Free Republic

I originally wrote this a year ago.  It being Holy Thursday, I think it's appropriate to revisit the topic.  Instead of Christianity becoming more cohesive and strong in America, it's weaker than ever.  We must remind ourselves of our purpose in believing in Christ.  There is no better time than Easter weekend.I’ve seen some eyes opening, one by one, to the fact that Christianity in the US is fractured, and that it was fractured purposely by those pursuing an agenda to advance LGBT causes at the expense of religious liberty. An excellent piece by Joe Carter is one example of such...

Corporate leaders and chambers of commerce are at war with those evangelical Christians who have decided to reassert themselves in the Republican political process. This war is eerily reminiscent of an earlier time when there was friction between the business wing of the GOP and Christian activists. Make no mistake -- the rise of variations of "religious freedom" bills in GOP-dominated legislatures around the nation is no coincidence. They are supported and backed by skilled political pros and religious leaders who are tired of being left out of the American political process. They are especially weary of being treated as...

The Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith on the planet, according to projections released Thursday, April 2.   The Pew Research Center's religious profile predictions assessed data from around the world on fertility rates, trends in youth population growth and religious conversion statistics. "Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion," according to the report. The authors predicted there will be 2.76 billion Muslims on the planet by then, and 2.92 billion Christians. Those figures...

One of the rallying cries of opponents of Indiana's religious freedom law is that people shouldn't be discriminated against because of "who they love." But radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh flipped that around on his show on Wednesday. Critics of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act say it allows people to use their religious beliefs to discriminate against gay people. Proponents say it only allows business owners to refuse to perform their services, such as at same-sex weddings, if doing so is a violation of their faith.

We have addressed the accusation before that the pre-trib rapture theory was invented by a Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald in the early 19th century.  This is now widely known to be factually incorrect and in fact there are numerous references to a pre-trib rapture in late 18th century American writing, as well as contemporary (at that time) Catholic writings such as Manuel Lacunza's The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty. Additionally, Chuck Missler has brought to light a writing from "Ephraem the Syrian" (b. 306; d. 373 AD) where this early Church deacon wrote in unequivocal language the...

No one, I think, would ever have denied that Maurice Bessinger was a man of faith. And he wasn’t particularly a “still, small voice” man either; he wanted everybody in earshot to know that slavery had been God’s will, that desegregation was Satan’s work, and the federal government was the Antichrist. God wanted only whites to eat at Bessinger’s six Piggie Park barbecue joints; so His servant Maurice took that fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1968 decided that his religious freedom argument was “patently frivolous.” Until the day he died, however, Bessinger insisted that...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (March 31, 2015) - Public school teachers in Cranston, Rhode Island, will be allowed to observe Good Friday despite objections from the city's school department. A court order issued Friday says teachers may take the day off as long as they submit a request no later than April 1. The order says the school department can neither discipline teachers for requesting the day off nor deduct their pay.

Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, in Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity and Islam, details the rising tide of secularism that seeks to banish Christianity from European history and the public square. While the situation in Australia appears nowhere near as dire, it is the case here that Christianity is often misrepresented and undermined. This happens especially in subjects such as history and in relation to what American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington terms the “clash of civilisations”. The expectation is that school textbooks present a balanced, objective and impartial view of ideas, beliefs and events. Such...

Given all the bad press Islam has gotten over the last few years, it might seem surprising at first glance that Islam is still such a vibrant, fast-growing religion. Even setting aside the fact that Muhammad was a bad guy and Allah doesn’t exist, the press about Islam over the last few years has been almost universally negative. If you’re not hearing about terrorist attacks, suicide bombers or sanctioned wife beating, you’re reading about ISIS taking slaves or Iranian morality police beating women with sticks for showing their ankles. If all of that is so, then why was Muhammad the...

The highest ranking woman in the Anglican communion has said climate denial is a “blind” and immoral position which rejects God’s gift of knowledge. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal church and one of the most powerful women in Christianity, said that climate change was a moral imperative akin to that of the civil rights movement. She said it was already a threat to the livelihoods and survival of people in the developing world.

It has been argued that “Mary is the creature closest to God. Moreover, while Christ is the mediator of all grace between God and creation, Mary is the mediator of all grace between Christ and humanity. Consequently, Mary is a powerful intercessor for all who turn to her” (see Zoltan, 1994, emp. added). The Bible clearly teaches that Mary is not Deity and should not be worshipped as such (see Pinedo, 2009). If she is not Deity, is she the closest human being to Deity? Does she play an active role in heaven, interceding for individual Christians? Does she make...

This past week the political left (disguised poorly as religious leaders) unleashed an all out assault on one of the few leading Christian leaders that has the audacity to take his faith beyond the pulpit and into the global marketplace, hoping in every way, to make a difference. And what was the motivation for those who spewed the venom in the direction of Franklin Graham—joint head of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as well as Samaritan’s Purse? Put simply Franklin Graham offered three concrete reminders for how we as a nation could remedy some—if not many—instances in which...

The nation's largest Presbyterian denomination has rewritten its definition of marriage and has authorized same-sex weddings nationwide. By Tuesday evening, a majority of presbyteries or regional governing bodies had voted to ratify an amendment to the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), allowing but not requiring its pastors to perform same-sex weddings and its churches to host such rites.

“How can you call yourself a Christian, let alone a minister?!” I get asked that question frequently and the questioner is hostile more often than not. Still, I like to answer it if I believe the questioner is sincere. Though I self-identify as a Christian and I am an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I raised eyebrows a few years ago when I posted an article on my website about how my personal beliefs don’t align with those of most Presbyterians. For example, I believe that: - Religion is a human construct - The symbols of faith are...

A shipment of 83,723 Spanish-language Bibles are headed for Cuba and will be distributed to a number of Southern Baptist churches in both Western and Eastern parts of the island nation, SBC's International Mission Board announced this week. IMB, which is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced that the shipment of three 40-foot containers filled with Bibles left from the ports of South Florida and is being distributed this week to various churches throughout Cuba. The announcement added that the Bibles will arrive in the capital of Havana on March 25. The shipment is the third since 1999...

Just got back from "Do You Believe?". It is excellent. There were so few people in the theatre though, and that was sad but I'm hoping that word will spread and people will pack the theatres to see it. It is so worth it! I was struck by some pretty good names, in the scheme of things, that appeared in the movie. Maybe not A list stars but not no names either. Gives me a little hope that Hollyweird is not completely hopeless. Mira Sorvino, Cybill Shepard, Ted McGinley, Brian Bosworth.... Also, the trailers had some good previews of other...

An Iraqi bishop says waging war against ISIS fighters is the only way to save the Christian Church in IraqThe leader of one of Christianity's oldest communities reluctantly says that waging war against ISIS - killing their fighters - is the only way to stop the radical Islamists from destroying Christianity in Iraq. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil speaks to Lara Logan for her report on the plight of thousands of Christians forced to flee ancestral homes from ISIS. Her story will be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, March 22 AT 7 p.m. ET/PT. The situation with ISIS in Northern...

Americans take religious liberty for granted. It is the First Freedom, guaranteed by the First Amendment. But four of five people around the world lack the freedom to worship and live faithfully. And the percentage of the world’s population lacking religious liberty recently edged upward. Attacks on Jews hit a recent peak. Even Americans cannot afford to take their freedoms for granted. The Pew Research Center, with Peter Henne as lead researcher, recently issued its latest study on religious liberty. The report makes for a sad read. Many organizations address religious persecution, which occurs in virtually every Muslim and authoritarian...

This is definitely one of my favorite videos from ZoNation in some time. Zo tackles the combination of liberalism and Christianity and whether or not they can mix:

An older generation complaining that an emerging one will be the death of civilization as we know it is a cliche and constant as the North Star. However, based on some rather troubling data regarding today’s millennials, it could turn out to be true this time. In his first inaugural address as governor of California 47 years ago, Ronald Reagan warned us that “freedom is a fragile thing, and is never more than one generation away from extinction.” He also reminded us that freedom “is not ours by inheritance but must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation,...