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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Christian Bale’s Trip to Aurora, Colorado
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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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SMU, Penn State, and the Death Penalty
When the sanctions against Penn State came down on Monday, readers asked me whether or not I thought they were enough. In particular, folks wanted to know if I thought Penn State should have gotten the so-called “death penalty.” I’m a little ambivalent about that question, as I wrote about here. One thing I can say for sure. I think that the sanctions that Penn State received may turn out to be worse than the death penalty. The death penalty has only been issued one time in the history of college football, and it was the SMU Mustangs that had to endure it. It’s been 25 years since the NCAA…
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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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Not the death penalty, but might as well be at Penn State
The NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State have just been announced, and they are devastating. Penn State has been fined $60 million dollars, the equivalent of one year’s profits from the football program. They’ve been banned from the postseason for four years, which in practical terms means they won’t compete in the postseason for at least eight years. Penn State’s wins from 1998-2011 have been vacated—meaning that Joe Paterno is no longer the winningest coach in college football history. That distinction now goes back to Bobby Bowden.
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ESPN Video of the Removal of Paterno’s Statue