Free Republic

Gay militant Jean Wyllys at Brazilian Presbyterian University Has Mackenzie Presbyterian University given in to politically correct trends? By Julio Severo In its debate entitled “Sexual Diversity and Religious Freedom: A Possible Marriage?” on February 28, 2013, Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Brazil, in partnership with its chancellery, invited congressman Jean Wyllys, a gay supremacist, to address sexual diversity. In its presentation featuring Wyllys, the university said of him: “A militant for civil freedoms, he worked in the base ecclesial communities in the Catholic Church. Partner in LGBT, black and women movements. He is involved in activism to fight homophobia,...

Surprise and shock are an understatement when it comes to Pope Benedict XVI‘s resignation. Only a handful of Popes have called it quits. The Pope’s decision continues to spark speculation about who the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church will be. This decision will have far reaching impact for Catholics around the world… and certainly for Protestants. As most readers know, I’m not Catholic. I’m an American Baptist clergyman. I come from a tradition that fought to continue the reforms of the Church of England. Baptists were one of the many English separatist groups that wanted to go further...

There is only one U.S. religious group, propelled in part by an enthusiastic group of young followers, that is expected to grow to 100 million adherents by the middle of the century. Yet to hear some critics focus on generational shifts showing declining Mass attendance and doctrinal commitment among white Catholics, one might think the Catholic Church is slowly sinking in the U.S. religious landscape. So which is it for the nation’s largest religious group, growth or decline? The answer is some of both in a church that, as it has through much of its history, reflects the changing face...

“The state of Israel is an illegal, genocidal place… to equate Judaism with the state of Israel is to equate Christianity with Flavor Flav.” – UCC Pastor Emeritus Jeremiah Wright, in a speech to thousands of people in Baltimore in 2011 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. – Acts 17:11 ----- Much has been made in the Jewish community – too much, in my humble opinion – of the recent letter signed by 15 Protestant church leaders...

If you’ve been getting your kicks in three-minute doses on YouTube, you might want to take one evening this summer to dress up and unplug. “I think opera can be quite therapeutic for the ADD generation,” says American designer-director Thaddeus Strassberger who will be directing Giacomo Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots,” one of the grandest of the grand French operas, for Bard’s SummerScape July 31 through August 7, a show that will give opera diehards as well as novices a chance to steep themselves in a particularly rare treat. Full of big emotions and clear drama, the producer promises it will be...

Catholic and Protestant leaders gathered at Morgan State University Wednesday night for a prayer service calling on voters to approve Maryland's DREAM Act next month. The DREAM Act, which is Question 4 on this year's ballot, would require community colleges charge in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrant students who have graduated from high school in Maryland, and who can prove that they or their parents have paid taxes in Maryland for at least three years. If the student graduates from a community college, they would then be eligible for in-state tuition at a four-year institution. Archbishop William Lori of the...

The fascinating story behind many people's favorite word.

The passion of American ministers for political freedom in 1776 reflected their belief in religious toleration.On Sunday morning, Jan. 21, 1776, at a church in Woodstock, Va., Rev. Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg brought his sermon to a dramatic and unexpected crescendo. His text was taken from the book of Ecclesiastes. "The Bible tells us 'there is a time for all things,' and there is a time to preach and a time to pray," said Muhlenberg. "But the time for me to preach has passed away; and there is a time to fight, and that time has now come." Stepping down from...

As the 2012 election campaign approaches phase two – when the major-party candidates have been selected and begin to square off – there is an unmistakable lack of ideological and political unity within the Christian community. A new national survey by the Barna Group among likely voters indicates that there are substantial differences across a wide spectrum of Christian subgroups, with only a one segment unwavering in its commitment to defeat President Obama in November. In the first of those contests Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were of equal appeal to all voters, with Mr. Obama holding a 52% to...

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy — For the second time in a week, Pope Benedict XVI has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and saying other Christian communities were either defective or not true churches.

Should you pass on communion at a Lutheran church or participate fully? You are at the wedding of a beloved family member or friend, which is taking place at a Lutheran church. You gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this happy day with the bride and groom. But then there is a call to come to the table of the Lord’s Supper, to receive communion. This is the awkward moment you knew was coming. Can you, and should you, a practicing Catholic, accept the invitation? According to the Code of Canon Law, receiving communion in a Protestant church is generally...

(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's visit to his German homeland was bound to provoke harsh words from his critics. The surprise of the event was how bluntly he took his own Church to task and disappointed Protestants ready to work with him. Despite his frail physique and soft-spoken style, the 84-year-old pontiff delivered a vigorous defense of his conservative views and brusquely rejected calls for reforms, some of which even had cautious support from some bishops. At the end of his four-day visit on Sunday, Benedict predicted "small communities of believers" would spread Catholicism in future -- and not, he seemed...

One militant atheist strategy is to cling to anti-Christian mythology, with a vengeance, “arguing” that Christians (especially Protestants) are intellectual lightweights. The opposite is true. Indeed, Protestants have led fellow Christians and atheists in numerous fields, for centuries. […] When one is able to calmly sift through the records, there’s a very strong case to be made here, and it relates to Protestant-inspired literacy and sustainable liberation. Consider this. From A Short History of the World by the historian Geoffrey Blainey (pp. 352-53): Initially, few women were literate. In the English diocese of Norwich in the 17th century, only about...

A group of pastors came out today in support of Rev. Michael Pfleger remaining at St. Sabina Catholic Church. About two dozen ministers met at Josephine's Restaurant on the South Side and urged Cardinal Francis George not to end Pfleger's three decade-long ministry at the Auburn Gresham church. "While in the Catholic Church there is a tenure of six or 12 years, there are exceptions to that rule," said Tyrone Crider, pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. "We pray that an exception would be made for an exceptional pastor." "Father Michael Pfleger has given his life to the people at...

Let My People Go  Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-Long Struggle for Coptic EqualityBy S. S. HasanOxford University Press. 320 pp. $49.95.Reviewed by Robert W. ShaffernSana Hasan, an Egyptian scholar best known for her Enemy in the Promised Land, has written another important book in Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt—a book in which she honestly confronts the sorry condition of Christians in Egypt, where the “problems faced by the Christian minority are for many . . . a taboo subject.” Hasan courageously describes the discrimination and harm often visited upon one of Christianity’s oldest communions—the Coptic...

A San Antonio pastor and an associate have been indicted on charges that they sold numerous fake green cards and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants. Felipe DeJesus Coronel Pacheco, 55, and Luis Angel Tovar Cisneros, 28, have been in custody since they were arrested last month by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Coronel, pastor of Ministerios Epicentro Donde Nace La Bendición in Austin, had moved from Austin to San Antonio in mid-2010, records show. He was to seek bond at a hearing Thursday, but it was canceled after a federal grand jury indicted him and Tovar on...

Yesterday, a friend called me from Brussels, and he told me that Belgium is undergoing a huge sexual abuse scandal in their Catholic Church. Here is a news story on the scandal: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/belgium-priest-abuse-linked-to-suicides-20100911-155cp.html I am a Catholic, and I love my Church, and the failings of individual officials of the Church will not undermine the faith that a billion people have in the core message of Christ and his Church. I know that it is common for conservative Catholics to blame the sexual revolution of the 1960s, for the abuses in the Church. Unfortunately, sexual abuse of young boys in...

...Consider this statement of her desires in A.D. 1373: "I wanted to have every kind of pain, bodily and spiritual, which I should have if I died, every fear and temptation from devils, and every other kind of pain except the departure of the spirit." Reading a line like this, I can't help think that if Julian were a member of my church, I would encourage her to see a counselor. "For contemporary readers," Frykholm notes, "Julian's declaration that at a young age she 'desired a bodily sickness' coupled with her depictions of Christ bleeding on the cross are off-putting...

The Protest of a Protestant Minister Against Birth Control by Rev. Matthew Trewhella Sunlight was just beginning to break over the darkness of the morning as my wife and I headed toward the entrance of the cold brick-faced building. Fear and apprehension gripped me each step of the way. A thousand questions and thoughts raced through my mind. "How much pain will there be? Why the heck did I ever do this in the first place? Maybe I should just leave." As I entered the door, I figured these were my last moments to bolt and run. I thought back...

Protestants and Birth Control In "Always a Sin" we saw how Christian teachings (i.e., Catholic) before the Schisms of the Eastern Churches and the Protestant Reformation were opposed to contraception and sterilization and that the Catholic Church maintains this view. In "Where Are We Going and Why Are We In This Hand Basket?" we saw how contraception and sterilization were introduced to the Christian community of the twentieth century by unbelievers desiring to modify social norms. It's time to look at how Protestant's throughout history have viewed sex deliberately made non- procreative. Let's start at the beginning... (Note: I owe...