Free Republic

Ted Cruz is simply the best — by far — on our top two issues: Israel’s security and school choice. We send politicians and “Shtadlanim” (special pleaders/lobbyists) to Washington and state capitals with the hope that they will advocate on our behalf. We hope they can lobby the powers-that-be, to be sensitive to our community’s concerns. Imagine having a President that unapologetically advocates for our values… himself! Foreign policy: Israel The most concerning foreign policy issue to our community — and it’s not even close — is the safety and security of our brothers and sisters, “the six million Jews”...

Psalm 70:4 But Fill the Followers of God with Joy. Let those who Love Your Salvation Exclaim, "What a Wonderful God He is!"

“It’s possible that Rome may betray us,” said Fr Dong, before he said Mass in the city of Shijiazhuang in Hebei province. “If this happens, I will resign. I won’t join a Church which is controlled by the Communist Party. “We are suffering like Jesus on the cross. We fight for religious freedom and follow the Gospel – but we are not supported by either Rome or China.”

Richmond, Va., Apr 3, 2016 / 04:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The veto of a religious freedom bill means faith-based groups that support marriage as a union of a man and a woman won't have needed protections, the state's Catholic bishops said. "The Virginia Catholic Conference is deeply dismayed by the governor’s action," the conference said March 30. "This veto risks the destruction of Virginia's long tradition of upholding the religious freedom of faith communities which dates back to Thomas Jefferson." The bill would have forbidden the state of Virginia from punishing religious groups that follow their sincerely held beliefs that...

Cities across Poland are bracing themselves for mass demonstrations against the country's right-wing government, after its prime minister admitted she favoured a total ban on abortion, even in the instance of rape or incest. Roman Catholic churches in the country are also participating in a campaign against the procedure, with priests reading a letter from a bishops' conference that calls for the last of Poland's already strictly limited abortion rights to be removed. Pro-choice campaigners say this is part of a concerted build-up to introducing legislation in the country's parliament. Speaking to public radio earlier in the week, Szydlo was...

The song you are about to hear is from a Las Vegas Diamond Rio concert. They received an immediate resounding standing ovation, and continue to do so every time they perform. Sadly, it is considered "politically incorrect." Consequently, the song was not released to the public.

Javier del Rio, archbishop of Peru's second city, warns Catholics against voting for candidates who support marriage equality and legal abortion in certain cases.A Peruvian archbishop told congregants they would be committing "a sin" if they vote for two left-leaning presidential candidates because of their stances on abortion and gay rights. The comment on Sunday by Javier del Rio, responsible for the archdiocese of Peru's second biggest city Arequipa with more than one million Catholics, was aimed at Veronika Mendoza and Alfredo Barnechea, who were virtually tied for third place in opinion polls two weeks before the April 10 election....

A woman named Dawn sent us the following disturbing information about a church she used to attend. She’s asked that her anonymity be preserved, so I’ve edited out anything that might indicate where she lives and which church is referred to. This sort of “educational” material can only gain traction where there is widespread ignorance about the history and doctrines of Islam. Disinformation flourishes among well-meaning but ill-informed people. This is why websites such as Gates of Vienna, Vlad Tepes, Tundra Tabloids, The Religion of Peace, Politically Incorrect, Snaphanen, Jihad Watch, and Pamela Geller exist — to provide an education...

An estimated 20,000 people were baptised on Easter night. Just outside Shanghai, 27 baptised people join a community of 100. Rampant materialism and individualism drive people to convert. Underground communities celebrated Easter without songs and in small groups.Beijing (AsiaNews) - On Easter night, more than 100 adults were baptised in Beijing's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (pictured). Wrapped in a white robe, accompanied by godparents, they confessed their adherence to faith in Jesus Christ who died and rose again, baptised by Archbishop Joseph Li Shan. The same ritual was repeated in all of China's Catholic churches during Easter eve vigil....

Nehemiah 9:5 Stand Up and Praise the Lord Your God Forever and Ever, And Let them Praise Thy Glorious Name, O God, Which Excelleth Above All Thanksgiving and Praise.

A British father has been banned from taking his son to a church after the boy's Muslim mother won a controversial court order preventing the boy from attending. The father – a non-practising Muslim who has forged close connections to his local Christian community and is divorced from the boy's mother – has been warned that he could be denied access to the nine-year-old if he attempts to take him to church or to a leisure centre it runs. Now the father, who was born in the UK to Pakistani parents, is challenging the ruling made by District Judge Williscroft...

We live in an age where we almost have to apologize for being Christian. Thankfully, that is not the case here, and now. The Resurrection is the central message of Christianity. I wish all of you a happy Easter. We need to unite to defend the faith now in ways that are more important than ever. Happy Easter!

FULL TITLE: The Little Sisters of the Poor Case Isn't About Contraception. It's About When the Government Can Force You to Violate Your Conscience. The real issue is more foundational, however: When an American says a law or regulation infringes on his conscience, under what circumstances should he be exempted from it, and under what circumstances should he be forced to comply anyway? It's a tricky question to which there isn't a fully established answer (though I've ruminated on the topic before). As Justice Stephen Breyer put it today, "I'm [still] trying to find the distinction between those things we...

When the government demands that the Little Sisters of the Poor bend the knee to a mandate that they provide free abortifacients and contraceptives, you can add this to the list of low moments in our nation’s religious-liberty history: Baptist preachers flogged and jailed in 1770s Virginia for singing hymns in public or preaching without a state license; Governor Lilburn Boggs’s 1838 directive that state police drive Mormons from Missouri or “exterminate” them; General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1862 order expelling Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi for alleged war profiteering; the passage of Blaine Amendments in most state constitutions, to...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a group of cases challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that non-profit employers offer health-care coverage that includes contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization. The challengers in the consolidated cases, captioned Zubik v. Burwell, include Little Sisters of the Poor, Priests for Life, and a variety of religious non-profits. Many of the arguments that have been put forth in support of the plaintiffs involve conscience rights. These are important arguments that certainly deserve attention. However, in the amicus brief I filed in on behalf of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, I emphasized public-health...

Members of the United States Congress have voiced their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor before their case is argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “We talk a lot about public service up here. Well, these are the people who live it,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said of the sisters on the House Floor on Tuesday, noting that they serve the poor in 31 countries. “They are the definition of public service.” On Wednesday, oral arguments for Zubik v. Burwell will take place at the Supreme Court. The case is a bundle of seven cases against...

The order is asking to be exempt from US government regulations obliging them to provide birth controlThe Little Sisters of the Poor will be fined $70 million every year if they lose their Supreme Court case on birth control, according to their communications director. Sister Constance Veit told Fox News: "The fines that we face add up to about $70 million a year across our 27 US homes, so it’s pretty frightening." The Little Sisters of the Poor, an order who care for the elderly, have asked to be exempt from government regulations which oblige them to provide birth control....

SOUTH BEND, Indiana, March 23, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) - Notre Dame's president has taken aim at critics of the university's latest departure, from Catholic identity, and revived his defense of the school's much-criticized decision in 2009 to honor pro-abortion Barack Obama. Holy Cross Father John Jenkins inferred opponents of the University's impending honoring of pro-abortion and homosexual "marriage" advocate Vice President Joe Biden were antagonistic, demeaning, and uncompromising. Those critics include his own local bishop in Fort Wayne-South Bend. "One of our great challenges today is that people who disagree often will vilify, will attack, will demean the opposition, and then...

If you were totally avoiding the internet today, or if you live under a particularly pleasant and comfortable rock, maybe you don’t know that the federal government and a bunch of nuns are duking it out before the Supreme Court over birth control. More to the point, they’re fighting over the Little Sisters of the Poors’ refusal to subsidize contraception and abortion-causing drugs for their employees via their health insurance coverage, all of whom, by the way, are mandated by the President Obama’s signature eponymous government overreach law to purchase their own health insurance. Well, fair’s fair, right? I mean,...

CASTELNUOVO DI PORTO, Italy -- Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Christian and Hindu refugees Thursday and declared them all children of the same God, as he performed a gesture of welcome and brotherhood at a time of increased anti-Muslim sentiment following the Brussels attacks. Francis denounced the carnage as a "gesture of war" carried out by blood-thirsty people beholden to the weapons industry during an Easter Week Mass with asylum-seekers at a shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, outside Rome....