“Now, it’s tragic and probably heretical that this is how the American evangelical community decides who is and who is not an acceptable and recognized member of the community. Wallis’ long demonstration of a passionate faith doesn’t count in this calculus. Nor does his personal testimony, his church membership or of his long track record as a Bible-soaked preacher of God’s Word. All that really matters is opposition to those two things: Abortion and homosexuality. All other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

“My point here is not to defend my earlier calculation that the Bush administration could not be trusted to wage this effort successfully. I only want to point out — as Sullivan has come to realize — that this was not merely “facile Bush bashing,” but part of a principled objection to the war.”

“People come with physical bodies and those physical bodies come with genitalia and it’s neither helpful nor healthy to start thinking that these things are, in and of themselves, evil.”

The generational dynamic in 2013 turns out to be the same as it was 20 years ago. You’ve got your older generation looking down their nose at the “slacker” youth because kids these days are apathetic and lazy and yadda yadda yadda. And you’ve got your younger generation pointing out that these so-called slackers are actually very engaged — just because their activism takes a different form doesn’t make it illegitimate, ineffective or unimportant.

Some Thursday morning links, including: Sure signs they’re hiding something; The Myth of Certainty II; McGrath 2, Creationism 0; separating Christianity from “the piles of intellectual rot and political carpet bags;” a giant head found floating in the Hudson; Scot McKnight defends Wrigley Field; and a tribute to a remarkable coach.