A RECENT shock declaration by a young American evangelist that homosexuality is not a sin seems not to have sunk into the consciousness of Lesley Pilkington, 60, a British psychotherapist who agreed to “convert” a gay man who said he wanted to change his sexual orientation.
Pilkington, 60, is to appear before a professional conduct panel and faces losing her accreditation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
She agreed to help Patrick Strudwick become heterosexual without realising he was an undercover journalist and gay rights campaigner who had a tape recorder strapped to his stomach.
Mrs Pilkington, a devout Christian who says she “understands the issues” because her son is gay, has – according to this report – treated around ten patients using the controversial Sexual Orientation Change Efforts programme over the past decade.
In tapes of her sessions with Strudwick he asks her if she views homosexuality as:
A mental illness, an addiction or an anti-religious phenomenon.
Jay Bakker, tattooed, pierced and well out of step with Christian homophobes
She replies:
It is all of that.
He complained to the BACP and it launched disciplinary proceedings against her, accusing her of “praying to God to heal him [Mr Strudwick] of his homosexuality” and having an  ”agenda that homosexuality is wrong”.
Mrs Pilkington, who is fighting the case, accuses him of entrapment. Her defence is funded by the Christian Legal Centre.
She said she wanted to help Âothers who were in a “similar place” to her 29-year-old son who, she insisted, was:
Heterosexual. He just has a homosexual problem.
She told the Sunday Telegraph:
We say everybody is heterosexual, but some people have a homosexual problem. Nobody is born gay. It is in the upbringing.
But Mr Strudwick, who runs Âcampaign group the Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce, said:
Every major mental health organisation in Britain and America is opposed to attempts to change someone’s sexuality… because there is good evidence not only that it doesn’t work but that it is harmful. If a black person goes to a GP and says, ‘I want skin bleaching treatment’, that does not put the onus on the practitioner to deliver the demands of the patient. It puts the onus on the healthcare practitioner to behave responsibly.
A spokesman for the Christian Legal Centre said it was defending Mrs Pilkington because she was “lied to and misrepresented.”
The evangelist who sent shockwaves through America’s conservative Christian population is Jay Bakker, son of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, of the infamous Praise the Lord Ministry, who served five years on fraud and conspiracy charges. During his time as a televangelist, Bakker was closely associated with the late US evangelist, Jerry Falwell. The two had a falling out and Falwell called Bakker a liar, an embezzler, a sexual deviant, and:
The greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history.
Gay friendly Jay – heterosexual and divorced – is quoted here as saying:
The simple fact is that Old Testament references in Leviticus do treat homosexuality as a sin … a capital offense even. But before you say, ‘I told you so,’ consider this: Eating shellfish, cutting your sideburns and getting tattoos were equally prohibited by ancient religious law.
The truth is that the Bible endorses all sorts of attitudes and behaviors that we find unacceptable (and illegal) today and decries others that we recognize as no big deal.
Leviticus prohibits interracial marriage, endorses slavery and forbids women to wear trousers. Deuteronomy calls for brides who are found not to be virgins to be stoned to death, and for adulterers to be summarily executed.The church has always been late. We were late on slavery. We were late on civil rights. And now we’re late on this [the acceptance of gays].
Hat tip: BarrieJohn (Pilkington report)
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 17th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
This is not on! Don’t go changing goal posts, preachers should be anti gay, otherwise who we going to hang on the posts, when the revolution comes? Tell me that.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Please note: Yet another Christian Legal Centre story highlighted by The Mail.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
PS Take a look at the pic of Mrs Pilkington.
For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered…
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
These injunctions do not even belong in The Old Tesatament, but are found in 1 Corinthians 11. Has Mrs Pilkington never come across them?
January 17th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
The Christian organisation Courage was originally set up to change homosexuals through prayer and counselling. The founder Jeremy Marks believed that if a person didn’t change then they weren’t praying enough. Then the organisation dramatically changed its philosophy and acceptance became the new approach. Jeremy married, but gay, acknowledged that change wasn’t possible without causing psychological harm. The organisation was kicked out the Evangelical Alliance but continued to support Christians. CLC which doesn’t have any scientific background is supporting a case which relies on religious superstition, ignorance and no wonder BACP are seriously concerned.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
“We say everybody is heterosexual, but some people have a homosexual problem. Nobody is born gay. It is in the upbringing.”
So whose fault is it that your son is gay…?
I’m not sure why she is claiming ‘entrapment’, because this isn’t a criminal case but a disciplinary hearing within the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. The CLC, if they had any capabilities as lawyers at all, should have pointed that out to her at some point, but I think they are more interested in going down in a blaze of glory and publicity than actually representing their clients’ interests. While it may not be entirely ethical for someone to record their therapy sessions without the therapists’ knowledge in order to cause trouble, the fact is the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy now have evidence she is incapable of performing her duties and are obliged to act. She might well be a danger to patients – the last thing people need when they see a counsellor is to be given a guilt-trip and told their existence is wrong.
Naturally, this will be spun by the CLC and their lickspittles in the Mail as a freedom of speech issue, rather than an issue of someone not doing their job correctly.
January 17th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I’m sure we all know what the real mental illness is in all this.
January 17th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
I really feel sorry for the son of that fanatic if thats what he’s had to put up with his whole life. it saddens me that in this country in this day and age there are people who are supposed to be professional are practising psuedoscience, there are enough problems with the support of people with mental health problems in this country without shit like that going on.
And to be honest I have more “respect” (for lack of a better world) for orthodox traditionalist bores than I do for people like jim bakker (and don’t get me started on the bible thumpers who try and act cool to attract more kids) , the bible is an outdated peice of bronze age lunacy and it has no place in the 21st century if Jim bakker really feels the need to modernise he should reject christianity altogether.
January 17th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Mrs Pilkington is a devout christian. The last two words in the previous sentence tell you what you need to know. We are dealing with a faithnut and anything she says on this subject, and I guess much else, must be regarded with extreme suspicion. Counsellors tend to make it up as the go along, because they have no corpus of knowledge of worth, and if they are immersed in christian superstition then their imagination will run riot. If anyone offers you or yours “counselling” run like hell. They will do more harm than good. A chat with a neighbour will be more helpful.
January 17th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Broga: I always find that “a nice cup of tea” is the answer to most problems! (And you wouldn’t want a nasty one, would you?)
January 17th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I can’t see how this is entrapment as the situation is no different to BBC TVs’ methods used in exposing dodgy tradesmen etc. As for counselling: a nice little earner for some, telling people the obvious.
Notice how the Daily Mail while claiming to be a paragon of all things xtian always has photographs of scantily clad celebs on its web-site.
January 17th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
barriejohn: Spot on. You can’t beat a cup of tea. And, just to cheer you up even more if you didn’t know already, an article in Scientific American Mind lists flavenoids as being good for cognitive functioning, with other things, and tea is well up there with the best.
As for counsellors, don’t get me started. A good friend of mine, a head teacher now retired, had to cope with a boy who was run over and killed outside the school. Some of the children, aged around 8 as was the boy saw the tragedy. The teachers talked with the children, and the parents, lots of one to one chats, and life seemed to be returning to normal. Three days later the Education Authority insisted they send in counsellers. The effect was disastrous. The tragic event was suddenly seen by the children as something so dreadful, important and utterly terrible that the children got that message.
The more the children got worked up the more the counsellors decided they were needed. Then they started visiting the parents. A further escalation of anxiety. What had been dealt with via some tears and comforting was now a hyper anxious event. The final insult my friend said was to have him and his staff accused of being “lacking in professional understanding of the emotional and psychological needs of the children.”
January 18th, 2011 at 1:14 am
Ron White sets the record straight (or gay) with one honest observation about humanity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY711HJK7pg
We are all gay to some degree, and honesty with yourself is all that bars you from admitting it.
NeoWolfe
January 18th, 2011 at 1:58 am
@ Broga
“If anyone offers you or yours “counselling†run like hell. They will do more harm than good.”
Bit of a sweeping generalisation there mate!
My Mum and my brother had grief counselling when they both struggled to deal with the death of my Dad. They both found it incredibly helpful, and both only needed two or three sessions to help them get to grips with the particular issues they had. My wife has also had a fair bit of therapy (and still does, occasionally), and I can vouch for how effective that has been for her.
Could the same results have been had from a chat with a neighbour over a cup of tea? Yes, I expect so – although I think that might depend on the neighbour. I also have had some success “counselling” my wife – a bit of basic common sense and an open ear is sometimes all that’s required.
But that doesn’t mean that all counselling is harmful or ineffective.
Of course, I’m sure there are many charlatans in the field too, but I don’t think it’s fair to tar them all with that brush.
Oh, and I’m not the cause of all those around me needing counselling, by the way.
January 18th, 2011 at 7:52 am
“The greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history.”
And that’s up against some pretty stiff competition!
Unfortunately for the moderates, homosexuality is condemned in the New Testament as well as the Old:
God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even the women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones In the same way, the men [sinful men] also abandoned natural relations with women, and were inflamed with lust for one another (Romans 1:26-27)
As Barriejohn has already illustrated, the New Testament’s not as enlightened as most people think. Hell is primarily a New Testament teaching, has probably generated more fear than any other idea in history, and no-one preached more about it than Jesus.
January 18th, 2011 at 8:55 am
Speaking of the hugely popular, devout, and upstanding(!) Jim Bakker, has anyone else seen this, and can they confirm that it is not a spoof?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxONYHDbFe4
If you haven’t seen it before prepare for a big surprise!!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Imagine the outcry if a gay therapist was caught trying to cure heterosexual clients of their ‘straightness’.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:16 am
Barriejohn – thanks for that link, it’s hysterical (in every meaning of the word). The funniest bit is their title, ‘Time of Trouble Offer’. At $500 a pop for a load of reconstituted crap it looks like anything but an offer to me. In fact, it seems more like a complete and utter rip-off. But hey, I guess that’s televangelism for you!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:37 am
Marcus: The funniest thing to me is that the guy introducing it looks as if he could survive a famine of Biblical proportions without any further sustenance whatsoever! But did you notice that you “purchase” all this wallpaper paste by means of a “love gift”? This means more tax free income for Bakker & Co, as they are not selling ANYTHING!! The Plymouth Brethren gave away loads of magazines, etc, “freely”, with this little rider: “This magazine is provided free of charge due to the goodwill offerings of The Lord’s people”, and I have had numerous arguments with Jehovah’s Witnesses, who also assert that all their publications are distributed freely whereas in fact the organization is a vast publishing empire!
January 18th, 2011 at 9:47 am
$500 love gift…..Plus Shipping!
Some gift.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Barriejohn – the irony having a bloater selling you starvation rations is, as you so rightly point out, highly comical. And as for the ‘Love Gift’ – sounds like something I might pluck up the courage to go into Anne Summers and buy for the missus for xmas. (In the certain knowledge, of course, that it would be met with an icy glare and chucked in the bin at the first available opportunity!)
January 18th, 2011 at 10:26 am
It’s a “love gift” becasue these devout believers “love” this mortal life of theirs so much that they are determined to hang on to it with every ounce of strength that they have. What irony! But what does it say about the power and “faithfulness” of their god that they are so sure that he won’t be able to see them through this period of tribulation without them taking such drastic action?
January 18th, 2011 at 10:47 am
And I thought they couldn’t wait to shuffle off this mortal coil and spend eternity in paradise.
January 18th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
The idea that counsellors make it up as they go along is nonsense – is that why people train for several years to obtain M.A.’s, PhD’s and Professorships in counselling and therapy? There’s more literature and research on any of the main therapeutic models than any one person could digest in a hundred lifetimes. That’s why NICE are always so tardy in their dealings with therapy, there’s just so much data to sift through.
This is only going to become more pronounced now that modern imaging techiniques mean that conceptual frameworks used by therapists are now actually being mapped onto actual brain functions at the biochemical and neurological level. The good news is that this is producing so much empirical evidence of efficacy that any government will see the wisdom in investing in mental health, especially important given the austerity measures. Expect literally a million more with depression in about 3 years time.
January 19th, 2011 at 6:54 am
Here’s another one!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e.....e-12213577
“I was only defending gay rights”!!
January 21st, 2011 at 11:28 am
Looks as if the lies and smears are continuing:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....dated.html