The Lifeway Summit

J-Gar breaks down the big biz-state government coalition working their playbook to defeat Metro's latest hack at a non-discrimination policy: Though it's impossible to know exactly what the discourse was like inside the closed-door conservative strategy session, a few themes leaked out. According to one source, an organizer said conservatives are doing an effective job of confronting these issues on the statewide and federal levels, but often neglect local governments. They characterized the Metro Council as an increasingly liberal body. Also of note, the source relayed how organizers discussed the advantage of framing the debate as a business issue rather than a moral, Christian one.

Still, a resistance to extending rights for the LGBT community seems to be fueling much of the opposition. Manning the door at the gathering was David Shelley, a pastor at Nashville's Smith Springs Baptist Church, who serves as Truth Project trainer for the Family Action Council of Tennessee.