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Correction: This article originally included a quotation erroneously attributed to drugs minister James Brokenshire, who never said the words in question. The quotation has been removed. We apologize for the error.

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LONDON, January 25, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian medical doctor appointed to a UK government drugs panel has come under fire from opposition politicians and leftist pundits for connecting the homosexual lifestyle with drug abuse and pedophilia.

Dr. Hans-Christian Raabe has been appointed to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which advises the government on drugs policy in the UK. But as medical co-coordinator of a Christian counseling organization, he has said that substance abuse is one reason the homosexual lifestyle is destructive.

A briefing paper Dr. Raabe co-authored said, “The media and the gay movement portray the homosexual lifestyle as happy, healthy and fulfilled. However, the homosexual lifestyle is associated with a large number of very serious physical and emotional health consequences.”

“A high proportion of homosexual men engage in a destructive lifestyle, for example contracting HIV/Aids or other STIs, and develop addictions to drugs or alcohol,” reads the paper. “There is a higher burden of depression, [and] attempted or completed suicide among the ‘gay population’.”

Labour MP Bridget Phillipson, a member of the Home Office Select Committee, said, “It is an absolute outrage that [Home Secretary] Theresa May has appointed someone with such horrific opinions to this senior role advising the Tory-led government.

“Her decision raises serious questions about judgement and whether she is fulfilling her role as minister for equalities effectively.”

Another paper, co-authored by Dr. Raabe, warned, “While the majority of homosexuals are not involved in paedophilia, it is of grave concern that there is a disproportionately greater number of homosexuals among paedophiles and an overlap between the gay movement and the movement to make paedophilia acceptable.”

Dr. Raabe is medical co-coordinator of the Council for Health and Wholeness (CHW), a Christian organization based within the interdenominational Maranatha Community that offers a “healing ministry” with Christian counseling and supports therapy for homosexuality.

In 2008, Raabe co-signed a letter warning against the government’s decision to legally reclassify cannabis: “Studies have shown that religious commitment, religious involvement or being part of a religious community significantly reduces the risk of alcohol, nicotine and drug misuse, and reduces the risk of depression and suicide.”

The reaction to Dr. Raabe’s comments has prompted counter-criticisms. Melanie Philips, an author and columnist for the Spectator, wrote in Monday’s Daily Mail that now that homosexuals are widely accepted, they risk becoming the “new McCarthyites” in their determination to suppress any opposition.

“Values which were once the moral basis for British society,” Philips wrote, “are now deemed to be beyond the pale.”

“What was once an attempt to end ¬unpleasant attitudes towards a small sexual minority has now become a kind of bigotry in reverse. Expressing what used to be the moral norm of Western civilisation is now not just socially impermissible, but even turns upstanding people into lawbreakers.”

“Despite the impression given by the media, the actual number of homosexuals is quite small. Essentially all surveys show the number of homosexuals to be only 1-3 per cent of the population.”

Responding to criticisms, Dr. Raabe said that society is “in danger of believing that if you are a Christian you are not fit for public office or you are biased or a bigot”.

He added, “This is an appointment regarding drug policy and what views I may or may not have on homosexuality are irrelevant.”