Living Waters Canada – A Response to the Toronto Star

October 08, 2013/ LWC

This response was sent to the Editor of the Toronto Star and to Graham Slaughter.

It is impossible at this stage to insert fairness into the Toronto Star's attack on Living Waters from the weekend of October 5 and 6, 2013, but we would like to state a few things for the record.

In January 2013, Star reporter Graham Slaughter, using the alias Graeme Vernon, entered the Living Waters program, a Christian community of prayer support and healing. He signed a confidentiality agreement, using his fake name, and over the course of roughly twenty weeks, participated in group support sessions, similar to an Alcoholics Anonymous environment, where participants disclosed deeply personal, often painful testimonies.

In May, 2013, Slaughter revealed himself as a reporter to Living Waters organizers and unsuccessfully attempted to draw Living Waters into cooperating with his story. He threatened to disclose private information, including the names of program participants and leaders, which he now has done, and which the Star has now published.

We don't know why the Toronto Star targeted Living Waters in this way. Living Waters is not a political organization. It does not insert itself into public debate, lobby government or receive public money. It's a Christian program based on Christian doctrine. It deals specifically with relational and sexual brokenness. It mainly helps mend broken marriages, relationships and people who've endured sexual abuse. Although Living Waters addresses sexual identity and same-sex attraction, it does not focus on these issues. Not even close. Yet this was the sole focus of the Toronto Star and Mr. Slaughter, whose account of his experience in the program appears duplicitous, as program leaders were responding to things he said that were deliberately deceptive. 

Through his fraudulent misrepresentation and deception, Mr. Slaughter breached numerous distinct undertakings:

1. he did not enter the program voluntarily;
2. he lied about his willingness to retain confidentiality;
3. he presented a false narrative of his own personal struggles, rather than engaging the group with "rigorous honesty";
4. he subsequently appears to have induced others to breach their confidentiality agreements with Living Waters; and
5. the Star engaged a photographer to take surreptitious photos of Living Waters personnel.

When Mr. Slaughter's fellow program participants learned of his betrayals, they were devastated as they had extended love, trust and support to him.  One need only imagine the harm that disclosure of participants or the stories from an Alcoholics Anonymous program may cause.

For anyone interested in learning about Living Waters, it's imperative to recognize the role of religion in the organization. Fundamental to the Christian faith is a belief in the concept of creation and a consequent fall. Living Waters follows a traditional understanding of Christian morality, including sexual relations between a man and a woman within marriage.

This may not be the view of the Toronto Star, or Mr. Slaughter or, for that matter, many Canadians. But we, alongside many other Canadians share that view, which is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

On the topic of homosexuality, the obsession of Mr. Slaughter's so-called reporting, Living Waters adheres to principles defined by the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association—that an individual has a right to their own desires and values, and that an individual may wish to prioritize their religious values over their sexual orientation.

Even Mr. Slaughter acknowledges that in the program he attended, forgiveness remains the goal when identifying pain from relationships. Forgiveness is a main overarching theme in the 20-week Living Waters program. While same sex attraction was the only focus for Mr. Slaughter, that issue was by no means the focus of the Living Waters program.  Indeed, acting out on same sex attraction was just one of many issues referred to during the program.

In closing, Living Waters Canada again expresses our disappointment (and downright bewilderment) that the Toronto Star targeted Living Waters, and did so fraudulently and deceitfully, under the guise of an "undercover investigation" and in the supposed "public interest". 

No one is above the law.  We are considering our options on possible remedies, on behalf of our program and our participants.

While this incident has shaken our faith in journalism as practised at the Star, and what it considers fair and accurate reporting, we remain faithful to our commitment of support for those who reach out to us.

Submitted by Living Waters Canada