Free Republic

ATHENS – The fight over religious liberty legislation in Georgia is about to get much hotter. Ted Cruz is almost sure to make it so. At 7 p.m. tonight, the Texas senator will address a dinner gathering of the Georgia GOP here. His remarks will come roughly 15 hours before the convention takes up, as a platform resolution, an endorsement of SB 129, the religious liberty legislation sponsored by state Sen. Josh McKoon. A floor fight is anticipated. What will Cruz say tonight about the issue? He just gave us a preview. Said the senator: “It is sad. It wasn’t...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), the son of a Baptist minister and an outspoken evangelical in his own right, may still have some work to do to court conservative Christians. The governor is mulling a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and will head to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a meet and greet with 50 evangelical leaders, who are said to be unsure of how deeply rooted Walker's convictions are on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. "Clearly he's not well known within Washington, D.C., with social conservative leaders. He's more known for his battle with unions...

For years the film industry has loved to use the richness of Catholicism to enhance story lines in movies and television shows. They love using our church architecture, confessionals, Rosaries, cassocks, habits, schools, prayers, and traditions because they offer so much visual recognition, drama, and beauty. These are the same reasons Catholics are so ripe for slapstick, which I admit can be funny. However, as America rapidly moves into an era of declining Christianity, we increasingly see our pop culture presence reduced nearly exclusively to cheap laughs and even cruel bigotry.ABC has decided to double-down on this anti-Christian narrative by working with the often vulgar...

How should we be good Catholics and good Americans?Until recently that did not seem to be an issue to most of us. Separation of Church and State appeared to reconcile the Faith with a secular pluralist public order. The arrangement seemed to leave room for each to be what it is, do what it does, and cooperate in building a world that would be increasingly adequate to man’s material, social, and spiritual needs.That view looks increasingly unrealistic today. Policies cannot be coherent or rational unless they are oriented toward definite goals and standards. Modern governments believe themselves responsible for...

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose has a traveling LGBT mass called “All Are Welcome” (see a news report about it here; the reporter enthuses that this could be a first step in changing Catholic teaching). I found out about it in this comment from a reader:... ...If I were still Catholic and lived in that Diocese, I honestly don’t know what I would do. I could not go to mass in diocesan parishes that so clearly and even proudly defied authoritative church teaching any more than I could go to an Arian mass back in the day. And...

The Irish government has cut off all funding for a Catholic marriage-counseling agency. The announcement that the government has blocked €378,000 ($429,000) in subsidies for Accord, an agency administered by the Irish bishops’ conference, comes at a time when the government has been at odds with the Irish hierarchy over a campaign for legal recognition of same-sex marriage. With a national referendum on same-sex marriage scheduled next week, opponents of the measure have argued that if the referendum is approved, the government will block funding for Church-related institutions that do not recognize homosexual unions. The cut in funding for Accord...

The problem of gender. People are nowadays more than ever exposed to unhealthy sexual pressure. Sexual problems have always tormented the human race. And now they are tormenting it with an even more indomitable power. That is why it is important to help Christians understand this sphere so as to avoid a spiritual catastrophe. There is only one way to master the play of our subconscious powers — that is, to illumine them in calmness and sobriety, in order to understand their hidden dynamics in the light of Christianity. First of all it is necessary to establish the fact that...

Pope Francis has warned “the powerful of the Earth” they will answer to God if they fail to protect the environment to ensure the world can feed its population. “The planet has enough food for all, but it seems that there is a lack of willingness to share it with everyone,” Francis said at a mass to mark the opening of the general assembly of the Catholic charitable organisation Caritas. “We must do what we can so that everyone has something to eat, but we must also remind the powerful of the Earth that God will call them to judgment...

Homosexual activists don't want Jesus' forgiveness for their sexual sin – they want his approval. This is something he cannot and will never offer.Homosexual activists are fond of quoting the first half of John 8:11: "Neither do I condemn you." They are not so fond of quoting the second half. In fact, they quite pointedly ignore it as if it weren't even there. But wishing it away doesn't make it disappear. John 7:53-8:11 preserves for us the record of Jesus' encounter with a woman caught in adultery. She was apprehended in flagrante delicto, in the act, and was dragged by...

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks May 12 at the Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on Overcoming Poverty at Georgetown University in Washington. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn) CRUX posted a report yesterday about the "Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on Overcoming Poverty" held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and attended by President Barack Obama. Here are the opening paragraphs of the story: When it comes to fighting poverty, President Barack Obama wants American Christians to act a lot more like Pope Francis. Obama called Francis “transformative,” saying the pope’s “insistence” that fighting poverty be at the heart of the Christian life has made him...

New Evangelization, where art thou? The Pew Research Center reports that the number of Americans who identify as Christian has fallen sharply, to the tune of nearly eight percentage points in only seven years.  The survey, carried out in 2014, was the second "Religious Landscape Study" Pew conducted since 2007. Based on the 35,000 people the institute interviewed, the American populace is 21% Catholic. It was 23.9% seven years ago.  While the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014, non-Christian religions are growing. Islam showed the greatest gains, growing half a percentage point...

Full title: Feel the Love Tonight? Rick Warren, Elton John Hold Hands, Joke About Kissing Before AIDS Panel WASHINGTON — Controversial megachurch leader and author Rick Warren raised concerns Wednesday after joining hands with homosexual singer Elton John during a speech before a congressional hearing on AIDS funding, and joked what would happen if the two kissed. “It would be the kiss heard ’round the world,” he said.

“This is the fiercest struggle, the struggle that resists a man unto blood, wherein free will is tested as to the singleness of his love for the virtues….It is here that we manifest our patience, my beloved brethren, our struggle and our zeal. For this is the time of unseen martyrdom…” What is this struggle that St. Isaac speaks of and how can it be overcome? Is it some dread mysterious experience that only the very holy or only monastics or only spiritually advanced strugglers experience? No, not at all. St. Isaac names two specific areas or perhaps better, arenas,...

I’ve been a florist in Richmond, Wash., for more than 30 years. In that time, I’ve developed close relationships with many of my clients. One of my favorites was Rob Ingersoll. Ingersoll came in often and we’d talk. Like me, he had an artistic eye. I’d try to create really special arrangements for him. I knew he was gay, but it didn’t matter — I enjoyed his company and his creativity. Then he asked me to create the floral arrangements for his wedding. I love Rob, and I’d always been happy to design for his special days. But there’s something...

You know you are in for a wild ride when a GetReligion reader sends you a URL from The New York Post (or The New York Daily News, for that matter) with one of those, "Yeah, consider the source, BUT" notes that basically is warning you to duck and cover. Incoming. So here is the headline on this one: "The Catholic Church will now forgive your abortion." The loyal reader noted: "The title is bad, but it gets worse from there. Wouldn't have wasted your time with it, but it is such awful dreck that it seemed to me...

Two conservative ex-Catholics have recently been in the news sharing their reasons for leaving. One was Michael Coren. Apparently, the Canadian broadcaster and author of Why Catholics Are Right stopped attending Mass a year ago —but only publicly mentioned his switch to Anglicanism for the first time last month. He told the National Post on May 2 that he left over the Church’s prohibition of gay sex. “I couldn’t look people in the eye and make the argument that is still so central to the Catholic Church, that same-sex attraction is acceptable but to act on it is sinful....

Catholic bishops called Monday for the federal government's immigrant detention system to be dismantled, and predicted Pope Francis would address the issue when he visits the U.S. this fall. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a sobering report that tens of thousands of immigrants are housed in prison-like conditions that cause psychological harm and are inhumane and ineffective. That includes a large number of moms and little kids, because of a growth in family detention after last summer's spike in migration from Central America....

The Rev. Charles Hasty, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Georgia, has announced his resignation from the congregation he's served for 13 years after members narrowly defeated a motion to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA). Hasty announced his resignation Monday evening after congregants voted 266-146 last month to leave PCUSA over theological differences; the total was just eight votes shy of the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass. JoAnna Williams, administrative assistant for Hasty, directed The Christian Post to a local news article wherein quotes from a letter Hasty wrote explaining his reasoning was published. "Undoubtedly, there is...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Religious liberties were a hot topic at the Citizens United Freedom Summit Saturday, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal taking particular offense at a remark made by Hillary Clinton on the issue. Jindal wondered how Clinton could actually change an individual’s religious views saying, “And by the way the speech in this conference where she said those of us who are pro-life should need to have our religious beliefs changed. She didn’t say how. What does it mean? Re-education camps? She proposed to have our religious beliefs changed.” “You have to see her most recent comments on religious...

This week's Torah portion, Emor, opens with an extensive series of laws regarding the conduct of the Kohanim, the priests of the Jewish nation, who minister and serve in the Tabernacle and the Temple. Because of the elevated status of the Kohanim and the sanctity of the Tabernacle and Temple, priests are required to follow a strict physical and spiritual regimen. Because of the serious responsibility conferred upon them, the Kohanim are expected to live up to a sacred ideal, and be adequately prepared to properly perform their Temple and Tabernacle duties. Members of the priestly class are not, for...