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A review by kevin_shepherd
Out of Focus: My Story of Sexuality, Shame, and Toxic Evangelicalism by Amber Cantorna-Wylde
5.0
“One of the things I remember most vividly about the fundamentalist church I belonged to as a child is the way my pastor’s voice sounded whenever he spoke the word “homosexual” from the pulpit . . . he’d pronounce the word as if it tasted bad, like he was grossed out and gagging just uttering the word.”
In the eyes of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, Amber Cantorna-Wylde is an abomination.
“It’s tragic and it’s lethal, taking something as pure and simple as love and turning it into a weapon of division that religion and politics use to pit conservatives against liberals, parents against children, and theology against basic humanity.”
I am completely in Amber’s corner—the woman is a warrior—but I admit that I don’t totally understand how she, or any religiously persecuted LGBTQ+ individual, can maintain faith when faith is the hammer used to pound decent human beings into molds of conformity. She does write briefly about mistranslations of the bible, specifically the “The Clobber Verses”—six scriptures that fundamentalist Christians say denounce same-sex relationships—to justify her continued faith, but rather than deep diving into the topic she encourages her readers toward further self-investigation.
“Because evangelicals believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, with little thought for the involvement of human translators, we were taught that the word “homosexual” has been in the Bible for as long as the Bible has been around. But that simply is not true . . . the word “homosexual” has only been in the Bible for seventy-seven years [since 1946].”
[ref: 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, documentary, directed by Sharon Roggio, 2023]
And it’s not just the “clobber verses” that Amber takes a swing at. She is also outspoken about the quiver full theology, purity culture, and conversion therapy. It took her years of hard work to try and undo the damage FOTF has inflicted on her person and embrace the truth that says, in spite of her family, she has a right to exist and to pursue life and love on her own terms.
Its optimistic Christian slant not withstanding, I think this is an important book and I hope it sells a million copies. Five Big Stars.
____________________________________
“I was talking to some Christians [who] invited these gay children to come into their home and to come to church, to influence them. And I thought to myself, those parents aren’t going to influence those kids; those kids are going to influence those parents’ children. We have to understand who the enemy is and what he wants to do. He wants to devour our homes. He wants to devour this nation . . . We have to be so careful who we let into the churches . . . You cannot stay gay and call yourself a Christian.” -Franklin Graham
“You know what the ‘B’ [in LGBTQ] stands for? Bisexual. That’s orgies! That’s lots of sex with lots of people.” -James Dobson
“If I want to just go marry a donkey, is that okay?” -Dave Arnold, Amber’s father
In the eyes of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, Amber Cantorna-Wylde is an abomination.
“It’s tragic and it’s lethal, taking something as pure and simple as love and turning it into a weapon of division that religion and politics use to pit conservatives against liberals, parents against children, and theology against basic humanity.”
I am completely in Amber’s corner—the woman is a warrior—but I admit that I don’t totally understand how she, or any religiously persecuted LGBTQ+ individual, can maintain faith when faith is the hammer used to pound decent human beings into molds of conformity. She does write briefly about mistranslations of the bible, specifically the “The Clobber Verses”—six scriptures that fundamentalist Christians say denounce same-sex relationships—to justify her continued faith, but rather than deep diving into the topic she encourages her readers toward further self-investigation.
“Because evangelicals believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, with little thought for the involvement of human translators, we were taught that the word “homosexual” has been in the Bible for as long as the Bible has been around. But that simply is not true . . . the word “homosexual” has only been in the Bible for seventy-seven years [since 1946].”
[ref: 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture, documentary, directed by Sharon Roggio, 2023]
And it’s not just the “clobber verses” that Amber takes a swing at. She is also outspoken about the quiver full theology, purity culture, and conversion therapy. It took her years of hard work to try and undo the damage FOTF has inflicted on her person and embrace the truth that says, in spite of her family, she has a right to exist and to pursue life and love on her own terms.
Its optimistic Christian slant not withstanding, I think this is an important book and I hope it sells a million copies. Five Big Stars.
____________________________________
“I was talking to some Christians [who] invited these gay children to come into their home and to come to church, to influence them. And I thought to myself, those parents aren’t going to influence those kids; those kids are going to influence those parents’ children. We have to understand who the enemy is and what he wants to do. He wants to devour our homes. He wants to devour this nation . . . We have to be so careful who we let into the churches . . . You cannot stay gay and call yourself a Christian.” -Franklin Graham
“You know what the ‘B’ [in LGBTQ] stands for? Bisexual. That’s orgies! That’s lots of sex with lots of people.” -James Dobson
“If I want to just go marry a donkey, is that okay?” -Dave Arnold, Amber’s father