{"id":1416,"date":"2013-05-21T21:09:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html"},"modified":"2013-05-21T21:09:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T21:09:00","slug":"the-evolution-of-an-evangelical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of an Evangelical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Evolution is no longer a theory \u2014 it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White House to the State House; in opinion polls and in church pews; even in NBA locker rooms: the dream of full equality for LGBT people is no longer a far-away light at the end of a very long tunnel \u2014 it is a tide turning and a point tipping.<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019ve seen lots and lots of analysis about what has been the \u201cgame changer\u201d for this movement that I\u2019ve been part of for over a decade now. And while I\u2019m sure there are books about to be published, articles fixing to be filed and dissertations eventually going to be defended, what I know for a fact certain is that part of the story \u2014 no matter who is telling it or analyzing it \u2014 will be the power of the stories of LGBT people to change hearts and minds. And votes. And eventually the world.<\/span><\/div>\n
And the best way I know to illustrate the power of those stories is to share this story \u2014 the story of the evolution of an evangelical, the story of Brian McLaren. Author, activist and \u201cpublic theologian\u201d Brian McLaren took some heat last year when he presided at the wedding of his son Trevor and his husband Owen. In response to some of that \u201cheat\u201d \u2014 mostly from fellow Christians \u2014 McLaren told this story\u00a0in a recent blog post:<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evolution is no longer a theory \u2014 it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White House to the State House; in opinion polls and in church pews; even in NBA locker rooms: the dream of full equality for LGBT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Evolution of an Evangelical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Evolution of an Evangelical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html\",\"name\":\"The Evolution of an Evangelical\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Evolution of an Evangelical\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Evolution of an Evangelical","description":"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Evolution of an Evangelical","og_description":"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html","name":"The Evolution of an Evangelical","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-21T21:09:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Evolution is no longer a theory -- it is a reality. Or at least it is when it comes to the evolution of public opinion on LGBT equality. From the White","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/05\/the-evolution-of-an-evangelical.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Evolution of an Evangelical"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}