Free Republic

"Terror group Islamic State beheads another Christian this time a priest in the conflict-torn Syria. The Catholic priest Father Yacob Boulos, was severely punished for offering prayers in his church. Media has remained silent over this incident as this incident actually took place on February 18, but nobody reported it unless it was brought out by an Italian newspaper."

“A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania,” wrote Fox News’ Todd Starnes in 2013. It was reminiscent of how the British government banned radio host Michael Savage from entering the UK, placing him on a list with terrorists and criminals. It just seems as if Western statists must have had trouble with those primary school categorization questions and now, even as adults, could think that “bomb, cannon, mortar, rifle, pistol, and pen” all belong together....

These are some of the most common lies that many Christians have fallen victim to.  I hear many of these quite frequently and in years past have even fallen for some of them myself.  The enemy has used each of these lies to sow great discord, apathy, and fear in the Body of Christ.   It's time to dispel them all. 1. "I must do _____ to be saved or keep doing _____ to stay saved." This is what virtually every religion teaches, but not true Christianity.   Unsurprisingly, every "Christian" cult teaches this as well.  The very definition of...

An Isaiah 45 leader, "though you do not acknowledge me," in the manner of Cyrus. Just so you know, Donald Trump has not only inspired a rift among political conservatives. He’s inspired one among Christians as well. Many high-profile Christian teachers are appalled that so many evangelicals have backed a man of considerable moral failings, especially when he demonstrates very limited understanding of or commitment to the Gospel. On the surface, it seems so obvious: Ted Cruz is one of us, so why would evangelicals reject him in favor of Donald Trump? And yet many did. The question is so...

Expecting the peaceful pastor to cave, they were shocked and enraged when he not only refused to remove it, but offered the perfect response. Belmont Drive Missionary Baptist Church in Oregon has caused a disturbing stir in self-important hypocrites who believe that Islam is a supreme religion that should never be criticized. The church in Hood River has caused the thought police to sound the alarm on bigotry, proving their own intolerance. WSBT rushed to the scene of a political correctness crime, in which the Baptist church displayed a message on their sign declaring, “Wake up Christians. Allah is not...

A major Evangelical figure in the US says that Catholics were right about The PillOne surprising effect of the rise of same-sex marriage in the United States may be a convergence between evangelicals and the Catholic Church. The best evidence for this is a recent book by Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and one of the nation’s most prominent Evangelical thinkers. In We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, & The Very Meaning of Right & Wrong, he tackles the challenge of same-sex marriage. From a scriptural point of view, the idea...

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens May. 5, 2016 Larry Alex Taunton is a columnist who started the Fixed Point Foundation, an apologetics organization that is probably best known for arranging high-profile debates between well-known atheists and Christians. For example, it arranged the famous “God Delusion” debate between Dr. Richard Dawkins and Dr. John Lennox. Other notable debates include The “Is God Great” debate between Christopher Hitchens and Dr. John Lennox and the “God on Trial” debate between Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D’Souza. Because his organization has arranged such debates (and because he often moderates them), Taunton has met and gotten...

The Reading from the First Epistle of St. John 1:1-7We speak of Jesus of Nazareth, of His life and miracles and the miraculous claims that followed His life very often.  We think and meditate and ponder them to such a degree that at times it becomes difficult to regain the wonder and awe and amazement of some of the key events in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have just celebrated Pascha or Easter as it is otherwise known and the celebration that we partake of for 40 days is the celebration of Life over death, of Good...

Christian asylum-seekers in Germany are regularly bullied, beaten and forced to participate in Muslim prayer services, according to a report released this week. There are currently more than one million migrants and refugees living in Germany, the vast majority of whom are Muslims. The new report, titled “Religiously motivated attacks on Christian refugees in Germany” was prepared by the humanitarian relief organization Open Doors, and documents a sharp increase in aggression and violence towards Christians in the refugee centers.

Programming note: Watch Steph Curry's MVP press conference today at 2pm on CSN Bay Area, and streaming live right here. The NBA made it official on Tuesday morning, as Steph Curry captured his second straight MVP award. Curry, who led the Warriors to a come-from behind victory on Monday night by scoring an NBA-record 17 points in overtime, becomes the first unanimous MVP in NBA history. Draymond Green finished in seventh place after capturing two second-place votes, six fourth-place votes and 19 fifth-place votes, for a total of 50 points. Kawhi Leonard came in second with 634 points 54 second-place...

Of course. “Dan, you have no evidence whatsoever that ESPN fired them because of their Christianity.” You’re right. I don’t. It’s possible they didn’t and I certainly can’t prove they did. But here’s what I do know: ESPN has already proved it will fire people who are outspoken in the expression of views that don’t comport to the left-wing worldview that ESPN either a) holds; or b) intends to appease at every opportunity.

Christians in Turkey have become a tiny minority. The few remaining Christian churches in Anatolia are also on the path to total annihilation. Christians in Turkey have – throughout the centuries -- been turned into a tiny, dwindling minority. The remaining few Christian churches in Anatolia are also on the path to total annihilation. Hagia Sophia in Trabzon: Church-mosque-museum and now mosque again. The Hagia Sophia, Greek for “Holy Wisdom,” was one of the many historic Orthodox churches located in the city of Trabzon. ... The city of Trabzon .. is located in the ancient land of Pontos, in the...

Liberals, stop being so defensive. That’s the message of Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet in a new post at Balkinization, titled “Abandoning Defensive Crouch Liberal Constitutionalism.” The problem, according to Tushnet, is that liberals have been too defensive when it comes to advancing their agenda in the courts. Tushnet blames what he calls the “culture wars” on conservatives, and he says liberals should now make conservatives pay. “The culture wars are over; they lost, we won,” he writes in italics. Tushnet claims that conservatives “had opportunities to reach a cease fire, but rejected them in favor of a scorched earth...

Adam Hamilton has once more entered into the fray of making pronouncements about what the Bible does and does not advocate when it comes to same sex sexual activity and same sex marriage, and you can read his post here, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/6876/the-bible-homosexuality-and-the-umc-part-one only the first of four such posts leading up to the General Conference in a couple of weeks. My concern is with the misinterpretation of the Bible in this post as well as the misrepresentation of Methodist cultural trends at various points and so once you’ve read what Adam says, then consider the following response. In the first place,...

The Department of Education, under the leadership of Barack Obama, whose pro-homosexual agenda has been unparalleled, has launched a website critics say is dedicated to the “shaming” of Christian colleges that follow biblical principles rather than a leftist social agenda. “It looks like the Department of Education got a new boss: the Human Rights Campaign,” wrote Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a Washington Update commentary this week. Perkins, referring to the leading “gay”-rights group, was spotlighting what he called a “shame list” posted online by the Department of Education of colleges that have sought exemptions to Title IX...

Andrew Cash, a former student at Missouri State University, is suing the institution over his dismissal from a graduate program in counseling. Cash has retained counsel from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm, and has filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Governors of Missouri State University. Cash and his lawyers contend that he was dismissed from the university’s Master’s program in counseling because he expressed concern over counseling same-sex couples due to his religious convictions. In an exclusive interview, Spero News interviewed attorney Tom Olp of the Thomas More Society, which is representing Cash....

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican police said Monday they are trying to determine the motive in the weekend slayings of two American missionaries in the north coast area where they lived and worked. A team of officers is interviewing residents of St. Mary parish in northern Jamaica where the bodies of Randy Hentzel, 48, and Harold Nichols, 53, were found in bushes along a rural road where they were traveling on motorbikes.

Russia's Catholic, Orthodox to rebuild church buildings in Syria A painting of Mary and the Christ Child is is seen in 2014 at the damaged St. Thecla Orthodox monastery in the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula, Syria. Russia's Catholic Church has launched a joint project with Russian Orthodox leaders to rebuild churches and monasteries destroyed during the war in Syria.CNS photo/Courtesy of Youssef Badawi, EPA BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE April 28, 2016 WARSAW, Poland – Russia's Catholic Church has launched a joint project with Russian Orthodox leaders to rebuild churches and monasteries destroyed during the war in Syria....

He has been called the godfather of shock-rock, mixing elements of horror movies into acts that have included an unpalatable array of guillotines, fake blood, baby dolls and boa constrictors. Yet many would be surprised to learn of his Christian roots and his homecoming to the faith after sowing his oats as the ultimate prodigal.“My father was a pastor and my grandfather was an evangelist, actually both were evangelists,” Cooper told the Harvest Show. “I grew up in the church and all my friends were church kids. I had so much fun. I was in church Sunday, Wednesday night, Friday...

In 2016 more than half of converts in Vienna were Muslim, according to reports An increasing number of Muslim migrants in Austria are converting to Christianity, according to reports. According to Austrian website Kurier, 83 adults were approved for baptism in Vienna in 2016, with Friederike Dostal of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference estimating that about half of them were Muslims, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran. This figure is up from one-third in 2015. There is expected to be a further rise of Muslim converts in 2017 due to the fact that there has been an increase in the number...