Free Republic

In a recent interview in which she announced she had joined the Episcopal Church, Rachel Held Evans said, Just about every denomination in the American church— including many evangelical denominations — is seeing a decline in numbers, so if it’s a competition, then we’re all losing, just at different rates. Many Americans, both within and outside the church, share Evans perception of the decline of denominations. But is it true? Are most denominations truly seeing a decline in numbers? Before we answer the question, we should clarify what is meant by “decline.” We could, for instance, say that Protestantism has been...

It seems that University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax—who took her own turn melting the snowflakes at Middlebury College a few years ago —again has liberals in a lather. On August 9 of this year, professor Wax, along with law professor Larry Alexander—currently the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego—penned an Op-Ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer lamenting the breakdown of our nation’s “bourgeois culture.” ... To further liberal angst, in a follow-up interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian the day after her Op-Ed ran, professor Wax doubled-down in her defense of the bourgeois culture. Declaring...

Twitter is loathing Houston’s megawatt-smile, mega-pastor Joel Osteen right now. What gives?

The earliest Latin commentary on the Gospels, lost for more than 1,500 years, has been rediscovered and made available in English for the first time. The extraordinary find, a work written by a bishop in northern Italy, Fortunatianus of Aquileia, dates back to the middle of the fourth century. The biblical text of the manuscript is of particular significance, as it predates the standard Latin version known as the Vulgate. and provides new evidence about the earliest form of the Gospels in Latin. Despite references to this commentary in other ancient works, no copy was known to survive until Dr...

Modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) are not just incrementally superior to any other hominid or animal; we’re qualitatively different, both as the only known technologically-intelligent species and by virtue of dozens of unique abilities. It is not a claim but a demonstrable fact that anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) are vastly superior to every other form of life and, for whatever reason, all the genetic mutations that make us unique and confer over 40 traits and behaviors that result in evolutionary advantages over every other animal, occurred within a short period of time, within just one genus, and nowhere...

[...] Jesus is not the Son of God and belief in the Trinity is "excess": "O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter anything concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word which he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and do not say 'Three.' Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One Allah. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. His is all that...

The New Testament (NT) is the foundational religious text for over 2.2 billion people and is completely unique in one sense: It is the world's only unedited, frameless, correlative anthology. Over a period of 50 years, at least nine authors wrote 27 books containing no less than 55 major doctrines and 180 doctrinal concepts centered on one figure – Jesus Christ. Somehow, when these doctrines are grouped, whether they refer to the Pre-Mortal Jesus, Human Jesus, Resurrected Jesus, and Glorified Jesus, a single, coherent cosmology appears:

The West’s Christian heritage is being erased from our consciousness by our political, educational, and media elites. Somehow, the scientific and technological products that originated in the West now arose in a vacuum. Universities like Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge have been going to great lengths to minimize or even deny Christians had anything to do with their establishment, but their debt to Christians is undeniable. The fact is everyone on earth owes a great debt to Jesus Christ because those influenced by his teachings were directly responsible for virtually everything that makes our lives the most enjoyable and productive...

"This is such a dark place."The irony stopped me in my tracks. The speaker was Jonas Kouassi-Zessia, an African émigré to Europe who had planted a church there.In the 19th and 20th centuries Europe – and America – was sending missionaries to Africa. Europeans and Americans referred to Africa as the "Dark Continent." Now, in the eyes of an African Christian leader, it was Europe shrouded in darkness.I recently spent two weeks with Pastor Kouassi-Zessia in Copenhagen, and with his counterparts in Paris. I was there to conduct "Globequake" conferences, focusing on helping churches stay steady and minister effectively in...

Barcelona, a world-renowned tourist destination, has also been an attraction for jihadists on a trail linking European countries such as France and Belgium to Moroccan criminal networks. Since the 2004 Madrid train bombings – the deadliest Islamist attack on European soil -- Spain had been spared the sort of jihadist violence that has struck France, Belgium, Germany and the UK over the past two years. That was until Thursday, August 17, when a van mowed into crowds on Barcelona’s busy Las Ramblas, killing 13 people, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Hours later, a woman was...

The massive rise of Christianity in Iran, especially among youths, continues despite the Islamic government's efforts to suppress the faith. Even Islamic leaders admitted that more and more young people are choosing to follow Christ.According to Mohabat News, which reports on the persecution and state of Christianity in Iran, the "exponential rate" of Christian growth has been a factor for the last couple of decades.Now even leading Islamic seminary officials, such as Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, have pointed to "accurate reports indicating that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches."Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has also been raising alarm over...

Recently I wrote about the hermeneutical principle of trusting what the Bible plainly says - in other words, a literal interpretation of Scripture and letting Scripture interpret Scripture.  It is my belief that if Christians adhered to this principle there would be few if any divisions in the Church.  Approaching Scripture with a certain humility is also important.  We should tremble at God's Word, not act as though we are the masters of it.  Don't assume you've figured it all out because none of us have.  The strongest evidence I see demonstrating that someone knows the Scriptures inside and...

Christianity is making a comeback in Europe – and it’s mostly thanks to Muslims, say experts in Islam and faith leaders. A soaring number of Muslims, many of them refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are converting to Christianity, breathing new life into Europe’s once floundering Christian churches. The Muslims are flocking to various Christian denominations, experts said, including becoming Protestants, evangelical or Catholic. As many parts of Europe are becoming more secular and houses of worship are seeing congregants leave in droves, it is Muslim converts who are reviving struggling Christian churches

EU, George Soros acting against the will of the peopleBUDAPEST, Hungary (ChurchMilitant.com) - The leader of Hungary is warning that an effort to de-Christianize Europe is underway. Speaking in Romania in July, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke of a deliberate plan to transform Europe into a "mixed, Islamicized" society. "In Brussels," he warned, "an alliance has been forged against the opinion of the people." Orbán said Europe is being prepared to surrender its heritage and identity: We are observing the conscious, step-by-step implementation of this policy. In order for this to happen, for the territory to be ready to...

London police barred Britain’s Council of Ex-Muslims (CEMB) from displaying their “Allah is gay” sign in the City’s annual gay pride parade. Police did allow a “Jesus is gay” sign to be displayed. London Mayor Sadiq Khan explained that “calling Allah gay is a slander that cannot be tolerated. Anyone who has read the Quran can clearly see that Allah is NOT gay. In fact, in the Quran Allah prescribes death for homosexuals. A proclamation that Allah is gay is obviously untrue.” Khan contrasted the clarity of Islam’s stance on homosexuality with what he characterized as “the ambiguity of Christianity...

This is a subject I have very much wanted to address of late seeing as there continues to be so much division, even in the watching community.  It shouldn't be this way.  Those of us who have a genuine saving faith in Christ should be unified even if we disagree on the details.  Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for godly division, but I see many Believers dividing for the wrong reasons. Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants...

A classical Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition survives in Christian iconography  Have you ever wondered, while looking at religious icons, why the figures of Christ and the saints make certain hand gestures? Each gesture has a specific meaning, but it’s no wonder we can’t always understand them: they’re “written” in Greek! Classical Greeks and Romans developed a well-established, quite complex hand-gesture code, which was used by both orators and rhetoricians alike, when they were giving speeches in the agora or the Senate, during their private addresses, or even in the classroom. The gestures accompanying the oratory, of course, were a matter of public...

"...I’d urge you to read a fascinating article in this Sunday’s New York Times. It turns out that America’s less religious citizens are far more likely to believe in things such as ghosts and UFOs than people who attend church. The author, psychology professor Clay Routledge, locates this phenomenon in the quest for meaning..."For instance, my colleagues and I recently published a series of studies in the journal Motivation and Emotion demonstrating that the link between low religiosity and belief in advanced alien visitors is at least partly explained by the pursuit of meaning. The less religious participants were, we...

Christian tradition maintains that after Rome nearly burned to the ground, Nero engaged in a brutal crackdown on Christians which led to the executions of Peter and Paul. On the evening of July 18, in the scorching summer of 64 CE, a fire started in a shop under the Circus Maximus in Rome. The fire quickly spread to nearby homes and businesses and the Circus itself. The fire burned for six days, ravaging the city. It left only four of Rome’s fourteen quarters untouched. The reigning emperor, Nero, a man known for his cruelty and love of theater, scapegoated the...

Nonie Darwish gives a westernized definition of "religion" in her polemic against Islam, "Cruel and Usual Punishment", as follows: 1) a religion must be a personal choice; 2) no religion should kill those who leave it; 3) a religion must never order the killing and subjugation of those who do not choose to be its members; 4) a religion must abide by basic human rights. For the last 70 years, the west has been ostensibly tolerant of individual freedom of conscience and human life (note: the exceptions being abortion, euthanasia, Socialism, etc.) Accepting this definition leads one to conclude that...