Free Republic

Officially an atheist nation and a place where the government shutters some Christian churches, China is on course to become home to more Christians than any country in the world by 2030. Christianity also is growing rapidly in some other Asian nations and sub-Saharan Africa as people in countries modernizing at a breakneck pace seek solace from the leading religion of western, technologically advanced nations. "As countries get incorporated into the global capitalist world, a lot of uncertainty and stress is introduced into society," said Michael Emerson, an academic who focuses on the sociology of religion. "Christianity is seen as...

To the surprise of many, conservative columnist George Will penned an unflattering article about Rev. Billy Graham after he passed away last month. To the chagrin of others, the article, titled, “Billy Graham: Neither Prophet nor Theologian,” was carried by the historically conservative National Review. How might Rev. Graham have responded to an article like this?In 1957, as reported by Collin Hansen for Christianity Today, Graham’s gospel crusades in New York City were met with serious opposition.“Leading the charge against Graham,” Hansen writes, “was none other than Reinhold Niebuhr, the venerable professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In...

CHARLOTTE, NC (FOX Carolina) - A petition started on Change.org is calling for a national holiday for Reverend Billy Graham. The organizer is asking for 35,000 signatures on the petition which will then be sent to President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, Senator Jerry Tillman, Senator Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Burr. By Sunday at 9 a.m. the petition had over 30,000 signatures. Here is the full text on the petition: "Lets get a National Holiday for Billy Graham!! Mr. Graham preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history—nearly...

..... Pakistan: Sharoon, a Christian boy who achieved academic excellence despite years of entrenched discrimination and bullying—and whose poverty-stricken parents had worked hard to put him in MC Model Boys Government High School—was beaten to death by Muslim pupils. On his first day at the school, the teacher slapped him across the face while blurting an anti-Christian slur. Having set a precedent, the rest of the classroom of Muslim boys continued harassing him throughout the same first day: they hurled out derogatory terms against Christians, denied him access to drinking water, and told him, "You're a Christian don't dare sit...

They sold their homes and possessions, quit their jobs, and left their country — they thought for good. The Iranians, mainly members of their nation’s Christian minorities, were bound for a new life in America after what should have been a brief sojourn in Austria for visa processing. But more than a year later, some 100 of them remain stranded in Vienna, their savings drained, their lives in limbo and the promise of America dead. Even as the Trump administration continued to pledge help to religious minorities in the Middle East, many of whom face persecution, the United States denied...

In 1953, in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Rev. Billy Graham saw that his crusade audience was segregated in roped-off sections. He personally tore the barriers down. Over the next six decades, he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to more than 200 million people in 185 countries. Without giving an inch of theological ground, he adjusted his message to the moment, for example, dropping the name “crusade” for his rallies so as not to offend Muslims that he was trying to reach for Christ. Scrupulously nonpolitical, he did something in 2016 for which the Left will never forgive him. He came...

In 1946, Billy Graham had a friendly rival for the title of the most up and coming evangelist in the world. The friendly rival was, in fact, Billy Graham’s best friend Charles Templeton.Charles Templeton was from Canada and was co-founder of the organization Youth for Christ, which hired Billy Graham as its first full time evangelist.  Templeton and Graham led rallies together in America and in Europe.  Many thought that Templeton was the more talented preacher of the two.  However, what followed was a truly sad story.By the late 1940’s Templeton began to doubt the Genesis account of creation.  Further,...

I was profoundly disappointed to learn that National Review had published George Will’s ugly attack on evangelist Billy Graham just days after America’s pastor died. “Billy Graham: Neither Prophet nor Theologian,” the conservative publication’s headline declared. I would expect to read such anti-Christian mockery in the pages of The New York Times and Washington Post, but not National Review. My, how times have changed. “Prophets take adversarial stances toward their times, as did the 20th century’s two greatest religious leaders, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II. Graham did not. Partly for that reason, his country...

The leaders of the major Christian sects in Jerusalem closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, for several hours on Sunday to protest an Israeli plan to tax their properties. The Christian leaders responsible for the site issued a joint statement bemoaning what they called a “systematic campaign of abuse” against them, comparing it to anti-Jewish laws issued in Nazi Germany.

He must have been the most wildly successful preacher in temporal history by the time he died in North Carolina, where he was born 99 years ago. He walked with presidents and kings, commoners and the uncommon, yet never lost the common touch. They all learned to call him Billy, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He stood there like an emissary from another world far beyond this one, yet part of it. His thick hair and blue eyes made him all the more compelling a presence, yet he spoke with an authority not his but his...

Rev. Billy Graham has died.

President Donald Trump paid tribute to iconic Christian evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, who passed away Wednesday at age 99 at his home in Montreat, N.C. Trump took to Twitter to call Graham a great and very special man who will be missed by people of all faiths. The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians and all religions. A very special man. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2018 Graham, whose worldwide crusades and role as adviser to decades of U.S. presidents made him one of the best known religious...

Reps. Randy Hultgren (R., Ill.) and James McGovern (D., Mass.) want answers from the Trump administration about the reasons behind a Department of Homeland Security decision to deny refugee status in the United States for dozens of Iranian Christians and other Iranian religious minorities. The congressman, co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, on Tuesday said they are disappointed that DHS has denied asylum to a large percentage of a group of roughly 100 Iranians fleeing religious persecution in Iran. Roughly 76 to 80 members of the group, which is largely Christian but also includes Zoroastrians, Andeans, and at...

Thousands of Christians are being butchered in Nigeria and whole villages being destroyed. Why are we so unconcerned? Why don’t we care? I believe the biggest reason is that we simply don’t know about what’s happening there. Well, now you know. Here are the facts.For the last several months, one of my good friends, a Christian missionary serving the poorest of the poor in Nigeria, has been sending me emails with terrifying news. Fulani tribesmen raping and killing villagers. Children being used as Islamic suicide bombers, resulting in scores of casualties. One horrible report after another.Yet with each email I...

When it comes to the gun control debate, there is little sunlight between the most ardent Marxist and politically liberal “Christians,” especially those of the so-called “Red-Letter” stripe.So when a homicidal maniac shoots up a mall, a movie theater, a concert, or a school, as was tragically the case last week in Parkland Florida, both liberal Christians and run-of-the-mill Leftists bleated for the same unworkable solution - more gun control.Run-of-the-mill Leftists, of course, are expected to trot out the disarmament song-and-dance. After all, how else do they expect to impose a totalitarian state on the populace? But how is it...

Christianity is a great faith that has been integral to America’s success and so perhaps those of us that are Christians should spend a bit more time tackling the misperceptions about our faith that are out there. 1) Christianity Requires Us To Hate People We Disagree With: Christians have been instructed to love the sinner and hate the sin, which is good because we’re all sinners. Christians also frequently have rules we are supposed to follow that we wouldn’t have necessarily come up with ourselves. For example, if I were writing the rules, I’d very selfishly make it morally acceptable...

This spring, a group of Christian liberals (yes, apparently “Christian liberal” is a “thing,” not an oxymoron) plans to visit Lynchburg, Virginia, the home of conservative Liberty University, and protest what they consider the “toxic evangelicalism” coming from leaders like Liberty’s president Jerry Falwell and others like him who happen to support President Trump. The “Red Letter Revival” was announced last week by Christian author and social justice warrior Shane Claiborne via Twitter, and is set to take place April 6-7. According to his website bio, Claiborne “heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to...

[FULL TITLE] MSNBC Guest Labels ‘White Evangelical America’ As ‘Solid Bedrock Supporters’ Of Molesters And Pedophiles. Author Frank Schaeffer said, “White evangelical America, make no mistake now, as the solid bedrock supporters of molesters, of pedophiles, of these sorts of folks, have switched sides and they are no longer representing anything that is–could be called moral by the traditions of any religion.” “And in terms of a Bible prophecy-type story, these folks are now on the side of everyone that ever stood against justice and for evil. That’s where we’re at. There is no way to parse this or make...

Nearly half a century after Mao Tse-Tung banned religion in China, the country is home to an estimated 72 percent of the world’s religiously unaffiliated people. Yet if Christianity continues to grow at its current rate there, in a few years there will be more Christians in China than in any other country in the world. By claiming just a sliver of China’s population of 700 million religiously unaffiliated people, religious groups can drastically change their size and influence. As Christian religions lose ground across much of the Western world, China is one of the few countries where Christianity is...

LEMONS, GRAPEFRUITS, oranges and figs grow in abundance in the three gardens of Nadia Younis Butti’s house in Mosul, the house her parents built from scratch. She used to enjoy the lush trees and alluring fruits, sitting in her rocking chair near the flourishing, scented bushes. On July 17, 2014, however, Nadia had to leave Mosul, because ISIS had captured Iraq’s second-largest city. “With pain in my heart I left,” she says. ISIS has been ousted from Mosul and Nadia, who belongs to the Assyrian Church, recently returned to visit the city of her birth. “It is still extremely dangerous...