Free Republic

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warned supporters Tuesday that the $828 billion stimulus package is “anti-religious.” In an e-mail that was also posted on his blog ahead of the Senate’s passage, Huckabee wrote: “The dust is settling on the ‘bipartisan’ stimulus bill and one thing is clear: It is anti-religious.” The former Republican presidential candidate pointed to a provision in both the House and Senate versions banning higher education funds in the bill from being used on a “school or department of divinity.” “You would think the ACLU drafted this bill,” Huckabee said. “For all of the talk about bipartisanship,...

Referencing the recent uproar over his former minister's controversial sermons, Barack Obama on Saturday denounced the "forces of division" that he says have become part of the Democratic race for the White House. Speaking to a sold-out crowd in Plainfield, Indiana, Obama again said he sharply disagreed with the some of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's past statements, saying they remind him of the country's "tragic history when it comes to race." "I knew him and know him as somebody in my church who talked to me about Jesus and family and friendships but clearly had – if all I knew...

The Obama Implosion In a nutshell, Obama just doesn’t get it. The more he keeps hedging and huffing about the demagogic (“God damn America”) Wright, while simultaneously preaching about ethics, tolerance, and healing, and the more his own prior sermons are juxtaposed to Wright’s venom, so the more Obama appears an Elmer Gantry-like figure. He obviously either doesn’t fully grasp the degree to which his intimate relationship with a peddler of hatred offends Americans; or he feels that the Wright narratives are merely a wink-and-nod part of the local Chicago African-American landscape, and thus not that big a deal; or...

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee vowed Tuesday to continue his campaign for the White House despite another loss to presumptive nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain in the Wisconsin GOP primary. "It's not about ego," Huckabee told reporters at the Peabody Hotel after he telephoned McCain to congratulate him on winning the Wisconsin primary. "Let me assure you that my ego doesn't enjoy these kind of evenings where we don't win the primary election," he said, adding there are several issues, such as pro-life and taxes, he wants to continue to speak out on and hopes to do so at the...

By far, the most significant story of the 2008 Republican primaries has been the unlikely candidacy of Mike Huckabee and his_single-handed_resuscitation of Christian conservatives as a force to be reckoned with in the Republican_Party. Yet, regardless of how he fares on Super_Tuesday_and_beyond, Mr. Huckabee will perhaps be best remembered as the man who, however unintentionally, helped persuade evangelicals to vote a Democrat into the White House in 2008 – and possibly in future races, as well. Since the 1970s, conventional_wisdom has held that evangelicals are driven by a single-minded_concern with defending "moral values," while mainline Protestants focus on issues of...

A broad coalition of black conservatives from across the country are holding a press conference to urge former Governor Mike Huckabee to stay in the presidential race for the Republican nomination until the convention. "Governor Huckabee should not be intimidated to stop his bid for the Republican nomination," states Don Scoggins, veteran GOP activist and ... president of Republicans for Black Empowerment, a DC-based national grassroots organization. The concern of the group is the pressure that is mounting by Republican talking heads to push Governor Huckabee out of the race. The consensus is that Huckabee's campaign was deliberately sabotaged by...

I am disappointed in the tactics and statements of almost all the presidential candidates, both Democrats and Republicans. My grandmother used to say that you can tell just as big a lie with a half-truth and sometimes a bigger one. Take the half-truths said about Mike Huckabee and taxes. I lived in Arkansas when he was the governor. He did away with the marriage tax penalty and the capital gains tax on the sale homes. He doubled Arkansas' standard deduction and the child care tax credit. He slashed the capital gains tax for both individuals and businesses. In 2001, Mike...

Not All Presidential Candidates Are Equal The Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, championed by President Bush, has not yet met with the congressional approval required for referral to the states for ratification. Will the next president continue to champion this effort? Will he sign commonsense marriage protection bills into law? Will he veto legislation that tampers with marriage? Will he appoint reliable justices to the U.S. Supreme Court? These are important questions, for when it comes to saving marriage in our laws and customs, the president makes a profound difference. And not all presidential candidates are equal. Rudy...

Now that he has become a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, Mike Huckabee is feeling the heat from other Republican candidates, who are scrutinizing his record as governor of Arkansas for evidence of "liberal" or "Democratic" inclinations. One leading rival, Fred D. Thompson, has accused Huckabee of having "championed" an effort to permit illegal immigrants to benefit from in-state tuition rates at state universities. Huckabee has denied the charge, saying that his support was limited to a much more restrictive scholarship program. Huckabee's denials fly in the face of the record. THE FACTS During his annual State of the...

An Atlanta megachurch took in $69 million in 2006, according to a financial statement the church's minister released in response to a Senate investigation into him and five other well-known televangelists. The Rev. Creflo Dollar disclosed the World Changers Church International's financial information to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but said the money he spends is his own. Dollar said his income comes from personal investments, including businesses and real estate ventures. But the church gave him a Rolls Royce, which he mainly uses for special occasions, he said. "Without a doubt, my life is not average," he said. "But I'd like...

TV evangelist Paula White, who is a frequent speaker at a San Antonio church where she recently formed a ministry partnership, and her husband, Randy, announced Thursday night that they plan to divorce after a nearly 18-year marriage. The split was made public during a Thursday evening service for their Tampa, Fla., congregation, Without Walls International Church, which they founded in 1991 and which became one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing churches. What her forthcoming divorce will mean for Family Praise Center in Northwest San Antonio remains unclear. White plans to keep Tampa as her base and continue preaching...

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton were sitting with him on stage in Flushing Meadows when Graham greeted them as his "wonderful friends of many years." "I told him," Graham said of President Clinton, "when he left the presidency, he should become an evangelist, because he had all the gifts." Graham paused, and added with a smile, "And he could [let] his wife run the country." That remark caused such a furor in some quarters that Graham's evangelist son Franklin had to explain that it was meant as a joke. But Graham had praised and defended both Clintons before. And in...

1.GRAHAM DOES NOT EMPHASIZE SALVATION THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST2.BILLY GRAHAM DOES NOT BELIEVE HELL IS A PLACE OF LITERAL FIERY TORMENT 3.GRAHAM REFUSES TO DEFEND THE BIBLE AS THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD4.GRAHAM SAYS THEISTIC EVOLUTION IS POSSIBLE5. GRAHAM SAYS THEOLOGY NO LONGER MEANS ANYTHING TO HIM6.GRAHAM SAYS THE VIRGIN BIRTH NOT A NECESSARY PART OF CHRISTIAN FAITH7. BILLY GRAHAM HAS PROMOTED PRACTICALLY EVERY PERVERTED BIBLE VERSION TO APPEAR IN THE LAST FOUR DECADES8. BILLY GRAHAM THINKS A MIRACLE HAPPENS IN INFANT BAPTISM9. BILLY GRAHAM SAYS PEOPLE IN OTHER Pagan RELIGIONS CAN BE SAVED10. BILLY GRAHAM HAS TURNED THOUSANDS...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - What chance do the New Jersey Devils give a proposal that would give the NHL team a less demonic name? Think hell freezing over. "I can assure you the Devils name will never change, and I think there are more important things to be thinking about than something that will never happen," chief executive officer Lou Lamoriello said. "It's who we are and what we want to be." State Assemblyman Craig Stanley is taking issue with a satanic symbol representing the team, which has won three Stanley Cup championships. "This is an age where symbolism is...

TV evangelist Joyce Meyer and her family have received millions in salary and benefits from her worldwide ministry in recent years, according to newly released records. The documents, obtained by the Post-Dispatch under Missouri's Open Records laws, provide the first public look at how the worldwide broadcasting and publishing empire has compensated Meyer and her family. They paint a picture of a minister and her family who have reaped large financial rewards from the ministry they created and control. Over 20 years, Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton has grown to a $90 million-a-year empire with TV and radio programs that...

A few years ago, a Houston, Texas, woman went with her mother to a Benny Hinn crusade. Her mother was suffering from lung cancer and hoped to be healed by Hinn – and she got her chance, even being allowed to go on stage in front of thousands and be healed. At least, that's what she thought. The mother gave hundreds of dollars to Benny Hinn's organization and quit taking her medication. Soon after the crusade, she was dead – another of "faith-healer" Benny Hinn's followers gone. Of course, the initial thought when someone sees the extravagant crusades of Hinn...

Bangalore, Jan. 24 -- A three-day faith show here by American evangelist Benny Hinn may have concluded without any major trouble, but it has left behind a trail of controversies. With the Karnataka government going all out to provide the logistics support for the Festival of Blessings that concluded here Sunday night, the high-tech show attracted nearly a million people from all over India and some from abroad. Though massive protests, a 12-hour shutdown and stray incidents of violence in the city overshadowed the inaugural day, the congregation passed off peacefully during the weekend much to the relief of the...

BANGALORE: For three days now, the city has groaned under the weight of the Benny Hinn show. Many of the apparently healed have justified the need for the mega event despite the multitude of problems. But the jury is still out on whether Hinn is a fraud or someone with connections to the Lord. Questions on people's minds regarding Hinn's healing methods and utterances indicate that all may not have been above board. Sample these: Why were only those cured allowed on stage? Colonel Samuel (retd) suffers from immobility of the right side of his body. Hoping for a miracle,...

What do we offer the world? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 19, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern "So, how do we advance the cause of female emancipation in the Muslim world?" asks Richard Perle in "An End to Evil." He replies, "We need to remind the women of Islam ceaselessly: Our enemies are the same as theirs; our victory will be theirs as well." Well, the neoconservative cause "of female emancipation in the Muslim world" was probably set back a bit by the photo shoot of Pfc. Lynndie England and the "Girls Gone Wild" of Abu Ghraib prison. Indeed, the filmed orgies among...