As CT reported last week, prominent evangelical theologian Donald G. Bloesch died on Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa, where he taught at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary for many years.

Gabriel Fackre, Abbot Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus at Andover Newton Theological School in Andover, Massachusetts, was a longtime friend and colleague of Bloesch.

“I’m deeply saddened,” Fackre said. “he was a good friend…I guess it’s been about 60 years.”

Fackre considers Bloesch “the premier evangelical theologian of the twentieth century, second only to my dear friend Carl Henry.”

Fackre cites Christian Foundations, Bloesch’s seven-volume systematic theology, as “a unique achievement in American theology, and probably even, in our time, in any theology… No one else has done, as far as I know, a seven-volume series on the basic loci of systematics. So that fact alone marks Don as a major figure in Christian theology in our time.”

But Fackre said that Bloesch did not get the recognition he deserved.

“He was not appreciated as he should have been in wider circles,” Fackre said. “In that respect, he was a lot like Carl Henry, who never quite got the attention he was due.”

Fackre did note, however, that that Bloesch was “very much appreciated” at the Dubuque Seminary and that scholars as diverse as Roman Catholic Cardinal Avery Dulles and Reformed theologian T.F. Torrance paid tribute to Bloesch in the 1999 festschrift volume Evangelical Theology in Transition.

Fackre also recalled Bloesch’s work in the renewal movements of mainline Christianity, most especially in Bloesch’s own United Church of Christ (UCC). Bloesch drafted the Dubuque Declaration, which became the statement of faith for the Biblical Witness Fellowship, an active renewal organization in the UCC.

“Don was never given the recognition due to him in the UCC because he was a feisty critic of the liberal establishment,” Fackre said. “We both were doing our best in the United Church of Christ to call it back to its original ecumenical vision.”

When writing about prominent UCC theologians for the denomination’s 50th anniversary, Fackre included Bloesch among names like Reinhold Niebuhr and Walter Brueggemann. “He got sort of a kick out of that,” Fackre said with a laugh.

Fackre said that Bloesch was “an unconventional evangelical theologian as well as a leading one,” noting that Bloesch’s fascination with Mariology was a “curious interest” for evangelicals. He also approvingly cited Bloesch’s views (consonant with Fackre’s own) on the possibility of posthumous salvation for those who have never heard the gospel.

“He had a significant impact, I think, in regard to bringing evangelicals closer to ecumenicals,” Fackre said. “In other words, any evangelical theologian who traces his theological lineage to Barth, and P.T. Forsyth, and evangelical catholicity … anyone who is influenced by this kind of what I call ‘ecumenical evangelicalism,’ would count Don as a major figure in drawing people into dialogue with the larger Christian community.”

Fackre also talked about Bloesch’s “very wonderful spouse,” Brenda Bloesch, who was “co-worker with Don in everything he did. She will miss him deeply.”

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 30, 2010 3:27PM | Comments (3)

In March I wrote my “Past Imperfect” column about two denominational start ups: the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which formed in 2009, and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which formed in 2010—indeed, yesterday.

On Friday, 1100 Lutherans, rightly and righteously disaffected from the once gigantic, now shrinking Evangelical Lutheran Church, formally adopted a constitution at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

Here is a key statement from the NALC’s detailed press release:

‘The NALC will embody the center of Lutheranism in America. The NALC will uphold
confessional principles dear to Lutherans including a commitment to the authority of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. Members and congregations of the NALC will have direct involvement in the decisions and life of the NALC,’ said the Rev. Mark Chavez of Landisville, Pa., director of Lutheran CORE.

The issue of authority surfaces three ways in Chavez’s statement: (1) the role of the Bible (as contrasted with culture and the “bound conscience” of the autonomous self), (2) the role of the creeds and confessions (as contrasted with contemporary conventional wisdom), and (3) the role of the constituent churches (as opposed to bodies composed by quota systems).

On Thursday, I asked spokesman David Baer how many congregations would be part of the NALC at the beginning. He explained that under ELCA rules, congregations couldn’t leave unless there was another group for them to join. Despite those rules, 18 congregations had already held congregational votes to join the NALC. Once the constitution was adopted, Baer said, the NALC “would be open for business.” Over the next year, he expected those 18 congregations to grow to about 200.

This is a contrast to last year’s events when several We’re-not-Episcopalian groups of North American Anglicans formed ACNA. Because ACNA was a wedding of groups with hundreds of congregations, it started out with a critical mass of about 700. NALC is not a merger but an institutionalized invitation to centrist Lutheran orthodoxy.

Both the ACNA and the NALC formed after their respective mainline denominations took revisionist stances on sexuality. But both groups are clear that the real issues are not about sexuality, but about biblical authority and, in fact, the gospel.

Another interesting similarity between the ACNA and the NALC is the strong support received from sister churches in Africa. World Lutheranism’s second and third largest churches are in Ethiopia and Tanzania. (Sweden has the world’s largest Lutheran body, but the rate of church participation in Sweden is far below that in the African churches.) Both African bodies sent representatives to the convocation that formed the NALC, and a bishop from Tanzania participated in the installation of Paull Spring, newly elected bishop of the NALC.

Spring and four other officers were elected to single-year terms. Spring, a retired ELCA bishop from Pennsylvania, made it clear that he would not serve after that initial year. Thus as new congregations join the NALC during the coming year, they soon be able to participate in the selection of ongoing leadership.

* * *

I was among the 800-plus attendees at a three-day theological conference that preceded the convocation at which the NALC was formed. A team of eminent Lutheran theologians was spearheaded by 81-year-old Carl Braaten, who spoke fire about the theological deficits of contemporary Lutheranism.

In a few days, I will post my reflections on the theological conference.

Posted by David Neff at August 28, 2010 8:09PM | Comments (8)

Donald G. Bloesch, a prominent evangelical scholar in the United Church of Christ (UCC) and an advisory editor at Christianity Today, died on Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa.

Bloesch, who was professor emeritus at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, was well known as a voice of renewal in the United Church of Christ.

“He gave us not only an understanding of the deep perversity in the mainline church, but theological skills to be effective witnesses in a difficult time,” said David Runnion-Bareford, executive director of the Biblical Witness Fellowship, a spiritual renewal group within the UCC. “It is ironic that this evangelical was the most widely read and respected UCC theologian of his generation.”

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 27, 2010 10:27AM | Comments (9)

Yesterday evening, CNN reported that Florida’s Dove World Outreach Center had arranged for an armed militia group to protect the Qur’an-burning event they scheduled for September 11.

This morning, it appears, the militia is having second thoughts.

“Right Wing Extreme has pulled support for the International Burning of the Koran day and will not attend the event,” the group announced in a 1:50 a.m. press release on its website. “After much thought and prayer the organization’s leadership determined this event does not glorify GOD in way that leads the lost to Jesus Christ.”

The group, which bills itself in the release as an “armed Christian conservative group,” says they got started in April 2009 after a department of Homeland Security report called “Right Wing Extremism,” which highlighted the radical far right’s revitalization since President Barack Obama took office.

The group considers Islam a “cult” and blasts the President for his support of the Park51 Islamic center which a Muslim group plans to build near Ground Zero in New York. But they do not think burning Islam’s holy scripture will solve any problems.

“Dove World Outreach are our brothers and sisters in Christ,” the release says. “However we ask that they not hold this event for the reason that it may diminish the work of the Holy Spirit to witness to Muslims.”

The release also quoted James 1:19: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

Posters on the group's forum were divided on the issue.

“I support the desecration of the Koran,” wrote “RushLimbaughFan,” “because not Only is Islam a Heathen Religion, it is also the only one that Preaches Hate and Kill thy Neighbor in the Name of spreading Islam across the Globe.”

“This could be the stupidest idea ever in the history of stupid ideas,” wrote “Kevin.” “What do you think the net results of this action will be? You will give the left ammunition right before the November elections.”

“You are all horrible human beings and Christians,” retorted “empire.” “Jesus taught in the bible to turn the other cheek and respect other people. Is this what you call that?!”

"What happened, Shannon? Who got to you?" wrote Fran Ingram, who said she was a "proud member" of the Dove World Outreach Center, to Right Wing Extreme founder Shannon Carson. "I cannot believe you wrote your latest press release. I call it totally cowardly."

"I will be removing my membership from your forum," she added.

Dove World Outreach Center’s Pastor Terry Jones told CNN that Right Wing Extreme must have “bowed to fear or to pressure from other organizations, other groups.”

After receiving threats by phone and email and meeting with the FBI, Jones had hoped the group would be able to protect them during the Qur'an burning event.

"This is just a typical giving in to pressure and fear,” he said.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 25, 2010 9:15AM | Comments (16)

The North Korean government says they will free a Christian activist they sent to prison in April—as long as former President Jimmy Carter is the one who comes to get him.

CNN reported that Carter is gearing up for a trip to North Korea to free Christian activist and American citizen Aijalon Mahli Gomes. North Korean officials say they will release Gomes to Carter.

Gomes received an 8-year "hard labor" sentence in April after crossing the border into North Korea from China three months earlier. Observers at the time said that North Korea wanted to use Gomes as bargaining leverage in the ongoing wrangle with the U.S. over their nuclear program. Officially, the Obama administration will only engage with North Korea if they come back to the table in the ongoing six-party talks over their nuclear program.

The White House characterizes Carter’s trip as “a private humanitarian effort” by a private citizen. Former President Bill Clinton undertook a similar effort to secure the freedom of two journalists who faced a hard labor sentence when they crossed over into North Korea last year.

Gomes is the fourth American in the last year to get caught crossing China’s border into North Korea the New York Daily News reported. CT previously reported on Robert Park, a 28-year-old Korean-American who visited the closed communist state over Christmas. While teaching English in South Korea, Gomes reportedly attended the same church as Park, Every Nation Church of Korea in Seoul.

Carter is expected to leave today and return to the U.S. with Gomes by Friday.

Update: According to current reports, President Carter is in North Korea, but North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is not. Speculation has it that Kim is taking his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-eun, to China to introduce him to the leaders of North Korea's strongest ally. There is no indication that Carter and Kim met before Kim left.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 24, 2010 9:34AM | Comments (6)

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling this afternoon allowing the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision to base its hiring decisions on matters of religious belief.

Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain authored the three-judge panel’s majority opinion, which declares World Vision a “religious organization” and therefore exempt from the rules on hiring practices that Congress set down in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, mainly because it is a nonprofit entity which self-identifies as religious.

“This is a significant victory for World Vision’s religious hiring rights,” said Dean Owen, World Vision’s director of media relations. “The right of faith-based organizations to hire people who are co-religionists, who are of their own faith, has been law in this country for nearly 50 years.”

Three former World Vision employees, Silvia Spencer, Ted Youngberg, and Vicki Hulse, sued after World Vision fired them in 2006 for disagreeing with central tenets of the organization’s Statement of Faith. As O’Scannlain notes, everyone involved agreed that the three employees were fired for religious reasons. The question was whether World Vision qualified for the religious exemption to the Civil Rights Act, which normally prohibits any organization from hiring or firing based on religious beliefs.

The former employees asserted that both law and legal precedent limited “religious organizations” to “churches, synagogues, and the like.” The Ninth Circuit, who produced some of the precedents they pointed to, disagreed.

“If Congress had intended to restrict the exemption to ‘[c]hurches, and entities similar to churches’ it could have said so,” Judge O’Scannlain’s opinion said. “Because Congress did not, some religious corporations, associations, and societies that are not churches must fall within the exemption.“

The majority opinion refused to address certain thorny questions, such as whether or not World Vision’s humanitarian work is an inherently religious activity. Judge O’Scannlain’s opinion said that it would be “constitutionally troublesome” for the court to attempt to decide what sort of activity is religious and what is not. When the employees alleged that World Vision is not a religious group because it offers aid to people regardless of their own religion, O’Scannalin chose to accept World Vision’s own assertion that “providing humanitarian aid to all in need, regardless of religious belief, is a tenet of its faith.”

Judge O’Scannlain held that a “nonprofit entity” qualifies as religious if it “1) is organized for a self-identified religious purpose… 2) is engaged in activity consistent with, and in furtherance of, those religious purposes, and 3) holds itself out to the public as religious.” World Vision, O’Scannlain ruled, meets these criteria.

“Our Christian faith has been the foundation of our work since we were established in 1950,” Owen said to CT this afternoon, “and we believe that the hiring policy of the US offices of World Vision…is vital to our integrity as part of our mission.”

In a concurring opinion, Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld agreed that World Vision qualified for the religious exemption but disagreed with one of O’Scannlain’s criteria. Kleinfeld argued that O’Scannlain’s focus on groups with nonprofit status could hurt religious groups too small to incorporate and might allow secular nonprofits with “church affiliations” to discriminate unfairly.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Marsha S. Berzon held that World Vision’s humanitarian focus leaves it in the cold as far as the Civil Rights Act is concerned: “Congress used the terms ‘religious corporation, association . . . or society’ as they were commonly understood: to describe a church or other group organized for worship, religious study, or the dissemination of religious doctrine.”

World Vision is not sure if the other side plans to appeal, but sees the Ninth Circuit decision as very significant for groups across the faith spectrum.

“This is a very significant victory, not just for World Vision but for any religious organization—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever—that hires people of the same faith,” Owen said.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 23, 2010 3:57PM | Comments (9)

It's been a bad week for Christian aid groups in two of the world’s most challenging nations.

In Afghanistan, ten workers for the International Assistance Mission (IAM) were found shot in the northeastern region of Badakhshan. Beyond veteran ophthalmologist and team leader Tom Little, whose wife recently wrote for CT on the Christian call to suffering in mission, the now-identified dead include Glenn D. Lapp, who worked with the Mennonite Central Committee, and 32-year-old Cheryl Beckett, a pastor’s daughter from Tennessee and a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University. Out of the 1,500 aid groups registered in Afghanistan, 17 aid workers have been murdered and 19 abducted this year.

Questions are flying about the circumstances of the murders. The Taliban have claimed responsibility, saying they killed the team because they were Christian missionaries. IAM denied the allegations, insisting that its workers do not proselytize and carried no Bibles. Local police suspect bandits. Only one member of the ambushed party survived—the driver says the attackers spared him because he insisted he was a Muslim and quoted passages from the Qur’an. However, there were two other Muslims with the party, and the driver remains in Afghan custody for unclear reasons. (Another Afghan member of the team traveled home separately and was unharmed.)

Meanwhile, the head of IAM says he expressed concern to the team leader over the size of the group and the number of foreigners in the party. He also pledged that IAM, active in Afghanistan since 1966, would continue its work despite the losses.

In Somalia, an Islamic militant group has ordered three Christian groups—World Vision, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and Diakonia—to leave the country, claiming they are “missionaries under the guise of humanitarian work.” Al-Shabaab recently claimed responsibility for attacks in the capital city of Uganda which injured at least five American missionaries.

World Vision noted that their Somali offices are staffed by nationals who are mostly Muslim.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 9, 2010 12:36PM | Comments (2)

Americans this morning woke to news of 10 aid workers murdered in Afghanistan. They were six Americans, one German, one Briton, and two Afghan interpreters working for the International Assistance Mission. The Taliban claimed the traveling medical team was “spying for the Americans” and “preaching Christianity.” The International Aid Mission is a Christian NGO that has operated in Afghanistan since 1966. They do not proselytize or discriminate on the basis of religion in delivering medical assistance.

Read the Voice of America report here and the IAM press release here .

Libby Little, wife of murdered IAM team leader Tom Little, recently wrote for the Lausanne-Christianity Today Global Conversation Project about the Christian call to suffering in mission. Her essay, “A Small Version of the Grand Narrative,” takes on extra poignancy with the news of her husband’s death.

Posted by David Neff at August 7, 2010 2:44PM | Comments (17)

Proposition 8, California's marriage amendment, was ruled unconstitutional by federal judge Vaughn Walker. Amid the clamoring over the ruling, the Liberty Counsel issued a statement blaming the Alliance Defense Fund for doing a poor job defending the proposition and for keeping the Liberty Counsel from helping with the case.

While Christian legal groups sometimes compete, and sometimes even disagree on cases, it is rare to see one directly criticize another.

In the statement, Liberty Counsel claims that it has been involved in every marriage law case in California since 2004, but the ADF objected to the Liberty Counsel working on the case. The group further said that it “sought to provide additional defense to Prop 8 because of concern that the case was not being adequately defended.” Liberty Counsel pointed out that the ADF called only two witnesses, compared to 15 for the other side.

The rift between the Liberty Counsel and the ADF stems from a dispute over who should intervene after California Attorney General Jerry Brown decided not to defend the case.

Liberty Counsel had been representing Campaign for California Families since 2004. The now-defunct organization was successful on a previous marriage initiative, but it was not responsible for getting Proposition 8 on the ballot.

The official representative of the proposition was Protectmarriage.com: Yes on 8, which was defended by Andrew Pugno, a lawyer the ADF lists as being an “ADF-allied attorney.”

When opponents of Prop. 8 filed their lawsuit, both the ADF and the Liberty Counsel sought to intervene.

Pugno told the San Francisco Chronicle that his group should be the only one to defend the proposition. "We represent the people who got things done, who got Prop. 8 passed," said Pugno, "[Campaign for California Families] represents the extreme fringe and is not representative of the coalition that got it passed. They didn't even support Prop. 8 until sometime in the summer."

In September 2009, Judge Walker ruled in favor of Protectmarriage.com, the ADF group, and against Campaign for California Families, the Liberty Counsel group.

Now that the case is over, the Liberty Counsel is making it clear that they would have defended the case differently. The organization is filing a brief in favor of an appeal, but it is still not representing the proposition itself.

Posted by Ted Olsen at August 5, 2010 4:11PM | Comments (29)

A praise and worship-style "gag song" intended for Christian camps has gone (ahem) viral on YouTube, touching hearts and upsetting stomachs across the Web.

The anonymous tune, "I Think I'm Gonna Throw Up (My Hands To The Lord)," had been circulating for awhile when Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing snapped it up for their collection Crazy Praize 3.

Ed Kee, one of the masterminds behind the Crazy Praize series, says he would love to find the original writer.

“All that money of course is held in an account waiting for somebody to come along and prove they wrote the song,” Kee said.

It may not have sparked the same eruption of hits as the animated kittens singing "Joy Joy Joy," but 50,000+ views is nothing to be ashamed of.

Well, it is if you side with some of the commenters.

"How does this lukewarm sewage give praise to our holy and righteous God?" asked Mr.CairoKid. "I'm sure Jesus would vomit it out of His mouth!"

"Is this some sort of sick joke????" asked FaithandReasons.

Of course, anything online that gets this popular will cause people to start hurling criticism. Others were more appreciative of the song, confident that Christian kids would eat it up.

"I wonder if I could dare my worship pastor to open with this song one day," mused christiangurl199117.

"When I went to camp this week we sang this song," said godsgirl198. "It was sooo funny and fun but yet we were praising God."

Kee said that fun was the main reason the Crazy Praize producers included "Throw Up" in their lineup.

“It’s something goofy that sounds fun to sing but yet has a message to it,” Kee said. “There’s a little difference in a camp setting when you’re purposely trying to have fun with the kids. You’re not necessarily in a worship setting.”

Kee pointed out that some of the songs in the collection had more profound theological themes, while others—for instance the classic “Alice the Camel”—weren’t spiritual at all.

He too would find “I Think I’m Gonna Throw Up” hard to digest in a more serious worship setting.

"I’m one that really has a heart for reverence," he said. “I didn’t see this as one that you necessarily would use to teach kids about worship. It’s lighthearted, but not to the point of being irreverent.”

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 5, 2010 4:08PM | Comments (1)

A landslide referendum victory gave Kenyans a new constitution that had proven controversial among Christian leaders during the campaign phase.

Preliminary results show that nearly 70 percent of Kenyan voters approved the draft constitution. Many Christian leaders, who had objected to sections that loosened restrictions on abortion and gave legitimacy to Islamic courts on certain matters of family law, were unhappy with the decision but urged Kenyans to react peacefully.

“Thanks for the peace, and we ask you to continue living in peace,” said Roman Catholic Bishop Cornelius Korir according to CatholicCulture.org.

The referendum substantially revises the constitution which Kenya adopted when it broke off from Britain in 1963. The referendum, which in part reforms the electoral system and limits the power of the president, was prompted by the contested 2007 presidential election which sparked tribal violence resulting in more than 1,000 deaths.

While church leaders have vowed to accept the democratic will of the people, some have alleged that the election was not entirely fair. According to the Kenyan Daily Nation, church leaders said that the run-up to the referendum “was marred by malpractices and irregularities which continued right into the balloting and tallying phases."

“We know that in some places, they were going door to door giving people money to vote for the Constitution,” said Rev. Canon Peter Karanja of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. “We even know of places where there was intimidation against some communities.”

Several major players in the “No” campaign are now refocusing their energies on amending the new constitution.

“The process continues,” says Karanja.

Read CT's previous coverage of Kenya here.

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 5, 2010 2:17PM | Comments (3)

Maybe there’s something to that whole concept of Christmas in July.

Two heartwarming stories out of Florida this past month certainly seemed to signal an unseasonal outbreak of peace and goodwill.

First there was the cell phone store clerk in Pompano Beach who foiled an attempted robbery by telling the robber about Jesus.

20-year-old Nayara Goncalves told the robber, whom police later identified as 37-year-old Israel Camacho, ``You can do whatever you want, but I'm just going to talk to you about Jesus, my God, before you leave.''

Robber: “God bless you for that.”

The robber eventually left without taking anything. Police put Camacho in jail for holding up a shoe store later that day.

The Miami Herald report recounts the conversation, including Goncalves and the robber’s discussion of a church they’d both attended. The story struck quite a few people as bizarre. In fact, the Weekly World News, famous for breaking stories about bat-human hybrids and Elvis walking the Earth, simply released a straight report on the story.

The day the robbery occurred, the St. Petersburg Times reported on a judge who tried to settle a nine-year feud between next-door neighbors. Jose Linares of Hillsborough County had finally had enough of hearing neighbor Tony Alli’s loud music, and went over to talk to him about it after years of seething and calling the cops. The ensuing altercation led to charges against Alli.

Judge Paul Huey sentenced him to 50 hours community service, but he also required the two of them to act more like neighbors in the future.

"I want you all to get together once a month, and you can do it however you want. Once a month, at a different house, you have a get-together,” he said. “Have a potluck, just do something. Kids have to go, too.”

“Love your neighbor as yourself," Judge Huey said. "Jesus said that once a long time ago.”

According to Alli, the first in a series of court-ordered potlucks is set for August 14.

“Who knows?” said Judge Huey. “Maybe we'll have a little United Nations.”

Posted by Trevor Persaud at August 4, 2010 4:30PM | Comments (2)

Prop. 8 is unconstitutional, according to San Francisco federal judge Vaughn Walker.

Today's highly anticipated ruling overturns California's 2008 constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, narrowly approved by voters shortly after the state's Supreme Court legalized them (good refresher here). Both sides have pledged to appeal the case all the way to the Supreme Court, though the Ninth Circuit will receive it next.

In an electronically-filed decision, Walker explained why he believes Prop. 8 violates the Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses. He wrote:

"Each challenge is independently meritorious, as Proposition 8 both unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation."

Walker later observed: "A private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples is not a proper basis for legislation." And concluded: "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples."

A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute suggested Californians today would narrowly repeal Prop. 8 if voting again, though GetReligion pointed out the possible biases in the poll.

It's been a busy summer for same-sex marriage in the legal world. In July, a federal judge in Boston declared unconstitutional the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which codifies marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The July ruling held that the federal law violates states’ rights to define marriage by blocking legally married gay couples from federal benefits and violating the Constitution’s “equal protection” clause. Currently five states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage, while 29 states have amended their constitutions to prohibit it.

Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in June that, because European Union members have not yet reached a consensus on the matter, same-sex marriage cannot be viewed as a human right. Portugal, Iceland and Argentina legalized the practice this summer.

Pew produced a research package on the U.S. debate here. Past CT articles on same-sex marriage can be found here.

Posted by Jeremy Weber at August 4, 2010 3:55PM | Comments (29)

A recent New York Times piece on the rebranding of 3M's Post-it notes has this interesting backstory:

In 1967, a 3M scientist, Spencer Silver, invented a glue with a slightly granular surface that prevented complete adhesion, but the company could not find an application for the underachieving adhesive. Then, in the early 1970s it introduced the Post-it Bulletin Board, essentially a photograph of a cork bulletin board coated with the substance and to which pieces of scrap paper could be attached.

That idea failed when people realized how much dust such a sticky bulletin board could accumulate. The article continues:

Then Art Fry, another 3M scientist, was practicing with his church choir and grew frustrated that slips of paper he used as bookmarks kept falling out of his hymnal. So, using some of Mr. Silver’s adhesive, he made sticky bookmarks, which evolved into notepaper.

The congregation, by the way, was North Church, a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Blessed be the glue that temporarily binds...

Posted by Ted Olsen at August 4, 2010 3:30PM

Last Wednesday, Anne Rice posted a short message on her Facebook page:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always 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. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."

Rice, author of Interview with a Vampire and other novels, returned to her Catholic upbringing in 1998, a decision she went public with in 2005; CT interviewed her about the decision shortly thereafter. She even went on to write some books reflecting her love of Jesus, including Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.

But upon closer look at her blog posts and comments, has Rice really quit Christianity? Five minutes after that initial Facebook post, Rice then added this:

"As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

Okay. I count myself among many Christians who'd agree with many of those statements, to varying degrees. (Don't we all refuse to be anti-life?). The next day, July 29, Rice seemed to soften her stance just a bit more, writing:

"My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become."

Well, amen to that. Isn't that what a Christian IS? A Christ-follower, not someone who merely follows Christians? So, did Anne Rice really renounce her faith, or just the ugly things of how Christians sometimes behave?

Rice told NPR today that the final straw was when she realized the lengths that the church would go to prevent same-sex marriage. "I didn't anticipate . . . that the U.S. bishops were going to come out against same-sex marriage, that they were actually going to donate money to defeat the civil rights of homosexuals in the secular society. When that broke in the news, I felt an intense pressure. And I am a person who grew up with the saying that all that is needed for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing, and I believe that statement."

Rice also told NPR that she doesn't consider herself an atheist. "Certainly I will never go back to being that atheist and that pessimist that I was," she says. "I live now in a world that I feel God created, and I feel I live in a world where God witnesses everything that happens. ... That's a huge change from the atheist I was when I wrote the vampire novels."

So, she says she "quit being a Christian," but did so "in the name of Christ," clarifying that she only wants to follow Jesus, and not his followers. And that she's definitely not an atheist, but that her "faith in Christ remains central to my life."

Rice said, on her Facebook page, that she's received many responses to her decision: "Many posts about quitting Christianity have brought in a lot of mail. Most of it is positive; a small amount is negative. But one thing is clear: people care passionately about belief. They care about living lives of meaning and significance. And that is a beautiful and reassuring thing. I'll have more on the subject the future." (Presumably that included her chat with NPR today.)

There have been many public responses to Rice's announcement, but perhaps the most well-thought-out one I've read comes from Justin McRoberts, a Christian musician, in "An Open Letter to Anne Rice." McRoberts writes:

"I feel you, Anne. I really do. I’ve had similar thoughts and even expressed them publicly. I don’t mind at all the desire or even the need to stand at some distance from the label of Christianity. It may well have been worn through. But I take issue with the notion that you must disassociate yourself from ‘Christian’ people. I mean sure, we’re a motley lot. Belonging to this family can often feel like you’ve adopted a few thousand drunk uncles. It’s incredibly embarrassing at times and frustrating at least as often. I get it. But I also read that you’re making your move 'in the name of Christ' and that presents a rather perplexing dilemma for someone who wants to quit on people. You see, Christ hasn’t quit on us and if you choose to align yourself with Him, then neither can you."

We'll keep watching for more updates.

Posted by Mark Moring at August 2, 2010 5:34PM | Comments (35)