On June 29, Senator Mary Landrieu submitted a resolution in the United States Senate that congratulates the Southern Baptist Convention for electing Rev. Fred Luter as its first African American president. The resolution has been referred to the judiciary committee and awaits disposition. You can download a PDF of the resolution here, or you can read it below. Senate Resolution 518 Whereas the Southern Baptist Convention formed in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, in opposition to the abolition of slavery;
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Presbyterians Denounce Corporal Punishment
When the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) met last week, it passed a recommendation calling on its members to adopt discipline methods that do not include corporal punishment. It not only calls on schools and orphanages to abandon spanking, but it also calls on parents to abandon it as well. The PCUSA issued a series of rationales for this decision. Here is Rationale #1:
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Alan Chambers Talks Reparative Therapy on Hardball
Alan Chambers is the President of Exodus International, an evangelical ministry to homosexuals. A couple of weeks ago, I noted that Chambers has changed his views on the usefulness reparative therapy. In the video above, Chambers appears on MSNBC’s “Hardball” to elaborate how his views have changed. What’s striking to me on these talking head shows is how little these hosts seem to know about evangelical beliefs about homosexuality. It appears that hosts have a caricature in their mind as if evangelicals all agree that homosexuality is all nurture and no nature. That’s the paradigm that the interviewer is working with in the video above, and it’s why he really…
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A Trenchant and Hilarious Parody of Hipster Christianity
This video is hilarious. It’s an ad for an upcoming conference hosted by Doug Wilson. It’s a parody of hipster Christianity, and it really hits the nail on the head. (HT: Patrick Schreiner)
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The Bible and Homosexuality
I’ve been reading Matthew Lee Anderson’s excellent book Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith (Bethany House, 2011). I’m probably not going to take the time to do a full review of this book, but I just came across something that I thought worth sharing. In his remarks about the Bible’s clear prohibitions on homosexual behavior, he says this: The explicit rejections of gay and lesbian practices are not “clobber verses,” but rather the tip of an iceberg sticking above the surface: they reveal a much larger and deeper understanding of human sexuality and its relationship to our lives before God (p. 153). He is so right on…
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Black Pastors Withhold Support from President Obama over Same-Sex Marriage
The Coalition of African-American Pastors represents about 1,300 congregations, and they are tired of their support being taken for granted by the Obama administration. In May, they came out strongly against President Obama’s announcement in support of gay marriage (see video above). In a recent letter, they call on black voters to withhold support from President Obama over the issue. They are also demanding a meeting with the president to express their concerns to him personally.
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Requiem for a Nixon Man
Russell Moore’s tribute to Chuck Colson in the most recent issue of Touchstone is a must-read. Really well done. It’s not just a reflection on Colson’s life, but also a meditation on what it meant for Colson to be a “Nixon man.” Here’s an excerpt: In the weeks and months after the death of Chuck Colson, many of us have reflected on how God changed the old White House “hatchet man,” the dirty trickster who participated in perhaps the greatest challenge to the American constitutional system in over two hundred years of our history. I was -perturbed to read newspaper and website accounts of Colson that treated him, after his…
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The Crime of Circumcision
Michael Gerson begins his column today with a quotation from Genesis 17:10: “This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised.” As this text shows, the practice of circumcision is at the heart of Jewish piety, yet it is under assault from the modern liberal idea that a “child’s right to physical integrity trumps freedom of religion and parents’ rights.” Gerson writes:
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Should churches display the American flag?
Christianity Today hosts a forum on whether or not churches should display the American flag in their sanctuaries. Douglas Wilson says no, Lisa Velthouse says yes, and Russell Moore says “yes, but…” Wilson and Moore have some characteristic rhetorical greatness in their short reflections. After arguing against displaying the flag in the sanctuary, Wilson does insist that Christians ought to fly it elsewhere:
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Did you hear what happened in San Diego last night?
Last night, there was a mishap at San Diego’s 4th of July fireworks show. Through some really bad malfunction, all the explosions went off at once. What was supposed to be an 18 minute firework show set to music was reduced to 15 seconds of pyrotechnic pandemonium. In the video above, you can hear when spectators begin to realize what happened, and a little kid says “Aww!” Classic.