Rev. Barnes, call for a referral

Rev. Debra Haffner of the Religious Institute writes:

"Rev. Paul Barnes resigned on Sunday from his 2,100-person evangelical megachurch after "confessing" in a 32 minute video that he had had sex with men during his marriage. Barnes, who was apparently about to be "outed", called his attraction to men "the thorn in my flesh" and recounted a not unfamiliar story of homophobic comments from his father and his church and desperate attempts to deny his sexual orientation. He said that he had been to counseling about these issues three times but he could 'never find anyone to talk to.'

"Rev. Barnes, I'm sorry that that was true. You obviously didn't look very hard. If you had looked beyond your own church you would have found that there are faith based organizations in almost every denomination that affirm and welcome GLBT people. We can suggest lots of people -- even people in Colorado -- for you to talk to...Give us a call."

For more, see http://debrahaffner.blogspot.com