Free Republic

The U.S. House of Representatives argued over Obamacare in a rare late-night session Saturday, and the late hour seemed to have a strange effect on at least one congresswoman. Politico reporter Ginger Gibson tweeted that a few members reeked of alcohol, but it would seem some of them don’t need any liquid courage to make questionable comments. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., used a reference to the Bible to make her point against delaying Obamacare. But in paraphrasing Galatians 6:7, she deleted God from the scripture. “Mr. Speaker, be not deceived. The people are not mocked,” Moore said. “In 24,...

It was the Holy Spirit who directed Bill O’Reilly to write his latest book, “Killing Jesus,” he tells Norah O’Donnell in his first interview about the upcoming work. Though the book is not religious and its contradictions of biblical descriptions may upset some, the Fox News anchor and best-selling author believes that in writing it, he is using God’s gifts in a positive way. The interview with O’Reilly will be broadcast on the 46th season premiere of 60 Minutes on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. “All of the ideas come to me in the middle of the night...

He is said to move in mysterious ways and, at last, there may be an explanation why. For according to pensions minister Steve Webb, God is a Liberal Democrat. Although the party has been languishing in single figures in the polls, he argues that, in the long term, it has the support of the Almighty. Writing in a new book about the party’s relationship with Christianity, Mr. Webb says it is clear from the Bible that God shares the Lib Dems’ core beliefs. … Despite Mr. Webb’s eye-catching claims, the book is unlikely to feature on Nick Clegg’s reading list,...

Speaking at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa., on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden said there are “only three women that I know who are close to perfect”—his mother, Sen. Bob Casey’s (D.-Pa.) mother and God’s Mother (the Blessed Mother)—before he caught himself and said the Blessed Mother was, in fact, perfect. Biden made the remarks while introducing President Barack Obama. … Vice President Joe Biden, like President Barack Obama, argues that women have a right to abort a child—from the moment of conception. …

There's a certain page on Facebook people of faith do not “like.” Created in February, the “Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted” Facebook page originally included this controversial description, presumably speaking from Mary’s perspective: I'm here to explain what really happened in biblical times, since the bible is full of lies. My rapist's offspring has destroyed the planet and brainwashed millions. Rage-quitting is for loose buttholes. Bible-believing Facebook users who are members of the group, “Catholics & Protestants Against FB Religious Discrimination” led the online fight to have the page taken down -- and succeeded. But, they didn’t have long to celebrate....

A female CofE vicar yesterday insisted she has not sinned against God by putting an obscene bumper sticker reading 'WTFWJD' on the back of her car. The Reverend Alice Goodman stuck the sticker, standing for ‘What The F*** Would Jesus Do?', on the back of her red Subaru Legacy - sparking outrage from members of her parish. But the Reverend insists the sticker is harmless and even the former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams was happy to accept a lift in her car in the past. The sign - a play on the Christian motto ‘What Would Jesus Do?’...

Religion associate professor and MSNBC commentator, Anthea Butler said she blames God for the outcome of the Zimmerman trial, and adds that God is “a White Racist.” Known for attacking evangelical leaders, charter schools, and Ayn Rand, Butler has now attacked God in her capacity as a religion teacher.  In Religion and Dispatches, she wrote that “God ain’t good all the time. In fact," she continued, “sometimes God is not for us. As a black woman in an [sic] nation that has taken too many pains to remind me that I am not a white man, and am not capable of...

Lahore - A Christian man in Pakistan's Punjab province has been sentenced to life imprisonment for sending blasphemous mobile phone text messages to some Muslim clerics. Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Shahzad Raza of Toba Tek Singh district slapped the sentence and a Rs 2 lakh fine on Sajjad Masih yesterday. Masih, a resident of Pak pattan district, was arrested in December 2011 for allegedly sending blasphemous mobile phone messages to Muslim clerics of Gojra in Toba Tek Singh, some 200 kilometres from Lahore. The judge heard the case in the district jail and handed down the sentence to...

I’m not a rap fan. But I know who Jay-Z is. He’s sold 50 million CDs. He’s won 17 Grammy Awards. He has a net worth of $500 million, according to Forbes magazine. And, oh yes, he’s married to Beyoncé, Billboard’s top female artist of the 2000s. So, Jay Z just “dropped” his latest CD, “Magna Carta…Holy Grail.” Magna Carta is a play on the rapper’s real name, Shawn Carter. Holy Grail? Well, that’s where Jay Z offends this Christ follower’s sensibilities. A review of the rap star’s 12th studio album appears in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. I...

A severe blow for the freedom of speech, and victory for the advance of Sharia blasphemy laws here. "Michigan Federal Judge Allows Muslim Violence to Suppress Christian Speech; Immediate Appeal Filed," from the American Freedom Law Center, May 14: A Michigan federal judge today dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by several Christian evangelists who were violently assaulted by a hostile Muslim mob while preaching at an Arab festival last year in Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Muslim population in the United States. Video of the Muslim assault went viral on YouTube. The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed...

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh's capital fired rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing Islamic activists Sunday during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law. The activists were among thousands demonstrating around Dhaka, blocking roads and cutting off the city from the rest of the country. ... Thousands of activists from Hefatjat-e-Islam, a newly formed group, gathered in Dhaka's Motijheel commercial district to press for their demands. The group says some Internet users have recently used their blogs to spread atheism and lies about Islam. The government in this Muslim-majority nation has rejected the groups' demands, saying...

ISTANBUL – Earlier this month, a Turkish court sentenced world-famous pianist Fazil Say to a ten-month suspended jail sentence for “insulting religious values.”Say, 43, had tweeted the following verse from 11th century poet Omar Khayyam: “You say that the rivers flow with wine, is Heaven a tavern? You say that you will give every believer two very beautiful women, is Heaven a brothel?”He also retweeted a missive posted by someone else:  “I am not sure if you have noticed, but where there is a louse, a non-entity, a lowlife, thief or idiot, they are all pro-Allah. Is this a paradox?”In...

The Muslim Brotherhood denounced the U.S. State Department for expressing concern over legal action taken against an Egyptian satirist accused of insulting Islam and President Mohamed Morsi, stating that denigration of the Muslim religion is a “serious breach of law.” “The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has strongly criticized remarks made by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on legal complaints accusing Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef of contempt of religions,” said the Muslim Brotherhood in a statement on its official English website “Ikhwan Web.” … Known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, Bassem Youssef was accused of insulting Islam and Morsi on...

There is an intensifying global campaign to impose Islamic blasphemy law on non-Muslims, including those living outside Islamdom, in non-Muslim societies. What follows are ten key points on the doctrinal origins and practical implications of this global campaign: 1) According to the Sunna (the traditions of Muhammad and the early Muslim community), by using foul language against the Muslim prophet Muhammad, Allah, or Islam, the non-Muslim transgressors put themselves on a war footing against Muslims, and their lives became licit (such as the poet Kaab b. al-Ashraf, who composed poems denigrating Muhammad, and was assassinated). [see 1.1, 1.2, 1.3] 2)...

ISLAMABAD One of Pakistan's top-ranking diplomats, Ambassador to the U.S. Sherry Rehman, is the latest person to be accused of blasphemy in her home country under harsh laws that include a possible death sentence for anyone convicted of defaming the Islamic prophet. A senior government official in Lahore, provincial capital of Punjab province, confirmed to CBS News that a case of blasphemy had been registered with the police in the city of Multan against Rehman, a former journalist who was assigned to the Washington post in 2011. The case promises to unleash another clash between conservative Muslims who vehemently back...

Although it is now digital, Newsweek celebrated President Obama's upcoming inauguration with a "cover" that calls the event "the second coming," an apparent reference to the return of Jesus Christ, The Blaze reported Friday. A post at Twitchy called the cover "creepy," while The Blaze described it as "controversial" and “questionable.” The cover highlights an article by former editor Evan Thomas, who once compared Obama to God. “Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama’s had, really, a different task We're seen too often as the...

By now you must have heard, some idiots have gone and re-written the bible to be more gay friendly and they call it, the Queen James Bible. I am not making this up. Sooooo... CMR got a sneak peak and we can report that in the "Gay" version of the Bible certain passages, to got extra emphasis, were re-interpreted, some redacted, and some even re-written. "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." [That is not what that means!] "These were the spoils which remained of the plunder taken by the fighting men: 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and...

In Cairo on Wednesday, a Coptic Christian blogger named Alber Saber was convicted of blasphemy and “contempt of religion.” There’s a tragic irony: As any of the country’s Christians can tell you, contempt of religion is not merely permitted but encouraged in the new, post-Mubarak Egypt. What is criminal, what has become increasingly perilous, is any criticism of Islam.Nor is truth a defense. Another Egyptian court recently upheld the blasphemy conviction of Makarem Diab, also a Coptic Christian. Diab had gotten into a discussion with a Muslim acquaintance, Abd al-Hameed, who, in the course of mocking Diab’s faith, insisted that Jesus...

Turkey fines 'blasphemous' Simpsons for poking fun at God • God offers coffee to the devil in one of the cartoon's episodes (ANSAmed) - ANKARA - Just about everything that could be said and written about the super-popular cartoon 'The Simpsons' had been, except that it was blasphemous. Now even that ''milestone'' has been reached, thanks to the watchdogs of Turkey's television stations under the Islamic-leaning government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to the newspaper Hurriyet, Ankara's Council of Radio and Television (RTUK) has handed down a TRY 52,951 fine (about 23,000 euros) to the private broadcaster CNBC-E...

An Egyptian court has sentenced to death in absentia seven Egyptians, a Florida-based American pastor, and the Editor in Chief of this site. The Egyptians were found guilty of being associated with an anti-Islam film that sparked riots throughout the Muslim world, the Florida pastor was convicted for burning a Koran, and Big Hairy News chief Scooter Van Neuter was sentenced to death for posting a series of portraits of the Prophet Muhammad. "I deeply regret that the Egyptian court took offense to our artwork," said Van Neuter as he made final preparations to move to an undisclosed location. "It...