Free Republic

... an estimated two hundred million Christians worldwide face harsh persecution each year in dozens of countries on nearly every continent. Bill Bright once said that more Christians have suffered persecution and martyrdom since the beginning of the twentieth century than in all of the rest of church history to that point. What should our response be? Always, our response should be informed prayer; and whenever possible, we should promote and participate in gospel-centered action. It is impossible to pray for situations about which we are unaware. The gospel is offensive to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18); therefore,...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was right to veto SB1062, which would have amended the Arizona Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill, per most interpretations I’ve read, would have given broad discretion to business owners, because of their religious convictions, to refuse to do business with anyone associated with homosexual lifestyles. Religious freedom is about protection of your right to practice your religion and not being forced to violate it. However, the right to religious freedom does not mean the right to write-off and marginalize into non-existence a whole class of citizens whom you don’t like or agree with. Under Jim...

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will veto a controversial bill that would allow business owners to refuse service to gays and lesbians on the grounds of their religious conviction, NBC News is reporting via Twitter. More: Brewer "doesn't want to take any actions that could jeopardize the economic momentum" in Arizona, source says How 1 Free Guide Saved This American's Retirement Home | Newsfront Tags: Gay Marriage | Arizona | gay | discrimination | Jan Brewer Sources: Brewer Will Veto Gay Discrimination Law Tuesday, 25 Feb 2014 01:29 PM By Drew MacKenzie Share: A A | Email Us | Print |...

DirecTV recently announced it will drop the Inspiration Network from its lineup, leaving its stable of profane and worldly channels untouched. Incredibly, reports indicate the provider also misrepresented the development by suggesting the network initiated the split. In reality, it appears the decision was wholly that of the provider. Perhaps the most baffling aspect of the decision lies in the fact that DirecTV did not gain anything – or save any money – by dropping the network. Unlike the majority of channels carried by the company, the Inspiration Network does not charge a license fee to providers. Many failing networks cost carriers...

The parents of a 6-year-old girl said their daughter was humiliated when a teacher interrupted the child’s one-minute speech and told her to sit down because she’s “not allowed to talk about the Bible in school,” attorneys for the California family allege. The incident occurred Dec. 19 inside a first grade classroom at Helen Hunt-Jackson Elementary School in Temecula, Calif. The previous day the teacher instructed boys and girls to find something at home that represented a family Christmas tradition. They were supposed to bring the item to school and share the item in a classroom presentation. Brynn Williams decided...

From FNC (where there is also video): Boys and girls at Grace Academy in Prosper, Tex., spent most of last Friday making homemade Christmas cards for bedridden veterans at the VA hospital in Dallas. Fourth-grader Gracie Brown was especially proud of her card, hoping it would “make their day because their family might live far away, and they might not have somebody to celebrate Christmas with.” “I’d like them to know they’ve not been forgotten and somebody wanted to say thank you,” Gracie told Gracie’s card read, “Merry Christmas. Thank you for your service.” It also included an American flag....

Don’t say Christmas. That’s the message that was conveyed to a group of soldiers at Camp Shelby by an equal opportunity officer from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, according to a soldier who attended a recent briefing. “It’s unbelievable that the Army would ban ‘Christmas’ like it’s a bad word,” said Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, a legal firm representing the unidentified soldier. Two weeks ago, a routine meeting was held at the Mississippi base with various leaders of the 158th Infantry Brigade. During the meeting, they discussed an upcoming Christmas football tournament. The equal opportunity...

For days now, the nation has been subjected to hearing gay activists, atheists, hypersensitive liberals, and First Amendment rights-defenders engaging in biblical eisegesis. The histrionics began when Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson was quoted in a GQ interview where, in defense of his biblically based anti-homosexual-lifestyle views, he loosely cited 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: Don't be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers -- they won't inherit the kingdom of God. Don't deceive yourself. It's not right. Unabashed in his enthusiasm about the saving power of Jesus Christ...

All week long the news media, social media, and ideological attention seekers talked, discussed, lambasted, denigrated, supported, backed, or touted Phil Robertson, the patriarch of Duck Commander and Duck Dynasty.All this blathering was the result of an article in GQ written by Drew Magary. In the article, Robertson expounded on his personal views of homosexuality and gays. The backlash was shock and awe. A&E, which produces Duck Dynasty, suspended Mr. Robertson indefinitely over his comments. Then, there was shock and awe backlash against the backlash. Lost in all this kerfuffle was the article itself. It appears very few, if any...

Phil Robertson, star of the mega-hit reality show Duck Dynasty, has been suspended indefinitely for remarks made in an interview labeled “anti-gay” by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists. “A&E has shown its cowardly bigotry toward Christians,” says Paul Rondeau, executive director of American Life League, the oldest Catholic pro-life group in the nation. “GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz said, ‘Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe.’ “Instead of defending the religious expression of the Robertson family, A&E sides with GLAAD as the authority...

As a host of the daytime talk show "The View," Barbara Walters questioned why politicians, including the presidents, swear on a Bible while taking office when there is separation of church and state. "That is very true, but it starts almost with the oath of office which usually ends with 'So help me God,'" Walters said during the talk show, after actress Jane Seymour's remarks over a new political ad by Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas in which he apologizes for backing President Barack Obama's signature health care law, or "Obamacare," and also highlights the importance of the Bible...

Imagine if an activist group blanketed a major city with 55 billboards urging that illegal aliens go back to their own country. Or that homosexuality is a crime against nature. Or that Muslims are responsible for most of the world’s terrorist attacks. The mainstream media would be all over the story. Organizations – like La Raza, like GLAAD, like CAIR – would organize protests. President Obama would publicly condemn the billboards (while defending illegals, homosexuals and Islam). And the sponsors of the billboards would be branded a “hate group.” Yet, there has been little outrage over the 55 billboards that...

CNN has blamed Christians for the problem of Americans without health insurance, calling it "The Obamacare 'scandal' you haven't heard about." In an article on CNN.com's Belief Blog, CNN writer John Blake says that, while famous pastors "preach in states where crosses and church steeples dot the skyline," they do nothing about "the poor who can’t get the health insurance they would receive if they lived elsewhere."

Chris Plante at WMAL Radio in Washington reported on his show Tuesday that President Obama joined a cast of 61 "noted lawmakers, politicians, news anchors and celebrities, including every living President, in reciting the Gettysburg Address" for PBS star Ken Burns, who made "The Civil War" documentary series. Everyone else delivered the address as Lincoln had written it, including the phrase, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom." But in his version of the address, President Obama omitted the words "under God."

A Chicago-area high school pulled a senior student from class on Thursday after he showed up to school wearing a Jesus costume for Halloween. Shortly after, the school then reversed its decision and allowed the teen to return to class wearing the costume. Angenetta Frison, mother of Marshon Sanders, a senior at Highland Park High School in Chicago's northern suburbs, said in a statement to a local news outlet that her son was asked to remove his Jesus costume after two teachers at his high school reportedly complained that the costume was offensive. The costume consisted of a long white...

Video linkWhat...anti-Christian bias? Impossible?Obama is a Christian, is he not...he attended that devout Christian Church of Jeremiah Wright.Jeremiah and Obama love Jesus, don't they? And the mainstream media love Obama...Goodness gracious. Where does this racist talk come from.

First came “The Sisterhood,” a supposed Christian reality show, which debuted this past January on TLC network. It was advertised as “a candid look into the lives” of five Atlanta preachers’ wives who “aren’t your typical church ladies,” TLC teased. Indeed, these pastors’ wives were very much in touch with their sexuality, as they explored such topics as pornography and masturbation. They also “kept it real” when talking about getting high, with one of the wives telling her fellow “first ladies” about her crack smoking. And they burnished their “street cred” by getting tatted up. Then came “Preachers’ Daughters,” another...

In a fiery speech to social conservatives Friday, Virginia lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson blasted the media for questioning his positions on social issues. Jackson, a bishop, said that when he first got into the race he was asked by reporters about controversial statements he has made concerning Planned Parenthood (which he once compared to the Ku Klux Klan) and gay marriage. “Well, I want to go on record here,” Jackson said, speaking at the Values Voter Summit. “I didn’t apologize then, I don’t apologize now and I will never apologize for standing up for the truth.”

“The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,” the soldier told me. “The slide was talking about how AFA refers to gays as sinners and heathens and derogatory terms.” The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said the chaplain defended the Christian ministry. “He kept asking the instructor, ‘Are you sure about that, son? Are you sure about that?’” he said, recalling the back and forth. Later in the briefing, the soldiers were reportedly told that they could face punishment for participating in organizations that are considered hate groups. That considered, the soldier...

An Ohio school district has agreed to keep a portrait of Jesus Christ off school property and pay a $95,000 fine in the face of legal pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Jackson City School District, located in Jackson, reached a deal on Friday after the ACLU, along with the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, sued the district in February, citing “unconstitutional” actions and charging that students and visitors to the school “will continue to suffer permanent, severe and irreparable harm and injury,” according to the lawsuit. The picture had been hanging in Jackson’s high school since 1947...