The church’s engagement with the culture involves a host of issues, controversies, and decisions–but no issue defines our current cultural crisis as clearly as homosexuality. Some churches and denominations have capitulated to the demands of the homosexual rights movement, and now accept homosexuality as a fully valid lifestyle. Other denominations are tottering on the brink, and without a massive conservative resistance, they are almost certain to abandon biblical truth and bless what the Bible condemns. Within a few short years, a major dividing line has become evident–with those churches endorsing homosexuality on one side, and those stubbornly resisting the cultural tide on the other.

Is same-sex marriage inevitable? That question takes on a new urgency in the wake of the U.S. Senate’s shameful failure to affirm the Marriage Protection Act. Some observers see the normalization of same-sex marriage as inevitable. They may be right, of course, though it is too soon to say.

Is the battle against same-sex marriage already lost? With homosexual marriage now legal in Massachusetts and with momentum toward legalization now spreading across the nation, homosexual advocates are increasingly confident that victory is in sight. Now, some conservatives are beginning to wonder if the gay activists might be right. Christopher Caldwell, writing in The Financial Times, notes the momentum of the gay rights movement as it achieved its great victory in Massachusetts. “In gaining full legal marriage rights in an important state, American gays have effected the quickest transition from pariah status to protected status in the history of civil rights movements.” Caldwell appears certain that same-sex marriage is now an established social reality. Today, Dr. Mohler asks if some conservatives have already admitted defeat.

Don’t get too excited, but I have found a basis for some agreement with John Shelby Spong, the liberal retired Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey. It probably had to happen sooner or later.

The Conservative movement within American Judaism is debating the issue of homosexuality, centered in the questions of the ordination of homosexuals as rabbis and the blessing of same-sex union. As with Christian denominations, the inescapable issue is the authority of the Bible. The Old Testament’s clear words of condemnation for all homosexual behavior would seem to be clear enough, but the Virtual Talmud blog offers this explanation:

The New Republic returns to the issue of Brokeback Mountain in an essay by Christopher Orr on “Masculinity and Brokeback Mountain.” Orr argues that the furor over the movie has to do with the fact that our current cultural context no longer allows two men to be living together without someone (or most observers) assuming them to be homosexual. He laments the disappearance of the cowboy as “archetype” of such male relationships.

“A heads-up to those of you still fretting about the alleged evils of gay marriage: The parade has moved on.” So argues Dahlia Lithwick, writing at Slate.com.

My commentary for today, “The Limits of Conscience and the Authority of the Word of God,” takes a look at the trial of Rev. Jane Adams Spahr within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and considers what it means when an individual claims a right of private conscience in order to violate Scripture and confessions of the church. Her acquittal is a dark day for that denomination — a sign that open defiance of the church’s own policies will not be punished.

Last week Rev. Jane Adams Spahr was found not-guilty of ministerial misconduct, even after the openly lesbian Presbyterian minister had defied the teachings of her church by performing “marriages” for two lesbian couples. Given the current state of mainline Protestantism, the actions by the trial court were not completely unexpected. Nevertheless, this act of rebellion against the church’s law and the clear teachings of Scripture sets the stage for an even larger conflict when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) holds its General Assembly in June.