Free Republic

Christianity is booming in China, propelling it toward becoming the world's largest Christian nation. But as religion grows, it spurs a government crackdown. There’s nothing secret about Chongyi Church, one of the largest in China. Its lighted steeple and giant cross penetrate the night sky... Chinese or not, you are welcome seven days a week... For China, it is a stunning feeling. Most of the society exists behind closed doors and is tough, driven, material, hierarchical... Yet Chongyi looks and feels like any evangelical megachurch in Seattle or San Jose. There are big screens, speakers blaring upbeat music, coffee bars....

I call them the Busybody Brigade (The BB for short). The Left’s army of activists who look for problems that don’t actually exist, and solve them with restrictions that don’t actually work. Their motto: “There should be a law….” They are meddlesome. They are relentless. And they are on a quest to influence almost every decision you make, from sunrise to sunset. It’s all in an attempt to “better the collective” and control your life. Let them, help you. After all, it takes a village. The BB is alive and well in Seattle, where a new ordinance on the books...

The good news is that America has stopped sliding in economic freedom. The bad news is that we’re stalled as Earth’s twelfth-freest economy. The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have just released their 21st annual Index of Economic Freedom. Once again, it finds the U.S.A. wheezing significantly behind the five most unfettered markets: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and Switzerland. Among 178 nations rated on ten different economic metrics, from government spending to free trade, the bottom five are Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Cuba, and — dead last — North Korea. Since 2010, America has missed the...

HIZB ut-Tahrir leaders last night urged a crowd of about 500 in Sydney’s Lakemba to rise as one to defend­ the name of the prophet Mohammed, extolling them to reject the West’s concept of freedom of speech as a “smokescreen” to oppress Muslims. Organisers warmed up the audience with a series of chants including “rise, Muslims, take a stand, defend the prophet hand in hand” and “the prophet that you defame, Allah will protect his name”. One speaker, Sufyan Badar, told the crowd it had gathered not as a reflection of freedom of association, but as a “response to the...

On Tuesday we ran a story detailing how much new regulations issued by the Obama administration in 2014 were going to cost the economy this year (and beyond). The figure was hardly insignificant – $181.5 billion in new compliance costs imposed on several industries that will ultimately be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Add these new costs to the $2 trillion annual cost of earlier regulations, and you begin to see how compliance costs reduce productivity, cut down on employment and curb business expansion. But there is more to these regulations...

Sons of Liberty Three-Night Event Begins Jan 25 at 9/8c on the History Channel. Video at source link. Topics will include Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, and more.

from Duke University’s chapel tower after all. The university announced that it has reconsidered its decision to allow the call for prayer from the iconic tower on Fridays. The reversal came a day after evangelist Franklin Graham posted a scathing criticism on Facebook asking donors not to give to Duke until the policy was changed.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without proving that a crime occurred. Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs. Since 2008, thousands of local and state police agencies have made more than 55,000 seizures of cash and property worth $3 billion under a civil asset forfeiture program at the Justice Department called Equitable Sharing. The program has enabled local and state...

"....the number of potential contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination exceeds two dozen. It's actually a somewhat ridiculous situation.........Now it is my assertion that the vast majority of GOP politicians over the last century can be classified into one of the following three categories:RINOs–meaning that they do not really believe that progressivism and big government are bad for America–it's just that the Democrats are screwing it up and Republicans should be entrusted with the task of implementing the progressive agenda because they will do it more efficiently and cost effectively than liberal Democrats have or could.CRUELs–that is,confused Republicans who...

Kelvin Cochran is a decorated firefighter. He is also a devout Christian. He’s a deacon at a Baptist church and also teaches Sunday school. By all accounts – he is a decent and honorable man. And now – he is unemployed. Cochran, who served seven years as the chief of the Atlanta Fire Departmant lost his job over a book he wrote about biblical morality titled, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” A small portion of the book contained what critics called homophobic language. .... hundreds of Christians were expected to gather at the Georgia capitol to protest the...

A British author, residing in the United States for the past 30 years, created a small firestorm earlier this week with his candid observations that modern-day Americans have been duped by the government into accepting a European-style march toward socialism because we fail to appreciate the rich legacy of personal liberty that is everyone's birthright and is expressly articulated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Os Guinness, the author of more than a dozen books defending traditional Judeo-Christian values and Jeffersonian personal liberty, argued that we should embrace individual liberty and personal dignity and reject...

There is a debate in this country over whether or not our schools should teach American exceptionalism. Few people, however, seem to understand what American exceptionalism is. It has nothing to do with democracy. Many countries have democratic elections. Neither is exceptionalism a claim of supremacy. Americans do not claim to be better than people living in other countries. Exceptionalism does not refer to superiority in wealth, status or any of the other advantages derived from civilization. The United States has high economic productivity, good schools, technologically advanced infrastructure and a high standard of living. Still, so do many other...

J.R.R. Tolkien, the British author best known for The Hobbit and his epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was an astute critic of socialism and utopianism and a passionate defender of liberty, says Jay Richards, co-author of The Hobbit Party, which he calls “a study of the political and economic implications of Tolkien’s thought.” “Certainly anyone that’s seen The Lord of the Rings, for instance, at the movies knows that he was deeply concerned about the dangers and the temptations of absolute power. "The symbol of the one ring, of course. It’s not just a symbol of the sort...

1) When the executive branch has effectively become the legislative branch 2) When the notions of secure borders and national sovereignty are considered thinly-veiled euphemisms for racial hatred 3) When justice means determining a person is guilty before seeing any evidence, then rioting, looting and destroying property when said person does not even make it to trial 4) When those who riot, loot and destroy property are considered freedom-fighters, and those who peacefully assemble are considered radical extremists ... 10) When countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, but yours does...

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas, Rush and Kathryn Limbaugh, for returning to America’s children, parents and grandparents the best gift of them all--pride in America’s noble history! Not since Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has a figure from childlore done so much to lead the little people out of the fog. We look for Rudolph every Christmas, before packing him away with the ornaments til’ the next holiday season. But ‘Liberty’, the lovable, time-traveling horse of the ‘Rush Revere Adventures’ series is there every day. Liberty is not just the equine hero who makes going to bed a delight before lights...

TRANSCRIPT: WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The town of Westminster, Massachusetts — population 7,300 — is a small, quiet community about an hour west of Boston. When the local health board holds meetings, it usually happens here in this room, where you can get advice about things like septic tanks and mosquito control. But not on this day. This meeting Wednesday night had to be moved to the local elementary school because the town is up in arms. MAN: You people make me sick! WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Why so mad? That Board of Health is proposing to make Westminster the first town in the...

good article by Neal Boortz http://www.wsbradio.com/weblogs/nealz-nuze/2014/oct/29/michelle-nunn-and-fairtax/ http://fairtax.org/cosponsors/ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:s00122:@@@P THE FAIR TAX WOULD BE THE BIGGEST TRANSFER OF POWER FROM DC BACK TO THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY'S HISTORY A flat tax is still an income tax, and would leave the IRS in place. It punishes productivity, and fails to capture any revenue from the illegal aliens and illegal activities like drugs and prostitution because most of them don't report their income, but they buy stuff, so with the Fair Tax, they would start paying a share. The IRS tried to take out the Tea Party, it would be sweet vengeance...

Because of our recognition of natural rights, and our history, values and written constitutional guarantees, we in America are self-directed and free to make our own choices. In fact, the constitutional guarantee of due process mandates that because our individual liberty is natural to us, it is always presumed; thus, it is always the government’s obligation to demonstrate our unworthiness of freedom to a judge and jury before it can curtail that freedom. It is not the other way around. Until now. This past week has seen disturbing events in which the government, as if in “Alice in Wonderland” mode,...

I believe in the timeless ideals that once made America the "last, best hope of mankind"! I denounce any form of intrusive and unilateral government that does not serve the rights and will of the people. I believe "We the People" can accomplish anything when liberty, hard work and accountability are non-negotiable. We can reform healthcare, without denying individual liberty and caving in to highly inept and wasteful socialized medicine. We can honor legal immigration, the promise that is America, without abandoning our borders and sovereignty. We can reward hard work and private enterprise, the innovative spirit of industry, instead...

We must react as concerned, committed, and compassionate people who have the facts, rather than as people have historically reacted in times of distress, disease, and death If the Ebola virus disease (EVD) explodes across America we can expect many oppressive but necessary laws to be passed. There will be limitations on personal liberty, but hopefully lawmakers will think these issues through, debate them, and implement only those most necessary. Reasonable people will argue that, in times of emergency, extreme measures must be taken for everyone’s good; however, there is always a problem. When extreme measures are taken “for the...