One mission of CBMW is to help Christians think through secular and ecclesial trends on gender and sexuality. Through this work, we pore over a lot of different news reports and articles as we attempt to wade through the ceaseless flow of information on the web. In our weekly Gender and Sexuality News Roundups, we aim to distill some of the more pertinent information for you.
The articles below are from a wide variety of sectors and publications, organized generally into three categories. They are presented in aggregate, not necessarily endorsed.
If you see an article that you think should be featured in future CBMW News Roundups, you can send it to [email protected] with the subject “News Roundup.”
TRUSTEES: MBTS adopts Nashville Statement, Baptist Press (T. Patrick Hudson)
“In light of ever-changing cultural norms and expectations toward marriage, gender, and sexuality, and in recognition that Southern Baptists are a confessional people, expecting their entities to maintain faithfulness to Holy Scripture and a clear witness to the world, Midwestern Seminary will strengthen its doctrinal clarity, witness, and legal standing by formally adopting the Nashville Statement,” Allen said.
Japan’s population decline accelerates despite record immigration, Financial Times (Robin Harding)
“The pace of population decline in Japan is accelerating, with the country set to lose the equivalent of a midsized city every year for the foreseeable future.”
This is not who we are as Methodist Christians’: Houston pastor calls for full LGBT inclusion, Houston Chronicle (Diane McGehee)
“While I cannot speak for the United Methodist denomination and do not speak for those who support the traditional plan passed by the denomination, I believe that I speak for hundreds of thousands of United Methodist clergy and laity when I say that this is not who we are as Methodist Christians.”
Pope Benedict Says Blame the ’60s for Priests’ Abuse, The Atlantic (Rachel Donadio)
“In his letter, Benedict blamed the sexual-abuse crisis on the absence of God. This is a theological argument that’s worth hearing out, although one could argue that, say, human agency was also to blame for a crisis in which priests sexually abused minors and dioceses routinely covered up the abuse. But most of all, the pope emeritus blamed the crisis on the upheavals of 1968. Benedict has long been obsessed with that year as a destructive social force, and has written in the past about how destabilizing the sexual revolution and student protests were to the social order and to the Church’s role as a moral authority.”
Adoption agency sues state over new gay adoption rules, The Detroit News (Beth LeBlanc)
“An adoptive mother and a Michigan faith-based adoption agency are challenging a recent state settlement that bans state contracts with foster and adoption agencies that refuse to work with gay couples. St. Vincent Catholic Charities and Melissa Buck, a mother of five special needs kids adopted through St. Vincent, filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging the new rules violated the group’s First Amendment rights. The group is represented by religious liberty group, Becket Law.”
Sexual Identity Laws: A Modern Trojan Horse, The Heritage Foundation (Monica Burke)
“These policies aren’t being used to promote equality. They’re being used as a blunt-force weapon to impose a new cultural orthodoxy on marriage and sexuality by punishing dissenters which, at least for some proponents, was always the plan.”
The Culture War Is Getting Worse — Yale Law School Edition, National Review “(David French)
“It has recruited students to the school and pledged to protect them from religious discrimination. Not only is it failing that pledge, it’s actively discriminating against religious students. It’s using its financial and cultural power to punish unrelated legal organizations. This is exactly the kind of intolerant, progressive, punitive action that is making our culture war worse.”
Notre Dame Coach Says She’ll Never Hire Another Man: ‘We Don’t Have Enough Women In Power’, The Federalist
“McGraw’s updated version of “separate but equal” for the sexes illustrates the philosophy behind her views: The “progressive” emphasis on “inclusion” and “diversity” actually encourages bigotry and retribution. It is not designed to fight bigotry but to redirect it against supposedly “privileged” groups—in this case, men. It represents the ultimate in identity politics.”
China’s LGBT community excited by Pete Buttigieg’s presidential run, CNN (Steven Jiang)
“There has been no coverage of Buttigieg on China’s strictly controlled state media, but some LGBT community leaders are following the Democratic hopeful, whose unexpected rise in the past weeks has dominated US political news, in overseas media.”
7 Truths About Marriage You Won’t Hear in Church, Relevant Magazine (Frank Powell)
“Embrace your wedding day. Prepare for it. Celebrate it. But do not make the mistake of believing the lie that it’s all about you. After your 20 minutes of fame, the spotlight is gone forever. It is no longer about you (and this is a good thing, you will see).”
Are biblical manhood and womanhood cultural constructs?, DennyBurk.com (Denny Burk)
“This emphasis from Paul struck me because of discordant notes that I have been hearing lately. Right now, these notes seem to be low rumblings, but I can imagine that they may be getting louder in days ahead. I have heard some people denigrate “biblical manhood and womanhood” as “white” theology that is rooted more in racial stereotypes than in biblical teaching.
“While it is true that all of us need to be on guard against unbiblical stereotypes, we need to be very careful that we not throw out the baby with the bathwater. My concern is that some may be in danger of casting aside what the Bible teaches on these things simply because of an alleged association with “whiteness.”
Must women really keep silent in the churches?, CBMW.org (Denny Burk)
“The interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 has proven to be more than a little controversial over the years. The reason for that is due in no small part to the clash that this text brings to modern egalitarian sensibilities.”
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