Free Republic

"Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied. "Christian congregations in particular have skyrocketed since churches began reopening when Chairman Mao's death in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution. "Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation."

Lyrics Hallelujah - Easter version by Kelley Mooney Lyrics To Hallelujah by Kelly Mooney Adapted to the music of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah A crown of thorns placed on His head He knew that He would soon be dead He said did you forget me Father did you? They nailed Him to a wooden cross Soon all the world would feel the loss Of Christ the King before His Hallelujah Hallelujah x4 He hung His head and prepared to die Then lifted His face up to the sky Said I am coming home now Father to you A reed which held...

Something called the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has sent a demand letter to Clemson University regarding its football program. It appears head coach Dabo Swinney has had the unmitigated audacity to hire a team chaplain and have Bible studies. Three privately funded buses took the team to a church. Even more outrageous, three players spoke of their faith in Jesus Christ at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes breakfast. The real horror is that their teammates heard about that faith in person. FFRF is a meddling group from Wisconsin intent on eliminating faith from the public square. Interestingly there isn’t...

If you take the RFID Microchip they can TRACK your every move, Control your MONEY, Control your FOOD and possible even KILL you if you don’t obey! A number of states like Virginia, have passed “stop the mark of the beast legislation” in an effort to stop this.

A rare "blood moon tetrad" will arrive with the start of a total lunar eclipse, beginning late on Monday evening--or, for most of the East Coast, early Tuesday. The eclipse, in which the full moon will be darkened by the earth's shadow, will coincide with the Jewish festival of Passover. In a bizarre, rare calendrical coincidence, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in October will also feature a solar eclipse--as will both Passover and Sukkot next year as well.

A wooden cross that sits in front of an Upstate church was set on fire over the weekend, according to an incident report from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. A church deacon at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church on Old Howard Gap Road reported the burned cross on Saturday morning. He told deputies that someone set fire to the large wooden cross which had a wreath and purple cloth over it between 6 p.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. Saturday. According to an incident report, church leaders believed that a purple cloth and crown of thorns on the cross were set...

David Cameron has claimed divine inspiration was at work when it came to drafting a key concept for Conservative Party policy. Speaking last night at his Easter reception in Downing Street, the Prime Minister reportedly said he was simply doing God’s work when he launched the “Big Society” initiative of volunteering and civic responsibility. “Jesus invented the Big Society 2,000 years ago,” Mr. Cameron said. “I just want to see more of it.” …

This is the text of a speech given by Lord Alton of Liverpool at a Vigil for Syria held at Farm Street Jesuit Church on Tuesday, just a day after the murder of Fr van der Lugt in Homs. In a talk at the beginning of Lent at Brentwood Cathedral I cited the heroic and faithful work of a 75-ear-old Dutch Jesuit, Fr.Franz van der Lugt who, in the face of extraordinary danger and acute suffering, refused to desert the suffering people of Homs.Father Frans van der Lugt was born on April 10, 1938 in the Netherlands and entered the Society...

In Pakistan, according to a report released by Movement for Solidarity and Peace, 100 to 700 Christian girls are forced to convert to Islam each year. The girls are usually between the ages of 12 and 25; they are abducted, forced to convert and then married to the abductor or to a third party. What commonly happens is that the family of the abducted girl files a First Information Report (FIR) for kidnapping to the police, and then the abductor files a counter FIR that accuses the girl’s family for harassing their ‘willfully’ converting daughter. The girl is forced to...

It’s one of the enduring traits of the United States and a source of understandable pride. Americans are, in part, defined by the freedoms they enjoy under the Constitution in general, and in our freedom of religion in particular. And this open environment has led us to be one of the most religiously diverse nations on the planet, right? As Dr. Joyner explores the topic, perhaps not so much. This comes from a new Pew Research study which breaks down the religious affiliation of Americans in one convenient graph.Looking at this graph, it’s easy to see that we’re considerably more...

This song is a fav of mine. If nobody else likes it, well, I guess that's OK, too. If it offends, guess you shouldn't have clicked on the thread. Oh well. Hope some of you enjoy it. It's pretty loud, or can be so, wake up, LOL.

Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you’ve noticed the growing clash between religious freedom and issues like same-sex marriage and forced funding of abortion. Last week, the Supreme Court heard a landmark case on whether the federal government can compel a business to fund abortion drugs in defiance of the religious beliefs of the business owner. It’s merely one such case amid a flurry of lawsuits that even includes the Little Sisters of the Poor. Or, consider these situations involving gay marriage: In Oregon, a couple that owns a bakery, the Kleins, are being sued and called before the...

"But the war to be waged with the West is not with rockets. It is a cultural, social, moral war where Russia's role, in Putin's words, is to "prevent movement backward and downward, into chaotic darkness and a return to a primitive state." Would that be the "chaotic darkness" and "primitive state" of mankind, before the Light came into the world? This writer was startled to read in the Jan-Feb. newsletter from the social conservative World Council of Families in Rockford, Ill., that, of the "ten best trends" in the world in 2013, number one was "Russia Emerges as Pro-Family...

Eyewitnesses have given a harrowing account of the murder in Cairo of a young Coptic Christian woman, hauled out of her car and beaten and stabbed to death by a Muslim mob, apparently targeted because of a cross hanging from her rear-view mirror. The incident occurred in the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams after mosque prayer services on Friday, ... 25-year-old Mary Sameh George was attacked in her car near a church, where she planned to deliver medicine to an ill and elderly woman. Protestors climbed onto her car, collapsing the roof, then hauled her from the vehicle, beating and...

So it would seem the New York Times believes that if you want to make a living you must give up your constitutionally protected rights. I guess because money is dirty and so are those evil Christians...or something. Click image to enlarge it.

Where the numerous Christian leaders who endorsed the film really got fooled, though, was in assuming Aronofsky's "Noah" had anything to do with God of the Old Testament or the Bible. It doesn't. "Noah" is really about "The Creator," a completely different being according to Gnostics, and an evil one. If Aronosfsly's "god" seemed a little anti-human to some of us, here's why: Except that when Gnostics speak about “The Creator” they are not talking about God. Oh, here in an affluent world living off the fruits of Christendom the term “Creator” generally denotes the true and living God. But...

On Friday, my wife and I had a very rare date night. Naturally, we decided to spend it being pummeled by the blaring condescension of the most insipid, absurd, unimaginative, clumsily contrived piece of anti-Christian filmmaking to come along since, well, probably just last week. In fact, if I learned anything from Noah, it’s this: despite popular perception, you can often judge a book by its cover. Also, giant deformed rock monsters make for awkward supporting characters. We’ll meditate on that second item in a moment, but it’s the first point that should be especially emphasized. Christians: you’ll hear people...

“[The Church] does not, in the conventional phrase, believe what the Bible says, for the simple reason that the Bible does not say anything. You cannot put a book in the witness-box and ask it what it really means.” – G. K. ChestertonSola Scriptura is the Protestant doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Under it, only doctrines that are found directly within the Bible or are drawn indirectly from it by simple reasoning are allowed. (See material vs. formal sufficiency & perspicuity.) 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is the primary passage used to defend this...

Former Alabama Sen. Jeremiah A. Denton Jr., a prisoner of war for more than seven years in North Vietnam, died on Friday in Virginia Beach. Mr. Denton was 89 years old. His son, Jim Denton, told The Washington Post, which first reported the news, that his father died of a heart ailment. Mr. Denton, a retired U.S. Rear Admiral, was shot down over the city of Thanh Hoa in Vietnam in 1965 and captured while leading a bombing mission. He later wrote a book about his experiences. Mr. Denton grabbed national attention in 1966 when he was forced to give...

by Susan Frommer  | Top Right News Imagine hearing this story from your 5-year-old when you ask her how her day was in kindergarten. Kudos to these parents for staying calm and teaching this little girl that she can pray absolutely anywhere she wants.

WARNING: Graphic language… Joe Newby at The Washington Examiner has found a real doozy of a “comedian.” Her name is Laura Levites – with obviously no connection to the priests of the Old Testament. (She’s an atheist with a fondness for Ricky Gervais.) “I would personally like to castrate every Male Conservative Christian so that they have NO reproductive rights,” she wrote on Twitter, using the hashtag “#HobbyLobby.” She certainly knows how to draw attention to herself. Newby said that’s not all. She also expressed her hatred of Christians in a tweet calling conservative Christians “scumbags,” claiming they are “really...

Indie film “God’s Not Dead” is rocking the weekend box office, bringing in $2.8 million from just 780 theaters on Friday. Its $3,613 per-screen average was better than any movie in the market except for “Divergent” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” The Wrap noted Saturday. It was running third after Friday and will likely come in around $8 million for the three days. The low-budget PG-13 drama about a Christian college student (Shane Harper) in an epic battle with an atheist philosophy professor who threatens to fail him if he refuses to disavow God’s existence. Freestyle Releasing co-president Mark Borde...

GLENN CHAMP is a small contractor businessman that makes the crooked places straight and the rough places smooth. He builds roads, Highways, and freeways. A former G-man, welder, mechanic and contract firefighter. Born in Clovis, California. Glenn Champ is a longtime resident of the state of California who lives in the mountains, in Tollhouse CA. He was also raised in the mountains where work starts at a young age. He graduated from Sierra High school, college poly science, and would not stand for the unbiblical, communist, socialist, curriculum brain washing in college. CHAMP 48, is of all American Christian heritage....

You can also check out Because it's Sunday, here's 25 fun and creative Christian memes...

(Click on image to see full size) Infographic: Persecuted and Forgotten? Credit: Aid to the Church in Need New York City, N.Y., Mar 19, 2014 / 04:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a recently-released summary report called “Persecuted and Forgotten?� Aid to the Church in Need has revealed a worldwide growth in discrimination against Christians in scope and frequency. The persecution of Christians “has increased over the last 10 to 15 years,� said Ed Clancy, director of evangelization and outreach at Aid to the Church in Need, in an interview with CNA last month, adding that “persecution has many faces,...

Former “Two and a Half Men” star Angus T. Jones has addressed his former show once again, saying that he was “a paid hypocrite” for the CBS comedy. During an interview with Houston television station KHOU, Jones — who played Jake Harper on the series — took himself to task, admitting that he went along with the series even though it didn't fit with his Christian beliefs. “[The show] was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people, and I was a paid hypocrite, because I wasn't OK with it but I...

I had an extraordinary telephone conservation with my 86-year-old black dad, a lifelong Democrat and huge Obama fan. He called to ask me, "Is Obama anti-Christian?" Dad has been a Christian pastor for over 50 years. I said, "Dad, I have been telling you about Obama's anti-Christian policies for the past five years." Dad replied, "And I have not been listening." Dad confessed that he simply could not bring himself to go against a black man in the White House. I felt that dad was expressing the sentiments of many blacks of his era. I asked him to explain why...

Maher began the monologue by declaring that America is “stupid” because 60 percent of the country reportedly believes the tale of Noah’s ark is literally true. He went on to slam the film Noah as “floating giraffe cr**,” but said it “must be doing something right” since it’s been condemned by both Muslims and Christians. And the fact that it might lose a lot of studio money, he joked, “may put it in hot water with the Jews too.”

CHRIS McDANIEL FOR U.S. SENATE FROM MISSISSIPPI Chris McDaniel has a proven record of fighting for conservative principles in the Mississippi State Senate. He has been a champion of limited government, free enterprise, civic participation, reduced tax rates, a strong national defense, and a return to the original checks and balances of the Constitution.

...We're shown Bruno sneaking around and are told that "He dared to read the books banned by the Church." The book in question was On the Nature of Things by Lucretius, which he keeps hidden under his floorboards....Tyson tells us that this (meaning reading Lucretius) "was his undoing." That's very interesting, since papal legate and cardinal Nicholas of Cusa had read and commented on Lucretius in the 15th century, formulating ideas that would later be picked up by Bruno, and was widely read and respected. As the poor Giordano secretly reads his precious book, THE CHURCH! bursts into his room...

Plan B on display

This christian school was raffling off a number of guns and other prizes.  It was pleasant to see a school that was not caught up in the government enforced anti-second amendment indoctrination that has been common since the Clinton regime. While the top two prizes were either a vacation or a diamond ring, six of the 12 prizes were firearms, from a Tikka T3 in 300WSM to a Henry .22.   I bought a ticket on general principles, because I support independent schools and because rewarding good behavior brings more of it. This sort of cultural activity is exactly why...

Pro-life leaders have noticed that not a single panel or specific speaker on life issues has been scheduled for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is supposed to be the preeminent annual gathering of conservatives in America. Pro-lifers note there are important panels on the IRS scandal, immigration, Common Core, privacy, gun control, and criminal justice reform--issues in which pro-lifers would be keenly interested. Pro-lifers generally pride themselves on being “full spectrum conservatives”; that is, supporters of the three-legged stool: economics, national security, and moral issues. So they would not complain about panels covering these issues. But they note...

Only trusting the Bible without the Church would be like loving "Romeo & Juliet" and hating Shakespeare's explanation of it. "Follow" me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/crucifixwearer"Like" Answering Protestants on Facebook: http://facebook.com/AnsweringProtestantsAdd Answering Protestants to your Circles on Google+: http://plus.google.com/106938988929282894016"Subscribe" to my YouTube videos: http://youtube.com/user/crucifixwearer

These cases exhibit the lack of clear, convincing reasoning about sexuality—reasoning that respects the interlocutor as a person made in God’s image, while grounding the discussion in sound biblical theology.

The aim is to bring children closer to the Holy Scriptures by presenting them in an entertaining and innovative way Luigi AlbinianoRome Reading the Bible has never been more fun. “Bible Storyteller” is an app for tablets and smartphones, designed especially for children, which teaches them about the Holy Scriptures through entertaining and engaging animated pictures and audio files. The stories, protagonists and events of the New and Old Testaments – grouped into various sections in the main menu – are presented in a multifunctional app with an attractive interface that makes it even easier to use. The texts and the interesting...

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...

The fleur-de-lis represents the Trinity: three distinct petals (Persons) bound by one cord at their base (Godhead). "Follow" me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/crucifixwearer"Like" Answering Protestants on Facebook: http://facebook.com/AnsweringProtestantsAdd Answering Protestants to your Circles on Google+: http://plus.google.com/106938988929282894016"Subscribe" to my YouTube videos: http://youtube.com/user/crucifixwearer

Anyone who thinks Christians don't have a sense of humor should check these out. Many of these were found at the Christian Meme Facebook page.

Full Ttitle: Pastor Ron Carpenter's Wife, Hope, Returns to SC Megachurch as He Rebukes Christian Leaders Who Supported His Desire for Divorce _______________________________________________________________ Hope Carpenter, co-founder of Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, S.C., was enthusiastically welcomed back by congregants on Sunday months after her marital infidelities were exposed at the pulpit by her husband, Pastor Ron Carpenter. Carpenter, this time around, took other Christian leaders to task for supporting him when he declared he would be seeking a divorce. With his wife and family sitting in the very first row of the sanctuary, Pastor Carpenter manned the pulpit not...

The Church is my greatest weight. Of course, the weight of over a billion souls would likely be rather large, especially post-McDonald's, so I suppose that nothing else is really comparable.What does this mean? In an age of moral relativism, instability, and self-gratification, much like the age of the Roman Empire prior to its Christian conversion, I found myself alone and empty after a scarring experience. So, I sought the counsel of philosophy and history – surely, men had answered my questions before! – and I was, after seemingly endless struggles with myself and others, eventually comforted. The Church became...

America does not sustain and create faith. Faith created and sustains America. -Gov. Bobby Jindal, "The Silent War on Religious Liberty" The President is very concerned about religious liberty…and also, if you like your religion you can keep your religion. -Gov. Bobby Jindal, "The Silent War on Religious Liberty" In a surprise move, Gov. Bobby Jindal spoke little about the failing economy and much about religious liberty in his speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library Thursday night. But by boldly stating, "The modern left in America is completely intolerant of the views of people of faith. They...

Christian militia taking revenge on the Central African Republic's Muslim population could drive the entire Islamic group out of the country, a human rights group claimed earlier this week. The anti-balaka ("anti-machete") has increasingly fought back against the country's minority Muslim population since the Muslim Seleka rebel group antagonized the country's Christians. Human Rights Watch employees in the Central African Republic have claimed to have witnessed anti-balaka forces cutting "the throats of Muslim civilians, publicly lynching, mutilating, and setting their bodies on fire." It also reported attacks where the groups had cut off body parts or hacked Muslims to death....

Feel that? Something “historic” and “important” just happened. It might even be a “teachable moment,” and it’s certainly therapeutic. Why, liberals will be able to like their country just little bit more. Come on people, feel the love! A potential fourth round NFL draft pick has declared is “own truth,” and come out as gay. Having taken the “courageous” step of joining society’s most trendy and celebrated grievance group, Missouri defensive end Michael Sam is now basking in the media adulation. ESPN’s Chris Connelly stressed to Sam, “You could become the first openly gay player in the NFL, that’s a...

Why is it national news every time an athlete comes out of the closet? Do I need to know if the meter man is gay or the female checker at the grocery store is a lesbian? And what exactly does one’s sexuality have to do with playing sports? It’s common knowledge liberals have been desperately searching for star poster boys to fulfill their homosexuality assimilation tour in the three major sports: baseball, football, and basketball. Yet, no matter how much the thought police try to squash dissent, brand us as religious extremists, they will never understand the difference between “tolerance”...

BANGUI, Central African Republic — Polin Pumandele was killed about 9:30 a.m. He was a Christian walking in a Muslim enclave, carrying wood to sell. In these tense days, that is enough reason to die in the Central African Republic. A Muslim mob confronted Pumandele, 23, on a side street and pushed him around. Then, they threw him into a ditch. At least one man stabbed him before his throat was slit. As the slaughter unfolded, some of his killers ordered a Washington Post journalist witnessing the attack Sunday to leave. “Allez, allez — go, go, ” one yelled, wagging...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire in a cathedral on the Russian island of Sakhalin, off the country's eastern coast, on Sunday, killing a nun and a churchgoer and wounding six other people, state-run news agency RIA reported.

"[T]he light of natural reason, whereby we discern what is good and what is evil, which is the function of the natural law, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the Divine light." - Summa Theologiæ [Part II, FP, Q. 91] Natural law is sometimes dismissed as just another religious theory, totally dependent on belief in God. But actually, while Catholics do believe that God wrote it on our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:4-7, Romans 2:12-16), it is a self-evident truth with which even the most rabid atheist should come to terms. What is natural law?"The natural law expresses the...

MOSCOW — At the height of the Cold War, it was common for American conservatives to label the officially atheist Soviet Union a “godless nation.” More than two decades on, history has come full circle, as the Kremlin and its allies in the Russian Orthodox Church hurl the same allegation at the West. “Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent keynote speech. “Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in...