Free Republic

NEW YORK (BP) -- Can the still, small voice of God be heard amid the sensory overload of Times Square's bombastic billboards and teeming crowds of people from life's every corner? That voice was heard by Nick, a young Marine from New Jersey who came to the Big Apple on leave with his buddies. Listening to the Florida Baptist Worship Choir and Orchestra sing "Open Up the Heavens" at the exact location where the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball drops, Nick heard the message God had for his ears -- and heart. The Marine asked Wes Ratliff, worship pastor...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has given the Obama administration -- and hopefully the world -- a lesson in the first freedom: The government cannot, and must not, require people of faith to violate their sincerely-held beliefs. The June 30 ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties underscores religious liberty as our "first freedom." The freedom to exercise religion, enshrined in our Constitution's Bill of Rights, is the freedom from which all of our other freedoms flow. This decision concerns only the contraceptive mandate in Obamacare and should not be understood to mean that all...

WASHINGTON (BP) -- A diverse coalition of church and synagogue leaders has penned a letter to congressional leaders asking them to renew support for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and other leaders from around the country expressed concern that the 1993 law guaranteeing religious rights from overt government intrusion may soon come under attack because of its role in the June 30 landmark case. In the letter addressed to Speaker of the House John Boehner, R.-Ohio,...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BP) -- Two New Mexico scientists have alleged that a government-owned museum used tax money to denigrate religion and promote atheism at its annual Darwin Day celebration without giving believers in God an opportunity to present their case. A flier promoting "Darwin Day" at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque -- a division of the New Mexico state government's Department of Cultural Affairs -- listed New Mexicans for Science & Reason, the Humanist Society of New Mexico and Freedom From Religion, Albuquerque as cosponsors of the Darwin celebration in February, provoking to action...

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (BP) -- When George Aguilar broke into and vandalized a Baptist church, the last thing he expected to find was love and forgiveness. But that November night in 2004 changed the 20-year-old man's life forever. That year, Aguilar, a native of El Salvador -- who at age 10 came to live with his father in the U.S. as a legal resident -- found himself without a place to live. He moved in with some young men in Tulsa who were involved in stealing items and converting them to cash. An impressionable young man who lost his job...

BALTIMORE (BP) -- Misunderstandings of God's plan for Israel abound among evangelicals, and correcting them is a key aspect of teaching biblical doctrine, Bruce Stokes said during the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship meeting in Baltimore. "You have to keep Israel central to everything you do, or you're going to wander away from the text," Stokes, SBMF vice president and pastor of the DiscipleCenter in Anaheim Hills, Calif., said. Joining Stokes as a speaker at the gathering was Michael Herts, SBMF missions development manager and founding leader of B'nai Avraham Messianic Fellowship in Hampton, Va. In a business session, the current...

BALTIMORE (BP) -- Questions from churches about the transgender issue and the tide of culture pointed to the need for Southern Baptists to address the topic during their annual meeting, the convention's lead ethicist said. Messengers to the 2014 Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution on transgender identity Tuesday (June 10), marking the first time the SBC has addressed the issue in a stand-alone measure. After what appeared to be a unanimous vote on the convention floor, Russell D. Moore explained to reporters some reasons for the resolution. On a recent day, he received three phone calls from pastors or...

HOUSTON (BP) -- Calling a controversial nondiscrimination ordinance "intensely personal," Houston Mayor Annise Parker begrudgingly voted Wednesday (May 14) to delay consideration of the proposal that would give protected status to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Houston City Council will consider the measure when it reconvenes May 28. But Parker, an open lesbian, suggested the main point of contention is irreconcilable. "The idea that we're going to be able to resolve an issue where someone can come before this body and say 'I must have the right to discriminate in order to follow my religion,' I...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The Roman Catholic Church's canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II highlights important doctrinal differences between Catholics and evangelicals, two seminary professors have noted. With more than 1 million people watching in St. Peter's Square and on giant screens across Rome, Pope Francis installed two of his predecessors as saints Sunday (April 27). It was the first time the Catholic Church had canonized two popes at once, a move that some observers said was intended to unite rival constituencies within Catholicism -- progressives who admire John XXIII and conservatives who celebrate John Paul II. The...

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP) -- While Hollywood has delivered another heavenly movie for American consumption, the Scriptures proclaimed long ago that heaven is in fact for real, God is there, and He is holy. Opening Easter weekend with $21.5 million in ticket sales, the popularity associated with "Heaven Is for Real" is encouraging. At the same time, the movie should have Christians scratching their heads. Based on the No. 1 New York Times Bestseller of the same title, the movie recounts the struggle that small-town pastor and father Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear) faces as he struggles to embrace his 4-year-old son's...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Pastors and other evangelical Christians should speak biblically and live purely to minister faithfully in a sex-saturated culture, speakers said at a Southern Baptist-sponsored summit on the Gospel and sexuality. In addresses during the three-day conference, speakers challenged participants with messages designed to equip church leaders and other Christians to live with purity while aiding people inside and outside the church who are captive to a sexualized society. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission sponsored its inaugural ERLC Leadership Summit in sessions April 21-23 at the Southern Baptist Convention building in Nashville. As sexualized as American culture...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- In A.D. 33 Jerusalem was a political powder keg ready to explode. More than ever, Jews expected a Messiah who would overthrow their hated Roman oppressors. In turn, the Roman Empire was spring loaded to pounce on any rivals to Caesar at the first sign of trouble. Into that milieu came an itinerant rabbi from Nazareth, riding into town for Passover on a donkey and being proclaimed by the crowds as the promised Messiah. Within days one of two things would surely happen: either He would overthrow the Romans or suffer a brutal death. This is one...

NASHVILLE (BP) -- The 100th anniversary of Jehovah's Witnesses' prediction that history would end in 1914 presents an opportunity for leading members of the group to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, a Southern Baptist expert on Christian sects and cults said. Christians' "first task" in sharing the Gospel with Jehovah's Witnesses is helping them "put [their official publications] away and then deal with the Bible alone," Robert Stewart, professor of philosophy and theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press. "What we need is evidence -- evidence that the Watchtower Society [Jehovah's Witnesses' central organization] has...

LAHORE, Pakistan (BP) -- A couple from Pakistan's Christian minority was sentenced to death April 4 for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages, bringing the number of Christians on death row to four. The sentence for Shafqat Emmanuel and Shugufta Emmanuel in Pakistan's Punjab province came eight days after a court in Lahore sentenced Sawan Masih to death for allegedly insulting Islam's prophet Muhammad. The case against Masih, a street sweeper, stemmed from an alleged drunken conversation with a Muslim friend that sparked an outbreak of violence in Lahore's Joseph Colony. The March 2013 flare-up left 180 Christian-owned homes and shops...

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Charities could face dwindling donations if Congress adopts a new tax reform proposal introduced by Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Camp's long-awaited plan to overhaul the tax code, introduced last month, has received some positive reviews, but charitable organizations say it could cost them billions in donations. "I know Chairman Camp wants charitable giving to go up, [but] his discussion draft does not [promote] that," said David Wills, president of the National Christian Foundation (NCF). "It hurts charitable giving significantly." NCF is part of the Faith and Giving Coalition, which...

An alarming report has been released by the government that shows Black students are more likely targets for school discipline, suspensions and arrests than any other students in our nation’s schools. The report should be a wake-up call to African-American parents and community leaders that it is time for them to get serious about being involved and demanding accountability from superintendents, school boards and principals when it comes to our children. The report, provided by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, is a compilation of Civil Rights Data Collection on school discipline that covers every school in...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Cremation may be the new American response to death, according to a survey by LifeWay Research. The study, which surveyed 1,036 Americans, shows that about 4 in 10 (41 percent) say they plan to be cremated. Six in ten (58 percent) say being cremated won't keep you from being resurrected to live in heaven. And few (14 percent) say cremation is wrong. The LifeWay online survey reflects the growing acceptance of cremation, which has become common in the United States. About 4 in 9 (43.5 percent) Americans who died in 2012 were cremated, according to the...

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (BP) -- World Vision U.S. is reverting to its longstanding conduct policy of requiring faithfulness within the biblical covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, expressing regret with an earlier decision to hire legally married gay Christians. World Vision U.S. President Richard Stearns and board chairman Jim Bere announced in a letter the reversal today (March 26), just two days after drawing ire from the Christian community by saying World Vision would begin hiring legally married gays. "Today, the World Vision U.S. board publicly reversed its recent decision to change our employment conduct policy," they...

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (BP) -- A Baptist children's pastor in Alabama has pleaded guilty to 16 counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 and one count of child pornography. Jeffrey Dale Eddie, the children's pastor and administrator of Highland Park Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, was arrested Feb. 4. Eddie, who was released from his duties upon arrest, had served on the Highland Park staff for 16 years. Eddie was charged with two counts of child pornography, 31 counts of second-degree sodomy and three counts of sexual abuse of a child...

ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) -- The Walt Disney Company is playing into the hands of Boy Scouts of America by cutting donations to BSA, giving the Scouts greater public leverage to accept gay leaders, Atlanta area pastor Ernest Easley said today (March 7). Disney in February joined a growing list of companies who have cut financial support to BSA because of the Scouts' ban on openly gay leaders. Such pressure will make it easier for BSA to open Scout leadership to gay men, said Easley, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church and chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. "Walt...