Free Republic

A quasi-religious movement now has a genuinely religious leader. The pope’s encyclical on the environment is being hailed for its embrace of science, although it is about as scientific as the Catholic hymnal. Pope Francis writes that Sister Earth “now cries out because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.” Really? Is that what the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says? I’m not Catholic, but I respect the pope’s humility and am moved by his love for the handicapped and his concern...

June 21, 2015 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jb 38:1, 8-11 The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands? When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door, and said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled! Responsorial Psalm Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 R. (1b) Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting. or: R....

Pop singer Miley Cyrus recently slammed Christian conservatives for believing in "fairy tales" like the story of Noah's ark and argued that those who hold to a traditional definition of marriage should not be permitted to make laws within the United States. In a recent interview with Paper magazine, Cyrus, who appears nude within the publication, refers to herself as the "least judgemental person ever." However, the magazine notes that while she was raised in a Christian home and was baptized in a Southern Baptist church, the "Wrecking Ball" singer "maintains a particular contempt for fundamentalist lawmakers who rally against...

June 20, 2015 Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 12:1-10 Brothers and sisters: I must boast; not that it is profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable...

IN A village called Shalyar, near the oil city of Kirkuk, an officer tries to explain where his tiny community fits in Iraq’s religious mosaic. Imam Ali, the martyred hero of Shia Islam, adorns his wall. But Major Farhad Nazar is not Shia; nor, unlike most fellow Kurds, is he Sunni. He speaks for the Kakai, a small, secretive group which is monotheistic and reveres Imam Ali but (unlike most Muslims) accepts reincarnation. That mix makes them a big target for Islamic State (IS) which proclaims a violently puritanical Sunni line. Major Nazar, who was jailed in 1993 as a...

June 19, 2015 Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 11:18, 21-30 Brothers and sisters: Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they children of Israel? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person). I am still more, with far greater labors, far more...

The Texas senator blew away the crowd of conservatives with a finely tuned speech on religious liberty.There are two full days left of the Faith & Freedom Coalition's annual Washington conference. But Ted Cruz already won it on Thursday. The Texas senator measurably outperformed his two Senate GOP colleagues, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, with a tightly woven sermon on religious liberty delivered with vigor and conviction. He was rewarded with the most frequent and loudest applause and the highest praise from the gathering of social conservatives at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. It wasn't just the dramatic delivery that separated...

Nikki Brooks, a Black woman who claims to be a Christian and to have held leadership rolls in several churches, has published an astonishing video stating she has no sympathy for the unborn black baby targeted for abortion. “What I am about to say, I am a Christian, I’ve served in a Pastoral capacity in three churches, I uh, I am an active minister, and um, I don’t make apology for what I am about to say,” Brooks states in her video. She is apparently upset that the Black community, which is being targeted for abortion by racist eugenics groups...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) You could be forgiven for thinking the reason the world isn't doing nearly enough to fight climate change is that the American Ostrich Politicians are holding us back. You know these guys: Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush. These AOPs have their heads stuck so far in the sand that they aren't willing to see that climate change is real, that we're largely causing it -- and that failing to act puts the entire world at serious risk. But when I read Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment and climate change, I was struck by his mention of a...

June 18, 2015 Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 11:1-11 Brothers and sisters: If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me! Please put up with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere and pure commitment to Christ. For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one...

Yesterday, one of the most influential Christians of our time, Elisabeth Elliot, died at 88. Elliot was a pioneer in the world of Christian missions, a renowned author and speaker, and a true disciple of Christ. Today, Crosswalk would honor her life and works by reflecting on the many things we’ll always cherish about Elisabeth Elliot.Her Books A Wheaton graduate, Elliot wrote several influential books that were recently highlighted by Christianity Today,“She wrote two books about her husband’s martyrdom and the years she and her newborn daughter spent living among the Aucas, the tribe that killed him. Her Through Gates...

June 17, 2015 Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 9:6-11 Brothers and sisters, consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. The one...

Liberals love nothing better than a religious figure who takes their side, and the media loves nothing more than the man-bites-dog story of a conservative force or figure staking out a progressive position. Consider all the hype given to pro-social justice evangelical Christians like Jim Wallis, or the statistically nonexistent “Creation Care” movement of green evangelicals. So the Monday leak of Pope Francis’s forthcoming encyclical on climate change naturally triggered triumphant statements from green groups. In the draft, Francis says that climate change is mostly human-made, and that a failure to mitigate it would be an abrogation of our responsibility...

...churches should not be afraid to tackle controversial issues such as homosexuality, sexual impurity, and divorce. Where else but in church will young Christians hear Biblical truth and be prepared to handle the most pressing social and cultural issues of our age? Public school? Television? College? To paraphrase Flannery O’Connor, the church must push back as hard as the age that pushes against it.

Imagine ISIS kidnapped a relative of yours and then you see their brutal beheading on television. Many different emotions can take over, including anger, grief, and depression. CBN News found a group of Egyptian Christians, however, who responded much differently. They are happy their family members stood firm in their faith. Widow Mariam Farhat told us she "was very proud" that her husband "stood firm in his faith and that he didn't deny Jesus." That surprising reaction is happening 150 miles south of Cairo, in the village of Al Aour. Residents there honor the sacrifice of 21 Egyptians brutally murdered...

The 192-page document is Pope Francis' first major teaching letter on climate change and its effects on the planet's poor.Italian magazine L’Espresso leaked Pope Francis’ hotly anticipated encyclical on climate change on its website on Monday, breaking an embargo on the document set for Thursday. The 192-page document is Pope Francis’ first major teaching letter on climate change and its effects on the planet’s poor. Hailed by some as the “Pope of the poor,” Francis’ linkage of environmental and economic issues puts the Vatican out front on a closely watched topic. A Vatican official told Bloomberg News that the leak...

Fakeer Mohamed Althafi speaks so softly that you have to strain to hear him. The 32-year-old physiotherapist from Tamil Nadu says he’s been an introvert since childhood and loves blending into the background. At the bachelor’s pad which he shares with a trio of peers in midtown Mumbai, he insists that no more details about his address be given. “If someone found out where I lived,” he explains, “they could come attack me or worse.” And no, Althafi is not a controversial political figure/activist. So, considering he admits to being no more than “a regular bloke”, what is he so scared of? Just this -- five years ago,...

June 16, 2015 Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Cor 8:1-9 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones, and this, not as we expected, but...

Elisabeth Elliot, widow of martyred Jim Elliot and author of Through the Gates of Splendor, has died, according to the Gospel Coalition. Born in 1926 to missionaries in Belgium, Elliot spent her life pursuing God into the deepest and darkest of jungles. She married Jim Elliot, who was later martyred while trying to reach the Quichua Indians of Ecuador. Elisabeth was known for her service and submitting to God's will, even when she didn't understand. "I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us...

June 15, 2015 « June 14 | June 16 » Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 365 Reading 1 2 Cor 6:1-10 Brothers and sisters: As your fellow workers, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on the contrary,...