The Atlanta shooter went to an evangelical “sex addiction” rehab at a facility that has also specialized in gay “conversion” therapy — less than a mile from Young’s Asian Massage. My latest on HopeQuest Ministries with @spulliam.https://t.co/A5YYsDcCP4
— Jonathan L. Krohn (@JonathanLKrohn) March 19, 2021
Quoting from the article:
The evangelical facility HopeQuest advertises its services for treating “sex addiction” and “pornography addiction,”….
HopeQuest is affiliated with several large evangelical churches in and around Atlanta, including the North Point megachurch and the historic First Baptist Church of Woodstock. With several counselors licensed by the state of Georgia, it is also a “professional” affiliate of the evangelical organization Focus on the Family.
…
Sexual sin plays an outsized role in many evangelical churches, said Sheila Wray Gregoire, Canadian author of “The Great Sex Rescue,” a book about lies Christian women have been taught about sex. In popular evangelical literature, she found, women are taught to have sex with their husbands when they want it so they won’t watch porn. They’re also taught that all men struggle with lust.
“Women are not seen as people but as enemy who need to be defeated,” she said.
HopeQuest treatment center once did so-called gay conversion therapy.” The current director of HopeQuest says he is “ex-gay.” The former director came out as gay after saying he was ex-gay.
In a statement, his church laid the blame for the murders on Long. But it also said the massage therapists provided him with sexual acts. And it offered no reflection that the church teaching Long received could have affected his behavior:
We want to be clear that this extreme and wicked act is nothing less than rebellion against our Holy God and His Word. Aaron’s actions are antithetical to everything that we believe and teach as a church. In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the actions of Aaron Long as well as his stated reasons for carrying out this wicked plan. The shootings were a total repudiation of our faith and practice, and such actions are completely unacceptable and contrary to the gospel.
No blame can be placed upon the victims. He alone is responsible for his evil actions and desires. The women that he solicited for sexual acts are not responsible for his perverse sexual desires nor do they bear any blame in these murders. These actions are the result of a sinful heart and depraved mind for which Aaron is completely responsible.
And the spokesperson for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office who made the comment that Long had a “very bad day” has a record of anti-Asian social media posting.