Megachurch Pastor Jim Swilley provides
convincing testimony that being gay is not a choice, and says he's
unconvinced that Ted Haggard has successfully altered his sexual
orientation.
The twice-married father of four
founded Church in the Now in Rockdale County, Georgia 25 years ago.
The
52-year-old Swilley told his flock last month that he's gay and that
he has known about his orientation since he was a child.
Appearing Tuesday on cabler HLN's Joy
Behar Show, Swilley told Behar that he witnessed in his youth
failed church attempts to alter gay people's sexual orientation, and
questioned Ted Haggard's claims that therapy has freed him from his
gay urges. Haggard
is building a new church after he lost his Colorado-based
congregation in 2006 over a sex scandal involving a male prostitute.
“Back in the day, we had people
coming to us when I worked with my father. Our church was right in
the middle of the gay community, so people would come and would want
to be delivered. And so, we would take them through that. We would
pray for them, get them married off, whatever.”
“Every one of those people now,
they're gay. They're openly gay. It didn't change anything.”
“I'm not saying he's [Haggard]
lying,” Swilley added. “I'm just saying if someone came to me
and asked 'Do you think that's possible?' I would say no.” (The
video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)