Banning gay marriage is, like, awesome! The In Defense of Marriage Coalition — many member churches of which have been accused of coercing parishioners to support Oregon’s ballot initiative, Measure 36, which would amend the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage — reaches out to young Christians with 20-somethings in ski hats, ’90s-era “alt” pop and the underlying message that hate can be hip.

Also not the C of E: Hunters in the U.K. are converting to the “Free Church of Country Sports,” at the rate of up to 700 new pilgrims a day, in order to protect fox hunting from a proposed government ban. If the bill is passed the Free Churchers say they will challenge it on grounds of race discrimination, claiming that “those who take part in country sports are sufficiently culturally different to be considered a social group with an ethnic identity.” Anne Wybergh, of Cumberland Farmers’ Foxhounds, told The News and Star’s Pam McClounie, “‘I’m not a church person myself and I’m not sure if I would choose it as a religion but I can understand why they join.'”

The Bible-code set, exegetes of the Mayan calendar, “novelty theorists,” and myriad cosmic seers: David Ritchie of The New York Press explores end-times culture in America and discovers that the sky is always falling.

A series of sermons preaching against gay marriage drew crowds and protesters to Oak Park, Illinois’ Calvary Memorial Church, which yesterday hosted a “reformed homosexual” guest speaker. Grace Aduroja, of The Chicago Tribune, reports that the five-Sunday series has sparked unusually fervent protests in the liberal suburb because the church sent postcard advertisements about the sermons to every home and business in Oak Park and two neighboring towns. Calvary Memorial Church leaders have never before alerted the community to a series of sermons.

The House’s 247 protectors of the pledge screw up.