Free Republic

<p>The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts.</p>

Under the direction of Lois Lerner, the Federal Election Commission sued the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. She harassed the Christian Coalition for three election cycles. She lost her case. Lerner even asked one conservative during the case if Pat Robertson prayed over him. (Sound familiar?) These actions landed her at the IRS where she used the same tactics against conservatives and Christians – only on a much larger scale. 500 conservative and Christian groups were illegally targeted by the Obama IRS during her tenure. For twenty-seven months the Obama IRS refused to approve any Tea Party applications for tax-exempt...

A Dan Brown-worthy mystery (forget about Dante, what about the zoo?) is as follows: Staffers at a zoological conservation center in Greenwich, Conn., are very confused — as are the rest of us — because their female giant anteater, Armani, has managed to conceive a baby, apparently without the presence of a male anteater. What? It all started in August, writes Lisa Chamoff for Greenwich Time. Armani, an anteater at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center, had given birth to anteater baby girl Alice. Alice's father, Alf, was kept away from Armani and Alice because male anteaters have a bad history...

An atheist, Buckner believes that no religious literature should be provided in government-owned lodging, and he presented that concern to management at the Amicalola Falls State Park. Officials told Buckner they would remove the Bibles from all state park resorts while the state attorney general looked into the matter. Not long afterward, however, the AG issued a ruling saying the state was on firm legal ground because it hadn’t paid for the books. On Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal ordered the Bibles returned. Deal argued that if the state didn’t pay for them, it can’t be seen as endorsing them. He...

Senior members of the Church of Scotland voted Monday to let some congregations choose ministers who are in same-sex relationships — an important compromise that must still pass further hurdles before it can become church law. The church's General Assembly backed a motion affirming a traditional conservative view on homosexuality, but permitted liberal congregations to ordain openly gay men or women if they wish. The assembly's vote would require the approval of next year's General Assembly as well as votes by the church's regional presbyteries to become law. The process is complicated, and is expected to take at least two...

It sometimes seems that everyone ever audited by the IRS – or even asked questions about a return – is claiming ideological harassment. Franklin Graham has decided that he too is a victim of IRS overreach. I think he’s a victim of something else: His lust for the media spotlight and his disgust with President Obama. The son of famous evangelist Billy Graham has written a letter to Obama carping because ministries founded by this father, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse (a group that has received millions in tax dollars), had been asked questions about political activity...

Under President Obama, “justice” is anything but blind. Neither is it deaf. In fact, based on recent revelations, it appears to be watching your every move and listening to your every word. Still, if you happen to be a federal employee, now it’s even listening for your silence. The only thing this Obama White House seems to generate is scandal. Well, here’s yet another to add to the growing list. In addition to the Benghazi cover-up, IRS targeting of political dissenters and the illegal seizure of media phone records, whistleblowers within DOJ have contacted Liberty Counsel to express grave concerns...

Via the Examiner and NRO, a few more credible, confidence-inspiring breadcrumbs from this morning’s Ways and Means hearing. It’s starting to make sense now why protesting Planned Parenthood might present a risk to your tax-exempt status, isn’t it?The second clip is of Miller saying that he did indeed ask his underlings who was targeting conservative groups, and they told him, but now he can’t remember the answer. Really. The disdain this guy harbors for the proceedings is palpable, but that’s probably in his best interest: The more antagonistic he is, the more liberal support he’ll have when the administration inevitably...

“Their question, specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa, ‘Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers,’" Schock declared.

Parents of children attending a Red Hook, New York, middle school are outraged after a recent anti-bullying presentation at Linden Avenue Middle School. The workshop for 13 and 14-year-old girls focused on homosexuality and gender identity. They were also taught words such as "pansexual" and "genderqueer." Parents say their daughters were told to ask one another for a kiss and they say two girls were told to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 when they were subjected to criminal prosecution for homeschooling. They were granted asylum in 2010 by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, but that grant was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2012. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit heard the Romeikes’ appeal on April 23 in Cincinnati, and issued today’s unanimous decision against the family.

People like Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , and Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God Is Not Great (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , et al, when attacking “religion”, play on various ambiguities. They create ambiguities in their choice of terms and then these ambiguities are convenient for them. The first instance of ambiguity is the use of the term “religion”. It puts together all sorts of people and doctrines which may have very little in common. To give an analogy, the flat earth theory is undoubtedly a theory of physics. It says something...

Monday morning, Congressmen Steve Scalise and John Fleming—both Republicans representing districts in Louisiana—sent a letter signed by 59 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon, demanding answers regarding Pentagon officials meeting with an anti-Christian extremist. This story began two weeks ago when Breitbart News reported on at least one such meeting. Since that time it has become a growing controversy, as Breitbart News reported additional disturbing details. Now Congress is weighing in. The Scalise-Fleming letter begins: It has come to our attention that as recently as April 23, 2013, Pentagon officials...

COEUR d'ALENE - Gary Brown wouldn't tell The Press anything more than he told a Fox News reporter about the genesis of a video in which North Idaho school-age children say that because of their Christian beliefs, they've endured ridicule and had their rights trampled on in public schools. The video titled "The Thaw" features kids who participate in Reach America, a Coeur d'Alene-based Christian ministry and education program run by Brown. The video has been rapidly gaining viral ground on the Internet. By Saturday afternoon, it had been viewed just shy of 84,000 times. Brown told Fox News' Todd...

Following Breitbart News’ reports on the Pentagon collaborating with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein, which may lead to courts-martial for Christian proselytizing, members of Congress are preparing a letter demanding answers from Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise (R-LA) are circulating the letter among fellow congressmen. Lamborn discussed the letter and his concerns during an interview with Breitbart News this afternoon. There is already a provision in federal law, Section 533 of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), that guarantees freedom of religious belief in the military. It does not...

<p>On Wednesday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said President Barack Obama needed to clear up and "renounce" the "un-American" and "amoral" reports from the Pentagon that U.S. soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their Christian faith. She called on Obama to do so "today, right now."</p>

...Bruce R. McConkie was a boy growing up in Monticello, Utah... ...the son grew to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1972 until his death in 1985, well respected and remembered for his written and spoken discourses in which he taught the doctrines of the gospel with clarity and power. The above...was recounted by Elder McConkie’s son Joseph Fielding McConkie on April 11 in an address in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square in Salt Lake City for the monthly Men and Women of Faith Lecture Series sponsored by the Church History Library. His topic was...

The Columbus High School Mighty Cardinals had won the 4x100-meter relay--by seven yards, no less--and had a shot at the state championship. That was until Junior sprinter Derrick Hayes pointed to the sky. Hayes´s father, K.C., said that his son made a gesture of thanks to God, but raising a hand to the sky is considered excessive celebration according to the state scholastic rules. And with that, the team was disqualified.

President Obama's new "religious tolerance" consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law. By employing his consulting services, and as Commander-in-Chief, President Obama is effectively endorsing Weinstein's recently voiced and written views such as: "Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized [sic] and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation's armed forces." Weinstein's inflamed word picture helps...

The prime objective of secularists in modern times has been to “free� us all from the influence (The burden, they’d say) of Christianity. Just how they have gone about destroying that influence on the course of human affairs is ably described in Dr. Benjamin Wiker’s new book Worshipping the State:  How Liberalism Became our State Religion.Wiker, who has taught at Franciscan University and Thomas Aquinas College, holds that the raison d’être of secular philosophers’ has been to reduce Christianity’s hold on Western culture, and either to subordinate the Church to the state or to establish a rival civic religion that...

Critics of the firing of a gay Catholic-school teacher have threatened to withhold donations from a fundraiser that kicks off this weekend and pulls in millions each year for Diocese of Columbus programs. The Bishop’s Annual Appeal aims to raise $6 million in pledges from parishes across the 23-county diocese. Last year, the appeal received pledges from more than 24,000 households, raising $6.7 million to exceed the 2012 goal by nearly 15 percent. But some backers of Carla Hale, the physical-education teacher who was fired from Bishop Watterson High School in March, say they won’t be tossing money into Bishop...

PC Amok: A congressman asks why emails describe supporters of traditional marriage as members of hate groups while the Pentagon vets a religious tolerance guide with a group that compares Christian evangelism to "rape." When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently appeared before Congress, he was grilled by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., about an email sent by an officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., to three dozen subordinates, warning them to be on the lookout for soldiers connected with "domestic hate groups." Among the groups listed in the 14-page email by Lt. Col. Frank Rich, the Second Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment Commander...

“Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

“Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.” Those words were recently written by Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), in a column he wrote for the Huffington Post. Weinstein will be a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops. Weinstein decries what he calls the “virulent religious oppression”...

“Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”Those words were recently written by Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), in a column he wrote for the Huffington Post. Weinstein will be a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops. Weinstein decries what he calls the “virulent religious oppression” perpetrated...

Syrian Christians Told Convert, Leave, or Die Religious Freedom Coalition Apr 26th, 2013 Christians remaining in Syria have been given three choices by the American supported Free Syrian Army (FSA): convert to Islam, flee their homeland, or die. It is widely believed that this Islamic ideology will be enacted nationwide if President Assad is overthrown. Many Westerners falsely assume that since the FSA opposes a dictatorship, they must be democratic, secular, and tolerant. In reality, however, the FSA seeks to establish a totally Islamic state governed by Sharia law. Although many have suffered as a result of the civil war,...

When it comes to the persecution of Christians, President Obama appears to have a tin ear. The question is: why? Why would a president who claims to be a Christian seem to deliberately help install and collaborate with an Islamist government in Egypt? Many highly-placed Egyptian leaders have revealed that his collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood began long before President Mubarak’s fall. Why would Mr. Obama remain silent after being informed again and again of the atrocities committed against Christians in Egypt—atrocities committed by the very government he helped bring to power? The answer to the question of “why” can...

Following my article Effects of Atheist Propaganda Come Home to Roost, - although on Free Republic the comments were favourable to my position - readers of my blog have posted comments that need a more analytical and detailed answer than allowed in the comments section. Complex subjects require complex treatment. Furthermore, there seems to be much confusion about the theme of Christianity and ethics. For example, an anonymous reader calling himself "roger in florida" wrote: "I believe you are very misguided if you equate Christianity with morality or cannot understand that atheists, such as myself, are incapable [he then explained that he...

Why topless protesters will hound Islamic leaders (CNN) -- For the past five years now, we here at the international women's movement Femen have been waging an active campaign of resistance to the patriarchy in various corners of the world. We have been bringing the world the simple idea of women's liberation by means of sexual emancipation as expressed in highly visible acts of political protest. We believe that the enslavement of women began with the enslavement of their sexuality, so we therefore consider it legitimate to use their liberated sexuality as a symbol of women's worldwide liberation. We divide...

Christians are to launch a landmark legal case arguing their religion is being treated as a “thought crime” by government and courts.Campaigners will submit papers to the European Court of Human Rights in a final attempt to overturn rulings they say have restricted religious freedom for Christians and effectively persecuted those wanting to publicly practise their religion Campaigners will submit papers to the European Court of Human Rights in a final attempt to overturn rulings they say have restricted religious freedom for Christians and effectively persecuted those wanting to publicly practise their religion. The move comes in the case of...

A florist in Washington is being sued for a second time after choosing not to provide flower arrangements for a gay customer's upcoming wedding. Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene's Flowers in Richland now faces two lawsuits, one from the Washington state Attorney General and another from the American Civil Liberties Union, for turning away business for a same-sex couple’s wedding. When frequent customer Curt Freed approached Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene's Flowers last month to provide arrangements for his September wedding ceremony to Rob Ingersoll, the florist said she could not provide services due to her religious beliefs. On the company's Facebook...

There are going to be some serious LGBT surprises in the season finale of Fox's hit series Glee. According to a Friday report at E!, Oscar winner Patty Duke and longtime television star Meredith Baxter will play a lesbian couple. Not only that, regular character Blaine played by Darren Criss will propose to original cast member Kurt played by Chris Colfer. …

LAKE WALES | The Arabic word, translated simply, means "unbeliever." Ever since Eddie Bryant had it inked across his right calf, the former National Guard member has gotten positive reactions, he said, until last week. Bryant walked into Florida Skydiving Center on April 3 in shorts, his tattoo of the word "kafir" exposed. A group from Qatar, a Middle Eastern country with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, also was visiting. A staffer tapped Bryant, 27, on the shoulder as he stood under a hangar at the Lake Wales business. Would he mind seeing the manager, Betty Hill? Hill, 59, and Bryant...

In a move that foreshadows the radical left’s plans for churches should gay marriage become the law of the land, the California legislature is moving to strip the Boy Scouts of America – a private organization – of its non-profit status for refusing to allow gay scoutmasters...

On April 6, 2013 Grant Palmer, former CES teacher and author of two outstanding books (1 & 2) on issues in the LDS church, released a statement through an anonymous blog about his meeting with mission presidents and a first quorum of the seventy member of the LDS church. Many many people have called the account fable and rumor. I’ve heard these experiences since last November, and Grant alluded to them (with the mission presidents) in the exmormon foundation conference (where he also mentioned my public resignation) last October (2012). Late Sunday (April 7), Grant reconfirmed to me personally that...

Where exactly is this country headed? There is going to be one hell of a civil war coming...The breaking point for this lunacy is going to kick start something I'm afraid few people will want to see or deal with. My hatred for these whack nuts on the left only grows with each story like this. Their garbage stinks more every day.

Army Training Session Lists Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons as ‘Extremists’ Posted on April 6, 2013 by Tad Cronn Filed under 1st Amendment, Atheism, Christianity, Government, Military, Religion, Socialism, Terrorism An Army Reserve unit undergoing training on religious extremism recently in Pennsylvania was told by an Army instructor that Evangelical Christians, Catholics, Mormons and Orthodox Jews are on the same level with Hamas, al-Qaida and the Ku Klux Klan. The training was part of the Army Reserve Equal Opportunity program. The slide that listed examples of “religious extremism” put Evangelical Christianity as the first entry and included the Jewish Defense League, Catholicism...

The Obama administration’s Department of Defense was caught training U.S. troops that Catholics, orthodox Jews, and evangelical Christians are to be considered “religious extremists,” even equating the major religions representing more than half of Americans with truly violent groups such as al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, and Hamas. After the explosive revelations hit the headlines, outrage promptly ensued. Now, critics are calling for an immediate public apology to the soldiers exposed to the hateful propaganda, as well as to the Christian and Jewish communities targeted in the presentation. The latest scandal to hit the Obama administration and its handling...

CAIR Claims Victory Over AP Stylebook’s Restrictions on Word 'Islamist' April 5, 2013 By Elizabeth Harrington (CNSNews.com) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the Associated Press (AP) for revising its stylebook to forbid the use of the word “Islamist,” if it is used to describe Islamic militants or extremists. In a press release on Friday, CAIR said revising the term is a "step in the right direction,” and that they helped influence the AP’s decision. “Late last year, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) approached AP about modifying the reference, which had been added to its influential...

A funeral for four Coptic Christians killed in the town of Khosous quickly turned violent when unknown assailants swarmed in and began attacking attendees.Youth Union spokesperson Nader Shoukry told Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr that tear gas had been fired inside the cathedral there “without clear reason.” DPA news agency has reported that 25 people have been injured in the clashes.

A report published by Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress, reports that incidents of anti-Semitic violence rose an alarming 30% in 2012. Associated Press: The report linked the March 2012 shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, where an extremist Muslim gunman killed four, to a series of copycat attacks, particularly in France, where physical assaults on Jews almost doubled. Researchers who presented the report at the university on Sunday said they had also found a direct correlation between the strengthening of extreme right-wing parties in some...

A U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief describes "Evangelical Christianity" and "Catholicism" as examples of "religious extremism," according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services and the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, who shared a copy of the documents with The Christian Post."The number of hate groups, extremists and anti�govt organizations in the U.S. has continued to grow over the past three years, according to reports by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They increased to 1,018 in 2011, up from 1,002 in 2010 and 602 in 2000," reads the first page of the slide presentation labeled "Extremism & Extremist...

A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned.

A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned. “We find this offensive to have Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church to be listed among known terrorist groups,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization.” The incident occurred during an Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on extremism. Topping the list is Evangelical...

Soldiers in the U.S. military have been told in a training briefing that evangelical Christians are the No. 1 extremist threat to America – ahead of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of Islam, al-Qaida, Hamas and others. “Men and women of faith who have served the Army faithfully for centuries shouldn’t be likened to those who have regularly threatened the peace and security of the United States,” said Col. (Ret.) Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization. It also...

The grand council of atheist Mormon bishops have met and codified the Creed of Practical Mormon Atheism, a list of things that both atheists and Mormons can largely affirm together: Even if Mormonism is false, it is still worth believing and ought not be refuted.Faith is ultimately irrational.Even if you don’t believe in God, you should still stay on the membership rolls and consider yourself a Mormon.If the LDS Church isn’t true, there is no God.How you live your life is more important than what you believe.I can’t believe in a God who demands worship.It doesn’t matter if it’s true....

On this day – April 4, 1981 (32 years ago) – Mormon church president-”prophet” Spencer W. Kimball made an announcement about what the three-fold MISSION was of the Mormon church. In other words, these three things were not “minor fair,” and the first two were not surprising for any given “church” (proclaim the gospel, and perfect the saints). What was the third part? Per Kimball, it was to “redeem the dead.” (Source: On This Day in the Church: An Illustrated Almanac of the Latter-day Saints, Eagle Gate Publishing, Salt Lake City, 2000, p. 65) A previous string of Mormon “prophets”...

CINCINNATI — A Jesus portrait that has hung in a southern Ohio school district since 1947 was taken down Wednesday, because of concerns about the potential costs of a federal lawsuit against its display. The superintendent of Jackson City Schools said the decision was made after the district’s insurance company declined to cover litigation expenses. He said the faculty adviser and two student members of the Hi-Y Club, a Christian-based service club that the school says owns the portrait, took it down at his direction. “At the end of the day, we just couldn’t roll the dice with taxpayer money,”...

In early January 2013, a United Nations special envoy reported that the civil war in Syria had reached "unprecedented levels of horror" with an estimated death toll of more than 60,000 people. In the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, the situation for Christians in Syria, and in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa, continues to deteriorate. The Russian Orthodox Church has been among the most active witnesses against Christian persecution in Syria and other countries around the world. In a statement about the Middle East, the Russian Bishops' Council warned of "the vanishing of Christianity in...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Muslim Cleric: ‘I Hate Christians and Am Disgusted by Them’Posted By Raymond Ibrahim On April 3, 2013 @ 12:25 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 4 Comments Dr. Abdullah Badr—an Egyptian Muslim scholar, Al Azhar graduate, and professor of Islamic exegesis, who spent ten years in prison under Mubarak, but, along with any number of Islamic terrorists and agitators, was released under Morsi—recently gave an excellent summation of the second half of the highly divisive Muslim doctrine of wala’ wa bara’ (or, “Love and Hate”)—namely, that the true Muslim should love and help fellow Muslims, while hating and...