All posts by Rev. Dr. Jerry S. Maneker

Wooden Church Tower

The Need for a New Reformation

“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25) In the last few decades we have seen the Church increasingly fractured by polarization attendant upon such variables as differences in biblical interpretation, degree of inclusivity allowed

Boy with partially covered face

Publicly Examining Homophobes

Sexuality is such a primal urge, that it manifests its energy in a variety of ways; not only in sexual activity. That energy that is part and parcel of one’s sexuality, especially when feared for all sorts of ostensibly “moral” reasons, or the fear that

Hands waving

Fundamentalism and Homophobia

There is an excellent essay titled, “The Fundamentalist Agenda,” by Davidson Loehr. Although there are parts within it with which I don’t agree, it deserves to be read in its entirety, as it gets at the root of the exclusion of all those who don’t

Boy with partially covered face

Barriers to Authentic Sexuality

Sexually intact and emotionally healthy people really don’t care what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes! And sexually intact and emotionally healthy people don’t in any way demean Gay people or seek to deprive Gay people of civil rights that accrue

Boy with partially covered face

Homophobia Stems from the Unconscious

It might seem strange that my major intellectual influence has been Sigmund Freud. Although I don’t place much faith in his therapeutic modality, psychoanalysis, as being any more or less effective than any other therapeutic modality, particularly since it resists empirical study and possible verification

Man holding bible

No Accommodation of Toxic Religion

In an article that appeared in the August 7, 2009 edition of “Mother Jones” entitled, “The APA Nixes ‘Ex-Gay Therapy’: A Win for the Religious Right?” there is a reiteration of the fact that fundamentalism of all stripes, particularly including that which invokes “religion” and