Free Republic

I recently blogged about research I’ve done on how progressive Christians view conservative Christians, atheists and Muslims (on the religious side), and liberals and conservatives (on the political side). I defined the difference between the two groups of Christians very simply: Do they accept the Bible as the Word of God? What I found was interesting (though not surprising). Progressive Christians tend to put politics over theology. That’s not to say there are no conservative Christians who do the same. Nor does it mean that all progressive Christians view politics so highly. What it does mean is that progressive Christians...

On July 3, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, published a nationally distributed op-ed blasting nine state attorneys general and one governor for insisting that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions enforce U.S. immigration law. The officials, led by Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, had addressed specifically DACA, the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” policy announced by the Obama administration on June 15, 2012, which gave some 1.1 million “Dreamers” — aliens who entered the U.S. illegally when they were 16 or younger — the opportunity to avoid deportation under certain circumstances.

The Bishops of Venezuela Appeal to Our Lady for Deliverance from Maduro From Francis, Only Silence by Christopher A. Ferrara August 11, 2017 Francis and Maduro: Happy together? “Will Venezuela be Francis’s downfall?” That provocative question is posed by Monica Showalter in an important article at the American Thinker blog. There is no arguing with her opening line: “The world’s first Latin American pope isn't exactly covering himself with glory as the hellfire of Venezuela immolates that God-forsaken nation.” There has been nothing but silence from Francis as the socialist tyrant Nicolás Maduro oppresses the Venezuelan people and destroys the...

With North Korea breathing nuclear threats against America and Japan, China ramping up their nuclear arsenal and navy, Russia's deadly but silent presence ever looming and Iran in the process of possessing nuclear weapons; the world today more than ever is ready for a massive nuclear global holocaust. A popular prophetic question that is always asked is, “Is nuclear war mentioned in the Bible, and if so, when will it take place?” It is our personal opinion that a full nuclear war will NOT take place until AFTER the Rapture of the church - Rev. 6), but as events are...

'Our government will not allow any new church to be built in Somaliland'Somaliland’s only Catholic church has been closed due to “public pressures”, just eight days after it was officially reopened on 29 July. The self-declared state's Religious Affairs Minister, Skeikh Khalil Abdullahi, said reopening the church had caused “a lot of division” which was not in Somaliland's interest. The government has decided to respect the wishes of the people and their religious leaders, and keep the church closed as it has been for the past 30 years,” Sheikh Khalil announced at a press conference on 8 August, local paper...

On May 17, I published an article in the Italian newspaper La Verità about pope Benedict’s abdication. A few days before, in a renowned Italian geopolitical magazine called Limes, Professor Germano Dottori had argued that Joseph Ratzinger’s 2013 abdication, and the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation in 2011, after a financial storm sold to public opinion as a “public debt” crisis, were the result of pressures on the part of Obama administration in the United States. According to Dottori, Obama was eager to dethrone Benedict XVI for two reasons. On the one hand, his presidency was close to...

This is the email Hillary Clinton's pastor, the Rev. Bill Shillady, sent her on the morning of November 9, 2016, the day after she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. For more on how religion helped lead Clinton "out of the woods," read our interview with Shillady. Sunday is Coming November 9, 2016 It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you wish to receive this day. While Good Friday may be the starkest representation of a Friday that we have, life is filled with...

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, paid tribute to his predecessor, Patriarch Sergius I, who governed the Church from 1925 to 1944. Ninety years ago, Patriarch Sergius controversially declared his “absolute loyalty” to the Communist regime in an attempt to ensure the Church’s survival. “Metropolitan Sergius took that step without violating by any means either the dogmata or canons,” his current successor said. “His did it to create prerequisites for possible development of relations with the state and for consolidating the situation of the Church in the then Soviet Union.” Nonetheless, the Church entered “an...

Amir discusses the situation in the Middle East, North Korea, and some interesting finds in Israel. He explains why he is not caught up in the current hysteria about eclipses and Virgo signs and the rest. He believes in signs, but balances that against the Gospel, which is full of messages that are more important, and are the true things that Jesus wanted us to know. Signs are for the unbeliever, so that maybe they will believe. We who believe should be more focused on the Gospel. A very important message that he has given before and emphasizes now that...

The world's first Latin American pope isn't exactly covering himself with glory as the hellfire of Venezuela immolates that God-forsaken nation. Fact is, he's been remarkably silent about the socialist communist disaster engulfing that country, not using the sharp language he is known for whenever he expresses displeasure about the United States, as William McGurn notes in this first-class essay, which is probably his best.

On Supplication for your Enemies In the papal office are gathered the Pope, Fr Antonio Spadaro S.J his communications confidant and Fr Arturo Sosa Abasca S.J, head of the Jesuits worldwide. There, at a time when they are under a considerable storm of fierce criticism, with only the praise of Catholic dissidents and the admiration of secular activists for consolation, four years into the pontificate of Pope Francis, the three gather in order to make supplication for their enemies and by invocation ask for guidance for themselves and the Church. Pope Francis: Brethren, I have convened this meeting of supplication...

As a psychiatrist, the recent false accusations from Rome against faithful Catholics reminds me of couples preparing to divorce. False accusations of hostility, divisiveness and hatred occur not infrequently in marriages with high levels of conflict and with impending separation or divorce. When of an extremely severe nature, such anger can lead to demonizing a spouse in an effort to undermine the trust of the children in that spouse and to obtain their loyalty instead. This pathological behavior is referred to as parental alienation and is clearly psychologically damaging to Catholic youth, spouses and families. Spouses who make false accusations against...

Join Freepers throughout the world to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. —1 John 5:14 Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Please join us in prayer.

HONG KONG (CNS) — A senior Vatican official has hinted there is an unofficial agreement between the Holy See and Beijing on the appointment of bishops, even as negotiations to formalize arrangements continue to hit roadblocks, reported ucanews.com. Argentine Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who attended a conference on the sensitive topic of organ donation and transplants in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, offered the hint during an interview with state-run Global Times Aug. 4. “We need to make a distinction between a formal agreement and the real things (that are happening among the public). The real thing is that...

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 8, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The nation’s largest homosexual activist group lambasted President Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador at large for international religious freedom. “Gov. (Sam) Brownback’s appointment would promote discrimination, not religious freedom,” Human Rights Campaign’s Brian McBride charged. Brownback will only perpetrate Trump’s “discriminatory ideologies in other nations.” “HRC is deeply disappointed by Trump’s nomination of this anti-LGBTQ politician,” the organization said in a press release, adding that nomination of Brownback is “a weapon to advance discrimination.” Yawn. Brownback is a bold, pro-life and pro-marriage conservative who has defended the right of Christians and others...

So what do you do if you are an abortion advocate who lost two presidential elections in a row? For Hillary Clinton it is considering becoming a Methodist pastor. The news that Clinton would consider becoming a pastor in the United Methodist Church is not surprising given that the Methodist Church supported abortion for years until recently and still has a large contingent of pastors and other church leaders who strongly support abortion. Here’s more: According to The Atlantic, Clinton told her longtime pastor Bill Shillady, at a recent photo shoot for his new book, that she wants to preach...

Addressing priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, Scotland, said that American Catholics should learn from the problems facing the Church in Great Britain. The Scottish archbishop predicted that “some version of the problems we face today in Scotland will be heading your way tomorrow.” In particular he warned that intolerance of the faith is likely to increase. Archbishop Tartaglia reported that Catholics now constitute the most active religious group in Scotland, because the Protestant churches are steadily shrinking. Thus the Catholic Church becomes the primary representative of Christianity—and the main target for the more aggressive opponents...

On July 17, 2017, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, gave an Intervention at the U.N. on “Mobilizing Religious Communities to Act with Solidarity and Shared Responsibility to End Poverty and Promote Peace.” In it, one will find more evidence still (for those who as yet still need it) that the church-of-the-Council is a church of this world indeed; one that has absolutely no interest in the Divine Commission as given by Christ.In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that post-conciliar Rome – in particular as it is being led...

CAMBRIDGESHIRE, U.K. — A Christian prison worker in the U.K. who was barred from participating in chapel services after quoting a Scripture that references homosexuality has lost his appeal, as an Employment Appeals Tribunal was not convinced that he had suffered discrimination. The tribunal concluded that the policies at HMP Littlehey, a prison for sex offenders, were legitimate in light of the prison’s desire to maintain order as some inmates could find the quoted passage offensive. “Justice Slade upheld the Employment Tribunal’s ruling that the quoting of [certain verses in] the Bible in a chapel service could ‘legitimize … mistreatment’...

'To suggest gender diversity is an antidote to child abuse is both offensive and absurd'The head of a public body responsible for the arts in Scotland has been condemned as “poisonously anti-religious” after calling for the Church to be compelled to ordain women as priests. Ben Thomson, who chairs Creative Scotland, said greater “gender diversity” in the Church would have helped to prevent the abuse crisis. In a private submission to a government consultation, Thomson said: “The lack of women as part of the leadership in religion leads to wider problems in society … Most of the religions practised in...