Conservative Site Founder Punches Back

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HOLMDEL, N.J. (ChurchMilitant.com) – A Jewish conservative is fighting back after pro-LGBT activists succeeded in shutting down his crowdfunding site.

Using the judicial appeal process, Arthur Goldberg, founder of Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) and the Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA), is fighting back against the state of New Jersey, leftist activist group the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and a $3 million fine.

JONAH

JONAH, a now-defunct organization co-founded by Goldberg, served the Jewish community by pairing counselors with clients who wanted help with their unwanted same-sex attractions. Goldberg was not paid for his work and sought only to help find support in line with their religious beliefs.

In 2012, Goldberg became a target of the SPLC when the group recruited four gay activists to be clients seeking help for unwanted same-sex attractions.

Christopher Doyle, executive director of Institute for Healthy Families, in his book The War on Psychotherapy, wrote: "It's clear from the court affidavits that the lawsuit against JONAH was well-thought-out and coordinated in conspiracy fashion by certain gay activists. In fact, court documents indicated that the SPLC actually recruited these plaintiffs in order to take down JONAH."

Doyle told Church Militant the strategy of SPLC to destroy organizations is to "bring a legal cause and cut off their financial purse-strings." He further clarified, "By diminishing their financial influence they basically make them indigent."

The activists testified that Goldberg "guaranteed" their same-sex attraction would be eliminated — a claim Goldberg rejects as absolutely false. The state of New Jersey took that testimony and charged Goldberg and JONAH with fraud.

During trial, the court prohibited Goldberg from offering expert witness testimony. The court ultimately ruled against him, and Goldberg did not appeal the ruling, which included an injunction that permanently prohibited Goldberg from making any new referrals for reparative therapy. He liquidated the organization's assets in a manner approved by the court. SPLC succeeded in putting the organization out of business.

Goldberg Fights Back

Within a year, Goldberg founded a new organization, the Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA), whose mission was to promote the seven Noahide laws, also called Noachian Laws. The term refers to the Jewish Talmudic designation for seven biblical laws given to Adam and to Noah before the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai and consequently binding on all mankind.

JIFGA also took on a project it called Funding Morality, an alternative crowdsourcing site to help fund projects and causes of interest to people of faith.

There was demand for an alternative because GoFundMe was beginning to more regularly jettison conservatives seeking donations. Robert Spencer's JihadWatch, whom SPLC had falsely accused of being an anti-Muslim hate group, was one of the organizations purged from GoFundMe.

Other projects included fundraisers for Mark Judge, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's high school friend, and Fr. Paul Kalchik, a priest in exile from the archdiocese of Chicago for burning a blasphemous banner that intertwined the Cross with a gay pride rainbow emblem.

SPLC Lawsuit

In 2019, SPLC and the state of New Jersey claimed Goldberg and his new organization, JIFGA and its crowdsourcing project Funding Morality, had violated the permanent injunction against referrals for reparative therapy by receiving post-injunction fees for alleged referrals. The trial court ruled against Goldberg, ordering him to pay the plaintiffs more than $3 million plus attorneys' fees.

Late last month, Goldberg filed an appeal, arguing that:

• the trial court misinterpreted the injunction's definition of "conversion" therapy
• made findings of fact not supported by any evidence, including the false claim that he made referrals
• relied on hearsay and other inadmissible evidence
• failed to conduct the evidentiary hearing required before resolving disputed questions of fact
• decided issues not raised by the parties and, most significantly,
• ignored the sworn certifications of key witnesses

Goldberg is also arguing that the trial court failed to recognize that the permanent injunction is limited to conduct in the state of New Jersey and that Goldberg 's timely response cured any violation of the injunction. Even if Goldberg had violated the injunction, the trial court erred in ordering him to pay millions of dollars — a sum that vastly exceeds the amount necessary to force Goldberg's compliance.

Goldberg, who is nearly 80, has never been paid for his involvement in any of the organizations he has founded. He has mortgaged the home he has lived in for 45 years in order to finance the appeal. Donations in support of his appeal can be made here.

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