New York has just become the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. The NY Senate passed the bill earlier this evening, and then Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law. It will take effect 30 days from the Governor’s signing. New York joins Vermont and New Hampshire as the only states to legalize gay marriage through state legislatures. In every other state, it has happened through the courts. This bill doubles the number of people in the United States who will have access to same-sex marriage.
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Untold hunt for Hitler revealed in new book
Many readers of this blog will recognize John Woodbridge as the author of a watershed book defending inerrancy, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Proposal. Recently however, he has teamed-up with Pulitzer Prize winner Maurice Possley to write Hitler in the Crosshairs: A GI’s Story of Courage and Faith. Earlier this month, the authors appeared together on public radio to discuss the book (listen below or download here). [audio:http://www.wbez.org/sites/default/files/segment/audio/2011-June/2011-06-06/84820110606c.mp3]
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10 Brands That Will Disappear in 2012
Wall St. 24/7 produces a list every year of brands that will soon go the way of the Dodo. Previously, they predicted the demise of Blockbuster and T-Mobile, and so a lot of people pay attention to their forecasts. “When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction” (Proverbs 24:32). The list of terminally ill companies is below. But first, here are the criteria they use to assemble the list:
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The 2010 Census and the Future of the Great Commission
The findings from the 2010 census are set to be released this summer, but some preliminary estimates are already being reported by the Associated Press. Every Christian who wants to understand what Great Commission ministry is going to look like in this century needs to pay attention to these numbers. Probably the most significant item in this report relates to minorities. No doubt, many of you have already heard that demographers predict that by 2050 whites will no longer be the majority in the United States. This census finds that for the first time minorities already make up a majority of babies in the U.S.
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I Spank My Kids
Spanking has become quite the controversial topic these days and has even become somewhat of a taboo in certain quarters. For this reason, Nancy French has a column in National Review Online in which she boldly declares “I Spank My Kids.” Her declaration is provoked by a report from Texas about a woman who was convicted of a felony for spanking her child. No belt was used, and no bruising occurred. Nevertheless, this woman lost custody of all three of her children and was sentenced to five years probation. After the trial, the judge scolded the mother saying:
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The SBC Resolution on the NIV
A surprising thing happened at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention last week. The messengers approved a resolution opposing the 2011 edition of the NIV. This kind of move is not unprecedented for an annual SBC meeting. Messengers approved similar resolutions in 1997 and in 2002, both of which were in response to gender-inclusive revisions of the NIV. But there was something different about the resolution that came out this year. This resolution came not from the resolutions committee, but from a single messenger who was concerned about the issue and who wanted the convention to speak to it.
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My Ex-Gay Friend
The New York Times has a fascinating report about a man paying a visit to his long lost ex-gay friend. The ex-gay friend is Michael Glatze, a former homosexual who has converted to Christianity. The author is Benoit Denizet-Lewis, and he writes: “One Saturday afternoon last winter, I drove north on Route 85 through the rolling rangeland of southeastern Wyoming. I was headed to a small town north of Cheyenne to see an old friend and colleague named Michael Glatze. We worked together 12 years ago at XY, a San Francisco-based national magazine for young gay men, back when we were young gay men ourselves… Michael was fast becoming the…
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How Lebron Broke the Golden Rule of Sports
This video is gold. Pure gold. Despite the title, it’s not actually a knock on Lebron James so much as it is a reality check for sports fans who take things a bit too seriously. Enjoy. (HT: Thabiti Anyabwile)
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The Cello Song
Steven Sharp Nelson released a single in May that is a variation on an old Bach classic. It’s kind of an experiment. It is a song written for one cello, but he does it with eight. Watch it above, and download the single here. (HT: Trevin Wax)
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Who is my Dad?
We have become far too casual about reproductive technologies. The implications of the decisions people make are rarely thought through in any coherent way. Once our culture severed the natural connection between marriage, sex, and procreation, a whole host of difficulties followed in the wake. Sunday’s New York Times ran an opinion-piece yesterday by an 18-year-old casualty of anonymous sperm donation. This is a boy who wants to know who his father is but never will. It’s gut-wrenching to read, but you should take the time to do so. He writes: