GAY TRUTH

Celebrity rugby player Israel Folau is in a complicated legal position. He shared a “meme” on social media site Instagram recently, the text of which was: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You- Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” To this he added his own personal comment: “Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him.” (The comment was similar to many other pictures shared on his account, many of which are Bible verses or exhortations to nominal Christians to follow Jesus Christ in deed as well as word.) His remarks were not well-received by many members of the public, and in particular by the peak bodies in rugby. His employer, Rugby Australia, has announced that it (and the NSW Rugby Union) will terminate his contract unless he can offer some explanation for the comments which they are satisfied with (any “compe

There has always been one end-game for the radical left: the silencing of dissenting voices, in particular, conservative Christian voices. The radical left is not simply interested in winning in the marketplace of ideas. It is not simply interested in changing hearts and minds. It is ultimately interested in silencing the opposition, especially all opposition that is based on a biblical worldview. For years I have said that those who came out of the closet (meaning, radical gay activists) wanted to put us in the closet (meaning those of who identify with conservative biblical values). And for years I (and many others) have documented this, time and time again. You might wonder how the radical left wants to silence us. How, exactly, does it want to put us in the closet? By intimidation. By ridicule. By legal action. By expulsion. By exclusion. Anything to avoid civil, respectful debate. Anything to avoid a genuine discussion of differences. Anything to avoid true dialogue.

The reactions to Monday’s Supreme Court decision for Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshops have been coming fast and furious from both sides of the political spectrum. The consensus developing on the Right seems to be a suspicious celebration—the Court, after all, did not protect all religious liberty but specifically ruled that this particular Colorado baker had been the victim of anti-religious discrimination.  Thus, the precedent did not go nearly as far as most of us had hoped, and LGBT activists are surely gearing up to fight another day. Perhaps an elderly florist will make a better target. That being said, I do think that those who are determined to find a black cloud on every silver lining are also underestimating the significance of this ruling. For starters, it must be noted that Christians   needed to win this one . The ruling might not have been everything we hoped for, but a loss would have signalled the end of religious liberty in the United States, and a

Unnatural Affections, Unnatural Interpretation: Romans 1 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. (Romans 1:26–27) Few sections of Scripture are more profound, more foundational to Christian thought, than the opening verses of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. The first chapter has provided Christian writers with insights into the human condition that have resulted in some of the most important published works on the Christian worldview. Western culture’s view of law and ethics has been deeply influenced by these thirty-two verses. So it is hardly surprising that those who seek to undermine that Christian worldview and foundation invest great effort in reinterpreting

Same Sex Marriage : Implications for Christian Health Professionals by  Neil Foster I’d like to thank Catherine and Andrea for inviting me along tonight to discuss some of  the legal implications for Christian health professionals of the introduction of same sex  marriage in Australia . I think it is especially generous of medico’s to have a lawyer come into  the room and even to offer them supper! I teach law at Newcastle Law School and have done so for about 23 years. Lately they  have let me teach a course on “ Law and Religion ” to upper level law students, and this is one  of the areas I am developing in teaching and research. You may also know that I run a blog on  this topic.2 So I have done a bit of thinking about same sex marriage , which raises a number of  law and religion issues (for reasons I will outline shortly). I should say that my own position is that same sex marriage was not a good legislative development, but of course I recognise that  not all Chri