Free Republic

When the media reported that Ted Cruz wanted to only admit Syrian Christian refugees into the United States, the junior senator from the Lone Star state found himself once again in the midst of a Texas-size media tornado. It turns out that a case can be made for giving Syrian Christians, if not preferential treatment, then at least more consideration than they now get. "There are two percent of refugees from Syria who are Christian but 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian," Georgetown professor Timothy Samuel Shah pointed out in a forum at the Heritage Foundation on...

For about a decade, we have heard that Christians fared better under Saddam Hussein than they ever have since his overthrow so we decided to put the question to a panel of experts. "Well, their churches weren't being bombed," Roger Severino of the Heritage Foundation said Friday in a panel discussion there on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Earlier in the forum, Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at Heritage, noted that the Christian population of Iraq has dropped from 1.5 million to 260,000 in recent years. "The Yazedis I've talked to...

A pastor is facing a court trial this week on a government charge that his message, delivered through a public electronic communications because it was online, was grossly offensive to the point of being criminal. The decision that results from the case, which is based on the pastor's description of Islam as a "doctrine spawned in hell," could determine whether Christian pastors will be allowed to preach biblical doctrine in the United Kingdom going forward. U.TV in the United Kingdom reports that Pastor James McConnell, 78, of Shore Road, Newtownabbey, is facing a three-day trial for charges stemming from alleged...

It should be obvious to the majority whose eyes are open that we are likely not returning to the days where morality, discernment and common sense were attributes which were pursued with a purpose. It is sobering, yet amazing to consider the rapid downward spiral we are experiencing as a nation, as right becomes wrong, and wrong becomes right. With American leadership making no bones about its bias in favor of Islam and against traditional Christianity, believers need to get used to this fact and deal with a new paradigm that Judeo-Christian beliefs and values are no longer held in...

A new Facebook campaign, My Treedom, is using photos of Christmas trees to stand in solidarity with Chrsitians persecuted around the world. Facebook My Treedom is a Facebook campaign that posts daily photographs of Christmas trees and other holiday celebrations from some of the hardest places for practising Christians to live. It was launched by foreign affairs journalist Lisa Daftaria and is intended to celebrate "freedom from persecution and the right to Christmas everywhere around the world." Pictures of Christians celebrating Christmas have been sent from Pakistan, where violence against Christians is widespread, and Kurdish areas of Iraq, just miles...

Child welfare services in Norway have reportedly removed five Christian children from their parents' home and placed them into foster care after the parents were accused of radicalizing and indoctrinating their children with Christianity. According to the British-based Christian Institute, Norway's child protection services, known as the Barnevernet, seized the three sons and two daughters of Ruth and Marius Bodnariu in mid-November. Although the family wasn't quite sure at the time why their children were being taken away from them, their lawyer discovered that the parents were being charged with Christian indoctrination. The family's ordeal began on Nov. 16 when...

"Combat Effectiveness" Being Degraded by Obama's Military Policies By evaluating an overwhelming amount of evidence that has been building for 6 ½ years, the obvious conclusion personnel with extensive military experience will come to, is that Obama’s military policies have been degrading the finest US military fighting force in history. Over the last 6 ½ years, the US Armed Forces has been hollowed out by Obama, his Social Experiment On Diversity has severely fractured unit cohesiveness, his “Politically Correct Policies” have negatively affected unit morale, and the “Combat Effectiveness” of the US military is being degraded. Tip of the spear...

On Tuesday night the latest bastion against religious intolerance was swept away, as the Dail voted unanimously to repeal Section 37 of the state's Employment Equality Act. Section 37 granted specific exemptions for "religious, educational or medical institutions" when it came to gay rights, allowing them "to maintain the religious ethos of the institution".

As the world prayed for Paris, more than three thousand miles east another atrocity was being uncovered in Iraq - two mass graves containing the bodies of older Yazidi women. Sophy Ridge explains why we can't ignore them In the desert dust of Sinjar, in north west Iraq, a walking stick lies on the ground. Strewn casually alongside it are a couple of pairs of scissors, some household keys and a shoe. Bank notes flutter in the dirt. But, if you look a little closer, the scene becomes a horror show. Clumps of hair and fragments of bone poke grotesquely...

Two days after the horrendous jihadist attacks in Paris, Pope Francis preached about the “end times,” encouraging his hearers to be vigilant and ready at any moment to meet God face to face.

The Islamic State continues its march into Syria with its sights set on the town of Sadad, which consists of a large population of Syriac Christians who speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. According to Newsweek,500 Christian fighters, with the help of some Muslims, have so far prevented IS radicals from overrunning the majority Christian town. IS has already captured the town of Mahin, only 5 miles away from Sadad, which has provided the terror group a base of operations for renewed attacks against Sadad. The head of the Syriac Orthodox Christian Church, Mor Ignatius Aphrem Karim II, who is...

As President Obama continues to stick his head in the sand over the rise of ISIS, the terror army quickly becoming the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world, Middle Eastern Christians are on the verge of extinction. According to a new report detailed by Fox News, Christians in the Middle East will be nearly non-existent in just five years.

he Rev. Billy Graham has issued a written warning to America's churches: "Prepare for persecution." The renowned preacher and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association penned a commentary that was posted on his website last week and is slated to appear in the November edition of Decision magazine. In the magazine, Graham notes that the American church has been largely unfamiliar with persecution, writing that this "immunity to persecution that Christians in our country have experienced in the past two or three centuries is unusual."

The Rev. Billy Graham has issued a written warning to America's churches: "Prepare for persecution." The renowned preacher and founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association penned a commentary that was posted on his website last week and is slated to appear in the November edition of Decision magazine. In the magazine, Graham notes that the American church has been largely unfamiliar with persecution, writing that this "immunity to persecution that Christians in our country have experienced in the past two or three centuries is unusual." "As a whole, our nation does not know what privation is. We do not...

“(3) encourages the Administration to offer safety to Christians fleeing genocide by offering them priority in receiving refugee status and being admitted into the United States.”

They’re marked for extermination in the Middle East. They’re banned from practicing their faith in many nations around the world. They’ve been subjected to violence, intimidation and hatred from the very beginnings of the faith until the present day. Christians are no strangers to persecution. But such treatment largely hasn’t erupted in the United States of America. Until now. "American Christians need to prepare for persecution," Carl Gallups told WND TV. The former law enforcement professional and pastor of Hickory Hammock Baptist Church argued Christians are increasing being "targeted" for both political harassment and outright violence. And he's written a...

Last April, police in Sicily reported that Muslim migrants hurled as many as 53 Christians overboard during a crossing from Libya. The motive was that the victims "professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim." Another report cited a boy seen praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims commanded him to stop, saying "Here, we only pray to Allah." Eventually the Muslims "went mad," in the words of a witness, started screaming "Allahu Akbar!" and began hurling Christians into the sea. It gets worse. When Christian refugees finally do make it to Western shores, they continue to be attacked by...

The Obama administration's increasingly controversial Justice Department, in partnership with the ultra-leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, announced the creation of a new czar position to focus on “domestic terrorism” — especially the alleged threat from Christians and Americans with “anti-government” views. While ostensibly created to serve as a coordination office overseeing domestic terror cases, critics and analysts are sounding the alarm, warning that the administration is plotting to go after its political opponents with the full force of the federal government. The impetus for the Obama DOJ's new focus on conservatives, libertarians, Christians, and others appears to be the Southern...

"I am proud of my father--not just for my own sake, but because he has honored the whole Church. He did not deny his faith. That is something wonderful. We pray for the perpetrators, that they may be converted." CAIRO—The gruesome images of the 21 Christians who were beheaded in last February by Islamic State terrorists have left a deep imprint on the memory of Christian Egyptians. Now a new church dedicated to the martyrs—who are formally recognized as such by Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church—will honor their memory in a tangible fashion: this week—after a long delay—work began on laying...

What Common-Sense Gun Control Looks Like Last Thursday, as Americans were still coming to grips with the tragic rampage in Oregon, President Obama addressed the American people. An hour before the president spoke, news outlets were confirming that the shooter in Oregon had targeted his victims based on their religion. Multiple eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims all said the shooter asked the victims to state their religion. Those who said "Christian" were shot in the head. Others were shot in the legs or other parts of their body. The president -- in 1,299 words -- never once discussed religious...