Catholic School President Fired After Being Falsely Accused of Homosexuality

May 6, 2013 By 34 Comments

Regis Catholic Schools (in Eau Claire, Wisconsin) has been searching for a new president. But it won’t be Tim Nelson, as the parochial-school organization originally announced; they’ve withdrawn their announcement from early April that he was the best candidate for the job.

Nelson is hopping mad, and claims that decision is based on erroneous information about his sexual orientation. He says the organization approached him with misgivings about a name connected with him in his father’s obituary — almost the same way another Catholic school discovered that Carla Hale was a lesbian. Nelson insists the name, which was in parentheses next to his, belonged to a close family friend who is his roommate and prayer companion, but not his partner or lover. The format of the obituary may have misleadingly implied a romantic relationship, but Nelson pleads ignorance of obituary-writing etiquette.

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Filed Under: Education, General, GLBT 34 Comments

How Evangelical Christians’ Stance Against Homosexuality Has Hurt Their Own Cause

May 6, 2013 By 47 Comments

One of the complaints Christians (especially younger ones) often have with atheists is that we tend to lump them all together. It may be easy to separate evangelicals from more liberal Christians… but we don’t make much of an effort to separate “old guard” evangelicals from the ones who have a different take on many of the big social issues of the day.

Tom Krattenmaker has written about this “new breed” of Christians in a book called The Evangelicals You Don’t Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013). It’s a fascinating look at how a new generation of evangelicals is pushing back against tradition and working to modernize the faith. (Full disclosure: I provided a blurb for the back of the book.)

Krattenmaker is also the author of Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers about the intersection of religion and sports.

In the passage below, he talks about how “old guard” evangelical Christians have hurt their own cause by pushing so hard against gay rights:

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Filed Under: Books, General, GLBT 47 Comments

Is It Okay for Christians to Support Marriage Equality Long After the Rest of Us?

May 6, 2013 By 96 Comments

Christian blogger Tony Jones was asked what he thinks about prominent Christians (like Rob Bell and Jim Wallis) who are now, finally, coming around to support marriage equality:

Jones says what’s on everybody’s mind — It’s relatively easy to support marriage equality now, but where were you when it mattered? — but then he adds another point (with an exasperated sigh, I might add): In the long run, what matters is not when they came around, but that they came around.

To an extent, I agree with him. I would rather have evangelical Christians (and everyone else, for that matter) support marriage equality even if it takes a while for them to get there.

But only on a few conditions.

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Filed Under: General, GLBT 96 Comments

Methodist Minister Risks Punishment After Performing Marriage Ceremony for Gay Son

May 5, 2013 By 69 Comments

The United Methodist Church is one of those denominations that (believes it) practices “love the sinner, hate the sin” when it comes to homosexuality. They won’t let “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” into the clergy, they won’t perform gay weddings, and their official guidebook (PDF) says this:

The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.

Oh, but they’ll totally take money from gay parishioners. That’s perfectly fine.

The New York Times‘ Sharon Otterman has a story in Monday’s paper about Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree, a retired Methodist minister who performed the marriage of his gay son. Not surprisingly, the church wants him punished:

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Filed Under: General, GLBT 69 Comments