Free Republic

A shift has taken place in the Evangelical church with regard to the way we think about the gospel and it’s far from simply an ivory tower conversation. This shift effects us on the ground of everyday life.In his book Paul: An Outline of His Theology, famed Dutch Theologian Herman Ridderbos (1909 – 2007) summarizes this shift which took place following Calvin and Luther. It was a sizable but subtle shift which turned the focus of “the gospel” from Christ’s external accomplishment to our internal appropriation: While in Calvin and Luther all the emphasis fell on the redemptive event that...

A recent study by two sociologists at the University of North Texas found that strong hostility toward Christians is held by a “small, but elite group” of Americans with considerable political and cultural influence, particularly in higher education. After noting evidence of anti-Christian hostility among cultural progressive activists, sociology professors David Williamson and George Yancey took a “systematic look” at the qualitative data from an extensive national survey, the American National Election Survey, and conducted interviews with members of liberal advocacy organizations. They published their findings in their recent book, So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is there Christianophobia in...

Southern Illinois cross drew nearly 10,000 visitors in 2014 The Associated Press January 31, 2015 EFFINGHAM, Ill. — Officials say a nearly 200-foot tall cross in Southern Illinois recorded close to 10,000 visitors last year. The Effingham Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/1CURTZD ) 9,479 people visited the Cross at the Crossroads. That's about 2,000 more visitors than in 2013. The cross and Welcome Center are located along Interstate 57 near Effingham. Carol Gapsis is the director of the Welcome Center. She says the cross is more than just another landmark for travelers. Gapsis says: "It serves as a beacon of hope...

In what has been described as a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, legislators in several states under judicial orders to confer marital status on same-sex couples have introduced bills to forbid state or local officials from issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same gender. The bills would also strip the salaries of employees who issued the licenses, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, with South Carolina also considering a bill that would allow officials to opt out of issuing such licenses if it...

Americans support women in the pulpit and in senior leadership positions within the church. But they are more hesitant when it comes to supporting openly gay and lesbian religious leaders. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of American Adults favor women in the pulpit, while just 16% are opposed. Twenty-five percent (25%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Even more (74%) support women in leadership positions in their respective faiths. Just nine percent (9%) are opposed, with 17% undecided. Just 43% of Americans favor openly gay and lesbian individuals in the pulpit. Thirty-eight...

“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” –Aristotle I believe the biggest threat to western democracies today comes not only from Islam’s traditions of intolerance and political violence and anti-Western sentiment, but also from those apologists and pluralists, both religious and political, who are making every effort to convince us that this threat—these egregious customs—were never foreign to our North American traditions of tolerance and rule of law; as though Islam, with its ever-present political and religious maelstroms, is applicable to our democratic way of life. One premise being applied vigorously is that, simply...

NP3 High School principal responds to concerns over Hijab Day with smears Tom RuttenThe exchange below is yet another example of how one side of the debate about Sharia and jihad is trying to have a rational discussion, while the other responds only with slogans and smears. A woman in California responded to my call yesterday to write to NP3 High School principal Tom Rutten. She then received the email below, which is drearily predictable with its cries of “hate” and lack of specific response to any of the concerns she raised. She kindly forwarded this response to me, and...

We would like to take this opportunity to separate fact from fiction: There was never a Muslim prayer – or a prayer of any specific religion at the Stock Show this year. Because the Stock Show is an annual community event that attracts many visitors from around the world, country and state each year, last spring, we established a faith-based committee consisting of a wide range of local clergy. We based our decision on and selected our participants from the Mayor’s Faith Cabinet Directory. We invited each participant to provide a one-minute prayer to include the safety of the contestants,...

Perhaps because the author is a sober-minded professor of ecclesiastical history at Germany’s University of Münster, his subtitle is considerably less lurid than it could have been. The scandals at a convent scarcely a kilometre from Pope Pius IX’s palace in Rome included heresy, lashings of sex (gay, straight and all-around religio-erotic kinky), and attempted murder... ...The book turns on the blue-blooded connections of its whistleblower, the 41-year-old wealthy, devout, twice-widowed, passionately romantic (with a capital “R”) Princess Katharina von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. She was first cousin both to the Protestant king of Prussia and to Catholic archbishop Gustav Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst,...

An enigma spanning thousands of years, the Green Man is a symbol of mysterious origin and history. Permeating various religious faiths and cultures, the Green Man has survived countless transformations and cultural diversities, enduring in the same relative physical form to this day. Although specifics about his beginnings and his worship are not fully known, due in large part to how far back and to what initial cultures he can be traced to, it is a testament to the widespread reach of his character that he is still remembered and worshipped to this day. The Green Man is most highly...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Oxford University Press bans pigs from children’s books, so here’s Porky Pig reciting the Pledge of Allegiance Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world.The Telegraph reports:The Oxford University Press has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children’s books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Jews and Muslims.Jews?I’m Jewish, and I have neither been offended, nor heard of any Jew claiming to be offended, by pigs being mentioned in literature. On the contrary, I grew up with this stuff, and I love it. Here’s “Piggies” by...

Some of humanity’s technological innovations are things we would have been better off without: the medieval rack, the atomic bomb and powdered lead potions come to mind. Religions tend to invent ideas or concepts rather than technologies, but like every other creative human enterprise, they produce some really bad ones along with the good. I’ve previously highlighted some of humanity’s best moral and spiritual concepts, our shared moral core. Here, by way of contrast, are some of the worst. These twelve dubious concepts promote conflict, cruelty, suffering and death rather than love and peace. To paraphrase Christopher Hitchens, they belong...

A leading Islamic organisation has called on the United Nations to make "contempt of religions" illegal and urged the West to protect Muslim communities following the attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars, headed by influential preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, appealed to Muslims to continue peaceful protests against images of the Prophet Mohammed but "not to resort to any violence".

MIAMI, - Authorities in Florida said they are investigating the alleged illegal importing of giant African snails for use in a religious healing ritual. A search warrant filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court said state and federal investigators raided the home of Charles Stewart, 48, in January after receiving information that he was keeping a large box full of the snails, which are only allowed in the United States with special permits for scientific research, the Miami Herald reported Thursday. Federal authorities said they began investigating Stewart in November after receiving complaints that he was feeding the juices from the snails...

"Who do you say I am?" The question Jesus posed to Peter is the most important we’ll ever answer. Who is Jesus? What do we believe about him? Several years ago my friend Vince Han and I began a discussion about what we believed about Jesus. We knew we disagreed—we just weren’t sure exactly how we differed. I’m an evangelical. Vince is a Mormon.... We began by exchanging book recommendations. Vince suggested I read James E. Talmage’s Jesus the Christ, a book first published in 1913 and one of the handful of approved readings for full-time LDS missionaries. I encouraged...

"Glorifying God with One Voice and One Mind." - Romans 15:6 HCSB CCM United, One Message. Many Voices. Contemporary Christian Music has impacted millions of listeners around the world for the last forty years. In the process, artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Sandi Patty, The Imperials, Newsboys, Petra, 4Him, Point of Grace, Carman and countless others have become household names.Their albums and songs define a new era of music we now call CCM. But that era actually began with another group of artists including Love Song, Larry Norman, Andrae Crouch, Keith Green, and Evie...

Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who has emerged as a symbol to religious supporters convinced his beliefs got him fired, said his recent travails are “God-inflicted.” “I’ve come to realize that God has been preparing me for this storm my entire life,” he said Sunday morning at Elizabeth Baptist Church, where he’s a deacon. “He’s not done with me yet.”

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Shame on my fellow Jews for holding up commercial flights by refusing to sit next to women! I’m Jewish, and please allow me to say that it’s absurd that some Jewish men have caused commercial flights to be delayed by refusing to sit next to female passengers.In September 2014, the New York Post reported:Ultra-Orthodox Jews refuse to sit next to women, delay flightHundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men refused to sit next to women on an El Al jet from New York to Israel — and spent the 11-hour flight trying to bribe people to switch seats...

Despite the Crimea takeover and Ukraine conflict, many church leaders are grateful for Putin's leadership. Evangelicals in Russia have become ardent fans of President Vladimir Putin because of Russia’s efforts to maintain its influence in Ukraine, its takeover of Crimea in 2014, and the widespread Russian belief that the West is to blame for the present economic woes on the home front. ...Originally, I suspected backroom state pressure must have been at play. But after conversations with more than a dozen Protestant and Orthodox believers in Moscow, I have to admit that no outside interference was necessary to generate such...

A school board in Virginia is considering the repeal of a policy that would have forced 14-year-old minors to stand before the school board to be interrogated about their religious beliefs. The Goochland County policy is aimed at homeschool families that fall under Virginia’s decades-old religious exemption statute, which acknowledges parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children. The longstanding state statue allows parents to homeschool their children without reporting to the state if they have an objection to attending school outside the home that is based on “bona fide religious training or belief.” The Goochland school...