Dr Paul Allen

Image via Wikipedia Author: Ligonier Ministries  Near the close of the 1976 U.S. Presidential campaign,  Newsweek  magazine famously declared 1976 the “Year of the Evangelical.” In subsequent years, Jerry Falwell ’s “ Moral Majority ,” Pat Robertson ’s “Christian Coalition,” and James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” assumed leading roles on the stage of American political life. Each strongly identified with the Republican party and conservative public policy. In the last decade, however, a new set of actors has appeared on this stage. Leaders such as Rick Warren, Jim Wallis, and Ron Sider – all bearing evangelical credentials – have bristled against evangelicalism’s longstanding identification with the Republican party. Promoting left-of-center public policies, these spokesmen do not appear to be speaking only for themselves. Polls suggest that a growing  Image via Wikipedia number of younger self-identified evangelicals have wearied of the policies and party affiliation of thei

Image via Wikipedia On Sunday the people of New York laid down a marker: Politicians cannot sell out their base, sell out their principles, lie to their people, and pass a law which is a lie about human nature, without consequences. Votes have consequences. Thousands of New Yorkers turned out on a very hot Sunday, with a threat of thunderstorms, to make the message clear. We estimated 10,000 people across the five cities that had rallies. I was in Albany and Maggie was in Manhattan, along with Sen. Rev Rubén Díaz and a number of local pastors organized by (evangelical) Bishop Joe Mattera. The Associated Press  said there were  "thousands." And even a  Wall Street Journal  editor who is deeply skeptical of our capacity to get a marriage amendment through the legislature to the people  had to admit : "We happened to run into the group's New York City march yesterday as it crossed Second Avenue, and the turnout was impressive. It was the biggest demonstrati

Image via Wikipedia Why Marriage is the exclusive union of a Man and a Woman  1.1 Many  Christians  will be aware of the campaign for so-called marriage “equality”.  A bill currently  before the  Australian Parliament  aims to change the current definition of marriage to allow same sex  couples to marry.  This would represent a radical revision of the public understanding of marriage as a  social institution, and a radical challenge to the Christian understanding of marriage. Federal  Parliamentarians  have been asked to “gauge their constituents’ views on ways to achieve equal  treatment for same sex couples including marriage”. 1.2 What are our views as Christians on this issue? And why should we engage in the political  debate?  This paper seeks to answer these questions, setting out the case in favour of retaining the  current  Federal law  which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all  others, voluntarily entered into for life. The paper has four