Free Republic

This Theologian Has An Answer To Atheists’ Claims That Evil Disproves GodTaken at face value, the problem of evil appears to be a devastatingly convincing argument against the existence of the Christian God. Many atheists today argue that the existence of suffering is powerful evidence against the all-good, all-powerful God of Christianity. Many philosophers, both Christian and atheist alike, believe the “problem of evil” to be the most persuasive argument in favor of atheism.Dr. Peter Kreeft, a prolific author and professor of philosophy at Boston College, states in “Making Sense Out Of Suffering” that “the most powerful argument for atheism...

California lawmakers are debating whether to adopt a bill that would require California’s public universities and colleges to offer abortion drugs at their health centers. Senate Bill 320, sponsored by state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, will mandate that the state’s community colleges and public universities provide women with abortion pills for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy so they don’t face the “burden” of traveling to obtain an abortion. While the bill—if passed—isn’t set to take effect until 2020, it would also require the state’s public university health centers that don’t already offer abortion pills to provide transportation to an...

A Connecticut woman with advanced breast cancer married the love of her life at a Connecticut hospital right before Christmas, then passed away 18 hours later. Heather Mosher was dressed in her wedding gown and lying in bed wearing an oxygen mask as she and David Mosher said "I do" Dec. 22 at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. The 31-year-old died the next day.

Pope Francis is the most popular world leader among Irish people, who rate British prime minister Theresa May and US president Donald Trump poorly, an international opinion poll published today finds. The pope was viewed favorably by 70 percent of the Irish respondents to the poll and unfavorably by 21 percent. Mr. Trump polls an 82 percent unfavorable rating, with just 13 percent looking on him in a positive light. More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) viewed Ms. May unfavorably, compared to 22 percent who viewed her favorably. The research was carried out by the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN)...

Christians in Germany will become a minority in the next 20 years, according to Die Welt.

A soaring number of Muslims, many of them refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are converting to Christianity, breathing new life into Europe’s once floundering Christian churches. The Muslims are flocking to various Christian denominations, experts said, including becoming Protestants, evangelical or Catholic. As many parts of Europe are becoming more secular and houses of worship are seeing congregants leave in droves, it is Muslim converts who are reviving struggling Christian churches. "European churches have struggled for decades to share the gospel with modern secular Europeans,” Matthew Kaemingk, a professor at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Seattle, told Fox News....

The recent wave of sexual abuses of women is tragic. Despite increased achievements by women, the outcomes have been unfortunate for many others. Ironically, feminism has thrust many women into isolation and abuse. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, and feminist Gloria Steinem bear much responsibility. Despite today’s contrary belief, women are not equal to men. Men are not equal to women, either. There are natural, God-created differences, and we would do well to remember them. Women are most liberated (free from predators) and safest when they are bonded to a man they have made commitment to (marriage). Women who...

After more than 100 years, a Roman Catholic church in Detroit is closing, partly because Hispanics who worship there fear immigration agents. The final Mass at All Saints Church will be celebrated Sunday on Detroit’s southwest side. The congregation of 300 families will be encouraged to attend St. Gabriel, a nearby church. […] [The pastor at St. Gabriel, the Rev. Marc] Gawronski said there has been an increase in raids and enforcement by federal immigration agents in the community. Immigration agents have an “informal agreement that they have affirmed that they will not go into churches and not hassle people...

Christianity has been growing at a fast rate in the last couple of decades in Iran, that has caused the Islamic government a lot of concern, according to Mohabat News, an Iranian Christian News Agency. A high profile Islamic seminary official, Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, stated "accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches." Another most senior Islamic Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has repeatedly expressed his concern over the spread of Christianity among the youth in the country. He and his other colleagues blame foreign influence for the conversion of young Iranians to...

My name is 'Hammerhead' and I approved this message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGvxDxDLDvg

DUBLIN, Ireland -- "Try a Little Tenderness" is a song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods. According to Wikipedia, it was first recorded on Dec. 8, 1932, by the Ray Noble Orchestra (with vocals by Val Rosing). Probably these names are as unfamiliar to us today as the demonstration of tenderness is in our modern political culture. This song and its sentiment came rushing back to me as I witnessed a stunning act of tenderness while crossing the Irish Sea last week on a ferry bound for Dublin. While eating breakfast in the ship's lounge, I...

An Australian group recently urged the government to grant religious freedom exceptions to parents who do not want their children to have vaccines made from aborted baby body parts. It is a difficult ethical dilemma for pro-life parents, and the Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network says the government should not penalize parents’ decisions. In Australia, families who do not vaccinate their children do not receive childcare subsidies, Yahoo 7 News reports. AVSN said the government should make an exception to that policy for families who object on religious grounds. “To use vaccines prepared with the products of abortion is a moral...

The editor-in-chief of Die Welt, one of Germany’s leading right-wing newspapers, triggered a social media meltdown on Christmas by complaining about supposed left-wing bias in Germany’s Christmas midnight masses. Ulf Poschardt wondered aloud on Twitter on Christmas Eve: “Who would voluntarily go to a midnight mass if at the end of the sermon he thinks he spent the evening with the Jusos or the Green Youth?” — referring to the youth organizations of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green party, who both represent the left wing of their centrist parties. The statement came a few days after the...

The beady eyes in my taco glare back amid the citrus salsa and avocado, and peek out from behind a leaf of cilantro. The first bite is crunchy, and faintly nutty, like toasted corn — if toasted corn came with six legs and a pair of wings. Before long I’m popping individual fried locusts into my mouth like peanuts. But this isn’t a street stall in Oaxaca, Mexico. I’m in my Jerusalem apartment and my girlfriend is having a conniption over the pile of disembodied grasshopper legs I’ve left on the chopping board in the kitchen. Over the phone, my...

In his first and only official visit to an American mosque, seven years into his presidency, former President Barack Obama articulated something American Muslims know all too well: “A lot of Americans have never visited a mosque,” he said, adding that “most Americans don’t necessarily know — or at least don’t know that they know — a Muslim personally” either.

The archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out against “tyrannical and populist” world leaders in a Christmas message likely to be seen partly as a rebuke against US president Donald Trump. Justin Welby was preaching at Canterbury cathedral at the same time as Pope Francis made oblique criticism of Trump in his traditional Christmas address in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

Many Yellowstone County homes had empty chairs at the table on Christmas Day 100 years ago. Mrs. C.M. Wright, a widow living at 3324 First Ave. S., already had three sons serving in World War I. A fourth was eager to enlist as soon as he came of age. Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Shoemaker, owners of Billings Automobile Warehouse and Service Co., returned to Billings in early December after bidding their son Lt. Shoemaker goodbye as he sailed from New York toward France. Sons were celebrating the holiday in Army training camps and on Navy ships or in cold and...

On a frosty, starlit night, a miracle took place. In 1914, a melody drifted over the darkness of No Man’s Land. First “O, Holy Night,” then “God Save the King.” Peeking over their trenches for what must have been the first time in weeks, British soldiers were surprised to see Christmas trees lit with candles on the parapets of the enemy’s trenches. Then a shout: “You no shoot, we no shoot!” The Christmas Truce was a brief, spontaneous cease-fire that spread up and down the western front of World War I. It’s also a symbol of the peace on Earth...

‘Messiah’ is a Christian masterpiece known by everyone. It is surely possible to be somewhere in the United States in the Christmas season without ready access to a performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” perhaps in the middle of Denali National Park or the Mojave Desert. The work is ubiquitous and deserves every bit of its popularity. It is a Christian masterpiece known by everyone, a soaring work of genius that never loses its ability to astonish and inspire, whether at a performance of the New York Philharmonic or at a local church singalong. After hearing it performed on Christmas Day in...

That's My King Dr. S.M. Lockridge