Free Republic

Russell Moore (no relation to Roy Moore), the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm, “says Alabama judges who in good conscience cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, should resign instead of fighting the law while in office.” What if judges in Germany refused to approve legal orders to transport Jews to death camps? What if they just resigned? Would that have been enough? A resignation would only mean that a new judge would be appointed who would comply with the order. A line has to be drawn somewhere.

A couple of years ago, a former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, warned Christians that the faith is in danger. Here is the article: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Christianity-Anglican-Extinct-Carey/2013/11/25/id/538425/ According to the article, only 800,000 people are church-goers in Britain. Britain had a total population of 64 million in 2013. This means that only 1.25 percent of the British population are church-going Christians. The future of America seems to be going in Britain's direction. I wanted to add an update to Lord Carey's observations. A lot of people think the Third World is the future of Christianity. But Brazil, the largest Latin American country,...

With the appalling apostasy, both overt and subtle, engulfing many evangelical churches in these last days, I have found myself in search of a truly Bible-believing church body that is serious about the Truth taught by God through Jesus Christ. To be specific, these are the things I am trying to avoid: - The cultish "mega-church" mentality (though size doesn't not necessarily disqualify an otherwise orthodox church culture) - Any sympathy, working agreement, or tacit acknowledgement of any Christian legitimacy with Rome. - The hyper "grace only" heresy of the need just to "believe on Jesus Christ," nothing else matters...

Shortly after the Reformation began, in the first few years after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, he issued some short booklets on a variety of subjects. One of the most provocative was titled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In this book Luther was looking back to that period of Old Testament history when Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading armies of Babylon and the elite of the people were carried off into captivity. Luther in the sixteenth century took the image of the historic Babylonian captivity and reapplied it to his era...

"Could you be a church in Selma and not march, just handle your own community?" says pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church. "I don’t think I can do that." Three Sundays ago in Franklin, Tenn., twenty minutes south of Nashville and in the heart of the country’s contemporary Christian music industry, pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church preached what was perhaps the most important sermon of his life. You can watch it above–start around 44:40 if you are short on time.

Presbyterian Church and Palestinian Liberal Christians Rewriting the Bible to Remove References to Israel By Julio Severo Sabeel (Palestinian Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center) has partnered with the Presbyterian Church (USA) to produce a new Bible version that changes God’s Word. The new version has no mention of Israel as Jewish and no mention of Jesus as a Jew. In fact, Jesus (Yeshua) is changed from being Jewish to being a Palestinian Arab, according to Geri Ungurean in NowTheEndBegins. Sabeel (Arabic ‘the way’ and also ‘a channel’ or ‘spring’) is a Christian liberation theology organization based in Jerusalem. It was founded...

If evangelical Christianity is famous for anything in contemporary American politics, it is for its complete opposition to gay marriage. Now, slowly yet undeniably, evangelicals are changing their minds. Every day, evangelical communities across the country are arriving at new crossroads over marriage. My magazine story for TIME this week, “A Change of Heart,” is a deep dive into the changing allegiances and divides in evangelical churches and communities over homosexuality. In public, so many churches and pastors are afraid to talk about the generational and societal shifts happening. But behind the scenes, it’s a whole different game. Support for...

Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, says the Church’s prayer of confession as devout laity strike their breasts three times. Yet, the Palm Beach Diocese’s Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito remains silent to the prayer’s plea. “What I have failed to do” part of this prayer resembles failing to speak out about wrongdoing when you had the opportunity. Remember the old Latin axiom that Silence is Consent? Well, what is going on in the Palm Beach Diocese? Pope Francis recently exhorted church leaders to listen to the public, let the public be heard, eschew the dictates...

Considering Joel Osteen's well-documented acceptance of just about anyone who believes almost anything, it should come as no surprise that the senior pastor of the mammoth Lakewood Church in Houston believes President Obama's assertion that he is a Christian—despite his numerous unbiblical beliefs, such as "there are many paths to the same place." Osteen's comments came in an interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN Friday on his news program, The Situation Room. Osteen says he has been to prayer breakfasts and other events with Barack Obama and heard him express his faith, redemption and salvation. "I just believe in my...

In a new video, megachurch leader and author Rick Warren is calling for Christians to unite with Roman Catholics and “Pope Francis,” who Warren recently referred to as the “Holy Father”—a move that is raising concerns among Christians nationwide and is resulting in calls for Warren to repent. Warren made the comments following his visit to the Vatican last month, where he spoke at an interfaith conference on the “Complementarity of Man and Woman.”...

Let me know if this has already been talked about. I looked, but saw no prior discussion. There is a small social group of small business owners considering a most unorthodox proposal, that being to build a small McDonald's restaurant inside of existing churches. The theory being that this would help to increase church attendance, resulting in a net gain for both the participating house of worship and the locally held franchise. I truly thought this was nothing but an overwrought, ill conceived joke written by some bored agnostic, but now I'm not so sure. It is so off the...

Riding on the success of a pile of bestselling books and a hit video series, Pastor Rob Bell became one of the most sought after religious speakers in America during the early 2000’s. But after Bell questioned whether hell was real in his New York Times bestselling book Love Wins, many conservative Christians tried to oust him from the inner circle of evangelicalism. How did Bell respond? By quietly bidding his haters adieu, leaving his church, and attaining even more success. In 2011, Bell was named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and, after finding his...

It looked like a chilling scene from a Last Days, anti-Christ-takes-over-the-world disaster movie. Hundreds of Muslims take over America’s most notable church, prostrate on their prayer rugs as their unified chant echoes out in full volume: “There is only one god, he begets not and I bear witness that Muhammad is His only servant and Apostle."

Reverend Franklin Graham, son of world renowned evangelist Billy Graham, said the Muslim prayer service on Friday at the Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal church established under a charter granted by Congress more than 100 years ago, is “sad to see” because the church should only open its door for worship of “the One True God of the Bible.” In a Facebook post on Thursday, Nov. 13, Rev. Franklin Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said, “Tomorrow, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. -- one of the most prominent Episcopal churches in America -- will host a Muslim...

The Washington National Cathedral will host a Muslim prayer service on Friday -- for the first time in American history. Why is National Cathedral hosting a prayer service for a religion that opposes the teachings of Christianity? I asked Erwin Lutzer, the pastor of Moody Church, about the significance of this moment. What he told me should be shared! Pastor Lutzer: "The National Cathedral was dedicated to be a house of worship for Christians. Although tolerance is a commendable virtue, we might well wonder why this Cathedral will be used to host a prayer service for a religion which opposes...

There are several ways to see the National Cathedral's decision to host Islamic Friday prayers this week. First, the facts. The service is the brainchild of the Rev. Canon Gina Campbell, the Episcopal cathedral's director of liturgy, and South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, a Muslim, who is delivering the sermon. Invitation-only guests include Masjid Muhammad of The Nation's Mosque, representatives of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). That's some roster if playing "Spot the Muslim Brotherhood Front" is a...

I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago about a church she used to attend. She stopped going because the pastors, who called themselves “team leaders,” never wanted to deal with any topics that might be controversial, like abortion. In fact, their stated goal was that they wanted the church to be safe for people. The thought of a “safe” church has bounced around in my head off and on since then. What in the world is a safe church, especially given that the gospel itself, is not safe. Jesus isn’t safe. God Himself, is not safe. In...

The Big Bang “doesn’t contradict the intervention of a divine Creator, but demands it,” Pope Francis said Monday morning, because the beginning of the world “is not the work of chaos.” The Pope was addressing the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, gathered in the Vatican to discuss “Evolving Concepts of Nature.” God is not some sort of wizard, said Francis, but rather “the Creator who brought all things into being.” The origin of the world derives directly “from a supreme Principle of creative love,” he added. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation,...

Michael Gungor, of the Christian worship band Gungor, stepped into a wasp’s nest of criticism and controversy by his comments a few months ago that he doesn’t believe in a literal creation, or in the great flood, or Noah.  In fact, he believes that God-directed evolution is the means our Creator used to bring forth species upon the earth. Meh.  By itself, such a comment is disagreeable to my own beliefs, but not on its face heretical or worthy of disfellowship.  The fact that Gungor has a hit band in the Christian world has no bearing on my opinion. Michael...

It seems Walter Kasper's racist remarks on Africa and Africans have caused an understandable shock wave throughout the assembly. They reflect a racist, xenophobic, and anti-African mindset that has removed the Church in Africa from any participation in the Synodal administration and governance, or in the committee formed to help draft the final relatio. Other than that, Synod Fathers are being strongly pressured by the allies of the racist German cardinal, who are in the minority, to modify as little as possible the partial relatio: as Tosatti explains below, that was one of the main reasons why the racist manipulators...