BAD RELIGION

Man Kicked Out Of Megachurch For Abandoning Ex-Gay Therapy

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We’d like to issue a belated “welcome out” to Jason Thomas, and a congratulations on having the courage to tell his story.

Jason recently posted on Facebook about an experience he had a year ago that must have been very difficult, but has ultimately left him a better, stronger person. He was previously a member of the Watermark Community Church in Dallas, and in his Facebook post he describes the psychological abuse the inflicted on him.

After they found out that he’s gay, church leaders sent him to a 12-step program to pray the gay out of him. His abusers at the Watermark Community Church told him to break up with his boyfriend, and that was the last straw.

“I couldn’t see in my heart that what I was doing by breaking up with him was right,” he said.

After he told them that he was going to resist them, they sent a letter letting him know he was no longer welcome. Here’s what he had to say recently, reflecting back on their letter:

I spent years in your church battling against my homosexuality. I believed with all my heart that God would change me; I prayed for change almost daily. But when I wasn’t able to change, you turned your back on me. …

Here we are a year later and you are still doing to others what you did to me. You are tarnishing the name of God to Christians and non-Christians alike; you should be ashamed of yourselves! Do not forget, Jesus was a angry with people just like you who said certain groups of people were not worthy to be followers of Him.

Thank you for removing yourself from my life! I am who God made me to be. I cannot change my sexual orientation and nor would I want to. I now have internal peace and happiness unlike ever before.

Good for you, Jason, for making the right call. Hopefully other victims of the church will hear about your experience and escape the cycle of abuse too.

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