Gay rights groups are protesting an
Apple iPhone app that asks users to confess their gay sins.
Among the questions asked by
Confession: A Roman Catholic App is : “Have I been guilty of any
homosexual activity?”
“Designed to be used in the
confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent,” the
app's description reads. “With a personalized examination of
conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a
step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to
prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance.
Individuals who have been away from the sacrament for some time will
find Confession: A Roman Catholic App to be a useful and inviting
tool.”
Wayne Besen, executive director of gay
rights group Truth Wins Out, called the app “harmful.”
“This is cyber spiritual abuse that
promotes backward ideas in a modern package,” Besen
wrote in a post at his group's website. “Gay Catholics don't
need to confess, they need to come out of the closet and challenge
anti-gay dogma. The false idea that being gay is something to be
ashamed of has destroyed too many lives. This iPhone app is
facilitating and furthering the harm.”
The $1.99 app is the creation of South
Bend-based Little iApps.
The company says the app's content was
developed in collaboration with Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, executive
director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Rev. Dan
Scheidt, pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in the Diocese of
Fort Worth.
Social
conservatives have blasted Apple for removing the anti-gay marriage
Manhattan Declaration app.