Free Republic

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become...

Questions that need to be asked about Islam were asked by Pope Benedict nearly ten years ago.On a plane ride between Sri Lanka and the Philippines this week, Pope Francis made headlines while talking with reporters about the moral limits to free expression. The issue came up, of course, in the wake of the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France, which Pope Francis has strongly condemned. The attacks in Paris — including one at a kosher deli — along with the slaughter that Boko Haram inflicts in Nigeria, the terrorist attack in the Lindt café in Sydney...

In his trip to the Philippines, Pope Francis once again defended marriage, and he again edged closer to a firm, unequivocal papal statement against same-sex “marriage.” As Francis clearly continues to carefully move in that direction, liberals, both secular and non-secular, non-Catholic and Catholic, are going to feel a severe sense of betrayal and grave disappointment, contrary to the most optimistic expectations they’ve eagerly imposed upon their first “gay-marriage” pope.Before considering what Francis said last week, I want to back up and reiterate related points I made in a piece posted here a few weeks ago, which created a...

Friday, January 23, 2015 Rabbits and NFP My wife and and I taught NFP for ten years. We heard all the jokes (i.e., half truths and outright lies) about NFP, typified by this perennial favorite: "What do you call couples who use NPF? 'Parents.'" We heard the continual disparagement about "breeding like rabbits." We had couples who walked out of our class after my presentation on the necessity of having "grave reason" for recourse to NFP. We also had couples who, after hearing the Church's teaching on the necessity of having "grave reason" for having recourse NFP, realized they had...

A while ago, I read a blog post over at First Things that was a blast from my past. The author, a Lutheran pastor, recently left the ELCA to become a member of the newly-formed North American Lutheran Church (NALC). He said, “My real disaffection with the ELCA didn’t start with sex. It began in earnest over the ELCA abortion statement and the subsequent decision by the national council to treat elective abortion for pastors and dependents as a reimbursable medical expense under the church health plan.” It was this exact issue that was my first step on the path...

In comments at his Monday in-air interview that were totally ignored by the mainstream media, Pope Francis lamented the Western practice of imposing a homosexual agenda on other nations through foreign aid, which he called a form of “ideological colonization” and compared to the Nazi propaganda machine. Asked by a reporter to explain the phrase “ideological colonization,” the pope gave an example from 1995 when, he says, a minister of education in a poor area was told she could have a loan for building schools so long as the schools used a book that taught “gender theory.” "She said yes,...

I can hardly recall a papal visit which has touched upon so many hot topics and ignited so much controversy as Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines.You would almost think the Pope had just issued an encyclical, when actually most of what he did was talk to reporters on a plane.The reactions have been visceral at times. For instance, what the Pope said in support of Humanae Vitae caused one feminist commentator at Crux News to declare she was “devastated“.My first reaction to reading the Pope’s comments on free speech and Islam was to throw my hands up in the air and declare...

Since at least the time of the outset of the Iraq War—and quite possibly well before then—there has been much debate among those on the right over why Islamic militants have set their sights upon America and the West.

MOSCOW--The head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Thursday delivered a historic first address to parliament in which he urged lawmakers to guard against Western "pseudo values". Speaking to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, Patriarch Kirill also warned Russians against interfering with "God's plan" by having abortions or using surrogate mothers. Patriarch Kirill's address was the first time the head of the Russian Orthodox Church had delivered a major address to the State Duma in post-Soviet Russia. "The idea of the absolute priority of freedom -- freedom of choice -- and the renunciation of the priority of...

WOE! WOE! WOE! Unto you Abortion America!! WOE!!! Forty two years later and 55,000,000 abortions and will not Almighty God hold this nation FULLY accountable for the barbaric villainy which is called Pro-choice?!. What is the most astounding thing today is that on the anniversary of the legalization of abortion; not barely a peep from the major news outlets; especially conservative ones. WOE unto you Abortion America! WOE! You are absolutely consumed with your self-seeking unbridled passions of licentiousness! How shall we (America) - which was founded on the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God – ever escape the...

Duke University’s reversal of today’s plan to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from its historic chapel tower has reinvigorated a debate over shared worship space. The Durham, North Carolina-based school had authorized Muslim students to recite the three-minute chant from Duke Chapel on Friday, the weekly day of assembly in Islam, but rescinded the decision this week, following criticism and citing a “serious and credible security threat.” Franklin Graham, whose ministries (Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) are headquartered in North Carolina, attacked the university’s decision and condemned the use of a Christian space by members of...

A number of thoughtful Evangelical commentators (captured here by my brave and faithful friend Owen Strachan) have responded pointedly to Elizabeth Dias's Time story, "Inside the Evangelical Fight Over Gay Marriage." They have demonstrated logically, theologically and philosophically why the movement to abandon Scripture's teaching on human sexuality in order to accommodate supposedly Evangelical advocates of normalizing same-sex "marriage" and attraction is an offense to God and the Gospel.At the Family Research Council, we have joined them in addressing the concerns of younger Evangelicals regarding homosexuality, in recognizing the uniqueness of male-female complementarity and in celebrating God's plan for sexual intimacy...

There have been more than 53 million abortions since Roe v. Wade in 1973. And it is estimated that by the age of 45, 30% of U.S. women will have had at least one abortion. That’s a lot of women who have had abortions. That’s a lot of women who need healing.

Pro-lifers must overcome indifference with love, says Cardinal O'Malley at March for Life vigilCardinal Seán O’Malley has said that indifference is the “greatest enemy” of the pro-life movement, adding that “to change people’s hearts we must love them”. The cardinal was speaking at the March for Life vigil Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. He cited Pope Francis’s words at Lampedusa about the “globalisation of indifference”, and added that the pro-life movement was “about overcoming that indifference, indifference to the suffering of a woman in a difficult pregnancy, indifference to the voiceless child who is...

The recent and simultaneous canonization of not one, but two former popes brings to mind the rich and varied traditions surrounding the history of different Christian saints. Today, the process to create a saint is complicated with various stages, each requiring a certain amount of time, along with the need for particular forms of evidence which provide proof of miracles. The Pope can amend the process, if he so chooses, but the general pattern remains the same. In some cases the gap between the life of the individual and his or her canonization could be quite lengthy. Saint Joan of...

On Tuesday in the case of Holt v. Hobbs, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of a Muslim inmate in an Arkansas state prison who sought to wear a half-inch beard in accordance with his faith. “The decision in Holt v. Hobbs is a great victory for religious freedom,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, “because it underscores that each and every person enjoys this basic human right.” “You don’t lose it if you subscribe to a minority faith, or even if you enter prison —...

My dear friends, we as "Christians first and conservatives second" continually offer great solutions, ideas and suggestions based in TRUTH and REALITY to our nation which would bring ETERNAL liberty (John 1:12, 8:32,36), fiscal soundness and relief, moral and social healing and the restitution of liberty until the Lord comes, but tragically these truths and suggestions - which are rooted and based on Almighty God's Word and moral absolutes - are scoffed and slandered at as evil by the majority of Americans, the GOP and Progressive Democratic Party (Isa. 5:20). In light of the moral relativistic, decadent and lawless mindset...

A lot feminists today insist that a person must be pro-choice to be pro-woman. This is highly ironic since many first wave feminists were adamantly against abortion, and in fact many of the anti-abortion laws overturned by Roe v. Wade were put in place by pro-life feminists in the 19th century. Rather than viewing abortion a tool of female empowerment, they viewed abortion as a sign of the oppression of women by men. Here are a few examples. Heard of any of these people?

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a Louisiana ruling that would force a Catholic priest to disclose what he heard in a sacramental confession or face imprisonment. Last May, the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that the confessional seal does not apply if the penitent waives the right to confidentiality. The Diocese of Baton Rouge appealed the decision, saying that violation of the confessional seal “cuts to the core of the Catholic faith.” By declining to hear the appeal, the US Supreme Court let the Louisiana decision stand. The case involves a lawsuit brought by...

The first man in outer space 50 years ago believed fervently in the Almighty — even though the atheistic Soviet government put famous words in his mouth that he had looked around at the cosmos and did not see God. Mankind’s first space flight lasted 108 minutes on April 12, 1961. It was the height of the Cold War. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was proclaimed by the Soviet leadership to have announced, “I went up to space, but I didn’t encounter God.” However, he never uttered those often-quoted words, says a close friend. And it seems that the Soviet Union lied...