in fact it was 27. He says that they all had strong homosexual orientations since they were about age 11, when in fact the age at which they began to identify themselves as homosexually inclined ranged from 8–15 years. He says that seven of the 11 men were married and had been married for 4 years, when in fact six of the men were married, and the years of marriage ranged from 2 to 7. He says that their average Kinsey score rating was originally 6 when, in fact, it was 5.7, and that for those whose Kinsey score was not currently zero, their scores ranged from 1–3, when in fact it ranged from 1–2. Finally, he says that “The members of this church accepted them, loved them, and as a result they all became Christians,” when it is more accurate to say that, although the church initially welcomed them, they first accepted “the invitation to commit their life to Christ and his church” (Pattison and Pattison 1980, p. 1558) and the experience of acceptance and love subsequently emerged as they participated in small fellowship groups.
This is no idle speculation. One of the authors (Capps) recalls reading a newspaper article (which he has since managed to lose) about a psychotherapist in New York City who offers “one session counseling.” His rationale for this minimalist approach is based on his own study of persons who sought psychotherapy but did not return for the scheduled second session. When contacted and asked why they did not return, one-third of the drop-outs said that they had gained considerable clarity concerning their problem in the initial session and felt that they could deal with it without further need for therapy.
Kinsey’s work has recently been at the center of a controversy among American historians regarding the sexual orientation of Abraham Lincoln. In The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, C. A. Tripp (2005), a former associate of Alfred Kinsey, argues that Lincoln would have scored 5 on the same scale employed in the Pattison & Pattison study; in other words, “predominantly homosexual, but incidentally heterosexual” (p. 20). In his review of Tripp’s book in The New Republic, Andrew Sullivan (2005) agrees with Tripp that Lincoln was more homosexual than not, but assigns him a 4 (“predominant response to the same sex, with definable heterosexual response and relationships”). Tripp’s posthumously published book contains reactions and comments by two historians (Michael Burlingame and Michael B. Cheeson) who take opposite positions on the question of Lincoln’s homosexuality; and by psychologist Alice Fennessey, who observes that “according to the Kinsey criteria which Dr. Tripp uses, Lincoln was definitionally bisexual” (p. 247).
References
Aarons, L. (1995). Prayers for Bobby: A mother’s coming to terms with the suicide of her gay son. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
Bell, A. P., & Weinberg, M. S. (1978). Homosexualities. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Capps, D. (2002). Men and their religion: Honor, hope, and humor. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity.
Capps, D. (2003a). From masturbation to homosexuality: A case of displaced moral disapproval. Pastoral Psychology, 51, 249–272.
Capps, D. (2003b). John Nash’s predelusional phase: A case of acute identity confusion. Pastoral Psychology, 51, 361–386.
Capps, D. (2004a). John Nash’s delusional decade: A case of paranoid schizophrenia. Pastoral Psychology, 52, 193–218.
Capps, D. (2004b). John Nash’s post-delusional period: A case of transformed narcissism. Pastoral Psychology, 52, 289–313.
Capps, D., & Carlin, N. (2006). The homosexual tendencies of King James: Should it matter to Bible readers today? Pastoral Psychology, 55, 667–699.
Carlin, N. (2006). The evolution of John Nash’s male melancholia: From honor to hope to humor. Pastoral Psychology, 54, 439–456.
Festinger, L., & Katz, D. (1953). Research methods in the behavioral sciences. New York: Dryden.
Freud, S. (1960). The ego and the id (J. Riviere, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. (Original publication 1923)
Freud, S. (1964). Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood (A. Tyson, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. (Original publication 1910)
Freud, S. (1989). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. (Original publication 1932)
Glesne, D. N. (2004). Understanding homosexuality: Perspectives for the local church. Minneapolis: Kirk House.
Kaplan, A. (1964). The conduct of inquiry: Methodology for behavioral science. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company.
Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W., & Martin, C. (1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
Loder, J. (1998). The logic of the spirit: Human development in theological perspective. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Osherson, S. (1986). Finding our fathers: How a man’s life is shaped by his relationship with his father. New York: Fawcett Columbine.
Pattison, E. M. (1974). Confusing concepts about the concept of homosexuality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 37, 340–349.
Pattison, E. M., & Pattison, M. L. (1980). “Ex-gays”: Religiously mediated change in homosexuals. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 1553–1562.
Pittman, F. (1993). Man enough: Fathers, sons, and the search for masculinity. New York: Berkeley.
Pollack, W. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. New York: Random House.
Rennison, N. (2001). Freud & psychoanalysis. Harpenden, Great Britain: Pocket Essentials.
Saghir, M. T., & Robins, E. (1973). Male and female homosexuality. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company.
Seow, L. (Ed.) (1996). Homosexuality and Christian community. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Sullivan, H. S. (1953). Conceptions of modern psychiatry. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Sullivan, A. (2005, January 12). Log cabin Republican: How gay was Lincoln? The New Republic.
Tripp, C. A. (2005). The intimate world of Abraham Lincoln. New York: The Free.
Troiden, R. R. (1979). Becoming homosexual: A model of gay identity acquisition. American Journal of Psychiatry, 42, 362–372.
van Aarde, A. G. (1997). Social identity, status envy, and Jesus’ Abba. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 451–472.
Waehler, C. A. (1996). Bachelors: The psychology of men who haven’t married. Westport, CT: Praeger.
West, D. J. (1977). Homosexuality re-examined. London: Duckworth.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Capps, D., Carlin, N. The “Religiously Mediated Change” of 11 Gay Men: A Case of Unexceptional Sublimation. Pastoral Psychol 57, 125–146 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-008-0158-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-008-0158-6