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Thou Shalt Not Love: What Evangelicals Really Say to Gays
Book by Patrick M Chapman
- GenresQueer
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2008
3 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Patrick M. Chapman
1 book1 followerPatrick Chapman received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 1999. He is a member of the American Anthropological Association, American Association of Physical Anthropologists, and the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists. He has taught college courses in New Zealand and the USA on biological, cultural, and forensic anthropology; world prehistory, Pacific Island cultures, and diverse sexualities. He has also worked with several LGBT organizations and as a consultant on forensic anthropology.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 22, 2018
I purchased this book while on a retreat at Holy Cross Monastery. It drew me in because of the controversy about reparative therapies making headlines and being legislated against in many states, New York, for one.
Patrick Chapman, a former victim of reparative therapy and evangelical believer, gives an incredible insider look at his past life and how dangerous it can be growing up gay and living with parents, friends and neighbors judging and condemning you into submission. There was really no way to reason out the hypocrisy and sheer fake belief and sham translations of the bible, Christ's teachings, and just about anything having to do with a civilisation that existed 3,000 years ago. The context of life then has nothing to do with today's evangelical communities and leaders who manufacture pretty much everything they have to say about homosexuality. Facts be damned. This was written just before the legalization of same-sex marriages which occupies the central focus of the book.
The book itself is more of a textbook reader with an outline and questions about each chapter's topics at the end. In that sense, it was definitely a book of learning and knowledge. Its cited sources well researched and fleshed out in many of the footnotes. Again, many of his statements of fact followed by the facts as propounded by the evangelical leaders brought on fits of laughter--sometimes loud enough to disturb fellow commuters on the bus! Mr. Chapman had a highly ironic way in which to point out the elephant in the room by presenting data clearly fabricated by evangelical leaders and accepted and believed to be true by their followers.
One such example is their belief that "... homosexuality is a sin. However, they do not support the notion that gluttons should be denied housing or barred from all-you-can-eat buffets even though they believe gluttony is sinful, ..." (p. 267). Evangelical leaders also ignore the truth about AIDS and how the disease is most affecting the straight community, i.e., women and children. Then there is their argument about monogamy being the Lord's command. Ironically, polygamy is the majority leader in marriages, monogamy the minority just above polygany (women having more than one husband), but again, who's asking?
I highly recommend this book to all who may have reason to suspect they may be victimized or may have family members who are victimizing other family members into a life of misery and shame and eventual suicide because suicide rates are extremely high in young people and in adults who are living a lie by marrying, creating families, and denying their true self from expression and in many cases succumbing to depression and suicide. Nobody wins, but the leaders who think to be unhappy and untrue to oneself is better than being honest and self-confident about who and what you are and how you live your life and most definitely who you choose to love.
The current administration is taking strong measures to reverse many rights the LGBT community has fought for and won. This book has an even more relevant poignancy now because of the attacks against gay rights, women's rights, and children's rights. It is this book which opened my eyes to the reality of the evangelical agenda and how it is paving the way toward oppression of all minorities one community at a time.
Patrick Chapman, a former victim of reparative therapy and evangelical believer, gives an incredible insider look at his past life and how dangerous it can be growing up gay and living with parents, friends and neighbors judging and condemning you into submission. There was really no way to reason out the hypocrisy and sheer fake belief and sham translations of the bible, Christ's teachings, and just about anything having to do with a civilisation that existed 3,000 years ago. The context of life then has nothing to do with today's evangelical communities and leaders who manufacture pretty much everything they have to say about homosexuality. Facts be damned. This was written just before the legalization of same-sex marriages which occupies the central focus of the book.
The book itself is more of a textbook reader with an outline and questions about each chapter's topics at the end. In that sense, it was definitely a book of learning and knowledge. Its cited sources well researched and fleshed out in many of the footnotes. Again, many of his statements of fact followed by the facts as propounded by the evangelical leaders brought on fits of laughter--sometimes loud enough to disturb fellow commuters on the bus! Mr. Chapman had a highly ironic way in which to point out the elephant in the room by presenting data clearly fabricated by evangelical leaders and accepted and believed to be true by their followers.
One such example is their belief that "... homosexuality is a sin. However, they do not support the notion that gluttons should be denied housing or barred from all-you-can-eat buffets even though they believe gluttony is sinful, ..." (p. 267). Evangelical leaders also ignore the truth about AIDS and how the disease is most affecting the straight community, i.e., women and children. Then there is their argument about monogamy being the Lord's command. Ironically, polygamy is the majority leader in marriages, monogamy the minority just above polygany (women having more than one husband), but again, who's asking?
I highly recommend this book to all who may have reason to suspect they may be victimized or may have family members who are victimizing other family members into a life of misery and shame and eventual suicide because suicide rates are extremely high in young people and in adults who are living a lie by marrying, creating families, and denying their true self from expression and in many cases succumbing to depression and suicide. Nobody wins, but the leaders who think to be unhappy and untrue to oneself is better than being honest and self-confident about who and what you are and how you live your life and most definitely who you choose to love.
The current administration is taking strong measures to reverse many rights the LGBT community has fought for and won. This book has an even more relevant poignancy now because of the attacks against gay rights, women's rights, and children's rights. It is this book which opened my eyes to the reality of the evangelical agenda and how it is paving the way toward oppression of all minorities one community at a time.
February 18, 2009
If I weren't on his side this book might make me mad. Not mad because he wasn't on my side, but made because he's so absolute about what the bible REALLY says. Of course his point is to highlight gray areas so it's a bit faulty to speak in such absolutes rather than to revel in the complexities of reading ancient literature in translation.
Having said all that, it's moving and inspiring, and a book that must be read by people sitting on the fence on this issue. It's too absolute, I think, for very anti-gay people (in fact, anyone for whom the bible is unfailingly infallible), but not so absolute that it couldn't be convincing to people willing to open their minds.
Having said all that, it's moving and inspiring, and a book that must be read by people sitting on the fence on this issue. It's too absolute, I think, for very anti-gay people (in fact, anyone for whom the bible is unfailingly infallible), but not so absolute that it couldn't be convincing to people willing to open their minds.
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July 5, 2011This is probably the best book I've ever read that provides a reasoned, reasonable response to a certain brand of evangelical that views homosexuality as a sin, a "lifestyle choice", and a threat to the family. It gives a concise, easy-to-read overview of the major arguments advanced by both sides of the debate on homosexuality, including the scientific, theological, and historical. I think it also can help those who are not gay understand what those who are go through dealing with institutionalized heterosexism.
April 25, 2009
This is a comprehensive rebuttal of the conservative evangelical view of homosexuality. It brings together all the research on biological causes, addresses the clobber passages and the cultural context of the Bible, looks at anthropological evidence for same-sex relationships in other cultures and in nature and at the gay marriage question. You get bits and pieces of these arguments elsewhere but for me, this really brought it all together in one place.
July 17, 2013
Very, very informative. Unfortunately, the people who really need to read this book probably won't read it and, if they do, will refuse to consider all the arguments the author makes, despite the incredible amount of research and evidence finding he did.
July 24, 2011
"Well-researched and easy to read. . . Takes on the distortions of evangelical Christian leaders in their own words and refutes them with biology, Bible, and anthropology."
February 18, 2012
An excellent, scientific, and logic book concerning irrational homophobia in the church and why it doesn't make any sense.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews