‘Purity’ advocate Josh Harris apologizes to the LGBTQ community as he abandons the Christian faith

Joshua Harris, the author of a bestselling Christian "relationship guide," has apologized to the LGBTQ community for his past attacks on them.

The Guardian reports that Harris, who in 1997 became famous with his abstinence-promoting book "I Kissed Dating Goodbye," announced this month that his own marriage is ending after 21 years because of some "significant changes have taken place" between him and his wife.

Nine days later, Harris announced that he could no longer consider himself a Christian and issued an apology to all the people whom he said have been hurt by his past advice on relationships and dating.

"I have lived in repentance for the past several years -- repenting of my self-righteousness, my fear-based approach to life, the teaching of my books, my views of women in the church, and my approach to parenting to name a few," he wrote. "But I specifically want to add to this list now: to the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality."

In his Christian dating advice book, Harris not only preached the importance of abstinence, but also warned that couples shouldn't even kiss or hold hands until they were married.