Lesson plan

Jonah

Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), previously Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, was an American Jewish nonprofit organization that offered conversion therapy to persons who sought sexual orientation change. JONAH stated that it was "dedicated to educating the world-wide Jewish community about the social, cultural and emotional factors which lead to same-sex attractions". JONAH's leaders disagreed with the consensus of mainstream science and the world's major mental health organizations who say that non-heterosexual sexual orientation is not a disorder. In 2015, a landmark trial found that JONAH's claims to be able to change sexual orientation constituted consumer fraud. The organization was ordered to pay restitution to the plaintiffs and shut down within thirty days. Eleven days after the verdict, the founders created a conversion therapy organization called Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA) using JONAH's assets. In June 2019, a New Jersey judge ordered JIFGA to shut down within thirty days and pay $3.5 million to victims.

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Article summary

Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), previously Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality, was an American Jewish nonprofit organization that offered conversion therapy to persons who sought sexual orientation change. JONAH stated that it was "dedicated to educating the world-wide Jewish community about the social, cultural and emotional factors which lead to same-sex attractions". JONAH's leaders disagreed with the consensus of mainstream science and the world's major mental health organizations who say that non-heterosexual sexual orientation is not a disorder. In 2015, a landmark trial found that JONAH's claims to be able to change sexual orientation constituted consumer fraud. The organization was ordered to pay restitution to the plaintiffs and shut down within thirty days. Eleven days after the verdict, the founders created a conversion therapy organization called Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA) using JONAH's assets. In June 2019, a New Jersey judge ordered JIFGA to shut down within thirty days and pay $3.5 million to victims.

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1979 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. publication date: 1785 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1979". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the publication date is "1785". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378205702

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.