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House Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said in a statement that Democratic leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, has repeatedly spurned offers by House Courts Committee Chairman Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, to hold a bipartisan hearing that would allow the two women to testify. “There should be no mistake about what has happened here: the alleged victims are seeking a bipartisan hearing; Republicans are seeking a bipartisan hearing; Democrats in the House of Delegates are refusing to allow that to happen,” Cox said.

RICHMOND, Va. -- House Republicans announced on the floor Friday that they plan to invite the two women accusing Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax of sexual assault to speak with them. Del. Rob Bell (R-District 58) said on the floor that the Court of Justice Committee will be scheduling a meeting and plan to invite Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson to testify. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax will also be invited to speak. It didn't take long for one of the accusers to respond and accept the invitation. Meredith Watson is gratified that the Virginia General Assembly has announced their intention...

A new documentary called “The Heretic,” which centers on false teacher Rob Bell, is set to be released on March 1, and features a number of statements that are already raising concern, such as, “The Bible has caused so much damage” and “Jesus would be absolutely mortified that someone started a religion in His name.” Bell explained in a Facebook post on Feb. 1 that he had been approached by filmmaker Andrew Morgan about creating a film surrounding his work and controversial views, which many decry as being apostate and heretical. “A few years ago, the filmmaker Andrew Morgan approached...

Rob Bell, who once enraged many evangelicals by questioning hell, is back with a new book that could re-ignite their fury. It’s called “What is the Bible?” And in it, Bell calls for the Bible to be read “literately, not literally.” In these polarized times, many Christians who claim to read the Bible are really more interested in cherry-picking verses to support their political or social points of view, Bell said in a phone interview with the Observer. “You can pull a verse out to justify almost anything,” he said. “When you read the Bible fuller and in-depth, suddenly you...

Link From The New Yorker Select articles about Bell here on FR: Pastor Rob Bell Grows Frustrated Amid Questions on 'Sinfulness' of HomosexualityChristian Pastor/Author Rob Bell Supports Gay MarriageRob Bell's "Love Wins" and the Biblical Doctrine of Hell

Rob Bell, the widely popular and controversial former megachurch pastor, is now convinced that a church doesn’t support same-sex marriage will "continue to be even more irrelevant." Bell made the comments on an episode of Oprah Winfrey's "Super Soul Sunday," where he appeared with his wife Kristen to talk about religion and spirituality. "One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness," Bell said. "Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It's central to our humanity....

It seems that Rob Bell and Oprah Winfrey are pretty good friends these days. Bell has appeared on Oprah’s show numerous times, and just recently appeared, along with his wife Kristen, on her “Super Soul Sunday” episode over Valentine’s Day weekend. Their appearance was designed to promote their new book, The ZimZum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage (HarperOne: 2014). Now, I have to confess that I have no idea what the main title means. But, the subtitle is pretty bold. Given that marriage dates back to the very creation of mankind in Genesis, do we really need...

For those who had any questions, Rob Bell has now made himself totally clear: He is willing to trash parts of the Bible as "letters from 2,000 years ago" when God's Word contradicts his views on same-sex "marriage." Bell appeared on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday program together with his wife Kristen to promote their new book The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage. In an interview last December, Bell explained that on page 16 of the book, he and Kristen give their "whole hearted affirmation" to same-sex "marriage." That was no surprise in light of his announcement...

Rob Bell is a progressive former mega-church pastor. He is also a heretic who, since giving up the mega-church pastoring gig, has been hanging out with the likes of Oprah Winfrey. Bell was part of the emergent church, which engaged in “conversations” and rejected historic Christianity. While the emergents like to pretend they’re new, hip and cool, the reality is they’re no different than the other progressive churches out there which have rejected historic Christianity. The difference between the emergent church and the pentecostal or baptist churches is only how they demonstrate their rejection of historic Christianity. Rather than rolling...

Rob Bell believes the Bible is irrelevant. The Bible says Rob Bell is irrelevant. Transcript: At some level, I’m happy when this happens, it’s not that unusual. We have someone who makes a splash in our little world, the evangelical world. And he typically makes that splash because he’s quite effective at gathering large numbers. But after a while we begin to doubt his loyalty to the core convictions of evangelicals. Well, it’s not unusual when this happens that about this same time, our hero with the wide reach determines to turn on we evangelicals and embrace the broader world....

Riding on the success of a pile of bestselling books and a hit video series, Pastor Rob Bell became one of the most sought after religious speakers in America during the early 2000’s. But after Bell questioned whether hell was real in his New York Times bestselling book Love Wins, many conservative Christians tried to oust him from the inner circle of evangelicalism. How did Bell respond? By quietly bidding his haters adieu, leaving his church, and attaining even more success. In 2011, Bell was named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and, after finding his...

Rob Bell will be out on the road as part of a new speaking tour. But unlike the intimate theater shows he used to host, his new platform will be in arenas around the country. Oprah has announced that Bell will be among the guests on her eight-city “The Life You Want Weekend” tour, kicking off this fall. In a press release, Oprah said, “All of my life I have wanted to lead people to an empathy space. To a gratitude space. I want us all to fulfill our greatest potential. To find our calling, and summon the courage to...

 Jim Hinch argues in The American Scholar that evangelicalism is on decline in America. This thesis is not new. He’s accessing trends in polling data that evangelicals have been aware of for years. The article focuses on the demise of Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral as a parable of what’s happening in evangelicalism writ large. Hinch then argues that Rob Bell’s flight from the pastorate and from his own megachurch is a leading indicator of where younger evangelicals are trending. In short, they’re leaving the movement. And in Bell’s case in particular, they’re leaving the church altogether. Hinch writes:Yet, like so many...

Mars Hill Bible Church, the congregation founded by author Rob Bell, lost about 1,000 people over their former pastor's controversial 2011 book, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, according to the Grandville, Mich., megachurch's new pastor Kent Dobson. Dobson was chosen by Mars Hill Bible Church in 2012 to replace Bell, who founded the congregation in 1999. "There was a lot of drama with (Bell's book) Love Wins and that season feels like it's over. This year has been one of sort of settling down a bit and re-identifying our...

When evangelical preachers lose their way and turn their backs on biblical Christianity, why is it they end up in the Episcopal Church? As a preacher who traveled in the opposite direction and left the Episcopal Church 22 years ago—or I should say the Episcopal Church left me—I think I have a clue. On March 18, the Huffington Post reported that Rob Bell, the one-time evangelical pastor who rejected the core of Christian faith, has endorsed homosexual marriage. Where was that endorsement made? Surprise, surprise: Grace Cathedral, the Episcopal Cathedral of the Diocese of California. Grace Cathedral is located in...

Former megachurch pastor Rob Bell appeared in a recent radio discussion with Christian British minister Andrew Wilson to discuss his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, and grew frustrated when pressed by Wilson to explain his theological reasons for affirming homosexuality and same-sex relationships. Bell and Wilson appeared on the U.K. faith debate program "Unbelievable?" hosted by Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio. Wilson is a published theologian and elder at Kings Church in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The men, moderated by Brierley, started the discussion by debating various issues during the hour-plus program, but it...

With that said and meant, this shift is altogether unsurprising. The new mark of being culturally acceptable is affirming homosexuality as virtuous (not merely okay, but virtuous, even exemplary). This is the litmus test. I don’t think many of us expected that it would so quickly fill this role, but it has. The mark of being a progressive, kind, socially courageous person today is simply this: affirming same-sex marriage. There are other cardinal virtues of a contemporary au courant identity, but this is the lodestar, the one that hangs one’s personal moon. This shows us that the cultural middle is...

Every once in a while, someone of note questions or denies the classic Christian belief of a literal hell with eternal, conscious suffering. Then a debate rages and becomes personal between representatives of various perspectives on the issue... Hell is real and terrible. It is eternal. There is no possibility of amnesty or reprieve. Daniel says that some of the dead will be resurrected “to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment.” Paul tells...

Former megachurch pastor Rob Bell, founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., recently shared how his 2011 book, Love Wins, led to a fallout with the congregation and forced him on a "search for a more forgiving faith." Bell details this search in a recent interview with The New Yorker, and discusses his invitation to Christians interested in a different kind of church, "one that can keep pace with the rising 'waterline of culture.'" "Bell is now loosely aligned with a cohort of pastors worldwide who are searching for ways to move beyond old-fashioned worship," Kelefa Sanneh of...

The face of American Christianity is in transition, and Rob Bell, with his evolving look and artistry, has opened a window on this hybrid horizon. Known to many for his Nooma films, a series of twenty-four twelve-minute sermons and his controversial 2011 book, titled Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, his person and work provoke visceral reactions that range from adoration to repulsion, while raising profound questions. In 2011 he was named to the Time 100 list—the 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, Bell left Mars...