2. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings – Try to prove truths using random examples Ex: Marriages of Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon – Make false claims altogether “The Bible endorses slavery, a practice that Americans now universally consider shameful and barbaric.…It provides conceptual shelter for anti-Semites.” – Take that which is pure and make it perverted and evil Ex: Story of David & Jonathan – Twist Jesus’ actions & words to meet their own wishes Ex: Their wish that Jesus accept everyone unconditionally

3. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself – Try to claim that the Bible cannot be trusted – Try to claim that the Bible writers were inept and uninspired Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible – Mock opposition to homosexuality using Bible as final authority – Complain of unfair Scriptural advantage of gay marriage opponents – Admit but then move on and dismiss clear Bible authority

5. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings – Claim homosexuality is “intrinsic” or inherited – Try to ignore any principles taught in the book of Leviticus – Blatantly ignore Bible definition for marriage

6. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage” Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers

7. The Editor’s Desk: No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition… Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

8. Lisa Miller’s Article: Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script? Of course not, yet the religious opponents of gay marriage would have it be so. … …no sensible modern person wants marriage—theirs or anyone else's —to look in its particulars anything like what the Bible describes. … If we are all God's children, made in his likeness and image, then to deny access to any sacrament based on sexuality is exactly the same thing as denying it based on skin color—and no serious (or even semiserious) person would argue that. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

9. Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers Follow & Impose a Subjectively Flawed Standard – Promote human reasoning

10. The Editor’s Desk: The Devil, as Shakespeare once noted, can cite Scripture for his purpose, and the texts have been ready sources for those seeking to promote …things that few people in the first decade of the 21st century would think reasonable. Lisa Miller’s article: In the NEWSWEEK POLL, 55 percent of respondents said that married heterosexuals who have sex with someone other than their spouses are more morally objectionable than a gay couple in a committed sexual relationship. … What happens in the bedroom, really, has nothing to do with any of this. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

11. Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers Follow & Impose a Subjectively Flawed Standard – Promote human reasoning – Elevate modern understanding

12. Lisa Miller’s article: Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. The Editor’s Desk: The reaction to this cover is not difficult to predict. Religious conservatives will say that the liberal media are once again seeking to impose their values (or their "agenda," a favorite term to describe the views of those who disagree with you) on a God-fearing nation. Let the letters and e-mails come. History and demographics are on the side of those who favor inclusion over exclusion. (As it has been with reform in America from the Founding forward.) Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

13. Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers Follow & Impose a Subjectively Flawed Standard – Promote human reasoning – Elevate modern understanding – Advocate an evolving society

14. The Editor’s Desk: Beyond the Bible, some argue that marriage is between a man and woman by custom and tradition—which is true, but only to a point. As recently as the 1960s men and women of different races could not legally marry in certain states. In civil and religious terms we have redefined marriage before in order to reflect evolving understandings of justice and right; to act as though marriage has been one thing since Eden (and look how well that turned out) is ahistorical. Lisa Miller’s article: Biblical literalists will disagree, but the Bible is a living document, powerful for more than 2,000 years because its truths speak to us even as we change through history. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

15. Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers Follow & Impose a Subjectively Flawed Standard – Promote human reasoning – Elevate modern understanding – Advocate an evolving society – Uphold common practice

16. Lisa Miller’s article: Common prayers and rituals reflect our common practice: the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer describes the participants in a marriage as "the man and the woman." But common practice changes—and for the better… … Religious wedding ceremonies have already changed to reflect new conceptions of marriage. Remember when we used to say "man and wife" instead of "husband and wife"? Remember when we stopped using the word "obey"? Even Miss Manners, the voice of tradition and reason, approved in 1997 of that change. "It seems," she wrote, "that dropping 'obey' was a sensible editing of a service that made assumptions about marriage that the society no longer holds.“ … In any case, one might add, Paul argued more strenuously against divorce— and at least half of the Christians in America disregard that teaching. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”

17. Blatantly Misuse, Twist & Falsify Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock the Bible Itself Dismiss & Mock the Authority of the Bible Dismiss & Mock Bible Teachings Dismiss & Mock Bible Believers, Followers & Teachers Follow & Impose a Subjectively Flawed Standard – Promote human reasoning – Elevate modern understanding – Advocate an evolving society – Uphold common practice – Advance legalization & legalities

18. Lisa Miller’s article: Still, very few Jewish or Christian denominations do officially endorse gay marriage, even in the states where it is legal. Review of Newsweek’s Dec. 15, 2008 Issue: “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage”