The Southern Baptist Convention throws transgender people under the bus

Last updated on: April 22, 2016 at 10:05 am By John Shore

On June 10, 2014, delegates (“messengers”) to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (the largest Protestant body in American, with around 16 million members) approved a landmark resolution on the issue of transgender people. The resolution, “On Transgender Identity,” makes the 15 individual points about transgender people shown in bolded print below. Each point is followed by text from the resolution which supports that point. Following these individual points is the whole of the resolution, which is clearly meant as a bulwark against “LGBT activists,”... Read more

My elderly parents have chosen a church that rejects me

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 11:31 am By John Shore

What do you do when your parents choose a church that they know condemns you? Read more

Time to speak of speaking in tongues!

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 11:32 am By John Shore

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday (which, fyi if ya dunno, marks the end of the 50-day Easter season: for more see Knowing the Christian Calendar). So right now a lot of Christians are revisiting the whole topic of “speaking in tongues.” Why? Because of this passage in The Book of Acts: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the... Read more

Five e-z steps for calming down fights over abortion

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 11:32 am By John Shore

In order to help ratchet back the animosity that so often characterizes our conversations about abortion, I propose that whenever people gather to discuss the issue, before beginning everyone present resolves to agree upon the following five points, which anyone should be able to: 1. We all love and adore babies. 2. We can all empathize with any pregnant woman who, for whatever reason, feels that she must terminate her pregnancy. 3. No pregnant woman in America (or anywhere else... Read more

Al Mohler and the Southern Baptists’ big gay lie

Last updated on: June 3, 2014 at 8:29 am By John Shore

Why does the SBC so vociferously cling to the first half of its apparently critical law on marriage, while so utterly ignoring that same law's second half? Read more

Southern Baptist pastor accepts his gay son, changes his church.

Last updated on: July 10, 2014 at 4:04 am By John Shore

UPDATE: Pastor Danny and his son Drew were invited to the White House on June 30! Hi John, I wanted to introduce myself to you. My name is Danny Cortez and I pastor a small Southern Baptist Church in La Mirada, CA. We’re about a mile from Biola University in a very conservative neighborhood. Anyway, I recently became gay affirming after a 15-year journey of having multiple people in my congregation come out to me every year. I scoured through... Read more

Gay Christian teen beaten up, then saved by REAL Christians

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 11:33 am By John Shore

I started to ask myself if I'm being the bigger person, or if I am wrongly demonizing an entire population. Read more

Dancing cheek to cheek to cheek?

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 11:34 am By John Shore

Dear John, As I read through your interview with a polyamorous woman (1 Man, 2 Women In A Polyamorous Relationship), I found myself tearing up. Because the woman you spoke with explained the whole love dynamic that I have been experiencing in my life for so long. I also appreciated her making the point that being poly is about love, not sex. That is so important to stress, because a lot of people believe that polyamory is primarily driven by... Read more