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Is there no safe beer for conservatives in America to drink right now?!

First, Bud Light sent a few beers to a transgender influencer in early April. Then, Miller Lite ran an ad celebrating female brewers and offering up a lighthearted mea culpa over all the beer ads over the years featuring women in bikinis. Actually, the Miller Lite thing happened before the Bud Light thing, back in March for Womens History Month, but most people didnt see the Miller Lite thing before now. So now some on the right are mad about both of these major beer brands over what they see as selling out and taking progressive positions in supporting trans people and women.

Its not like beers are totally progressive now though, either. The customers these campaigns were aimed at might be upset to notice that Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev hasnt exactly stuck to its guns on Dylan Mulvaney, the trans influencer in question, and neither companys political donations are super aligned with left-leaning causes.

Its almost like beer companies do not have a consistent, coherent set of morals and values consumers should look to for cues on what to buy. The same goes for all companies, for that matter. Corporations are not your friends, let alone your political allies.

Think of it this way, whatever your political inclinations: The beers are the drinking buddies you suspect really dont have your best interests at heart when they suggest you order just one more at the bar before you head home. Theyve been putting all of the rounds on your tab, and are drinking with the other guy at the bar who really irks you.

If you had asked me what one of the major business stories of the first half of the year would be in 2023, I would not have said beer brands doing supposedly woke stuff. But here we are, and so here I am, too.

In April, Bud Light sent trans influencer and activist Mulvaney some cans of beer and Mulvaney posted about it on social media, presumably as part of a pretty run-of-the-mill paid sponsorship deal. It sparked outrage on the right as part of the ongoing backlash toward trans rights and visibility, with some conservative beer-drinkers feeling like it represented a betrayal and calling for a boycott. Kid Rock shot some beers, Travis Tritt said he was axing the brand from his tour. Indeed, Bud Light sales have declined in the wake of the backlash, though as with any boycott, its hard to know how long the impact will last. (Vox has a full explainer on the Bud Light situation here.)

In May, apparently in search of another target, conservatives decided that Miller Lite was bad, too, and overly woke. People dug up an ad from March and are now mad about that. In said ad, actress and comedian Ilana Glazer talks about an initiative at the company titled Bad $#!T to Good $#!T to create fertilizer from old, sexist beer advertising (read: featuring scantily clad women). The fertilizer was supposed to be used to grow hops for female brewers.

Its not entirely clear why the right has seized on this just now, as Miller Brewing Company, which is owned by Molson Coors, put out the ad and a press release announcing the fertilizer campaign more than two months ago. But the conservative bear has been poked. Right-leaning commentators and outlets have lamented that this is another piece of evidence that the beer companies are broken, complaining that another brand has jumped into a woke beer game and is headed for the boycott treatment too.

A quick scan of Twitter would indicate theres some confusion over what exactly the Miller Lite controversy is or who is at fault. Many people seem mistaken on the timeline and dont realize its ad came a month before the Bud Light ad and instead believe Miller is following in Buds footsteps. One commentator thought Miller was owned by AB InBev, but it is not.

This is emblematic of the broader controversy a lot of people have lost the plot on what exactly happened with Bud Light, to the extent they ever knew it. Some consumers incorrectly believe the company undertook a broad-based marketing campaign with Mulvaney, that beer cans featuring her image are for sale to the public, or that AB InBev is marketing cans with pronouns on them in the US. None of those things are true. Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris got at the issue in the companys most recent earnings call, pointing out that misinformation and confusion still exists around what even happened. We will need to continue to clarify the fact that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign, and repeat this message for some time, he said.

Some of the pushback to Bud Lights Mulvaney partnership was supposedly that it was offensive to women. In her post, Mulvaney said she didnt know what March Madness was, which some people claimed played into outdated stereotypes. In response to Voxs original Bud Light explainer, one reader lamented, We have come a long way in this country as women. Women before us have fought hard to get the respect we deserve. Do you want to go back to a time where women needed to act dumb and look pretty? On a larger scale, some anti-trans sentiment proclaims to be about protecting women. It certainly seems that the reaction to the Miller Lite ad, which is coming from many of the same people, would undercut this whole pro-women thing.

The controversy over Bud Lights partnership has had some legs to it. Bud Light sales were down by 23 percent from a year ago in the week ending on April 29, and Budweiser sales were down by 11 percent. Sales of other AB InBev products, such as Michelob Ultra, have fallen, too.

HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy downgraded AB InBevs stock in May, saying the Mulvaney dust-up has caused deeper problems than ABI admits and criticizing company managements handling of the matter. The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, managements response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions, he wrote. He questioned whether the company is hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk internally. If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firms largest brand?

Theres no denying AB InBevs handling of the situation has been messy. Initially, the company went dark on the matter, putting out a single statement and keeping quiet on social media. Then, it put out a longer statement from the CEO that in actuality says very little and managed to anger some progressives and LGBTQ groups, too. It also put some marketing executives on leave. Overall, its sort of just continued to muddle through, and nobodys happy in any corner.

Its not clear whether the storm thats subsumed Bud Light is headed for Miller Lite. Given the current state of culture wars in America, trans rights do seem to be more of a hot-button issue than, you know, the existence of women, but who knows.

For now, Miller Lite appears to be taking the fuss in stride. This video was about two things: worm poop and saying women shouldnt be forced to mud wrestle in order to sell beer, a spokesperson for Molson Coors said in an emailed statement to Vox. Neither of these things should be remotely controversial and we hope beer drinkers can appreciate the humor (and ridiculousness) of this video from back in March.

The website the ad was touting appears to have been taken down, and the video is a smidge hard to find online. Miller Lites social media is also filled with people yelling at it about the ad.

For those currently looking to boycott Bud Light and Miller Lite, note that their parent companies really have the US beer market cornered, accounting for about two-thirds of sales. So if you want to buy from elsewhere, you might have a hard time doing it. You probably do not even know all the brands they sell, and if youre really looking, you can likely find something to be mad about that, say, some Constellation Brands brew, including Modelo and Corona, did at some point. Theres that conservative dad guy selling Ultra Right beer, but its $19.99 for a six-pack, and it wont ship for another 30 days. Also, watch out, because Pride Month is just around the corner, and the corporations love it.

The weekend after the Bud Light dust-up really hit, I had a couple of friends order one at the bar, laughingly declaring it meant they were supporting trans rights. (I am not a beer drinker, or I probably would have joined in.) It was all in jest, but it points to a bigger question of the way we often think about our choices as consumers: as political acts toward entities that are, by and large, apolitical.

Corporations are under more and more pressure to take a stand on the political issues of the day, not only from customers but also from workers. And they increasingly do. But they usually do so because ultimately they believe its good for their bottom lines. Making money for shareholders is the whole game.

Bud Light didnt send beer to Mulvaney because it wants to become a champion of trans rights, it did so because the brand is struggling and it thought LGBTQ consumers were a potential avenue for expansion. Miller Lites leaders arent lying in bed at night sick over all of those sexist ads over the years. They know women have money to spend, and they would like them to spend it on their beers.

Its easy to make light of this stuff people calling for boycotts of random alcoholic beverages because of small online campaigns they found is quite silly. There are, obviously, quite serious elements to this. On a cultural level, the backlash against trans rights in the US is scary for many trans people in the country just trying to live their lives. For all the strides women have supposedly made, they still face setbacks and biases in so many ways and lack basic rights and protections. Abortion rights across the country were rolled back last year.

Companies would probably much rather escape the culture wars, but they cant. Its important to remember they are imperfect culture warriors, and that the only war theyre really fighting is for dollars.

Read this article:
Miller Lites woke ad honoring women sparks backlash from Bud Light boycott people - Vox.com

I havent been back there for a while, years actually. But Ive been reading about it constantly, listening to stuff about it, taking what I thought was a keen interest. Based on everything I know, everything Im certain about, it has changed beyond all recognition.

Except it hasnt. And that has come as a complete shock to me. The England I remember as a teenager, as a young adult, as a working man, is still there. Its still a beautiful country. Its towns and villages are full of character and charm, its suburbs are neat, its countryside sprawling and gorgeous, its cities frightening in their vastness and complexity.

And the people are the same. Im one of those unfortunate travellers who instantly loses the ability to tell my left from my right the moment I land in a different country. So Im always lost, and often dependent on the kindness of strangers. In England, strangers are kind, always willing to help a poor lost eejit.

I had a complete crisis when I found my car in a car park with a completely dead battery. Although I had jump leads I needed another driver to assist. The first two I asked and I want looking at the colour of their skin mumbled excuses and moved away. The third man said, sure mate, show me how its done. While he was helping me, the first two came back. They hadnt understood my foreign accent and were a bit nervous about getting involved until they saw someone else at it and realised what the problem was.

While most of the strangers I interacted with were white, they werent all. But every single one of them had English accents and mannerisms. Another terrible shock. For months now Ive been reading that Britain not just England is being overrun, that tens of thousands of unchecked foreigners are stealing everything: jobs, public services, but also culture and identity. Theyre swarthy, these invaders, and speak with thick, threatening accents.

Of course, Id have to be there a lot longer to see it all, but I can tell you now (as one example) that Leighton Buzzard, an attractive little market town in Bedfordshire, about 40 miles north of London, is almost entirely white. Our niece, Karen (who lives there), tells me that nearby Luton has a much stronger Asian population, a lot of whom are very religious.

Talking of religion, one of my other nieces is the principal of a secondary school in Lancashire in the north. Its recognised as a really good and high-achieving school, despite its very high proportion of Asian and Muslim students. What do you mean, despite? she said when I asked her about it. Asian and Muslim kids are ambitious, and so are their parents. Theyve given up a lot to be here, and its principally because they want their kids to have safe and secure futures.

The problem she faces and this is easy to recognise is the large number of kids in the school, from all forms of ethnic backgrounds, whose lives are affected by economic disadvantage. But as a general rule and this is her voice of experience talking immigrant kids keep standards up, because their family expectations are high.

So a lot of observation and as much chat as I could manage left me really puzzled.

Theres a thing going on in British politics, its very unsavoury, and it's being led by government ministers.

Culture wars, its called an attempt to whip up resentment against anyone who looks different and its completely out of sync with the personality of the great majority of English people

Im not saying there are no racists in England. But by far the greater number of people just want to get on with their neighbours and get on with their lives. Theres far more generosity and ordinary decency in England than the stuff some of their politicians are trying to peddle them.

Yes, theres a feeling of powerlessness in the face of economics, and its not hard to see why. I can only offer you anecdotal evidence, but I have a very strong sense that the cost of living crisis has hit English families even harder than Irish families. (Please dont feel you need to have a go at me of course, I know Irish families are suffering a lot and Ive written about it before.) But everywhere you go in England, the price of ordinary goods in the shops is frightening. We were celebrating a birthday, so a nice lunch and a couple of West End theatre tickets were on our menu and mother of sweet divine the cost of them. But apart from that, petrol, fruit and veg, bread and milk, the most basic stuff is at prices way ahead of ours now, and thats saying something.

The most common conversation we had, with virtually everyone we met, was about energy costs. You end up with a very strong sense that people are really afraid of where things are heading and they certainly dont feel that their government has gone out of its way to help them.

But rather than address the problem with some real help, it seems to be the case that Tory politics is actively trying to turn that sense of powerlessness and anxiety into a resentment of everyone else

Id a long conversation about Brexit with one friend. Now, he didnt tell me he had voted for Brexit, but he did argue persuasively that a lot of people including on the left had concluded that there was something rotten about the democratic deficit within Europe, and that there was a decent democratic basis for the argument about the need to take back control. I think if pushed he would acknowledge that leaving Europe hadnt put anyone in control of anything better.

Overall, I think I detected a real yearning to turn the clock back. Very few of the majority who voted to leave want to admit they made a terrible mistake. But there are more than a few who feel very sheepish about that decision and wish it had never happened.

Heres my conclusion. England is a beautiful country, full of warm, intelligent, and decent people. They dont understand whats being said about them by their own leaders. They dont understand why theyre being told to be afraid now, for the first time in their history, of anyone with a different skin colour or foreign accent. Ask an English person for help, and his or her instinct is to help. Not to run away. They dont do afraid.

For all those reasons, I think the politics being played out now the culture wars being stirred up by the Tories are a bit of an insult to the intelligence but also the decency of the English people. Thats why theyre not going to work in the end. The narrow bigotry that successful culture wars depend on is not, ultimately, part of the English character. As for me, I cant wait to get back for another visit.

Originally posted here:
Fergus Finlay: Culture wars are an insult to the intelligence of ... - Irish Examiner

This story is part of a documentary project on Gender Queer and the Culture Wars in Michigans Libraries. To watch the video, click here.

Nobody could predict a little library in Ottawa County, just southwest of Grand Rapids, would ignite a literary culture war across Michigan when it chose not to pull a handful of LGBTQ books from its shelves in 2022.

At the heart of the issue was Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, which made waves within the community serviced by Patmos Library in west Michigan. At library board meetings, whether to keep or ditch the book, and others like it was characterized as outright war a battle of good versus evil.

The story centers on Kobabes journey coming out as a non-binary, asexual person and the internal and external struggles e faced as a result. Part of that story, though, involves Kobabe who uses the pronouns e/em/eir recounting sexual experiences or fantasies via illustration, leaving little to the imagination.

Its led to a divide in communities across Michigan. At public and school libraries, books like Gender Queer have sparked outrage on whether the materials should be available at all and what roles libraries play in preventing children from viewing materials on sex, gender and sexuality.

As a graphic novel, some feel the medium inherently caters to children and take offense to the sex and imagery within. Others, however, say simply because the book contains pictures does not mean it is marketed to young children, meaning those claiming the book is meant to introduce sex acts to children are doing so in bad faith.

For Kobabe, the memoir is not meant for young children, with the audience for Gender Queer considered to be high school level and above.

It would have meant the world to me to find a book like Gender Queer as a teen reader ... it would have saved me like 10 years of questioning and confusion and uncertainty about who I was, Kobabe told MLive. I could have known sooner more about who I am as a person and, because of that, moved on to different questions, different learning, different experiences earlier if I had been able to read this kind of book and have some of these questions answered.

But despite what Kobabe thinks, some parents and community members arent mollified and believe the book should be kept away from where children could have access to it.

I think theres definitely a danger in children opening the book and maybe being encouraged to do things that theyre not ready for and that they should not be responsible for, said Laura Parkes, a mother of five who is in favor of the Lapeer Library removing Gender Queer from its shelves.

I dont believe we should give that burden or responsibility to our children to embrace so many sexualities at such a young age. They need context, they need time. ... Too much information is confusing.

Others, however, see the books as no different than any other item referencing sex or sexuality. And given many of the challenged books focus LGBTQ subjects, proponents here are quick to argue this isnt about protecting children but minimizing or erasing queer stories from public view.

I think its a slippery slope, and it sets a precedent for us to pull other books that are deemed not safe ... We start banning books like Gender Queer, then we start silencing other voices and having more of a monolith shown in our libraries, said Erin Cavanaugh, a mother of three and clinical social worker in Lapeer whos in favor of keeping the book on shelves. Its just not something we can do.

And in the middle? Libraries and their staff, who bear the brunt of this rage and the consequences of these efforts.

Challenging library books isnt new, but it is one that has steadily gained public attention over the last several years, topping out in 2022 at 359 books challenged across Michigans libraries.

Thats compared to just eight books challenged in 2017, according to the American Library Association, a nonprofit promoting libraries and library education internationally.

Clare Membiela, library law consultant for the Library of Michigan, said libraries frequently prune their collections to best serve their communities needs.

But challenging libraries to remove a book from their system comes with a high bar, she said. Simply demanding a book be removed because of its subject matter regardless if a person or group thinks the topic is obscene isnt enough to warrant taking it off shelves.

A public librarys mission is to permit the exercise of the First Amendment right to information and children also have those same rights. ... Its not up to the library to police what the children check out, Membiela said. Thats a job for their parents.

Thats especially true considering obscenity has a legal definition, with a test to determine it created by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the 1973 ruling in Miller v. California.

A work as a whole must fail to meet contemporary community standards, describe or depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value to be truly considered obscene.

Simply depicting a sex scene or containing nudity, such as in the case of Gender Queer, is not enough to warrant a book obscene.

And because Michigan recently amended its civil rights act to explicitly include protections for LGBTQ residents, Membiela said libraries are in a precarious situation when it comes to removing like-issue books from shelves.

If you have a library thats removing all of their LGBTQ-themed materials, and a library is supposed to reflect its community, then is there a discrimination issue here now? ... Theres some other facets to this that go beyond just the intellectual freedom question, she said.

Its something Kobabe echoed, saying the criticism of the work isnt personal, but removing the book completely from a library is.

I think that an attack on libraries, an attack on free speech, is an attack on every single American citizen, myself included, Kobabe said. So, I take it very personally in the sense that I feel like I am seeing the freedoms of our country being degraded. But I do not take it personally in that I think that I have written a bad book.

For Parkes, the parent who would like to see the book removed, it isnt a question of all LGBTQ narratives, but rather what to do with Gender Queer.

I dont believe that removing the book from the library is going to suppress an entire community ... I dont believe thats a valid argument, she said. I know we can get very emotional talking about these things, but were talking about one book. And I cant believe, in that community in the LGBTQ community that your identity lies in a single book. How can that be true?

But for parents like Cavanaugh and her wife, Lisa, keeping these types of stories available in the library means providing a safe environment for a person who sees themselves reflected in the pages of Gender Queer.

Imagine if you were that kid, and you were trying to sort through these feelings by yourself, and you didnt have any resources and all you had were maybe parents that werent supportive and telling you that you were wrong, Cavanaugh said. This books helps you to be seen, and have a light out of that darkness.

The American Library Association noted 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022. Its the highest number since the association began tracking those numbers more than 20 years ago.

Of the top 10 most challenged books, Gender Queer came in at No. 1 nationwide, and seven of the 13 novels three novels tied for 10th place as the most challenged were specifically challenged for containing LGBTQIA+ subject matter.

In Lapeer, Library Director Amy Churchill accused the county prosecutor of publicly trying to intimidate the library into removing the book after receiving a FOIA with an official Lapeer County Prosecutors Office letterhead earlier this year.

The book is currently under review, with County Prosecutor John Miller telling Bridge Michigan in March that the memoir could rise to the level of accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purpose. In Michigan, that charge carries a felony punishment of up to four years in prison.

The story is the same at Kalamazoo Countys Galesburg-Augusta high School and Bear Creek Townships Petoskey Public Library, where complaints of the books sexual imagery has caused residents particularly parents of school-aged children to push back against the contents of the graphic novel.

And for Patmos, its own community defunded the library after staff made the decision not to remove Kobabes memoir from shelves. Barring new funding, the library is slated to close in mid-2024 after two operating millage proposals failed in the midst of fervor surrounding the book.

Cierra Bakovka, a former adult services librarian for the Patmos Library, said the book was kept on the shelves out of a need for patrons to have all the choices they could ever need.

For her, to hear that libraries were potentially in legal hot water over simply stocking books was frightening. To see Patmos at risk of closing over it was heartbreaking especially considering that, to Bakovka, there was never a real question over whether to pull the book.

A lot of people like to read books that they relate to, that are about them, but its super important to know that not every community is made up of the same people, she said. Some people might have a majority, some people might have a minority in their community, but that doesnt make their experience any less valid or any less important to be represented and seen. ... You do your best to make sure everyone is represented. Not just whos the loudest.

With the library clamor growing, its garnered the attention of lawmakers in Lansing. Its whats prompted state Rep. Neil Friske, R-Charlevoix, to come up with his own solution to keep both sides happy: make an age restricted, 18-and-up section of the library.

Friske introduced a bill earlier this year which would require the governing body of a library to create and enforce a policy addressing obscene or sexually explicit matter, which could be potentially available to children.

What constitutes as obscene isnt defined under the bill, and Michigans oldest library association has already indicated that, legally, no library in-state carries obscene books.

When confronted with that statement, Friske pointed to a graphic novel on sex education hed checked out from a Michigan library and questioned how someone could defend a 10-year-old being able to pick up the book and leaf through detailed drawings of sex and genitalia.

Im not trying to remove the material, thats not what this bill is about. Its just to limit the access to it, Friske said.

For Membiela, the Michigan Library law consultant, rehoming books considered obscene to an age-restricted section of a library creates more problems than it solves, including determining what a child can and cant read, effectively overruling their own First Amendment rights.

There is also a concern for space and whether it would even be physically possible for a library to create a secluded, monitored 18+ section.

How do I delicately put this? Just from a public access standpoint ... putting all of the more adult materials in back, in a room thats sequestered, is kind of inviting some problems of another kind, Membiela said.

As Democrats oversee both the state House and Senate, theres little hope of the bill even receiving a committee hearing.

Still, Friske sees it as a matter of principal, keeping adult-level books away from children, and said arguments to the contrary like debating what constitutes obscene materials and whether libraries have the space to enact his bill are weak in his eyes.

Im not at all targeting LGBT community people, necessarily. Im not really targeting anybody, he said. Im just trying to protect kids.

And thats what it seems to boil down to: At the heart of the matter, those for and those against keeping books like Gender Queer on library shelves viewed themselves as having the best interest of children, and the broader community, top of mind.

The book is currently stocked at more than 100 public libraries across Michigan, with even more likely to have LGBTQ-related novels on their shelves as well. With the fervor surrounding book challenges, its unlikely the issue will simmer any time soon.

Its not something Kobabe ever thought would be an outcome when e published Gender Queer in 2019 mostly, e said, because initial reception to the graphic novel was overwhelmingly positive.

Even when pushback began to mount in 2021, and into the last two years, e admitted the positive feedback still outweighs the negative five-to-one.

When I wrote this book, I didnt know if anyone would relate to it. I also didnt know if anyone, aside from the people who knew me personally, would read it, Kobabe said. It has really been amazing to see this book find readers outside of my own sort of small circle of community.

And anyone who read it: I am in community with you. I see you, I support you, and I hope you can understand that these attacks on this book, and the attacks on other queer books, are not a reflection of your identity, or the validity of your identity.

More from MLive

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Defunded over book controversy, West Michigan library eyes changing how it selects new titles

Michigan libraries dont stock obscene books GOP reps bill would age-restrict, group says

Gender Queer graphic novel may be removed from Southwest Michigan school library

Algoma Township voters overwhelmingly reject leaving Kent District Library system

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Outright war: Gender Queer and the attack on Michigan libraries - MLive.com

Hardly anyone could be more qualified than Timothy Keller to receive the Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness. It should have been the culmination of a remarkable career.

Keller applied Reformed theology to the heart of American culture while preaching at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he planted in 1989 with his wife, Kathy. Kellers writing introduced Kuypers theology of vocationhis vision of God who claims every square inch of creation for his gloryto new generations of Christians around the world.

But the reaction from many Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) students and alumni revealed just how much American culture had shifted since 1989 when Keller stepped down from the pulpit in 2017. Kellers views on womens ordination and homosexuality countered the prevailing norms at PTS and other mainline seminaries, not to mention the broader culture.

By this evolving standard, Abraham Kuyper wouldnt have been eligible for his own award. Under pressure from various advocacy groups, PTS leaders rescinded their decision to grant Keller the 2017 Kuyper Prize (which has since been hosted by Calvin College). The renowned pastor seemed poised to become yet another casualty in the ever-expanding culture wars.

Or not.

Keller did not receive the prize, but he agreed to give the lectures anyway. PTS did not want to reward him, but he still tolerated them. And for all the preceding protest, enthusiastic applause greeted Keller when he stepped to the podium on April 6, 2017. PTS president Craig Barnes got the message once again when he returned to dismiss the crowd.

I didnt attend the PTS lectures, but I understand the surprising affection for Keller.

As a teenage evangelical convert in the late 1990s, I knew my faith was not welcome in the halls of power, whether that was in the classrooms of an elite private school or in the offices of the US House of Representatives. I never expected my zeal for Christ would make me popular or famous or rich. I just wanted to be faithful to God and obedient to his Word no matter where he led. I wanted to share my faith without reserve, even among hostile crowds.

And in 2007, I found an exemplar who modeled how to do that in Americas most secular settings. Timothy Keller shared the gospel boldly in the idioms of his day, without demeaning or demanding anything but faith and trust in our faithful, trustworthy Savior.

When the tragedy of 9/11 gave way to a new and more virulent outbreak of the culture wars, Keller demonstrated a different way. As an associate editor for Christianity Today in 2007, I reported on the first public event of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), which Keller cofounded. My initial read of TGCs Theological Vision for Ministry, drafted by Keller, set forth an agenda I could follow as a young Christian coming of age in this contentious 21st century.

Keller centered me on the gospel of Jesus, which fills Christians with humility and hope, meekness and boldness, in a unique way. The biblical gospel isnt like traditional religion, which demands obedience for acceptance, or like secularism, which weve seen make American culture more selfish and individualistic.

The gospel, Keller taught with a nod to his late friend Jack Miller, says, We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.

Steady amid hostility

Rare among preachers, Keller could engage the heart as much as the head. His books introduced me to social critics whose writing I could barely comprehend. But somehow, Kellers books also struck me as profoundly simple in their consistent emphasis on the gospel of grace.

You can see this dynamic at work in his PTS address, which engaged with Lesslie Newbigins 1984 Warfield lectures at PTS. In these lectures, which became the 1986 bookFoolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, Newbigin argued for a missionary encounter with Western culture, which had become post-Christian. I dont know many Christian leaders who can simultaneously claim the heritage of Abraham Kuyper, famed Old Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield, and missiologist Lesslie Newbigin.

But that was Kellers gift. Its no clichhe never stopped learning or growing. In my book, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, I describe his intellectual and spiritual development as rings on a tree.

Keller retained the gospel core he learned from mid-century British evangelicals such as J. I. Packer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and John Stott. He grew to incorporate such varied writers as Charles Taylor, Herman Bavinck, N. T. Wright, and Alasdair MacIntyre. And he somehow synthesized them with Kuyper, Warfield, Newbigin, and dozens more in the middle.

Kellers final task, the great unfinished project he left to us, was charting a course for mission in the 21st-century West that bore scant resemblance to the middle-class context in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he grew up in the 1950s.

Keller didnt even believe his own successful ministry in New York would offer much guidance for the generations that would succeed him. Keller followed Newbigin, who identified the post-Christian West as the most resistant, challenging missionary frontier of all time.

None of the traditional Christian reactions to culture would suffice as the basis for an effective missionary program under these contemporary conditions. If anything, these responses could only warn Christians of what not to do. Christians must not withdraw like the Amish, pursue political takeover like the Religious Right, or assimilate like the mainline Protestants.

Keller matched these categories to his friend James Davison Hunters workTo Change the World: Defensive Against (Religious Right), Relevance To (mainline), and Purity From (Amish). Hunter proposed faithful presence within as a more promising alternative, which Keller adopted as his own perspective in Center Church.

As many American Christians began to shift their social and political tactics in 2016, Keller came under increased criticism and scrutiny from fellow evangelicals. But anyone who followed his work over the decades could see that he was not the one who had changed.

Keller did not court such opposition. Anyone working with him could attest to his extreme aversion to conflict. In all our personal conversations, I cannot recall hearing a single critical comment from him directed toward a fellow believer.

His steadiness under this growing hostility gave courage and comfort to younger leaders who became disillusioned by the fall of so many of our former heroes. Even I worried about uncovering unflattering secrets when I began writing his biography. Instead, talking to dozens of Kellers close friends and family members who knew him from childhood only confirmed my personal experience of him.

But growing closer to Keller didnt lead me to idolize him. It simply allowed me to witness 2 Corinthians 4:7 in action, a flawed vessel carrying the most valuable treasurenothing less than the surpassing power of God.

Love the local church

Keller may have demurred at his ability to anticipate new challenges for the late-modern West. But he still laid out an agenda that could radically reshape evangelicals prioritiesif only they would turn off the cable news and listen. Kellers PTS lectures proposed seven steps for a missionary encounter in the post-Christian West.

First, he called for public apologetics in the vein of Augustines City of God. For this, readers could start with Kellers Making Sense of God, one of his overlooked classics. Second, he proposed a third way between the mainline concern for social problems and the evangelical concern for spiritual problems: Justification must lead to justice. Third, he challenged Christians to critique secularism from within its own framework, not from an outward construct. Borrowing from Daniel Strange, Keller called this process subversive fulfillment.

Fourth, as Keller had insisted so many times before, he encouraged laity to integrate their faith with their work. Non-Christians must see the difference faith makes in day-to-day living. Fifth, he encouraged Americans to learn from the global church. Keller admitted in his 2017 PTS lecture that conservative evangelicals in the United States put too much faith in their own methodology and struggle to see the kingdom of God apart from American national interest.

Sixth, Keller highlighted the difference between grace and religion. As Richard Lovelace showed Keller in his first class at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1972, missionary encounters that produce social change depend on grace, not on the rules of religion. Only grace brings spiritual transformation. Apart from the Spirit of God, were helpless to effect lasting change in our fallen world.

Keller would have excelled as a professor if hed stayed at Westminster Theological Seminary instead of moving to New York with his young family and planting Redeemer. He made enough money on his books and speaking that he would never have run out of venues inviting him to pontificate. But God called Keller to pastoral ministry, and that is what so often set him apart.

Even when Keller chastised evangelicals, he spoke and wrote as a pastor with love for his flock. Kellers only mentor, Edmund Clowney, helped him to love the local church, warts and all. As easily as Keller quoted obscure academics or New York Times columnists, he aimed to build up the local church. And in the explosive early growth of Redeemer church, and again in the dark days after 9/11, Keller witnessed the Spirit moving in unexpected and powerful ways.

Seventh, and lastly, Keller left American evangelicals with a vision for Christian community that disrupts the social categories of our culture. These thriving communities lend credibility to the transformative power of the gospel.

Keller cited the work of Larry Hurtado in Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. In this incisive study, Hurtado showed how the persecuted early church wasnt just offensive to Jews and Greeks. It was also attractive. The first Christians opposed abortion and infanticide by adopting children. They did not retaliate but instead forgave. They cared for the poor and marginalized. Their strict sexual ethic protected and empowered women and children.

Christianity brought together hostile nations and ethnic groups. Jesus broke apart the connection between religion and ethnicity when he revealed a God for every tribe, tongue, and nation. Allegiance to Jesus trumped geography, nationality, and ethnicity in the church. As a result, Christians gained perspective so they could critique any culture. And they learned to listen to the critiques from fellow Christians embedded in different cultures.

Instead of delivering this lecture at PTS, Keller could have challenged the administration and canceled his talk. This would have gained greater attention and support from his fellow conservative evangelicals. He could likely have raised more money for his ministry too. But Keller put his teaching into practice. He had told Christians for years that the gospel offers a distinct alternative to the intolerance of secularism and the tribalism of religion.

I dont yet see widespread evidence that evangelicals have taken Kellers advice or followed his example. Intolerance has been met with intolerance, hostility with more hostility.

But I suspect, if the Holy Spirit blesses us with another awakening, our churches will look more like what Keller envisionedwhere grace will once more find a way through the tangles of religion and secularism.

Collin Hansen serves as the vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition and is the author of Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development.

The decision follows a year of attacks from Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature because the company opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DeSantis and other officials last month.

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Disney had planned to build the campus about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort, but Josh DAmaro, chairman of the parks, experiences and products division, said in a memo to employees that new leadership and changing business conditions prompted the company to abandon those plans.

I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business, DAmaro said. We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years. I hope were able to do so.

Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a tug-of-war for more than a year that has engulfed the GOP governor in criticism as he prepares to launch an expected presidential bid in the coming weeks.

DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said the state had been unsure whether the new Disney campus would come to fruition since it was announced nearly two years ago.

Given the companys financial straits, falling market cap and declining stock price, it is unsurprising that they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures, Redfern said.

Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, called Disneys decision a huge loss.

I hope we can put this conflict behind us and get back to a more normal working relationship with a company thats been one of our best business and tourism partners that weve had over the last 50 years, Gruters said. Two thousand jobs and a billion dollars worth of investments into our state, I would say thats a serious blow. The market is much better at dealing with companies rather than heavy-handed government.

Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, who represents the Orlando area in the Florida House, released a statement blaming the governor for the lost jobs.

Governor Ron DeSantis is a job killing moron who cares more about his own political ambitions and culture wars than Florida and our future, Eskamani said. According to him, woke makes you go broke but this is another example of how its actually the complete opposite. DeSantis is not who you want for President ever.

The feud started after Disney, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed the state concerning lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades that critics called Dont Say Gay.

As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney Worlds self-governing district through legislation passed by lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors. Before the new board came in, the company signed agreements with the old board stripping the new supervisors of design and construction authority.

In response, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the DeSantis-appointed board to repeal those agreements and made the theme park resorts monorail system subject to state inspection, when it previously had been done in-house.

Disneys suit against DeSantis alleges the governor waged a targeted campaign of government retaliation. It asks a federal judge to void the takeover of the theme park district, as well as the DeSantis oversight boards actions, on the grounds that they were violations of the companys free speech rights.

The creation of Disneys self-governing district by the Florida Legislature was instrumental in the companys decision in the 1960s to build near Orlando. Disney told the state at the time that it planned to build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations, so the company needed autonomy. The futuristic city never materialized, however, and instead morphed into a second theme park that opened in 1982.

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Disney scraps plans for new $1 billion Florida campus amid fight ... - The Associated Press