Free Republic

Moscow, November 24, Interfax - Moscow plans to bring up the issue of protection of Christians in the Middle East during an OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel, Switzerland, in December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. "We are calling for doing something about this together with the OSCE. We will be proposing now that processes leading to anti-Christian sentiment [in the Middle East] should be analyzed," Lavrov said at an assembly of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council think tank on Saturday. "We will make this proposal at an OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel in a week," he...

Ross Douthat has a thought-provoking reflection on the future of religion, both globally and in America. He says that it’s dangerous to assume that the future will look like the present, only moreso. Which Catholics in 1940 would have foreseen something as epochal as the Second Vatican Council, coming just 20 years later? Who could have anticipated that China is on track to having the largest Christian population in the world, and that Africa would be sending missionaries to the West? But here we are. Douthat calls attention to Will Saletan’s Slate piece saying that the Mormon Church has a...

A recent Gallup poll reflecting President Barack Obama's approval rating among American religious groups revealed that the president's highest rating was among Muslims (72 percent) and the lowest among Mormons (18 percent). That's an enormous difference between two groups that actually have a lot in common. What explains such radically divergent views? According to Mormon political analyst Quin Monson, the explanation for Obama's low ranking among Mormons has to do with party affiliation: "It's not surprising, given the fact Mormons are overwhelmingly Republican. There aren't very many Mormon Democrats, and that explains it." That surely is not the whole explanation....

The Chinese government has proposed a cooperative arrangement with the Vatican regarding the appointment of Catholic bishops. The Beijing regime has clashed repeatedly with Rome over the appointment of bishops. The Vatican insists that all bishops must be appointed with a mandate from the Holy See, and has announced the excommunication of Chinese bishops appointed without that mandate. China, on the other hand, claims that the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association should appoint bishops. In his 2007 letter on the Church in China, Pope Benedict XVI said that the universal Church cannot recognize the authority of a group like the Patriotic...

Cardinal Napier (Photo: CNS) The cardinal was a leading critic of the mid-term reportCardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa, has been added to the organising committee for next year’s family synod.The appointment is seen as significant because Cardinal Napier was critical of the mid-term report in last month’s synod and is regarded as an influential voice in favour of tradition.Otherwise the committee remains the same, including the theologian Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti Vasto, who is seen as responsible for the most contentious aspects of the mid-term report.Other members of the committee are Cardinal Luis Tagle, Cardinal Peter...

God’s ETERNAL and PERFECT LOVE transcends the realms of time and ETERNITY. It seeks ONLY our HIGHEST and BEST for His glory in RIGHTEOUSNESS in this world and for our ETERNAL future (Rom. 8:28, 1 John 3:1-3, 4:9). It is the Father’s delight to give us good things! And the majority of those good things that He gives us are NOT material blessings but spiritual blessings and wisdom, heavenly discernment, REALITY, TRUTH, ETERNAL and Heavenly perception, earthly provisions, good, sound believing friends in the Lord, Divine protection from the evil one (Satan), opportunities to bring glory to His WONDROUS Name...

The nation’s Catholic bishops are so upset about taxpayer funding of abortions in Obamacare they are urging a shutdown of the federal government so the issue can be addressed.The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a letter to members of Congress advocating adding language to the “must-pass funding legislation” such as the continuing resolution Congress is expected to approve soon to fund the federal government until the next session of Congress that would stop abortion funding under Obamacare. If such language is not approve, the bishops say members of Congress should balk at approving the continuing resolution and...

I have been trying to find the verse(s) that Obama quoted in his speech: OBAMA: Or are we a nation that finds a way to welcome her in? Scripture tells us, we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger. We were strangers once, too. What book and verse does this say it?

In the face of the offensive of radical Islam, Francis’s idea is that “we must soothe the conflict.” And forget Regensburg. With serious harm also to the reformist currents of Islam... It is impossible not to see in this the features of a “war of Islam” pushed to the extreme, fought in the name of Allah. It is illusory to deny the Islamic origin of this unbridled theological violence. This has been published even by the officially supervised “La Civiltà Cattolica,” only to be contradicted afterward by its fearsome director, Antonio Spadaro, the Jesuit who plays the role of Francis's...

It’s no secret that liberals adore Pope Francis. The more secular the “progressive,” the greater the reverence for the new man in the Vatican. Liberals—which includes liberal Catholics and Protestants as well as secularists—see the pontiff as the long-awaited liberator of the reactionary Roman Catholic Church.And yet, if you think about it, there aren’t many things they actually want from Francis. What kind of wish-list do they have in mind as they celebrate his arrival? Francis is not calling for women priests, for abortion-on-demand, or for clowns dancing at the altar during consecration of the Eucharist. Sure, they relish his...

Throughout November, The Huffington Post UK is featuring its Beyond Belief series, chronicling those who've taken on faith to create a force for change."You’re the anti-Christ, you will be destroyed,” screamed an incensed heckler during a speech by Barack Obama in June this year. It was not the first time Obama had heard this very pointed line, nor was he the first President to hear it. Anti-Obama rallies are often decorated with signs or t-shirts carrying overtly religious messages, whether it’s likening him to the Devil, demanding that Christian prayers be returned to schools or suggesting that America has a...

About 120 international Christian students attending a Bible college in Ohio could possibly face deportation after their school was recently denied recertification with the U.S. immigration exchange student program. Although President Barack Obama plans to announce Thursday night an immigration overhaul that could allow nearly 5 million illegal immigrants to remain in the country, the 120 foreign Christian students at Marietta Bible College are in a bind after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to issue the school recertification into the the agency's Student and Exchange Visitor Program. In doing so, the school's international students must either find a new...

President Barack Obama appealed to the Good Book on Thursday evening when he addressed the nation regarding his executive order on immigration amnesty. During his speech, Obama alluded to the Old Testament law that mandated that the Ancient nation of Israel look after the foreigners among them. "Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger –- we were strangers once, too," said Obama. "My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too. And whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the...

Moscow, November 21, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia attended a ceremony inaugurating a monument to Emperor Alexander I at the Alexander Garden near the Moscow Kremlin walls on Thursday. The ceremony was also attended by Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, representatives from the Russian Orthodox Church and public figures, according to a statement posted on the Kremlin website. Unveiling the monument, Putin praised the emperor's role in forming the system of European and international security at the time. This event is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary...

Beijing: In a bid to repair strained relations with the Vatican, China has proposed a joint system for appointment of bishops, offering the papal authority a greater say in matters relating to administration of churches. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA), an official body that governs the Catholics in China, said it hopes to receive the Vatican's reply by the start of next year to its proposals in this regard, official media reported in Beijing on Friday. "The Vatican seems to hope for more agreements beyond bishop ordination, such as cancelling the CCPA. But that doesn't appear likely," state-run Global...

On the eve of Obama's decree we stand at the threshold of entering a new day here in America where - with a swipe of the pen - millions of illegal aliens will be made legal and invade this nation with a heart that withstands our constitutional republic, English language, Judeo/Christian heritage and rule of moral laws. Does this sound harsh to you do-gooders of lawlessness out there? Think again my friends, this act has absolutely nothing to do with helping children or individuals but only seeks to further destroy America, divide Americans and to incite law abiding American citizens...

Churches in a Maryland county are being offered tax breaks for incorporating environmentalism into their sermons. In Prince George’s County, 30 pastors have started preaching ‘green’ ministries to avoid extra taxes, the Washington Post reports. The taxes depend on the acreage for all property owners, including churches, as part of Maryland’s “storm water remediation fee.” Reverend Nathaniel B. Thomas of Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church said he attempted to challenge the fee and said: "Once Uncle Sam finds a way to take your money, he doesn’t stop.”Thomas acknowledged the people of his congregation have higher priorities than the environment, such...

Hugh Hewitt Argues Against the Afterlife and God's Reward Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio host and establishment GOP par exellance (famous for being a Romney acolyte and biographer) was just on the Dennis Prager show arguing that a person's morality is unaffected by their belief or non-belief in the after life or Heaven or Hell.  Prager, Jewish and a fellow Salem host, argued the opposite.  I didn't recognize Hugh's voice and at first thought it was a liberal caller sparring with Dennis, saying that whether or not one believes in the after life has no bearing in whether they act in...

World renowned evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, the founder and chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said that our children are growing up in a “lawless and wicked age,” infused with the “philosophy of the Devil, who says, ‘Do as you please.’” Further, rearing children in this culture is difficult because “we have taken God out of our educational systems and thought we could get away with it,” said Rev. Graham. “We have sown the wind, and we are now reaping the whirlwind. We have laughed at God, religion and the Bible.” Reverend Graham’s commentary, first broadcast in August 1955,...

Only Almighty God has and offers the answers that we so desperately need today. WITHOUT Almighty God’s Word and revelation ALL is a mystery! ALL is unanswerable! ALL is despair! ALL is hopeless! A man, woman, boy or girl MUST be born again to FULLY comprehend Almighty God's revelation and see the ETERNAL picture of our day (John 3:3-7, Rom. 8:5-9, 1 Cor. 2:9-16). My friend, do not deceive yourselves with false hopes, false vain ambitions, false saviors, and false Utopian visions that can NEVER come to pass in this sin ravished world (Gal. 1:4). My friend, do the very...