Free Republic

It is now well over a year since Vladimir Putin's Russia passed 'anti-missionary' laws and more than 180 cases have since been brought. Activities ranging from prayer meetings in homes, posting worship times on a religious website and praying in the presence of other citizens have been interpreted as 'missionary activity' with Christians making up the vast majority of the law's victims. One case is that of Donald Ossewaarde, an American Baptist preacher living in Oryol, who was expelled for hosting a church meeting in his house. Having lost appeals throughout the Russian judiciary system, Ossewaarde's case is now with...

“Meanwhile, a widespread decline in churchgoing and religious affiliation had contributed to a growing anxiety among conservative believers.” Statements like this are uttered with such confidence and frequency that most Americans accept them as uncontested truisms. This one emerged just this month in an exceedingly silly article in The Atlantic on Vice President Mike Pence.Religious faith in America is going the way of the Yellow Pages and travel maps, we keep hearing. It’s just a matter of time until Christianity’s total and happy extinction, chortle our cultural elites. Is this true? Is churchgoing and religious adherence really in “widespread...

If there is a single problem with our lives today, it is the breathtaking shallowness of modern life. We seem infatuated with grade-school gossip and a breathless yearning for "stuff," as if the latest gadgetry or a fatter bank account could make anything real in our lives better. We seem to believe in nothing but this gossip and these gadgets. This infantile fixation stretches across political party and ideology. This is a reflection of godlessness, shattered families, and the wicked drumbeat in education and media of indoctrination instead of learning or amusement. It is astounding how little most people know...

“Nigeria security has declared war against Christians in this country.” When Muhammadu Buhari became President of Nigeria, many warned that he would favor the nation’s Muslims and introduce aspects of Sharia. And here we are. The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them...

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light... Do these words sound familiar? I hope they do. These words, which have been recited in liturgy, at church councils, in battles, and at dinner tables in hundreds of languages, echo to us today through nearly 17 centuries of continual use. This creed is what has united the church (except perhaps in 1054 when it...

While discussing religion with Stephen Colbert on the "Late Show," Ricky Gervais described himself as an "agnostic atheist." Gervais said, "No one knows if there's a God, so technically, everyone's agnostic. We don't know. An agnostic atheist is someone who doesn't know if there's a God or not, as no one does."And from Gervais's point of view, such a statement makes perfect sense. After all, one would expect a self-proclaimed agnostic atheist to assume that even Christians don't know for a fact that God exists, right?In reality, you can know for sure that God is real by entering into a...

Civil rights were very much in the forefront in America during the 1960s and early 1970s. As the issue unfolded, I sometimes found myself under fire from both sides, extreme conservatives castigating me for doing too much and extreme liberals blaming me for not doing enough. In reality, both groups tended to stand aloof from our evangelistic Crusades, but those people who actively supported us understood very well our commitment to doing what we could through our evangelism to end the blight of racism. Early on, Dr. King and I spoke about his method of using non-violent demonstrations to bring...

One in 12 Christians around the world are persecuted for their faith and are the target of violent attacks including rape, a shocking report has found. According to a study by Open Doors USA, an organization that studies Christian persecution, 215 million Christians live in areas with high levels of persecution worldwide. The report also goes on to state that over 3,000 Christians were killed and nearly 800 churches were damaged in the last year. 'The most significant findings were that Christian women are among the most violated in the world, in maybe a way that we haven't seen before,'...

Since my last column on academic hypocrisy several readers have written to express the view that intolerance toward conservative Christians is the only form of intolerance that academics are willing to tolerate. Such a view seems reasonable at first glance. Upon further reflection it misses the mark. Tolerance presupposes a) a moral judgment against something and b) the choice to permit it. Hence, my readers’ views are overly charitable. In order to elaborate, I ask my readers to imagine the following thought experiment:The Dean of Journalism at a large public university refuses to sponsor a speaker as a part of...

Controversy erupted over Christmas week when the Washington Post tweeted out an opinion article by Raphael Lataster they had published in 2014. It claims to show that the existence of Jesus as a historical figure is likely no more than a myth. Critics questioned the timing of the tweet as a slap in the face to Christians preparing to celebrate one of their holiest days.Possibly more importantly, many seized on the reaction to the 2014 publication. Historians, including a professor who had taught Lataster in a class about the historical Jesus, demolished the claims. Its ideas were described as...

In Old Testament times, building walls around cities was commended as a common sense means of national/ municipal security. Invading armies would rout Israel if they did not build walls and raise armies to protect themselves. One might say, “Why didn't they just trust God?” It goes without saying that God would and often DID protect Israel supernaturally. But that doesn't mean they were exempt from doing the hard work of securing their property. God often uses natural means to fulfill his supernatural purpose on the earth. King David prayed to God, “By Your favor do good to Zion; Build...

Faith-based films continue to maintain their momentum at the box office and 2017's list of top-grossing inspirational movies produced by Christians includes films about loss, the journey to faith, and even the first religious animation film in nearly 20 years. Here is a list of the seven highest-grossing Christian films of 2017 in order of top-earnings. 1. "The Shack" grossed $57,386,418 (Lionsgate) "The Shack" is based on The New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. The film was released on 2,888 silver screens on March 3 and as the film's synopsis says, the cinematic journey takes viewers on...

From big cases before the Supreme Court centering on free speech and religious liberty claims of a Christian baker to the ongoing investigations into transactions between abortion providers and biotech firms over fetal body parts harvested during abortion procedures, 2018 is already shaping up to be a significant year for religiously observant Americans and the unborn. Here are five legal matters carrying significant implications that are expected to develop even more this year. 1. Decision to Be Handed Down in the Case of Christian Baker Jack Phillips at the Supreme Court In what is considered a landmark religious liberty case...

It’s true that CNN and the New York Times, among other liberal outlets, have rightly been called out for their failure to report accurately on the protests in Iran. But there’s something that not even the conservative media is telling you today, an important backstory that might be playing a role in this rising protest movement.As for the leftwing media, Caroline Glick noted in her article in the Jerusalem Post that, “Given the earth shattering potential of the protests it is extraordinary to see the liberal media in the US and Europe struggle to downplay their significance.” And here in...

Christians in Germany will become a minority in the next 20 years, according to Die Welt.

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. "European churches have struggled for decades to share the gospel with modern secular Europeans,” Matthew Kaemingk, a professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Seattle, told Fox News....

Christianity has been growing at a fast rate in the last couple of decades in Iran, that has caused the Islamic government a lot of concern, according to Mohabat News, an Iranian Christian News Agency. A high profile Islamic seminary official, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, stated "accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches." Another most senior Islamic Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has repeatedly expressed his concern over the spread of Christianity among the youth in the country. He and his other colleagues blame foreign influence for the conversion of young Iranians to...

A few weeks ago, when my husband returned home from work, his evening greeting struck a serious chord: “Did you hear what happened at Divine Child?” Divine Child is our Catholic parish church, located just a mile away.I hadn’t, so he quickly explained that a man had set off explosives in the Adoration Chapel nestled just west of the church. He added that the website for our local news “paper” included a video from the security system.That night after tucking our son into bed, I pulled up the story. More details had developed: The explosives were commercial-grade fireworks. Two women...

In his Christmas message published in Hungarian daily Magyar Idok, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, referring to mass immigration, stresses that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” today means that we have to love our neighbours, but we also have to protect our homelands, nations, families, culture, the European civilisation. The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of Christian identity, which determines everything in Europe, from birth to everyday life and to death. “Our culture is the culture of life. Our starting point, the alpha and omega of our philosophy is the value of life, the dignity every person received from...

For Christians, Christmas is a unique time of joy associated with the birth of the savior Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection makes possible a personal and intimate relationship with God. Jesus was born a Jew, and his teachings were built on the foundation of the Torah and the Old Testament. And so it is that Christians and Jews have much in common and share a natural mutual affinity. Christians and Jews have both faced persecution throughout history, and hostility is again intensifying. And that persecution comes not just from radical Islamists, but also from secular progressives who now dominate...