I know many of you have been closely following the ordeal of Dr. Paul Church, the Harvard affiliated physician who was ousted from his practice at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for speaking up about the health risks of homosexual activity. This afternoon, his story was prominently featured on the home page of foxnews.com.
At the 2015 MFI Banquet, we presented Dr. Church with our Citizenship Award for his courageous stand for truth and liberty. You can watch the presentation here. Dr. Church has worked with us for many years, helping to meet the high demand in our Commonwealth for parental education on the sensitive and often difficult topics surrounding human sexuality.
Last fall, nearly 1,000 of you signed a petition in support of Dr. Church that we delivered to the Beth Israel Board of Trustees. Although the Board ruled against him, I believe this indication of grass roots support has helped propel his case into the court of public opinion. We will keep you posted on any developments in this situation. In the meantime, I encourage you to read the statement below that Dr. Church asked me to share with you.
The recent appeal to the Board of Directors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center resulted in a decision to revoke my medical staff appointment after 28 years. I had challenged the medical center to be more truthful and honest about the negative health consequences inherent with high risk and unhealthy sexual behaviors and to be more respectful of the diversity of religious and moral views regarding homosexuality. However, increasingly within our pluralistic, “tolerant” society, there is no longer room for expressing concerns about the medical, health, and moral consequences of homosexual behaviors and lifestyle for fear of offending someone. In the workplace, such “offenses” are punishable now by dismissal or termination. To be advocates for traditional family values puts us at odds with much of our culture and its new icon of sexual “diversity.”
Although this is a major personal disappointment, it is also yet another setback for people everywhere who hold to traditional moral convictions and a Biblical worldview. It is the mission of MFI to advocate for those convictions and Judeo-Christian values to strengthen the family and the very fabric of our society. I will continue to share that mission and help to enable advocates with medical facts that support God’s design for human sexuality. I am honored to be recognized by MFI with its Citizenship Award, and forever grateful for its support and prayers.
– Dr. Paul Church
As we are increasingly seeing, the conflict between LGBTQ “rights” and our constitutional freedoms of speech, assembly and religion regularly come into conflict. That is one of the reasons why we have developed our new “Engage the Bay State” curriculum for your church or small group. In it, we spendseveral class sessions discussing homosexuality, same-sex “marriage,” transgenderism and religious liberty. It is still not too late to register for this Saturday’s class leader training. Register here or call 781-569-0400 for more information. Be informed and get engaged.
For our families,