Fair and Balanced View of Surgeon General Nominee

Here
are ScienceBlogs, we have been href="http://www.scienceblogs.com/sample/fastsearch?order=date&IncludeBlogs=49%2C83%2C3%2C11%2C8%2C55%2C64%2C10%2C87%2C60%2C22%2C80%2C15%2C95%2C78%2C52%2C4%2C48%2C45%2C63%2C14%2C25%2C53%2C50%2C42%2C89%2C5%2C47%2C90%2C71%2C96%2C9%2C62%2C16%2C38%2C67%2C43%2C73%2C81%2C99%2C44%2C79%2C23%2C7%2C41%2C46%2C17%2C61%2C82%2C54%2C74%2C92%2C85%2C93%2C21%2C12%2C65%2C86%2C75%2C72%2C6%2C91%2C51%2C&search=holsinger&x=0&y=0">resoundingly
critical of the
nominee for href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States"
rel="tag">Surgeon General, Dr. href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Holsinger">James
Holsinger.  We also
have been vociferously critical of the Bush Administration's latest
installment of the War on Science, as exemplified by the href="http://www.scienceblogs.com/sample/fastsearch?order=date&IncludeBlogs=49%2C83%2C3%2C11%2C8%2C55%2C64%2C10%2C87%2C60%2C22%2C80%2C15%2C95%2C78%2C52%2C4%2C48%2C45%2C63%2C14%2C25%2C53%2C50%2C42%2C89%2C5%2C47%2C90%2C71%2C96%2C9%2C62%2C16%2C38%2C67%2C43%2C73%2C81%2C99%2C44%2C79%2C23%2C7%2C41%2C46%2C17%2C61%2C82%2C54%2C74%2C92%2C85%2C93%2C21%2C12%2C65%2C86%2C75%2C72%2C6%2C91%2C51%2C&search=Carmona&x=0&y=0">muzzling
of
the prior Surgeon General, Dr. Carmona.



But, in the interest of being fair and balanced, I now present the
final Word on the subject:

href="http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/690473633.html">Americans
For Truth Assails Pro-Gay Left's Anti-Christian Bigotry in Campaign
Against Dr. James Holsinger for U.S. Surgeon General



Contact: Peter LaBarbera, president, Americans For Truth, 630-717-7631

...

NAPERVILLE,
Ill., July 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- Americans For Truth President
Peter LaBarbera today condemned the anti-Christian bigotry that has
fueled the pro-"gay" Left’s campaign against Dr. James
Holsinger, President Bush's nominee for U.S. Surgeon General, who
appears today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension
Committee.



Homosexual activists have honed in on a 1991 paper, "Pathophysiology of
Male Homosexuality," that Dr. Holsinger wrote outlining the health
risks of homosexual practices -- and his church's belief that
homosexuals can leave that lifestyle -- as the core evidence of his
alleged "homophobia" disqualifying him from the job as the nation's top
doctor.



"Are we prepared to hang a sign on the doors of government that says,
'Christians Need Not Apply'?" LaBarbera said. "How ironic that the same
homosexual activists who for years have complained about job
discrimination are now willing to victimize and slander Dr. Holsinger
-- using appeals to secular bigots -- to deny him a government position.



"Dr. Holsinger is an eminently qualified physician who also happens to
be a Christian who believes that homosexuals -- like all sinners -- can
leave their errant ways behind through Christ's power.  For
the Secular Left, I suppose that disqualifies him from public service,"
LaBarbera said. "Will any candidate who has stated publicly that
homosexual behavior is wrong and changeable now be denied an
opportunity to serve in government?"



LaBarbera cited a recent e-alert by the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force as evidence of the Left's escalating prejudice against people of
faith. The e-alert warns that Dr. Holsinger is "a founder of the Hope
Springs Community Church, which provided ex-gay ministry service to
'convert' people to heterosexuality."

 

"How sad that we have reached the point where fidelity to historic,
orthodox Biblical teachings is being used to attack candidates for
government service," he said.

 

Noting that the Task Force, like most homosexual organizations, did not
supply a web link to Holsinger's 1991 paper, "Pathophysiology of Male
Homosexuality," LaBarbera said, "Even as they condemn and distort this
paper, 'gay' activists are afraid that people will read it. They are
desperate to hide the truth that homosexual behavior, especially for
males, is very unhealthy."

OK, so maybe that is not the final Word.



Everyone should get a chance to speak their mind, and put what they
have to say on the Internet.  Everyone should have a chance to
put their phone number on the Internet, too.  (Although it may
not always be wise to do so.)



By the way, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force may not have linked to
the paper [ href="http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2007/holsingerpaper.pdf">Pathophysiology
of Male Homosexuality (PDF link)], but a simple
Google search on the title shows that many people have linked to
it...mostly progressive and/or LBGT organizations or sites, such as href="http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1915">Pam's
House Blend, href="http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/06/surgeon-general-gay/">Think
Progress, href="http://www.slate.com/id/2168279/entry/0/">Slate,
Box
Turtle Bulletin, href="http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/6/3002847.html">Radio
Left, and others.  Many more link to it
indirectly.  They are not all progressive, though, for example
href="http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_06_10-2007_06_16.shtml#1181577672">The
Volokh Conspiracy, and href="http://www.biblebeltblogger.com/biblebelt/2007/06/exclusive_the_p.html">Bible
Belt Blogger (which are neither obviously
progressive nor obviously conservative, at a glance).



Also by the way, LaBarbera criticizes the NGLTF for not linking to
Holsinger's paper, but LaBarbera didn't link to it, either.



Also by the way, I could not find any site that opposes Christianity,
per se, as LaBarbera alleges.  They oppose
his apparent stance on homosexuality.



Furthermore, it is not accurate to conflate Holsinger's apparent
position on homosexuality with his Christianity.  In point of
fact, his Church specifically, explicitly, disavows homophobia.
 From href="http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1753">The
Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2004.
(Copyright 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House) :

Equal
Rights Regardless of Sexual Orientation



Certain basic human rights and civil liberties are due all persons. We
are committed to supporting those rights and liberties for homosexual
persons.



We see a clear issue of simple justice in protecting their rightful
claims where they have shared material resources, pensions, guardian
relationships, mutual powers of attorney, and other such lawful claims
typically attendant to contractual relationships that involve shared
contributions, responsibilities, and liabilities, and equal protection
before the law.



Moreover, we support efforts to stop violence and other forms of
coercion against gays and lesbians. We also commit ourselves to social
witness against the coercion and marginalization of former homosexuals.

So, to the extent that Holsinger is homophobic, it is not a
reflection of his faith.  It is his personal
belief system.  There is no evidence for the
existence of what LaBarbera calls the "Pro-Gay Left's Anti-Christian
Bigotry."  



Use of such a term would imply that there is some sort of cohesive
group of people who are pro-gay, AND politically liberal,  AND
anti-Christian.  Perhaps there are such people, but I
certainly have not heard of them speaking with a collective voice.
 



Now, getting to the fair and balanced part, Holsinger reports that he
has distanced himself from the stance portrayed in his 1991 paper.
  href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11926702">In
today's Senate hearing, he said:

"First
of all, the paper does not represent where I am today. It does not
represent who I am today," Holsinger replied. He said he was not
anti-gay, and that he wrote the paper in response to a request from
religious scholars who wanted him to summarize the medical literature.

And href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070712-20223500-bc-us-surgeongeneral-analysis.xml">this:

"I
feel it's part of my role as a physician to broker healthcare for all
individuals," he said. "For a physician, it makes no difference what a
person's personal characteristics are. We want to take care of him."

Has he really changed his mind?  Can he be trusted?
 Will he collude with the War on Science, or oppose it?