Free Republic

At the Brookings Institute, a center-left think tank, Washington Post contributor E.J. Dionne, theological professor Gary Dorrien, and Columbia University professor Dorian Warren discussed the future of religious progressives in American society and how it could influence community organizing. “The Romney coalition is actually made up, a religious make-up that is even more white and Christian of Americans over 65 years old” while the “Obama coalition [has] more religiously unaffiliated [voters] …[a] higher proportion of non-white Christians…much closer to the younger cohort.” He claimed, “The Obama coalition is much more diverse.” Yet, Dionne admitted, “Only 13% of Democrats are religious...

A good rule of thumb with Hillary Clinton is this: If it comes out of her mouth, it’s insincere. You will never lose money taking that bet 100 times out of 100. And a good corollary to that rule is this: When she tells you what something is supposed to mean, that’s not what it means at all. Especially when she’s talking about the Bible. Pay attention: When a liberal who “rarely mentions his or her faith” suddenly shows up in a church quoting Scripture to you, it’s a pretty good bet that liberal is trying to pervert the Scripture...

Jersey City received a lesson on the impermanence of life a bit earlier than planned today, when a toddler mistook a Buddhist sand mandala for a playground this morning, smudging the center and sides and almost destroying days of painstaking work.

Bart Ehrman, prolific author, New Testament scholar and former evangelical Christian, says it took him eight years to research and complete his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Yet, a group of fellow scholars responded in their book, How God Became Jesus, by claiming that the Christian-turned-agnostic's "sloppy" scholarship on Jesus' divinity leaves much to be desired. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says his research reveals that Jesus, a first century Galilean, never claimed to be God, and that it...

The goal of First Amendment was to protect religious expression, not restrict it. In the last 50 years, though, “non-establishment” has been redefined as “separation,” effectively amending the Constitution and isolating Christians from the political process.“Will You Be a Casualty in Their Religious War?” read the headline of an advertisement that almost covered an entire page of the L.A. Times. Underneath were pictures of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Lou Sheldon, along with condemning quotes substantiating their apparent jihad against irreligious secularists.The text of the advertisement read: “The radical religious right has declared war on America. It is a...

In a move with major legal implications, The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing “invidious discrimination” against gays, which would end the group’s exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group. “The Committee’s invitation ignores the fact that the change also encompasses other youth organizations whose membership is limited on the basis of gender, e.g., the Girl Scouts, as well as the military, which continues to practice ‘discrimination’ on the basis of gender,” wrote Catherine Short, legal director of...

San Diego County parks have set four Easter egg hunts, but are keeping the affairs secular by renaming the featured hopper the “Spring Bunny.” Events over the next two weeks will feature different activities at each location. Some feature face painting and others pancake breakfasts. Eggs hunts are set at four county parks. Image courtesy of County News Center“But the constants at all of them will be a chance to meet the Spring Bunny and lots of eggs – thousands of them!” says the county, whose news release doesn’t use the word Easter. Last year’s release also avoided any religious...

<p>‘as time goes on, weirdly, I’m growing less liberal. I’m more like, ‘No, religion is ruining the world, you need to stop!’.</p>

It appears we have a peaceful resolution to the Easter egg crisis in Dearborn, Michigan we reported on earlier today. According to the Daily Caller, a display of impressive common humanity and even more impressive common sense broke out over the weekend in Dearborn, Mich. after Muslim parent Majed Moughni complained about flyers handed out at public schools advertising an Eggstravaganza Easter egg hunt to be held at a Presbyterian church. On Sunday morning, Muslim leaders in the Muslim community stood together in solidarity in front of the Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church in Dearborn. The Muslim leaders and Cherry Hill...

Details:   Having worked in Catholic church music ministry for nearly 40 years — basically his entire adult life — Mike McMahon thought he knew the landscape and his place in it. As a gay person, all was fine as long as he was “discreet.”And that worked for him even in the conservative Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., where he was employed for about 30 of those years as music director at several parishes. In that time, McMahon, who has three graduate degrees in theology, also served as president of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the national body for...

So it would seem the New York Times believes that if you want to make a living you must give up your constitutionally protected rights. I guess because money is dirty and so are those evil Christians...or something. Click image to enlarge it.

A New York appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s 2012 ruling that a lesbian chef is owed $1.6 million for being forced to attend weekly prayer meetings where her boss would regularly warn that "gay people" were "going to go to hell." Mirella Salemi sued Gloria's Tribeca Inc., Gloria's Tribecamex and principal owner Edward Globokar for violations of the New York City Human Rights Law after a string of incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2007. Gloria's Tribeca is a Mexican restaurant. Salemi was awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages in what her lawyer,...

Just this week Students for Life of America was on the University of Michigan campus with our “What Has Roe Done For Us?” display, educating and dialoging with students about how abortion exploits and harms women, only to find out that the university is apparently endorsing a different message to their students. The University is currently sponsoring a pro-abortion display,“4000 Years of Choice”, which declares “Abortion as a Blessing” and a “gift from God,” directly countering to the truth put forth in SFLA’s Roe display which tells the stories of women like Jennifer Morbelli, Karnamaya Mongar, Tonya Reaves, and Marla...

March 21, 2014, 11:47 am Biden: After healthcare rollout pains, Obama fit 'for sainthood' By Justin Sink Vice President Biden told healthcare workers that "patience and empathy" are required to deal with frustrated ObamaCare enrollees and that the president demonstrated saint-like levels of both during the rollout. Speaking to a conference of community health centers in New York, Biden conceded that enrolling in ObamaCare could be "tedious," and early problems with HealthCare.gov worsened the problem. "We didn't help you much at the front end here, man," Biden said, adding that he wanted to recommend President Obama "for sainthood" because he...

A national gay rights organization has taken issue with a Roman Catholic Archdiocese's recently implemented "morals clause" added to their private school teacher contracts. "As support for LGBT equality continues to grow, particularly among Catholics, the Cincinnati Archdiocese is enacting draconian restrictions on Catholic school employees," Paul Guequierre of the Human Rights Campaign wrote in an entry on the group's website Tuesday that calls for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to reconsider its new rule. "HRC is calling on Diocese leaders to model Christian values and not discriminate against LGBT teachers or straight allies in their employment practices." Guequierre argued that...

The Dalai Lama will lead the US Senate in prayer on Thursday as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader meets leaders of Congress, his office said.

This from WSJ: President Says ObamaCare Volunteers Doing ‘God’s Work’ [?!?] Barack Obama speaks to his old campaign comrades [That's the right word.] at Organizing for Action.HOLY OBAMACARELast night in Washington President Obama addressed the national meeting of Organizing for Action, the outfit formerly known as his re-election campaign. [If he can't be re-elected to the White House, why is this organization still around?  For this sort of dreck.] Young OFA volunteers have been redeployed to the task of persuading Americans to sign up for new health insurance plans created by the President’s Affordable Care Act. ["Affordable"... right.  Have you lost...

In the second installation of a three-part series on "gun violence in Mexico," the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) continues to blame the U.S. for gun violence in Mexico, while viewing Fast & Furious as a legitimate attempt at law enforcement which just happened to go wrong. According to NCR, Obama tried to reinstitute an "assault weapons" ban in the U.S. as a way to keep Mexico safer. He also pledged to "keep increasing the pressure on the gun traffickers." NCR claims part of the pressure on traffickers included Operation Fast & Furious, which turned out to be a "botched 2009...

The phrase “Separation of Church and State” is not in the language of the First Amendment, and the concept was not favored by any influential framer at the time the Bill of Rights was drafted. So how did it become part of the jurisprudence surrounding the First Amendment?As Jim Lindgren, a law professor at Northwestern, explains, the Ku Klux Klan had something to do with it . . . 7. The first mainstream figures to favor separation after the first amendment was adopted were Jefferson supporters in the 1800 election, who were trying to silence Northern clergy critical of the...

Gay and lesbian rights activists are seeking to be the new “moral enforcers” and it is Christian religious conservatives who now need protection to be allowed to dissent against “the new orthodoxy”, it was claimed. Core Issues Trust, a Christian charity, is challenging a ban on its London bus advertisement reading: “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!” It was a response to a bus poster campaign by gay rights group Stonewall carrying the message: “Some people are gay. Get over it!” Paul Diamond, for the charity, told appeal judges that at the heart of the case was...