Free Republic

Did Barry misspeak when he talked about his faith on This Week With George Stephanopoulos?

Shortly after taking office as governor in 2006, Sarah Palin sent an e-mail message to Paul E. Riley, her former pastor in the Assembly of God Church, which her family began attending when she was a youth. She needed spiritual advice in how to do her new job, said Mr. Riley, who is 78 and retired from the church. “She asked for a biblical example of people who were great leaders and what was the secret of their leadership,” Mr. Riley said. He wrote back that she should read again from the Old Testament the story of Esther, a beauty...

Interviews with the two pastors she has been most closely associated with here in her hometown — she now attends the Wasilla Bible Church, though she keeps in touch with Mr. Riley and recently spoke at an event at his former church — and with friends and acquaintances who have worshipped with her point to a firm conclusion: her foundation and source of guidance is the Bible, and with it has come a conviction to be God’s servant. “Just be amazed at the umbrella of this church here, where God is going to send you from this church,” Ms. Palin...

...the nature and extent of Sen Obama's left-wing agenda doesn't seem to have penetrated into the awareness of the American public...They just don't associate him, the "Progressive" movement and the Democratic party with the kinds of infringements...that have come to be seem as "normal" in everyday life...things such as...parents being threatened for spanking their kids...public libraries that let paedophiles in - while keeping Christians at bay...kids being punished in school for drawing pictures of their soldier relatives...

Councillors have been ordered not to eat during town hall meetings while Muslim colleagues fast during the holy month of Ramadan. All elected members at Left-wing Tower Hamlets Council in East London have been sent an email asking them to follow strict Islamic fasting during September no matter what their faith. As well as restricting food and drink until after sunset, the authority's leaders have decided to reduce the number of meetings throughout the month so they do not clash with the requirements of Ramadan. ...continued

DENVER, August 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Kicking off their week of inclusion at the Democratic National Convention, the party will host its first-ever "interfaith gathering" on Sunday afternoon at the Colorado Convention Center. However, among its featured speakers will be Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The ISNA is suspected of having ties to radical terrorism organizations worldwide. In fact, the ISNA is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. ISNA is also supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical organization that calls on Muslim organizations in America to dedicate themselves...

Joe Eszterhas' latest book is a shocker, but not the kind that made him rich and famous. The upcoming release from the man who penned dark thrillers such as Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge tells the story of his spiritual conversion and his newfound devotion to God and family. In Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith, to be published Sept. 2 by St. Martin's Press, Mr. Eszterhas describes how his life got turned around during the summer of 2001. He and his second wife, Naomi, had just moved from Malibu to a suburb of Cleveland - where he had grown up;...

 The Kingdom of God — Taking The Center Of Christ's Teaching Into The Heart Of Your Faith Jesus taught constantly about "the kingdom of God". This concept was at the center of his teaching and life. It should also form a central place in your own Catholic faith. This article will give you a solid understanding of this concept. At the center of Christ's preaching St. Mark announces to us the beginning of the public life of our Lord in these words: "And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God...

Watching the two presidential candidates court "evangelicals" by way of the Saddleback Church Civil Forum Saturday night was an exercise of perplexing proportions. While both senators clearly have very distinct delivery styles and vastly different approaches to addressing the issues of our day, John McCain undoubtedly restored faith among the faithful. As eloquent and smooth as Barack Obama can be (and he had his impressive moments that left me moved), his vague and ambiguous answers to the most innocuous questions on faith and American politics were at best disappointing. The forum's audience consisted of a voting bloc Mr. Obama needs...

When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans. An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle." More than half of randomly surveyed adults — 57 percent — said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a right to demand such treatment. When asked to imagine their own relatives being gravely ill or injured, nearly 20 percent of doctors and...

CHICAGO - When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans. An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle."

We are constantly reminded about the destructive consequences of religion -- intolerance, hatred, division, inquisitions, persecutions of "heretics," holy wars. Though far from the whole story, they are, nevertheless, true. There have been many awful consequences of religion. What one almost never hears described are the deleterious consequences of secularism -- the terrible developments that have accompanied the breakdown of traditional religion and belief in God. For every thousand students who learn about the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials, maybe two learn to associate Gulag, Auschwitz, The Cultural Revolution and the Cambodian genocide with secular regimes and ideologies....

Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, August 14, 2008; A13 BEIJING, Aug. 13 -- The Olympic Village's religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers. Previous Olympic hosts welcomed foreign chaplains, but China has banned them from living with the athletes. It has instead pledged that it will provide equivalent services from its pool of state-employed pastors, imams and other clerics. Josh McAdams, 28, an American athlete...

Science tried to purge other scientists who disagree with the establishment http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19904502&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

I think the poker-tell of a moral relativist is the umbrage he takes at the idea of original sin. In the Two-Categories-of-People Department, we have “Those Who Know Humans are Born Sinful” and “Useful Idiots.” (Useful, that is, to murderers, pedophiles, despots, tyrants and other human garbage.) My thoughts on the topic arise from the conclusion of The Golden Compass. I don’t know if Philip Pullman wilfully misreads Genesis or if he is a poor exegete; probably he has simply jumped in line in the endless parade of rabid anti-Christians who cannot grasp the concept of grace because they refuse...

..the closest AP's Douglas Birch came to mentioning the late Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Christian faith was by remarking how the bearded author and Soviet dissident looked like a religious icon: In a 1978 speech at Harvard ** Solzhenitsyn denounced the Western view that liberal democracy was fated to triumph in non-Western civilizations, which he called "worlds" unto themselves. ..in that speech-"A World Split Apart"-Baptist theologian Albert Mohler argues, that Solzhenitsyn famously diagnosed secularism as a disease corrupting the West and, what's more, he did so thoroughly anchored in his Orthodox Christian faith (emphasis mine): *** Solzhenitsyn railed against the secularism and...

After six years in captivity Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Colombian hostage, was rescued by Colombian special forces. Her first action was to arrange to go to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris. In an interview earlier this month she spoke to Pèlerin magazine about her faith and how it saw her through her ordeal. Mrs Betancourt's first gesture on being rescued was the sign of the cross. "Why? Because without Him at my side I would never have managed to survive the pain," she said. She went on to say that "being a hostage places you in a situation...

Abstract: There are probably few students of the scriptures who are not familiar with the controversy surrounding the definitions of faith that are sometimes gleaned from the writings of Paul and James. Some feel that James presents a doctrine of justification based upon works; a position that contradicts Paul’s doctrine of justification based upon faith. "This apparent contradiction to the teaching of the apostle Paul has caused much consternation among some theologians. For example, Martin Luther referred to the book [of James] as ‘an epistle of straw’ when compared with Paul’s writings." This article will defend the position that...

For The Right, Obama’s Religious Test Now Includes Denouncing Unrelated Billboards Throughout the summer, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been placing billboards around the country reading "Imagine No Religion" As the FFRF explains it: The Foundation is taking its irreverent message to what it calls the "unmassed masses" state-by-state. The billboard carries the Freedom From Religion Foundation's name and its website, ffrf.org. "Wherever you go, our roadsides of full of religion and religious symbols," said Foundation copresident Annie Laurie Gaylor. "We think it's time to advertise an alternative." The Foundation has placed a second billboard message, with the same...

Religious faith has long been valued as an essential contributor to our national greatness. Thomas Jefferson, in his second inaugural address, declared: “I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life, who has covered our infancy with His Providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power.” Jefferson believed that God had led “our fathers” and blessed the nation’s birth and growth. President George Washington, in his...

The doctrine of justification by faith alone does not imply that you are justified before God because you managed to work up enough faith in and by yourself to believe in Christ, which is impossible in the first place. Rather, the doctrine contrasts faith against works, emphasizing that we are justified by God through faith apart from works. This faith is itself not a work — that is, not a work of man, but a work of God in man. Faith is a gift of God purchased by Christ for all those whom God has chosen for salvation. It is...

For the Christian, the center from which the Divine design proceeds within the fabric of our own lives- and through which we begin to discern the beauty of God’s perfect plan - is the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is the central patch of cloth from which the pattern proceeds. It is also where the pattern returns. However, seeing this pattern requires ongoing conversion. We need the eyes that can only come through living faith. We need the strength to pull ourselves up by grasping the wood. It is only there where we begin to see that the threads all...

   Just over four hundred years ago, in late October, a young Augustinian monk, professor of theology and pastor in Whittenburg, Germany, in the fire of his zeal for Christian truth, nailed 95 thesis to the door of the Castle Church.  He had left the study of law and entered the priesthood, seeking to be justified before God.  His name was Martin Luther.  As a result of studying the Scriptures, he discovered biblical truths that had long been covered and obscured by the ritual and rubble of Rome.  One of the great truths then restored to the Church was...

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17,18

WASHINGTON -- For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling. No longer. Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair,...

It’s the summer of talking about the summer of ‘68. And back during that infamous summer, there was sex — an encyclical on sex, that is: Humanae Vitae, from Pope Paul VI, issued on July 25. Its message is being heard and misheard as much now as then. It would be for the benefit of all — Catholics and non-Catholics alike — to give it a 40th-anniversary look. Even Jessica Valenti, author of the new book He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, might find it more helpful than she’ll care to...

Religion’s Role in Politics by: Melinda Zosh, July 15, 2008 With Barack Obama attempting to reach out to conservative Christians, and Focus on the Family’s James Dobson’s rejection, one questions remains: what role should religion play in politics? David Hollinger, Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History, University of California-Berkeley, quotes Obama in an essay saying that: “I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will…” Hollinger spoke at the Center for American Progress discussing CAP’s...

The July 1st cover story in Newsweek details the pathway of Barack Obama's journey to faith. You can read the story here. Included in this story are audio clips of Barack Obama describing part of this journey. The audio is very noisy and hard to make out, as the plane is in mid-flight. Below is a transcript of the two passages for your perusal. "It wasn't an epiphany. You know, a bolt of lightning didn't strike me and Sunday, I said, "A-ha!" It was a more gradual process of...maybe that traced back to those times that I had spent in...

So much has been made about Barack Obama's religion. But what does he believe, and how did he arrive at those beliefs? In 1981 Barack Obama was 20 years old, a Columbia University student in search of the meaning of life. He was torn a million different ways: between youth and maturity, black and white, coasts and continents, wonder and tragedy. He enrolled at Columbia in part to get far away from his past; he'd gone to high school in Hawaii and had just spent two years "enjoying myself," as he puts it, at Occidental College in Los Angeles. In...

We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us—that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others. Sickness gets us partway there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two people's worries and fears.

Neither faith nor science can answer the most important questions. So why are believers and atheists still bickering? I went to a debate recently in New York between a rabbi and the famous polemicist Christopher Hitchens, on the question "Does God exist?" Hitchens was called on to speak first, and he won the debate with his first two sentences: "I don't know why I have to speak first. He has the burden of proof." The mostly secular ... audience heartily applauded this sally, which was based on the premise -- never challenged by the rabbi -- that science provides an...

…let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Hebrews 12:1-3

THINGS TO COME Deuteronomy 32:35; John 16:13; Romans 8:38; first Corinthians 3:22; Revelation 1:19. Isaiah 40 5:11; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 9:11; Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 11:20 The Word of God tells us of the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Ages that are gone, the Present Age, and the Age that is to come, are all set forth in the Inspired Record which tells us of Jehovah's ways, threefold in point of time as the wondrous name itself implies. God has spoken of old time unto the father's by the Prophets, And in the End of These Days in the...

My name is John Wayne Tucker and I am a Republican candidate for U. S. Congress in Missoouri's 3rd Congressional District. As a minister of many years and a retired teacher, I can assure you that I stand for Christian values. Life is a non-negotiable issue with me. I have the endorsement of Missouri Right to Life. Please check my web site for details at http://www.johnwaynetucker.com With your support, I am committed to standing with God and making a difference in America. Please remember the primary August 5th, 2008. Thank you for your support. John Wayne Tucker

A Rasmussen Reports poll released late last week found that only 56 percent of Americans believe in the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. 26 percent disagreed.

For some Christians, one of the thorniest problems in the Bible is the apparent contradiction between Paul and James.  It's enough to make anyone committed to complete inerrancy wither. In Romans, 5:1-2, Paul writes, "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God." James seems to say just the opposite, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."   This appears...

Making good on a promise to a friend to summarize his views on Christianity, Thomas Jefferson set to work with scissors, snipping out every miracle and inconsistency he could find in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then, relying on a cut-and-paste technique, he reassembled the excerpts into what he believed was a more coherent narrative and pasted them onto blank paper -- alongside translations in French, Greek and Latin. In a letter sent from Monticello to John Adams in 1813, Jefferson said his "wee little book" of 46 pages was based on a lifetime of...

During each program, “A Muslim Journey to Hope” presents the true stories of people who have had a life-changing experience. Each story is true, and each story is different. Yet they are as different as the lives of each person: Women and men. Young and old. Rich and poor. From many countries in the world. But each story tells how each of these people has found hope. Link is to Testimony #47 at muslimjourneytohope dot com by a man simply identified as “Afshin”. body of comment An Authentic Encounter with Jesus

Today marks the second day of Obama’s “Enduring American Values” week. Today’s topic: faith. The Illinois senator will unveil its plan to overhaul the Bush Administration’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives by helping religious organizations better learn how to apply for federal aid with a “Train the Trainers” program, and focusing the groups to provide summer learning programs to children. Obama’s plan will not “scrap” the current program, the campaign says, but will fix it. “President Bush came into office with a promise to “rally the armies of compassion,” establishing a new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. But what we...

Senator Obama has announced that he intends to create a Council For Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Having been privileged to give some advance guidance for this worthy idea, it is exciting to watch it become part of the public record. An old idea talked about by George W. Bush and even "his thousand points of light" father? Well, yes, talked about; but by the writing of Bush's own staff, regrettably, not done. Obama says he's different and this will be a "critical part of his administration." The proof will be in the doing, of course, but this much is plain:...

In a turn of events which signals the beginning of an aggressive outreach to faith based voters, Senator Barack Obama announced that he not only supports the “Faith Based and Community Initiative”,but that he will expand it’s reach if he is elected President. Further, the Democratic candidate indicated that he will support the constitutional right of faith based groups to choose whom they hire and fire based upon the tenets of their deeply held religious convictions. Many of the Press Reports concerning this stunning announcement have referred to this endorsement of such a significant Policy initiative as a matter of...

In a research brief this month, Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, analyzed three national studies in order to discover if "there is any evidence that religion is playing a role in encouraging a strong family orientation among contemporary American men?" His research led him to conclude that men who regularly attend Christian services are engaged in happier and stronger marriages and are more involved in the lives of their children than men who do not. "70 percent of husbands who attend church regularly report they are 'very happy' in their marriages, compared to 59 percent...

Sen. Barack Obama did patriotism yesterday, today it is faith and by the end of the day both speeches will have been done in back-to-back states that swing: Missouri and Ohio. The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator plans to go to Zanesville, located in eastern Ohio, to visit a church program that provides food and clothing assistance to those in need.

It is not difficult to understand why Barack Obama has a fear of scarves. In the 17 months he's been pursuing the presidency, the senator has faced a crude and shameless campaign from conservative pundits, GOP functionaries and assorted ignoramuses in the peanut gallery to prove him a secret Muslim -- a ''Manchurian candidate,'' as one put it -- trained from birth to subvert America from within and, I don't know, make us all eat falafels or something. On about a half-second of intelligent reflection, the flaw in that theory is apparent: If unfriendly forces had indeed inserted a secret...

The Texas Supreme Court, showing continued deference to religious practice, on Friday tossed out a $188,000 judgment against members of a Pentecostal church who restrained a teenager they feared had come under demonic influence. Laura Schubert claimed that rough handling during the hours-long 1996 incident — involving the "laying on of hands" and intensive prayer — left her disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder. Jurors agreed, finding that Schubert, then 17, was falsely imprisoned and assaulted by a pastor, youth minister and members of Pleasant Glade Assembly of God church in suburban Fort Worth. However, the state Supreme Court dismissed Schubert's...

Good morning everyone! And a safe, enjoyable weekend to all...Did y'all catch the lovefest between O and Hill?And what about "no-bounce" Obama? Maybe that's why they staged that special event in Unity, N.H....There's a lot of discomfort and questions out there about the Senator from Ill, and McCain and Co. need to exploit their opening. Will they?

CBNNews.com - John McCain is making a new effort to rally Christian conservatives. Political analysts believe McCain will need their strong support to win the White House in November. The presumptive Republican Presidential nominee met with conservative Christian leaders Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the hour-long meeting, the leaders urged McCain to talk more about social issues. "If he doesn't start talking about the social issues, I don't see how he can possibly win Ohio," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values. The Arizona senator asked the leaders how he could win more conservative support. "We made it...

Three years after a scandal at the Air Force Academy over the evangelizing of cadets by Christian staff and faculty members, students and staff at West Point and the Naval Academy are complaining that their schools, too, have pushed religion on cadets and midshipmen.

"The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion. "There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences." Catholics were shown to break with their Church's teachings more than most other groups, with only six in 10 Catholics subscribing to the teaching that God is "a person with whom people can have a relationship" and three in 10 describing God as an "impersonal force."

A new plant can turn out 12 million copies a year. Some are for export, but most are for domestic sale. The factory looks like it could be any plant in this export-driven nation. Hundreds of Chinese workers huddle over loud machines churning out large orders for customers at home and abroad. But what they're making might surprise you: Bibles. As Tibetan monks grab headlines protesting the lack of religious freedom under Chinese rule, a booming Bible industry is on its way to turning the world's biggest atheist nation into the world's largest producer of the Good Book. Chairman Mao...