Christianity Today is hosting a discussion on whether or not Mitt Romney’s Mormonism should be a factor in our evaluation of his candidacy for President. Judd Birdsall says “yes,”and Owen Strachan says “not so much.” Strachan argues that a candidate’s faith is not necessarily by itself a deal-breaker. He writes:
-
-
President Obama and the Rhetoric of the Gay Marriage Debate
One of the main rhetorical strategies of gay marriage supporters has been to frame the issue as the next phase in the struggle for civil rights in America. As a consequence, they brand traditional marriage supporters as “bigots” who support “discrimination” equivalent to that of Jim Crow. For the most part, that rhetorical strategy seems to be working. This means that if you are a Christian who believes the Bible, there are many who simply believe you to be a morally retrograde bigot.
-
Is it crazy and hateful to suggest that gays can change?
Last week, Albert Mohler appeared on the CNN program “Out Front” with Erin Burnett to talk about Chick-fil-a and the gay marriage debate (see video below). In the course of the discussion, Mohler explained briefly what the Bible teaches about moral renewal in the life of a Christian. In short, he argued that the same Christ that redeems sinners also helps them to “change”—i.e., to put aside those things the Bible defines as sin.
-
Call it what it is—the Westboro cult
I grow weary of editorials and commentators who make facile comparisons between orthodox Christianity and the fringe group known as “Westboro Baptist Church.” Just this week, The Baltimore Sun published an editorial comparing Chick-fil-a president Dan Cathy to the Westboro extremists. I know not everyone can be a religion reporter, but this kind of ignorance of the basic differences between mainstream evangelicals and Westboro hatred is inexcusable.
-
Southern Baptists and Calvinism
Over the last several years, Southern Baptists have been having a pretty intense intramural debate about Calvinism. In a conversation that sometimes generates more heat than light, I am glad to see a recent conference that was more constructive. The conference was called “Calvinism: Concerned? Curious? Confused?” and it featured a panel of four Southern Baptist leaders who addressed the division in the SBC over this issue. Speakers included David Dockery, Frank Page, Hershel York, Kevin Smith, and Steve Lemke.
-
Does the press overlook Gabby Douglas’ Christian faith?
After winning the gold last night for the Olympic gymnastic all-around competition, Gabby Douglas gave “all the glory to God” on live television. Yet Marvin Olasky notes how press reports today by and large have omitted Douglas’s conspicuous Christian faith from their coverage of her victory. The New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times all left it out, even though Douglas has repeatedly mentioned it as a key part of her life and performance in the games. Olasky explains:
-
The good, the bad, and the ugly of Chick-fil-a Day
The scene above is disconcerting. It’s a video of a man in Tuscon, Arizona who visited Chick-fil-a on Wednesday and who did so as an act of protest. He orders a free water at the drive-thru and then proceeds to give the Chick-fil-a worker the “what for.” The video was featured in the news because the guy was the CFO of his company and subsequently lost his job after he posted the video on YouTube.
-
How To Fight the Culture War
Kevin DeYoung has a fantastic post on how Christians ought to conduct themselves in the culture war. He writes: Call it what you want-a culture war, a battle of ideas, an ideological struggle-there is no question we have deep division in America. The most obvious division right now concerns homosexuality. When Dan Cathy’s off-handed, rather ordinary comment in of support traditional marriage sends big city mayors out on their moral high horses wielding the coercive club of political power-and when the subsequent response from middle America is a record-breaking avalanche of support for Chic-fil-A–you know there is more than a skirmish afoot. I know every generation thinks they are facing…
-
What happened to contemporary Christian music?
Joel Hartse asks “What happened to contemporary Christian music?” in a recent column for Christianity Today. He notes the unprecedented explosion of Christian rock during the 1990’s (with an interesting focus on some of the alternative bands) and how that heyday is long gone now. He gives three explanations for the decline:
-
How Obamacare Tramples Religious Liberty
Obamacare’s abortion mandate went into effect yesterday, and there continues to be a great deal of confusion over the law’s trampling of religious liberty. The public by and large still believes that this is a debate over access to contraception. That is incorrect. No doubt the misunderstanding owes in part to the way the mainstream media have covered the issue.