Tuesday, October 31: This post is closed to commenting. Want to talk God and “gay marriage?” Do so at Democrats: Court Winners, Election Losers.
Saturday, October 28 @ 10:30 a.m. PDT: I attended a breakout session yesterday called “Maximizing Ministry in New Media,” led by pastor, author, and blogger Mark Roberts. He and I almost got sidetracked when I told him I’d read and linked to his article on Christians and Harry Potter, “Hoodwinked by Harry?,” after I mentioned my fantasy fiction blog. I’m waiting for an invitation to a conference for Christians who like fantasy fiction. Sign me up!
Anyway, the wireless wasn’t working in that room, so I couldn’t live-blog. I typed up a summary in Word. I’ll post it, my final thoughts on this year’s GodBlogCon, and photos next week. Thanks for reading LBC. 
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I’m coming to you live from the second annual God Blog Conference in La Mirada, California. You’re having lunch, but I just finished breakfast. Before I blog about the first panel, I wanted to mention something I hope will be discussed today.
By now you’ve heard that a New Jersey court has “opened the door” to “homosexual marriage.” I think this decision and the Mark Foley fiasco, which we now know was instigated by a staffer at the homosexual advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign, will backfire on Democrats. At least, I hope so.
I am a fan of Camille Paglia, a Democrat-voting lesbian, writer, and art professor. Why I’m a fan is a long story, and I’ll tell you about it later. My taste in reading is more eclectic than I reveal on this blog, but that’s another topic for another post. Paglia was interviewed in Salon, and she says this about the Foley scandal:
Foley is obviously a moral degenerate, and the Republican House leadership has come across as pathetically bumbling and ineffectual. But the idea that this is some sort of major scandal in the history of American politics is ludicrous. This was a story that needed to be told for, you know, like two days.
Mark Foley was never on the radar of anyone outside the small circle of news junkies. So his fall and banishment from Washington were nothing but a drip in the torrential flood of current geopolitical problems. The way the Democratic leadership was in clear collusion with the major media to push this story in the month before the midterm election seems to me to have been a big fat gift to Ann Coulter and the other conservative commentators who say the mainstream media are simply the lapdogs of the Democrats. Every time I turned on the news it was “Foley, Foley, Foley!” — and in suspiciously similar language and repetitive talking points.
After three or four days of it, as soon as I heard Foley’s name, I turned the sound off or switched channels. It was gargantuan overkill, and I felt the Democrats were shooting themselves in the foot… Since when does the Democratic Party use any gay issue in this coldblooded way as a token on the chessboard? You’d expect this stuff from right-wing ideologues, not progressives.
Whether conservatives, Christians, and Republicans are disgusted by the prospect of perverted marriage or whether they just don’t want Democrats to gain majorities in the House and Senate, I hope they head to the polls in droves.
The first plenary panel is “Bridging the Christian Divide,” with Mark D. Roberts, James Kushiner, publisher of Touchstone Magazine and blogger at Mere Comments, Joe Carter, and Jimmy Akin.
Not to cause controversy this early, but a commenter on Akin’s blog asked him to ask me why I have such an affinity for the “anti-Catholic” James White. Akin is a Roman Catholic, by the way. I have a feeling we won’t get into heavy doctrinal issues today.
“Liberal” Christians, Jewish, and Roman Catholic bloggers have complained that GodBlogCon is heavily conservative, evangelical, and Protestant. We’ve been told our name is a misnomer. “ChristBlogCon” would be more appropriate, they’ve said.
Blogger SkyePuppy blogged about last night’s discussion. I couldn’t make it. 
I’m told this panel will be available for download. That’s good, because there are lots of good points that I can’t blog fast enough. My blog-out-loud thought: Christian bloggers, still fallen human beings, must be salt and light in this fallen world. But…we must do so in love. My question is what does “love” look like? Is telling the truth and calling out perversion “unloving,” for example?
1: 28 p.m. PDT: Sorry for the lack of blogging. Lunch. Talking. In a few minutes, I’ll speak on a panel called, “Bridging the Political Divide.” I won’t be able to live-blog it, so check the blogroll at the GodBlogCon site to find out who’s live-blogging.
3:18 p.m. PDT: Panel done. Spoke with Charmaine Yoest, John Mark Reynolds, and Andrew Jackson, with Joe Carter moderating, on how to bridge the political divide as Christians. I spoke a bit about the controversy I stir up when I question how Christ-professing people can vote for a politician who votes for so-called partial birth abortion.
Will do another tonight. Can’t remember the name of it. I think it’s a roundtable with Hugh Hewitt moderating. Speaking of HH, I’m sitting in the Heritage Room at Biola University live-blogging during his radio show. Last year I was on the list of bloggers he wanted to interview, and I missed my spot because I was being interviewed by Old Schoolhouse Magazine. No regrets because it’s a great publication. But I want my HH radio interview this year.
3:56 p.m. PDT: I got my HH interview. All is well.
5:00 p.m. PDT: Blogger Christof Meyer blogged a bit during my panel and captured our one-sentence piece of advice. The first thing that popped into my head: Be bold in everything you do.
Christian blogger David Robertson, who’s not here, responded to my earlier questions, what does “love†look like and is telling the truth and calling out perversion “unloving”? David says:
“[T]he answer to La Shawn’s question depends on whether one’s audience is a Christian one or a non-Christian one.” Read the rest. There’s even a Part II.
Commenter and blogger ExPreacherMan asks, “Should Christians Be Political?”
