Hugo Schwyzer and his commenters thoughtfully analyze the Barna Research Group’s findings on high divorce rates among born-again Christians. A three-time divorcee and religious convert, Hugo adds his personal experience, and compares the ease of his divorces with the difficulty of a gay couple seeking to marry in the same churches.

Exodus on the Family — I mean, Exodus and Focus on the Family — are leading a who’s who of religious-right political activists in an Oct. 15 “MayDay for Marriage” rally in Washington. Christianity Today quotes rally leaders:

Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash., has a message for politicians, especially those who support homosexual marriage: “Don’t mess with God’s people unless you want your office window view changed.”…

“It is my prayer that our participation in this rally will not only communicate that change is possible to a questioning world,” said Randy Thomas of Exodus, “but that it will also communicate how deeply in love with the homosexual God truly is.”

(Hat tip: Cpt. Doom)

Televangelist Paul Crouch of the Trinity Broadcasting Network is attempting to keep secret the accusations of an ex-gay encounter with former employee Enoch Lonnie Ford in 1996, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Televangelist Paul Crouch, founder of the world’s largest Christian broadcasting network, has waged a fierce legal battle to prevent a former employee from publicizing allegations that he and Crouch had a sexual encounter eight years ago.

However, in threatening to violate a 1998 confidentiality agreement, the accuser has raised concern about his own credibility and motive. (Hat tip: To Dan Gonzales for the AP version of the story.) Christianity Today’s Ted Olsen comments on Ford’s alleged extortion.

Exodus is pleased that a snapshot of its “I Questioned Homosexuality” ad appears in the Sept. 14 issue of The Advocate. But not so pleased that it wants ex-gays to rush out and buy gay newsmagazines. “Instead go buy the September/October edition of New Man Magazine,” Exodus says.

Thomas Fleming of the conservative Rockford Institute laments a collapse of morality and absence of truth among the neocons.

Bill Bennett the gambler; Deal Hudson the student-molester; Elliot Abrams the perjurer; Lynne Cheney the pornographer; Michael Ledeen the plagiarist; Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, David Wurmser, and Richard Perle the lobbyists for Israel … What people, what a movement. And not one of them has seriously lost face either with the Republican Party or with the movement conservatives who have hired and promoted them.

Christianity Today offers 13 bad arguments for same-sex marriage. A few of the arguments are worthwhile considerations. Some of the arguments are distortions of the real arguments; no gay-marriage advocates are quoted. Several arguments are based on discredited claims, such as the imaginary collapse of family values in Scandinavia. And some aren’t real arguments at all — just strawmen.

Focus on the Family accuses two gay-tolerant members of the Congressional Black Caucus of attempting to “silence” a group of antigay black pastors. But it appears that the lawmakers were simply daring to disagree with the pastors; no evidence is presented that anyone actually tried to silence the pastors.

Focus on the Family also attempts to belittle critics of its effort to define God as a Republican and to redefine pro-life/pro-family issues as relating solely to abortion and gay marriage. Focus describes the consistently pro-life Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners as a “self-admitted liberal” and “self-avowed Democrat” without any substantiation; Focus also omits any mention of Wallis’ pro-life positions.

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