Last Sunday, David Blankenhorn and Jonathan Rauch penned an op-ed for the New York Times and made the case for a compromise between those on opposite sides of the same-sex “marriage” debate. Here’s what they proposed: “It would work like this: Congress would bestow the status of federal civil unions on same-sex marriages and civil unions granted at the state level, thereby conferring upon them most or all of the federal benefits and rights of marriage. But there would be a condition: Washington would recognize only those unions licensed in states with robust religious-conscience exceptions, which provide that religious organizations need not recognize same-sex unions against their will. The federal…
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Gospel Living in an Oscar Culture
The movie “Milk” is based on the true story of a homosexual activist from the late 1970’s named Harvey Milk. Among other things, the movie depicts Milk’s fight against Proposition 6 (a ballot measure aimed at keeping homosexuals from teaching in public schools), a measure which seems to parallel the recent passage of Proposition 8 in California. If you watched the Academy Awards last night, then perhaps you saw the two speeches from the two winners who were related to this movie. The first winner was Dustin Lance Black who won the award for Best Original Screenplay, and second was Sean Penn who won the Best Actor Award. In their…
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24 Things About to Disappear in America
Rod Dreher has a list of 24 things that are about to disappear in America. I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version below, but don’t miss reading the entire article. Here are the 24 items in his list:
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Abortion Outrage: Face to Face with a Human Being
I just read a report in the Associated Press that is too awful to believe. But it is true nevertheless. An 18-year old girl went to an abortion clinic near Miami, Florida to abort her 23-week old unborn baby. After the procedure had begun, the abortion doctor did not show up in time to kill the baby before it was delivered. Here’s the description from the AP.
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Are Calvinism & Complementarianism Related?
A couple of weeks ago, we noted Molly Worthen‘s piece in the New York Times about Mark Driscoll and about the revival of Calvinism among evangelicals. In a letter to the editor in yesterday’s New York Times magazine, Douglas Groothuis took umbrage with one aspect of Worthen’s description of Calvinism. Here’s his complaint in his own words: “Mark Driscoll’s emphasis on gender hierarchy in the church is not a logical implication of his Calvinist beliefs, as your article states. Calvinism argues that women and men are equally depraved and unable to save themselves from God’s wrath. While many Calvinists teach that women are restricted in their opportunities to serve through…
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Robert George on Roe v. Wade
Princeton professor Robert George has some worthy reflections on the legacy of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, which was handed down 36 years ago today. He writes: ‘The Roe justices were also wrong to imagine that legal abortion would prove to be enlightened or in the slightest respect humane. On the contrary, the policy imposed by the Court has proven to be an unmitigated disaster. In the thirty-six years since Roe and Doe, abortion has taken the lives of more than fifty million unborn victims—each a distinct, unique, precious human being.
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National Sanctity of Human Life Day
Today President George W. Bush declared January 18, 2009 as “National Sanctity of Human Life Day” (NSHLD). President Reagan began the tradition of designating this annual observance (which typically falls on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January 22, 1973). One thing to note about the President’s action today. Reagan, Bush, and Bush all made the annual proclamation, while Clinton did not. Given his record of support for abortion rights, it is unlikely that Obama will continue the tradition during his administration. So this is probably the last presidential proclamation of NSHLD that we will see for at least the next 4-8 years. Here’s the entire…
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Driscoll and the Calvinist Revival
Molly Worthen writes in the New York Times about Mark Driscoll’s ministry and its place within the revival of Calvinism among evangelicals. I think Worthen does some good reporting here, though her assessment of Driscoll’s theology is pretty negative.
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Can’t Get Enough of Carl Trueman
I agree with Justin Taylor who feels a tad embarrassed that he posts everything Carl Trueman writes. Contrary to what you might think (given all the links I give to Dr. Trueman), I am not getting paid for this. I really do think Trueman’s stuff is just that good. His latest essay for Reformation21 is a must-read: “Why Are There Never Enough Parking Spaces at the Prostate Clinic?” It’s a wry look at evangelicals who are obsessed with cultural analysis and cultural relevance. His contention is that an obsession with culture can undermine a Christian commitment to universal truths. He writes:
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Carl Trueman on “The Case for Gay Marriage”
Carl Trueman has responded briefly to last week’s Newsweek cover story by Lisa Miller, “The Case for Gay Marriage.” Trueman makes an excellent point about Miller’s article that is worth more than a moment’s reflection: “Behold the future. The piece is prophetic because, in a week where a high-ranking member of the NAE had to resign because he was `shifting’ on gay unions, at a time when the full weight of the opinion forming social media is behind the normalisation of homosexuality as acceptable, challenges such as this are clearly going to be coming thick and fast.