I suppose when you read a lot of news reports about one story, you begin to notice details. I know I have in the whole Chick-fil-a imbroglio. There is one particular error in reporting that I keep seeing over and over. I have seen it in The New York Times, The Associated Press, and countless others. The error goes something like this:
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Can Christians hide in the basement during the gay marriage debate?
I think Jen Hatmaker probably represents the feelings of a lot of folks who are worn out by the culture wars. In a recent post, she urges Christians to sit out the public debate on gay marriage. Her argument is simply that we have better things to do and that we are alienating gay people from Christianity by participating. So she plans to retreat to the metaphorical “basement” to ride out the storm in seclusion, and she urges other Christians to join her. In her own words: Christians, do you really think posting pithy statements on Facebook about “standing firm in our values” and “resisting the liberal media” is helping?…
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Chick-fil-a, Contraceptives, and Religious Liberty
If you haven’t yet Ross Douthat’s column in today’s New York Times, then you need to. He describes better than anyone else the fundamental constitutional issue at stake in the recent controversy regarding Chick-fil-a. He rightly recognizes that the issue is much bigger than whether or not Chick-fil-a gets to open stores in Boston and Chicago. At bottom, we are talking about the meaning of religious liberty as it is spelled out in the Constitution of the United States. He writes:
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Bigotry should be made of sterner stuff
I am not nearly as concerned with public boycotts of Chick-fil-a as I am with the potential abuse of government power by the mayors of Chicago and Boston. I’m glad to see that the editors of The National Review agree with me on this point in their article on the Chick-fil-a controversy. While defending Chick-fil-a executive Dan Cathy, the editors come down hard on Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago. They write:
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Two Persistent Lies about Chick-fil-a in the Press
As I have been watching the controversy about Chick-fil-a over the past week, I have been struck by the persistence of two lies about Chick-fil-a that have been perpetuated through a variety of media outlets. Most of the time, the lies are reported as quotations from another source, but they are rarely challenged or fact-checked by the one reporting the story.
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Chicago Mayor Supports Effort To Keep Chick-fil-a Out
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has said that he supports efforts to prevent Chick-fil-a from opening a store in Chicago’s 1st district. In the mayor’s own words: Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty. As I mentioned in my previous post about the mayor of Boston, this is chilling coming from a mayor of one of our nation’s leading cities. Does this mean that a business owner is not allowed to support a Christian sexual ethic? Must all Christian business owners now keep their views to themselves on one of the most contested social…
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A Smiling Providence in Aurora, Colorado
The images and the stories that have been coming out of Aurora, Colorado since last week have been difficult to bear. I can only imagine what it must be like for those who are living it and not merely watching it on television like I have been. Like everyone else, my heart has been heavy for the victims and their families. Of those who died, the one that really gripped me was the six-year old girl who was killed. She died on the scene in the arms of a police officer. Her mother was shot in the throat, paralyzed, and in a coma for days before awaking to the news…
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Chick-fil-a and the Irony of the Tolerance Police
The irony of the tolerance police never ceases to amaze me. Perhaps you’ve heard about their latest sting operation aimed at Chick-fil-a. It all began earlier this week when Dan Cathy, the President of Chick-fil-a, told a reporter that the company was pro-family. He did not mention gay marriage. Nor did he say anything specifically about homosexuality. Cathy simply said this:
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Praise God for Jared Wilson’s Humility
If you haven’t taken time to read Jared Wilson’s latest blog post, go read it now. He has removed his “50 Shades of Gray” commentary that caused such a stink this week. He also explains why and offers an apology. There is much wisdom and humility in what he has written, and we all have something to learn from it. I know I do, at least. Jared stood accused of some pretty horrendous things these last few days (as did Doug Wilson)—things that were demonstrably false. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to watch the false accusations accumulate across the internet. How much more difficult finally…
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Evangelicals and Catholics Together…in a Lawsuit
I think this is what Francis Schaeffer meant by co-belligerence, and the stakes have never been higher. In today’s Wall Street Journal the presidents of Wheaton College and the Catholic University of America penned an Op-Ed together announcing this: The trustees of Wheaton College joined The Catholic University of America in filing a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services. They did so because the HHS mandate requiring the college to provide and subsidize insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs violates the conscience of the school and its members, and denies their First Amendment freedom of religion…