Free Republic

The son of author and speaker Brian McLaren, who is often identified as part of the controversial emergent church, married his same-sex partner this past weekend. Trevor Douglas McLaren, 28, wed Owen Patrick Ryan on Saturday in Washington, according to The New York Times. The marriage ceremony was officiated by a Universal Life minister, and his father, Brian McLaren, led a commitment ceremony with "traditional Christian elements" afterward. The elder McLaren recently recalled to NPR the time his son – one of four sons – came out to him. It had just been a couple of years when McLaren shifted...

I was raised as an evangelical Christian in America, and any discussion of Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations around the world must include the phenomenon of American Islamophobia, for which large sectors of evangelical Christianity in America serve as a greenhouse. At a time when U.S. embassies are being attacked and when people are getting killed over an offensive, adolescent and puerile film targeting Islam - beyond pathetic in its tawdriness – we must begin to own up to the reality of evangelical Islamaphobia. Many of my own relatives receive and forward pious-sounding and alarm-bell-ringing e-mails that trumpet (IN LOTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS...

What is emerging in the modern Church? In America - historically Israel's greatest friend - there is a growing dislike of the Jewish state among certain Christian groups. This follows a downturn in interest in Bible prophecy teaching in U.S. churches. What are the reasons for that decline? There are many, but a major one is the emergence of the "Emerging Church." Emergents still identify themselves as evangelicals, which is clever since they share many of the same views as radical scholars like Marcus Borg or John Spong (who don't believe any of the fundamentals of the faith). Emergents, though,...

CNN) -- Democrats have usually conceded the evangelical vote during presidential elections, but Sen. Barack Obama is trying to change that by mobilizing what some call the "Christian left." As part of his outreach to evangelical voters, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Tuesday will tour the Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, Ohio, and give an address on how he plans to build what he calls a "real" partnership between faith-based organizations and the White House if he becomes president. Obama's outreach to evangelical voters has also included private summits with pastors, an effort to reach out to young evangelicals and...

During a shift from the modern world to what many call a postmodern world, ministers who lead younger flocks are finding more reason to change their approach to youth ministry. Thu, Apr. 10, 2008 Posted: 14:33:08 PM EST During a shift from the modern world to what many call a postmodern world, ministers who lead younger flocks are finding more reason to change their approach to youth ministry. With students walking away from the church in droves, youth ministry is no longer viewed as just fun and games. Rather, it's a serious time in ministry where high levels of creativity...

'Deep Shift' hopes to shake things upEverything Much Change Tour tries to alter dynamics of religious conversation Brian McLaren Those who think they have evangelicals figured out and have relegated them to a confined conceptual box may be in for surprise if they hear Brian McLaren speak at First United Church, April 4-5 as he brings his Everything Must Change Tour to Oak Park.In his book by the same name, which he is promoting on the tour, McLaren acknowledges that evangelicals have in the past been concerned only with getting people "saved." While he has nothing against being born again,...

Monday, May 14, 2007 Re-Branding Christianity “Image is everything.” --Tennis pro Andre Agassi, 1992 Canon camera commercial [Cited on p. 197 of No Logo by Naomi Klein (Picador, 2002).] This could be the new slogan for the slick marketing campaigns in neoevangelicaldom today. These campaigns aren't selling a product, per se. They are selling the image of a product. To understand what this means, check out the latest marketing strategies used by the corporate world. The example of Nike, as described in No Logo by Naomi Klein, is quite instructive: “A company that swallows cultural space in giant gulps, Nike...

Brian McLaren, chief guru of the "emerging church" movement, feels "dirty" over the execution of Saddam Hussein. A pastor and best-selling author who appeals to "post-modern" evangelicals, McLaren now chairs Jim Wallis' Religious Left Sojourners group. He also is one of Jim Wallis' "Red Letter" Christians, who respond to conservative religionists by insisting that the "red letter" words of Jesus in the Bible actually support causes of the Left. In his latest column for Sojourners, McLaren claimed he is not opining about capital punishment. Instead, he is simply sharing "in personal terms" with "those who support executions" how he reacted...

"always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2Timothy 3:7) My favorite TV show as a teenager was Green Acres. On the show was a county agent by the name of Hank Kimball whose job was to answer technical questions for farmers. Mr. Douglas, a misplaced New York Lawyer and wannabe farmer, would often call Hank for advice. Hank, however, was the master of using many words to say absolutely nothing. His advice would go something like this: After Mr. Douglas calls Hank for advice about his sick pig, Hank shows up and accompanies Mr....

Lengthy...read more at the link. Wanted to post it because Jay Sekulow from the ACLJ made the list. The list includes Rick Warren(author of the Purpose Driven Life), Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, David Barton, Douglas Coe, Charles Colson, Luis Cortes, James Dobson, and many more.