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Gabe Lyons and Andrew Sullivan Discuss Religious Freedom
Posted in Daily Links and Notes
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Obama Eulogy at Service for Rev. Pickney
Begins at 1:22
Posted in Daily Links and Notes
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Supreme Court Sets Aside State Bans on Same Sex Marriage
- CT: Quotes from Kennedy and Roberts on Religious liberty
- Daily Beast: Gay Marriage is Here Forever
- Daily Beast: Gay Marriage is not enough
- Frank Bruni: Our Weddings Our Worth
- Gay Marriage wins while other liberal causes languish
- Dreher with multiple quotes from dissenting justices
- Freddie DeBoer on the Slippery Slope: Polygamy
- Steve Koster on Think Christian
- 100 Evangelical Leaders Respond
- JRD Kirk
- RNS: Religious Voices
- Alan Jacobs: there are two kinds of relationships: one focused primarily on children, the other primarily focused on erotic love. Quotes from Catholic Authenticity
- Mark Galli: 6 things to do, first rejoice in the Lord
- Gay Couples Can get married everywhere but bakers can still refuse to bake a cake, Vox
- Patriot News Will Silence Anti-Marriage Equality Voices
- The Atlantic: Americans Celebrate Marriage Equality
- Andrew Sullivan: “It is Accomplished”
- Ed Cyzewski: SCOTUS Gave America A Gift
- Scalegalese
- 50 Key Quotes from the decision posted by Joe Carter
- The Atlantic: the Danger of a Constitutional Right to Dignity
- The Atlantic: the religious liberty angle
- Rachel Held Evans Tweet: “What is lately shown to be justice and goodness”
- WordPress thinks it has a social conscience
- RHE tweet Obama’s Eulogy plus SCOTUS ruling
- Sojo net church leaders in favor of SSM
- Russell Moore Gives Advice to Pastors
- Pub Theology
- Companies celebrate SCOTUS decision
- SCOTUS just did Republican Prez Candidates a Favor
- National Review: With Sexual Liberty for all America’s New Civic Religion
- Kevin DeYoung through TGC
- Washing Post Pulley Religious Groups Worry
- Marriage Equality can defeat ISIS, Foreign Policy
- Gay isn’t special anymore
- Ross Douthat
- Spread marriage rights to more relationships
- William Saletan: The Case Against Polygamy
- Spiritual Friendships: Hoping for Love, why the change moved even conservatives
- Not the right kind of gay, NPR
- First Things Symposium with Dreher, Leithart and others
- John Piper
- Nate Pyle why I don’t fear the court decision
- Eve Tushnet Links and Comments
- Advice from Canada
- Ed Stetzer
- Intervarsity: Rules of engagement on social media
- Damon Linker: Now comes the hard part of protecting religious freedom
- David Brooks on Christians Ending the Culture War about Sex
- A video of a dissenter on SSM
- A video of a woman who can’t stop crying because “me and my wife are equal”
- Same Sex Marriage Won Because the Wasn’t an Argument Against It
- Watching Pride as a former evangelical
- The Supreme Court Gave Evangelicals a Gift: Ed Cyzewski
- Steve Timmermans Statement from the CRCNA
- Freedom daily video on Facebook between Natural Marriage and Same sex marriage
- Justice Kennedy Hurt the Dignity of Single People
- The toll of Xian theology on LGBT community
- Montana trio applies for marriage license
- How Gay Marriage is forcing the Church to Grow Up: YALT
- Matthew Vines No Longer an Outcast
- TGC: 50 Resources
- Weekly Standard: Big Fat Gay Marriage post-mortem
- Evaluated 9 Past Predictions about Gay Marriage
- The Atlantic: How Gay Marriage won
- One Question for People Who Won’t Fly the Rainbow Flag
- Post Homophobic Christianity
- Leadership Journal Round Table
- Nation On Edge As Court Votes Whether To Legalize Gay Marriage Now Or In A Few Years
- OK David Brooks Which Culture War Should We Fight?
- Derek Rishmawy and Tyler Huckabee
- Federalist: SCOTUS decision more about personal choice
- NYTimes Editorial on the Challenges that Remain
Why I Think the Union of CRHM and CRWM Means the End of the “Home Missions” Era
In Like A Lamb
While the big spat over “All One Body” got all the drama at #crcsynod 2015 the big news was really the consolidation of Home Missions and World Missions (“don’t say the m-word”) and then the consolidation of almost everything else with it.
During the Home Missions/World Missions “debate” the most important thing to notice was that lots of people wanted to give speeches and they were all in favor of the motion.
Love is Love
Part of the reason for the lack of dissent for merging-oops-um-consolidating the two agencies was that both board directors and both agency directors spoke in favor of the decision. Saying “no, you two can’t work together” didn’t really make any sense. Most of the speech making promised in glowing terms how this new union would unleash great new energy by now disregarding lines on the map but few concrete examples of exactly how this would happen were offered.
“Is there a Bill Hybels Disciple in the House?” Continue reading

Welcome to the Next Iteration of American Civil Religion
In the 20th century religion, morality, politics and commerce aligned in America first to win WWII and then the Cold War. Growing up on the CRC left I always heard Civil Religion as a dirty word.
Both SCOTUS and POTUS gave significant and fundamentally religious speeches today, and appropriated religions terms and religious narratives.
The element that caught me by surprise was the enthusiasm of business community. (The demographics here have undoubtedly not escaped them. Did AARP go rainbow?) Franklin Graham had better find a new strategy unless he wants to follow Gandhi in home spinning a loin cloth. Everyone wanted in on the big celebration. I was thinking this when Jason shared the David French piece.
This is the latest iteration of American Civil religion. Church and God are optional this time around. They really were too last time but “Godless Communism” kept the church as a key ally. Not this time.
It has its theology that is again very close to Christian theology. Many will not be able to distinguish the two.
In this round, however, the institutional church will not fare as well.
The last time the religious and political right were put to the test. This time the left.