The call from a reporter for The New York Times came out of the blue, telling me that U.S. Senator Ken Salazar [D-Colorado] has launched an attack on me by sending a public letter to the press. Here’s the letter, addressed to Focus on the Family chairman Dr. James Dobson:

The mayor of Prichard, Alabama says that he will ask the City Council to adopt a “temporary” moratorium on the construction of new church buildings in areas that are zoned for business purposes–or may be zoned for business purposes in the future. Mayor Ron Davis said that his city, a community near Mobile, Alabama, needs the tax revenue from businesses that could be attracted to locate along “core corridors.” According to The Mobile Register, the major said that areas zoned for business should not have churches taking up “too much space.” In an ironic twist, the City Council will meet in a church building today as it conducts its business. According to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, “No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution.” The Prichard City Attorney said that he was not familiar with the act, but doubted it would apply. He told the paper, “This is on building a building, not the religious activity that’s going to take place inside the building.” Perhaps the City Attorney would be well advised to read the law.

D. A. Carson’s new book on the Emergent Church has been released earlier than expected. The book, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and its Implications, should be required reading for evangelical pastors and church leaders. I’ll offer a full review in coming days.

Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Bell–a Republican–signed a bill yesterday, legalizing civil unions in her state. Marriage without the name, these civil unions will be invested with practically all the benefits and protections granted to marriage. Connecticut becomes the first state to adopt civil union legislation without being ordered to do so by a court. Gov. Bell was proud of this, saying that it “certainly bodes well for Connecticut that we didn’t have to be ordered to do this.” It bodes ill for civilization, but this governor seems unconcerned about all that. After all, she is sure to get a positive reaction from the liberal press. See coverage in The New York Times. Meanwhile, California Democrats endorsed same-sex marriage at their annual convention. See coverage at 365gay.com.

When does a boy become a man? That interesting question was recently posed to me, and it raises some of the most important issues facing Christians today. While the world seems increasingly confused about matters as basic as what it means to be male and female, Christians are called to frame our arguments in distinctively biblical terms.