Free Republic

Since 2011, a devastating civil war has pitted Syrian, Russian, and Iranian armies against Sunni jihadis. Turkey has often weighed in as well. The Syrian conflict has also turned Christians against Christians. Some of Syria’s Christians persistently defend Bashar Assad as their lifelong protector. Others believe he is not only a ruthless dictator, but a pawn of Iran — the radical Islamist Revolutionary Shiite regime that has no place for Christians in its ideology. Historically, both tyrannical kings and modern dictators have used Christian minorities as useful instruments in their political toolbox. Notably, Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq long included...

“North Korea’s persecution of Christians has no rival on the Earth,” Pence told leaders gathered in Washington, DC, for the State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. “It is unforgiving, systematic, unyielding and often fatal.” “The mere possession of a Christian Bible is a capital offense,” Pence noted. Open Doors, which publishes an annual World Watch List about Christian persecution, noted that North Korea has been considered “the worst place for Christians” for 16 consecutive years, since 2002. The vice president said that while Americans all hope relations between the United States and North Korea will continue to improve, “there...

The British government has admitted that no Christians were taken among the Syrian refugees flown into Britain recently, with the Home Office rejected the handful of non-Muslims selected for resettlement by the United Nations. Despite the persecution of Christians at the hands of Islamic extremists in Syria having been declared genocide by the U.S., the European Union (EU) and even British MPs themselves in a 2016 parliamentary vote, the 1,112 Syrians that Britain resettled in the first three months of 2018 consisted only of Muslims. The Barnabas Fund, an aid agency which supports Christians persecuted for their faith, obtained the...

Of the more than 1,000 refugees admitted into the United Kingdom from war-torn Syria during the first quarter of 2018 none were Christians. Home Secretary Sajid Javid explained that “for us to admit Christians would merely exacerbate the already existing religious imbalance between the two countries. We already have a surplus of Christians in the UK and a comparative shortage of Muslims. The opposite is the case in Syria.” Javid acknowledged that “the discrimination, oppression, and murder of Christians in Muslim-run countries is unfortunate. However, we feel we must take a longer range perspective. That perspective is founded on the...

Not a single Christian was among the 1,112 Syrian refugees resettled in the UK in the first three months of this year, the Home Office has admitted. It agreed only to resettle Muslims and rejected the four Christians recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), despite past US declarations that Isis was committing genocide against them. The disclosure was obtained by the Barnabas Fund, a charity that supports persecuted Christians, under freedom of information laws after a protracted tussle with the Home Office.

The Trump administration has created a Religious Liberty Task Force, led by pro-life Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in order to protect and promote religious liberty. The new task force is important for pro-life Americas as it will work to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals who don’t want to be forced to promote or perform abortions. Pro-life groups have also faced discrimination because of their Christian views and pastors have been unable to fully engage pro-life election issues in the pulpit for fear of reprisal from the government. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, “A dangerous movement, undetected by many,...

This is a sad story about a family who was forced to sell their Children's Playhouse Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and move to smaller market in Idaho where the local theater scene is not (hopefully) dominated by the Gay mafia. For two years, this devout Christian family brought low priced family friendly entertainment to a liberal neighborhood in Pittsburgh until they ran afoul of the local LGBT mafia for refusing to rewrite a scene to make a gay couple the centerpiece. (For the record, they weren't even refusing to have gay dads in the musical, just to make them the...

U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon has denied an injunction sought by the New York Attorney General (OAG) against 13 pro-life Christians who counsel women and preach the gospel on the public sidewalks outside New York’s largest abortion business. Liberty Counsel represents defendant Scott Fitchett, Jr., who was sued with the other defendants in June 2017 by former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who wanted to shut down the Christian and pro-life speech of the defendants outside Choices Women’s Medical Center in Jamaica, NY. Fitchett is a pre-K teacher who has spent Saturdays peacefully sharing the gospel on public...

As many of you know, my post Men Prefer Debt-Free Virgins Without Tattoos went viral and is causing quite a stir. I should have definitely titled it “Godly Men Prefer Debt-Free Virgins Without Tattoos.” I want to make clear that the audience I teach are those young women who want to learn biblical womanhood as according to God’s instructions in Titus 2:3-5. They love the Lord and His beautiful ways.

According to Lauren Sandler, opinion columnist for Huffington Post, conservative’s “source document for understanding the rights of Americans is not the Constitution, but the New Testament.” She believes they use this document to force women to submit to their husbands and have babies. Trump’s Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, although not a evangelical Christian, is a “thriving alumnus of President George W. Bush’s administration, the same administration that “best understood the vigorous political power of cultural conservatives.” He, and other conservative Christians in politics are demanding that “their beliefs be honored as the rule of law.” Sandler claims that “the...

President Donald Trump has nominated federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh has taken the pro-life side in important cases and has very strong pro-life Bona fides — prompting leading pro-life groups to praise him for a sterling pro-life record. President Trump applauded Judge Kavanaugh as someone who would apply the Constitution as written but Planned Parenthood launched a fierce attack the Supreme Court nominee, claiming he would “wreak havoc” on abortion. In one of his most celebrated decisions, Judge Kavanaugh ruled against the Obama HHS mandate that forced Hobby Lobby, Little Sisters of the Poor...

People on the left are outraged when you question their patriotism, their dedication to the nation as founded and their respect for the Constitution as originally written, but they continually vindicate our concerns. The most recent example is the left's unhinged mania at Judge Amy Coney Barrett's inclusion on President Trump's list of potential Supreme Court appointees. In times of perceived crisis — and this is certainly one of those times for leftists — they show their colors, and you can color them militantly opposed to Barrett, in large part because of her Catholicism. And guess what else. Rumor is...

A federal court has granted a Christian liberal arts college in Pennsylvania a permanent injunction against the Obama-era abortion pill mandate that required the school to be complicit in providing health care coverage that violated its religious convictions. On Thursday, Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted permanent relief to Geneva College, a liberal arts school affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Conti ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services Obamacare contraception mandate violated the college's rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by requiring...

Forget the Golden Arches of McDonald’s, or the Whopper at Burger King, even the double double of In-N-Out Burger. Chick-fil-A is the tops for those wanting a fast meal. The chicken chain was named the favorite limited-service restaurant by consumers according to the 2018 American Customer Satisfaction Index’s Restaurant Report, USA Today reported. Chick-fil-A beat out other restaurants like Panera and Taco Bell based on interviews with 22,500 customers. They were asked about the products, services and satisfaction, USA Today reported. Specifically, those polled gave their ranking on a variety of topics including food quality and restaurant cleanliness, Fortune reported....

The office of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday urged the Christian-majority indigenous farmers to surrender some of their ancestral lands lest they die at the hands of the nomadic Muslim Fulani terrorists accused of genocide over cattle grazing territory and resources.“There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage,” Nigerian church denominational heads and the prominent Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) declared at the end of last month, referring to the Fulani assaults that have killed thousands so...

Assad’s cleverly crafted narrative has for years gained acceptance from some DC policymakers, religious freedom communities, and Christian activists that my organization, In Defense of Christians, operates among. That is, he portrays himself as the protector of Syria’s Christians and other religious minorities, such as the Druzes, Yezidis, and his own Alawites, to name a few. In the face of the Islamic State scourge and many other Islamist rebels who despise Christians and other minorities, Assad was right. Christians were better off living in government-controlled areas and have stuck by, reluctantly, to his regime. But the narrative has quickly crumbled...

Washington D.C., Jun 25, 2018 / 08:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a Washington state ruling against local florist Barronelle Stutzman, who in 2013 declined to make flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding. The U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the Washington Supreme Court, instructing that the case be reconsidered in the light of Masterpiece Cakeshop decision earlier this month. In the Masterpiece case, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Christian cake baker Jack Phillips, who had declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Supreme Court ruled that the...

A former Satanist has attested to the power of Christian prayers, saying he was prevented from carrying out his evil plans when he encountered a group of intercessors during one of his missions. John Ramirez says that he was raised in a family that was heavily into witchcraft and he had even been referred to by some friends as 'Lucifer's son' because of his participation in satanic rituals that involved animal sacrifice. After becoming a high priest in a religion called Palo Mayombe, Ramirez soon met a girl who invited her to church and introduced him to her Christian parents....

Religious leaders are slamming the new GOP tax law after the measure required them to start paying a tax on some of the fringe benefits religious institutions offer to employees. Politico reported Tuesday that the new tax law requires the groups to start paying a 21 percent tax on some of the benefits, including those for transportation, meals and potentially gym memberships. Republicans eliminated tax breaks for employees' fringe benefits in the law to cover the cost of tax cuts for corporations and individuals. Because nonprofits don’t pay income taxes, lawmakers implemented a tax on the organization's fringe benefits. Religious...

June 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In the wake of last week Friday’s devastating Supreme Court ruling on Trinity Western University’s proposed law school, in which all seven judges ruling against TWU admitted that they were about to violate TWU’s religious freedom but that this violation was of “minor significance” in the eyes of Canada’s highest court, many have been wondering: What do Christians in Canada do next? There are many answers to this question, of course–and one answer came recently from Canada’s most prominent public intellectual, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. Dr. Jordan Peterson does not claim to be an orthodox...