I cannot tell you how many times I have had readers ask me why so many religion-news stories seem to turn on the issue of homosexuality.
Actually, the issue at the heart of all this is broader -- the moral status of sex outside of marriage and the sexual revolution in general. Behind that looms a mountain range of towering issues linked to ancient Christian doctrines, traditions and biblical authority. But it's the fights over gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered that are getting the headlines right now. That's what is making news.
For example, consider this update on the Rt. Rev. Doug LeBlanc's recent post about the religious revival in the life of the controversial Anne "Interview With the Vampire" Rice. Her new book is titled Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and it is the first installment in a series on the life of Jesus.
Rice made news with her testimony that she has returned to the Roman Catholic faith. However, you just knew that sexuality questions had to be in there somewhere.
This is not surprising, since her writings have always been popular in the gay community. It is also not surprising that sexuality shows up in a lengthy report in The New York Times. Reporter Laura Millier is writing a feature story about Rice's new home in California, yet we still get to learn:
In 1998 Ms. Rice rejoined the Roman Catholic Church for the first time since suffering a "total breakdown of faith" at age 18. "That was in 1960, before Vatican II, and I was a very strictly brought-up Catholic," she explained. "I lost my faith because what I had been taught was so wrong." An overwhelming desire to "return to the banquet table" and assurances from a priest in New Orleans that she didn't have to resolve all her differences with the church (most notably over the issue of homosexuality) led to the reconciliation.
Well now, I wonder -- when these books reach the adult life of Jesus -- what we will learn about his relationship with Mary Magdalene? I would not be surprised in Rice's series turns out to be a major event on the Christian left.