Free Republic

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "We are not isolated and we are not Christians individually, each on his or her own". Instead, we are all part of the Church, "a large family, where one is welcomed," where "one learns to live as believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus," Pope Francis said. Speaking in the last general audience before the July break, the Holy Father devoted his catechesis to the Church before a crowd of 35,000 in St Peter's Square. Despite a few drops of rain, he walked extensively among the assembled faithful. In his address, he warned against those who...

The religious right remains one of the most potent forces in American politics, but Northeasterners could be forgiven for forgetting. Evangelical Christians and Mormons, the two religious groups who most consistently espouse conservative political and cultural views, are basically absent in the Northeastern corridor. The map shows the number of regular Evangelical Christian or Mormon congregation members, as reported by religious bodies. The data, therefore, does not include every Mormon or Evangelical Christian in the country. Black Protestant denominations are a separate category from other Evangelical Protestant denominations in this data set, and are not represented on this map. The...

In spite of having mastered the frequently demanding practice of deceit, once in a while genuine motivation breaks through the left’s façade of compassion and caring. Though not widely recognized, it happened in the Hobby Lobby case decided by the Supreme Court on Monday. In the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, Congress provided the option of going to court to anyone who sought religious based exemption from a federal law. In providing this statutory right to religious objectors, Congress wrote that “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a...

Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was recently released from prison after facing the death penalty, now says that her newborn daughter is physically disabled after she was forced to give birth in jail while in shackles. Ibrahim, who is currently trying to leave Sudan after being freed from prison, spoke for the first time about the May 27 birth in a recent interview with The Guardian. At eight months pregnant, Ibrahim had been sentenced to death for apostasy and adultery due to her Christian faith. She was then forced to give birth while shackled in the Omdurman Federal...

The Battle of Kosovo 1389 “Why do Serbs celebrate defeat?” comes the question, every June 28. The short and simple answer is, they don’t. But a longer and more complicated answer is needed to explain it properly. June 28 (or 15th, in the Julian calendar), Vidovdan, is the date on which the Orthodox Christian host of Prince Lazar confronted and battled the Ottoman Turks at the Field of Kosovo in 1389. At the end of the day, both Lazar and the Turkish sultan Murat I were dead, and the Turks had left the field. Initial reports, in fact, spoke of...

Recently two prominent American bishops joined two leading Shiite Muslim scholars in Iran in issuing a statement on weapons of mass destruction. According to the statement, “Christianity and Islam cherish a common heritage that emphasizes, above all, love and respect for the life dignity, and welfare of all members of the human community.” It went on to say that “Catholicism and Shia Islam hold a common commitment to peaceful coexistence and mutual respect,” and concluded with a commitment to “our mutual intention to engage in sustained dialogue based on our shared values.”

..."Free" Serbia, as such, would continue to “exist” until 1459 when the Serbian lands finally and completely fell to the Turks, and a whole new chapter in Serbian history began that was to last for several centuries. During those centuries, Serbs would become integral to the “Eastern Question” involving another great empire, that of Russia. They would become increasingly significant to the Austrians, who would not only use and covet the Serbs as able warriors to keep the Turks from the gates of Vienna, but who would come to have their own self-serving agenda with regards to the Serbian lands....

A parent wrote to me last week asking for my honest assessment of my university. His reason for writing is that his son is enrolling at UNC-Wilmington in the fall. He directly asked whether I would send my own son to the university where I teach. He also asked some other pointed questions. I thought my answers would make an informative column for parents who are about to send their Christian children to secular universities like UNCW. So here goes. His unedited questions and my responses follow: 1. On a scale of 1 to 100 (1 = Hillsdale College and...

The well-meaning statesmen and politicians who strive mightily for political solutions–such as an Israel-Palestine accord or movement of the Muslim Brotherhood to whatever the world calls democracy–are living in a fool’s paradise. Islam’s hatred of Israel is not political, it’s spiritual at its very core. Political solutions have yet to work, but like the officially insane, we keep doing the same thing over and again. The West has stupidly dug itself a hole by denying Christianity, creating an enormous spiritual vacuum. It denies what created its beauty and prosperity. Russia is trying to sort out its renaissance. China has found...

One of the main problems of the EU is an inherent one: it is a problem of being constructed in a particular way as well as behaving in a particular way. The EU suffers from a lack of self-reflection and the idea of not “knowing oneself”. The EU also suffers from a denial of failure: its official discourse claims it is on the right track. The EU does not question what it has done so far and why it went wrong. The EU has a cognitive problem that puzzles many of us. The Christian Churches may ask for more room...

Recently, a friend emailed me with a very common claim, namely, that, “Paul hijacked Christianity with no personal connection with Jesus and filled his letters with personal opinions.” This could be rephrased in the more common claim: Paul invented Christianity.This claim is especially common among Muslim apologists who use it in an attempt to explain why the Qur’an simultaneously affirms Jesus as a true prophet while also contradicting the Bible at every major point. However, since my friend is not a Muslim and is not coming at the issue from that angle, I will just deal with the question more...

It certainly was a shock when the president of Russia lectured Americans that we are “becoming godless.” In his last “state of the nation” speech, Vladimir Putin told Russia that the United States was moving away from Christian values. Back in the 1980’s, Ronald Reagan was making similar comments about Russia! So is the United States still one nation under God? In a recent article, Dr. Ben Carson says yes. Americans still live in a culture that operates under many of Christianity’s basic assumptions about life. But with increasing numbers of Americans becoming reluctant to mention God in public, we...

What if I told you that I believe it’s OK to physically abuse your household pets?Hold on. Don’t jump on my case about it. I’m saying it’s acceptable to torture and torment pets — but only pets. And only your own pets. You certainly can’t go around drop kicking, headbutting, or piledriving your neighbor’s dog, but your dog is a different story.And you can only punch, pistol whip, and karate chop your gerbils, cats, puppies, parrots, etc, up until a certain age. And only in the most humane way possible.That’s all. I’m not some kind of psycho animal hater —...

What is “let-go-and-let-God” theology? It’s called Keswick theology, and it’s one of the most significant strands of second-blessing theology. It assumes that Christians experience two “blessings.” The first is getting “saved,” and the second is getting serious. The change is dramatic: from a defeated life to a victorious life; from a lower life to a higher life; from a shallow life to a deeper life; from a fruitless life to a more abundant life; from being “carnal” to being “spiritual”; and from merely having Jesus as your Savior to making Jesus your Master. People experience this second blessing through surrender...

To the loathsome, liberal Democrat it is never important what he/she says; it is only THAT he/she says. They are the experts at dog whistle messages to their anti-American donors and the theme is always the same: “You hate America and/or the Catholic Church. I hate them as well so send me money so I can keep on attacking them.” Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is one of the best at crafting messages to the hating crowd that makes up the Democrat Party. She knows how to tap into their wallets. She has carved out a special niche for herself as the...

Mark your calendars: In 2025, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians may return to Nicaea, the spot in modern-day Turkey where Christianity was literally defined. In 325, early followers of Jesus came together to figure out what it means to be a Christian; the goal was to create theological consensus across all of Christendom. This was way before the faith sub-divided into East vs. West, Catholics vs. Protestants, Southern Baptists vs. Primitive Baptists—these were the early days of the religion, when it still seemed like it could be observed as one, united faith. The council's effect on Christianity was huge;...

Mark 13:13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” One of the opening speakers at the 42nd PCA General Assembly told those in attendance that America is rapidly progressing to the point where declaring Jesus the only way to eternal life will be considered spreading hate. “It will be difficult to say in this culture ‘Jesus is the only way’,” Pastor Bryan Chapell warned. “That will be interpreted as hate speech.” Chapell said that sticking to truth will be a point of contention with the...

The United States is a majorly Christian nation. But this map, first seen on Mark J Perry's Twitter, answers the burning question of what faiths come in second place in each state. Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies Based on data from Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, which contributes to the religious portion of the census each decade, the map displays colors for various religions.As you can see, the Northeast gravitates toward Judaism, while Buddhism engulfs the entire West coast. Twenty states across Middle America and the South practice Islam, making it the largest non-Christian religion in the country. But one...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading Republicans on Thursday insisted that America's leaders must do more to defend Christian values at home and abroad, blaming President Barack Obama for attacks on religious freedom as they courted social conservatives expected to play a critical role in the next presidential contest. "Those of us inspired by Judeo-Christian values...have an obligation to our country and to our fellow man to use our positions of influence to highlight those values," Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio said at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group led by long-time Christian political activist Ralph Reed.

At a moment when the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is holding its meeting in Detroit, a group of Christians on June 13, 2014 has courageously issued an open pastoral letter that criticized the focus and tone of the present and possible future attitude of the Church towards Israel. The General Assembly (GA) is no longer debating, as it has done since 2000, the issue of how the Israeli occupation of territory taken in 1967 can be ended, but the question of whether the State of Israel should exist. The pastoral criticism stems from the consequences of...