Doug Wilson recently debated R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. The event was sponsored by Collegiate Reformed Fellowship at the University of Idaho, and it addressed this question: “Do Gay Rights Conflict with Conservative Christian Values?” Wilson argues that they do, and Cooper argues that they don’t. At two and a half hours, this is a lengthy discussion. Watch it above, listen to it below, or download the audio here. [audio:http://www.foucachonmedia.com/music/debate-gay-rights-christian-values.mp3]
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Mormonism and the 2012 Presidential Election
Albert Mohler hosted a panel discussion in Southern Seminary’s chapel yesterday about “The Mormon Moment? Religious Conviction and the 2012 Election.” Panelists included Russell Moore, Mark Coppenger, and Greg Gilbert. It’s an interesting conversation. In short, the speakers agree that Mormonism is a serious heresy that is not in any way Christian—even though sociologically there is much to commend about the way Mormons live. Panelists also seemed to agree that a candidate is not disqualified from our vote simply because he is Mormon. There’s much more to this discussion, and you can watch it above.
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Pat Robertson Advises Wife-Beating?
In a recent broadcast of the “700 Club,” Robertson advises a viewer to become a Muslim so that he can beat his wife (see above). After a viewer writes-in asking advice on how to deal with a rebellious wife, Robertson responds: “Well, you could become a Muslim and you could beat her… This man’s got to stand up to her and he can’t let her get away with this stuff.”
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Atheism, the NY Times, and My Hometown
I have to say that I was agog when I saw that the nation’s paper of record—The New York Times, the old gray lady herself!—contained a feature-length story about my hometown of DeRidder, Louisiana. I would never have imagined such a thing to be possible, but there it was. My hometown is a dot on the map. It’s a place that means the world to me. But like many other small towns across the South, it’s just not the kind of place that has much of interest for coastal elites. We have local celebrities, but very few national ones. The big events in DeRidder are high school football games and…
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Lutheran Church Missouri Synod on 2011 NIV
The executive staff of the Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations has issued a statement about the NIV 2011 and its use of inclusive language. It’s four pages long, but the bottom line is in the final paragraph. We find the NIV’s Committee on Bible Translation decision to substitute plural nouns and pronouns for masculine singular nouns and pronouns to be a serious theological weakness and a misguided attempt to make the truth of God’s Word more easily understood. The use of inclusive language in NIV 2011 creates the potential for minimizing the particularity of biblical revelation and, more seriously, at times undermines the saving revelation of Christ…
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How Important is Complementarianism? A Response to Carl Trueman
Last week, Carl Trueman asked why groups like The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel include complementarianism in their confessional commitments. In short, Trueman thinks it is inconsistent to elevate the importance of a secondary issue like complementarianism while routinely downplaying the importance of other secondary issues like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He writes:
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Forcing Religious Groups Off Campus at Vanderbilt
The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has produced a video explaining what Vanderbilt University has done to drive religious groups off campus. You can watch it above. Here’s the description:
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Mo Isom: First Female LSU Football Player?
For a long time, all I knew about Mo Isom was that she was a female athlete at LSU who had produced some entertaining light-hearted videos with some of LSU’s football stars. What I didn’t know (until last night) was her riveting backstory. I was not aware of the fact that this LSU homecoming queen had a real shot at becoming LSU’s first female place kicker. Nor did I realize that she was an outspoken Christian who had walked through a tremendous amount of turmoil in her own life. The jokester in the YouTube videos had betrayed none of those things.
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Illegitimate Responses to Illegitimate Rape Remarks
I have been out of pocket this week and until now unable to comment on the controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks about rape. As a result, much of what needs to be said in response to this enormous gaffe has already been said by others. Nevertheless, I would add one observation to the discussion that has been bugging me all week. I have been disappointed by Republican responses to Akin that are driven more by politics than by pro-life principles. Over and over, I have seen politicos trying to dissociate the Republican presidential nominee from Akin’s “illegitimate rape” remarks by emphasizing that Mitt Romney supports abortion rights for women…
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Russell Moore on Theological Education in WSJ
Russell Moore has a really fine article in The Wall Street Journal. It’s about theological education, student debt, and the future of online education. He rightly argues that the whole enterprise needs to be more closely related to and accountable to churches. Here’s a snippet: There will always be those who get a law degree or an M.B.A. (and the resulting debt) and then sense a call to ministry. The history of the church—see Augustine and John Calvin, not to mention the original 12 disciples of Jesus—is filled with “second-career” ministers. But the ideal pattern is for churches to seek to identify, early in life, those who are gifted and…