Given that Lisa Miller's cover story on gay marriage caused such an uproar of feedback, we gathered two religious experts to parse through the issue when it comes to the Bible, gay marriage and Christianity. Throughout the weekend, Bill Wylie-Kellerman, a United Methodist serving as pastor at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Detroit, and Dr. Barrett Duke, vice president for Public Policy and Research at The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, e-mailed back and forth about their conflicting viewpoints surrounding this issue. The full debate (and it's long!) can be read here.

As I was moderating the debate throughout the weekend, I bolded some take-away lines from both sides that I thought were insightful and interesting. If you don't feel like reading the whole transcript, here's a bit of a preview.

From Bill Wylie-Kellerman:

• "Today I hear the summons to say, in Christ, there is neither gay nor straight."
• "The Bible, beginning with the old covenant is, to be frank, fraught with patriarchy."
• "[The Definition] of marriage will change, as it has repeatedly during and since the biblical era. I believe this and welcome it."

From Dr. Barrett Duke:

• "I approach the Bible as a fixed product... Communities don't adapt it; they adapt to it."
• "I must make sure that I come across as loving when I speak to homosexuals or about them, though, something I confess I do not always do adequately."
• "If the gay community really wants respect, they should pursue a path toward public acceptance, not judicial fiat."