“Is the Church guilty of beating people with the Bible?” This is the question with which Southern Baptist seminary president Al Mohler begins a recent blog attacking those who say gay people get “clobbered” with Bible verses. Feigning shock, he says: “As strange as that argument might sound, it is actually a powerful weapon in…

Bloggers on the Religious Right attack bestselling author Philip Yancey for speaking at the 2011 Gay Christian Network conference. After the event, Yancey posted a response at http://www.philipyancey.com/. Noting this “hammering … for [his] agreeing to speak”, he wrote: “I get tired of writing about this issue because it stirs up such a storm of…

“What was the most significant change in Christianity over the past decade?”  In response to this question from Christianity Today (December, 2009), John Stackhouse of Regent College answers: “The rapid collapse of Christian consensus against homosexual marriage in North America, including among evangelicals.”   “What is the greatest moral issue in America today?”  In October, evangelical…

Anne Rice: “I quit being a Christian. … I remain committed to Christ … but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.” The bestselling novelist, who turned from atheism to Christ in 1988, explains that the…

There’s a beautiful house for sale on St. Simons Island in Georgia. Over the years it was made even more beautiful by the loving companionship of the two women who made it their home from 1967 to the death of one of them in 1996. In 1961, bestselling evangelical author and novelist Eugenia Price and…

A major proponent for Prop 8’s ban on gay marriage admits: “It is almost certainly true that gay and lesbian couples and their children would benefit from having gay marriage.” David Blankenhorn, founder of The Institute for American Values, acknowledged this under David Boise’s cross-examination in California in January. Blankenhorn went further. He granted that…

“People who portray gay adults as godless, hedonistic, Christian-bashers are not working with the facts”, says evangelical pollster George Barna, founder of the research firm, The Barna Group. Reporting in July on a nationwide survey of 9,232 Americans over the last two years, Barna states: “A substantial majority of gays cite their faith as a…

“People like you should be shot and killed!” That’s what was shouted at Don Dent and Terry Tebedo when they visited Northwest Bible Church in Dallas in 1987. They vowed never to go back. Terry died of AIDS the following year. Don has since become a serious Christian and has come to know a younger…

Evangelical leaders are partnering with progressive think tank Third Way to find common ground in “culture war” issues such as gay rights, abortion and immigration reform. Mercer University ethicist David Gushee says that, at the core of the coalition’s Come Let Us Reason Together agenda is a “concern for human dignity”. He grants that some…

“Which issue is most important to you in this election?” Evangelical publisher, Christianity Today, polled its on-line readers at the end of October and this was the response to the question: Abortion (29%), Economy (23%), Foreign Policy (8%), Same-sex Marriage (7%), Terrorism (6%), Health Care (6%), Poverty (5%), Energy 2%), Environment (1%), Education (1%), Immigration…