GAY TRUTH

The United States Supreme Court announced Monday it was ordering the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider its judgment that a Christian florist must provide flowers for a same-sex “wedding” ceremony. The case stems from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit against Barronelle Stutzman, the proprietor of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, for refusing to provide flowers for a customer’s same-sex "wedding" ceremony. Stutzman had previously served the customer’s every other request for years, and has employed homosexual workers, but her Christian faith compelled her to draw a distinction between serving all individuals and lending her artistic endorsement to celebrations of homosexuality. The Washington Supreme Court ruled last year that the government may force Christians to serve same-sex “weddings,” and in July 2017, the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. On Monday, the high court vaca

On Friday, June 15, the Supreme Court of Canada threw out a quarter-century of legal precedent on religious liberty by deciding, by a margin of 7-2, that it was “proportionate and reasonable” for the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario to refuse accreditation to any law students coming from Trinity Western University due to TWU’s much-maligned “community covenant.” The covenant, which students who choose to attend Trinity agree to, is a lifestyle policy that asks students to adhere to biblical codes of conduct, including the restriction of sexual activity to heterosexual marriage. It was this covenant—again, a code of conduct for a small, privately-funded evangelical university that nobody has to attend if they don’t want to—that led law societies to claim that students coming from a TWU law school would not be able to escape their particular bias, and thus should not be accredited.  Their presumption, apparently, is that people who have a specific set of religious

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

Speaking thirty years ago, Attorney General Meese warned that “there are ideas which have gained influence in some parts of our society, particularly in some important and sophisticated areas that are opposed to religious freedom and freedom in general. In some areas there are some people that have espoused a hostility to religion that must be recognized for what it is, and expressly countered.” [1] Those were prophetic words, prescient in their clarity and foresight. The ideas of which Mr. Meese warned have only gained ground in the last thirty years, and now with astounding velocity. A revolution in morality now seeks not only to subvert marriage, but also to redefine it, and thus to undermine an essential foundation of human dignity , flourishing, and freedom. Religious liberty is under direct threat. During oral arguments in the Obergefell case, the Solicitor General of the United States served notice before the Supreme Court that the liberties of religious institutions wi

Moral revolutions require legal revolutions. This is certainly the case with the sexual revolution and its various causes of sexual liberation. A revolution is only complete when the legal structure aligns itself with a new moral understanding. This alignment is exactly what is taking place in American public life on the issue of gay liberation. Every society has a structure of systems that either influence or coerce behavior. Eventually, societies move to legislate and regulate behavior in order to align the society with what is commonly, or at least largely, considered morally right and wrong. Civilization could not survive without a system of moral controls and influences. Throughout almost all of Western history, for the most part, this process has played out in a non-threatening way for the Christian church and Christians in the larger society. So long as the moral judgment of the culture matched the convictions and teachings of the church, the church and culture were not at od

A former Greens employee and gay rights campaigner is behind a report to the South Australian government calling for the ­removal of anti-discrimination exemptions that enable religious schools to hire staff aligned with their beliefs — calling into question the impartiality of advice. South Australian Law Ref­orm Institute senior project officer Sarah Moulds wrote the report recommending an overhaul of the state’s Equal Opportunity Act, which critics fear could significantly curtail relig­ious freedoms. The recommendation, one of 11 in the report released last month, was made despite up to 90 per cent of public submissions urging the exemptions remain. Under South Australian law, religious institutions may discriminate against prospective employees based on sexuality, gender identity and religious ­beliefs. However, if the recom­mendation were adopted, sexual orientation and gender identity would be removed as exemptions, meaning a gay teacher who believed they had been

The body of Christ worldwide is challenged to respond to the issue of homosexuality. While the acceptance of homosexuality has accelerated faster in some nations than in others, the fact remains that Christians in all countries face the challenge of responding with love and truth to all those who struggle in this area. While damage has undoubtedly been done by the watering down of the gospel, immeasurable damage has also been done when truth has been preached in word only without corresponding actions, or has been spoken without love. Remembering that God is both grace and truth will help us to conduct ourselves as Jesus would: compassionately without compromising God word. With that being said, perhaps you heard about the two gay men who filed a lawsuit against Spark Network Inc. Their claim was that Christian Mingle (Christian dating site) violated their civil rights. Unfortunately, this is a never ending story. Some of the gay community has made it their mission to shut down Chr

Moral revolutions require legal revolutions. This is certainly the case with the sexual revolution and its various causes of sexual liberation. A revolution is only complete when the legal structure aligns itself with a new moral understanding. This alignment is exactly what is taking place in American public life on the issue of gay liberation. Every society has a structure of systems that either influence or coerce behavior. Eventually, societies move to legislate and regulate behavior in order to align the society with what is commonly, or at least largely, considered morally right and wrong. Civilization could not survive without a system of moral controls and influences. Throughout almost all of Western history, for the most part, this process has played out in a non-threatening way for the Christian church and Christians in the larger society. So long as the moral judgment of the culture matched the convictions and teachings of the church, the church and culture were not at od