Free Republic

Can your religion legally excuse you from doing part of your job? This is one of the questions in the Kentucky County Clerk marriage certificate case. But it also arises in lots of other cases — for instance, the Muslim flight attendant who doesn’t want to serve alcohol and who filed a complaint on Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the airline’s denial of an exemption. The question has also arisen before with regard to: * Nurses who had religious objections to being involved in abortions (even just to washing instruments that would be used in abortions); *...

America, and the West, seem to be sinking into the abyss, and itÂ’s time to ask: Is GodÂ’s judgement now inevitable? In contemplating the answer, we should consider some of the obvious reasons why judgment could come soon: The blood of millions of innocent lives is shed and body parts are sold for profit in this country, while our government supports and funds such monstrous activity.GodÂ’s purpose in Creation, and His declared purpose for marriage, has been ignored and ruled against by the highest court in the land.Police authority is devalued by a great many people and undermined by political...

Rowan County, Ky., is a lesson for America in how not to resolve social conflict. The local head clerk is sitting in jail, and a judge has ordered her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in her absence.When the Supreme Court redefined marriage for the nation in an activist decision this June, it took the issue out of the democratic process and made it much harder for citizens to navigate our differences on this fundamental institution. Both sides of the debate knew the decision would have significant social effects. For civil servants like clerks who issue marriage...

Megachurch Pastor Paula White Marries 3rd Husband Former Journey Rocker Jonathan Cain; She's His 4th Wife Popular televangelist and megachurch pastor Paula White tied the knot for the third time with rocker Jonathan Cain last month and this time could just be the charm. White's Chicago-born husband made a name for himself in the music industry playing with the bands Bad English and Journey. He wrote Journey's mega-hit song "Don't Stop Believin.'" White, who hosts the television show "Paula White Today," which has aired on BET and TBN, shared a message with her Facebook followers celebrating the April 26 wedding....

"The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans believe people are fundamentally bad, while Democrats see people as fundamentally good." With that philosophical premise, former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts (R) isolated the differences between members of the two political parties in the clearest manner I've ever heard, and the implications of his statement are considerable, as it explains many Republican policies for at least a generation. Watts made the remarks in Pella, Iowa, while stumping for Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) presidential bid prior to the Iowa caucuses. Watts drew the nation's attention first as the quarterback who led the...

A federal judge has ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and her deputies to appear in his courtroom Thursday and explain why Davis should not be held in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses. Shortly after opening her doors Tuesday, Davis told two same-sex couples who asked for marriage licenses that she would not issue them, despite a federal court injunction ordering her to do so. In a brief but tense encounter between Davis and a couple dozen marriage-equality demonstrators who crowded into her office, the clerk repeatedly refused to comply with the court order. "Under whose...

To further help Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it, and how to share it, in May 2013 we made the ebook editions of R.C. Sproul’s Crucial Questions series free forever. We continue to publish new ebooks in this series and this year have added Can I Lose My Salvation? and What Is the Great Commission?Here is a complete list of the free ebooks in the Crucial Questions series: Are These the Last Days? (Kindle) (iTunes)Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? (Kindle) (iTunes)Can I Have Joy in My Life? (Kindle) (iTunes)Can I Know God’s Will? (Kindle) (iTunes)Can I Lose My Salvation?...

The fourth circle of Hell, as envisioned by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy, is reserved for the avaricious and the profligate. It is where those whose lust for getting and spending knew no bounds in life are punished in the afterlife by being battered endlessly with heavy weights. Notable among the souls damned for their greed, Dante wrote, "were clergymen and popes and cardinals, within whom avarice works its excess." What disgusted the great poet in 14th-century Florence – money-grubbing hucksters masquerading as men of God – is just as disgusting in 21st-century America. Comedian John Oliver is no...

Over the past few years as a minister there has been a growing narrative that, for many reasons, I haven’t been able to escape. It would seem that the statistics and facts all say that “church” is in decline. Don’t take my word for it either… there are plenty of other Huffington Post authors chiming in about this apparent trend too. Some say that it’s all about the lack of religion in our schools, laws and culture as if the country is devolving. Some say that the “immediacy” of God, also described as an apocalyptic culture, has been lost. You...

Stop bellyaching about Washington. All the country’s best fascists are on your local city council. Not long ago, Colorado became a leader in the fight against religious freedom when its Civil Rights Commission, self-appointed ministers of justice and theology, decided that a shopkeeper who refuses to participate in a gay wedding ceremony must be smeared and fined out of business. A Colorado appeals court says this is kosher, finding that the brittle sensitivities of a cakeless couple outweigh the constitutional rights of Christian business owners. Now, in an effort to save everyone some time, the cultural imperialists at the Denver...

Dear Mr. Trump, Like millions of Americans, I am intrigued with your meteoric rise to the top of the polls. You have truly captured the imagination of this nation. Because I would love to see you succeed, I’ve got some unsolicited advice for you. And you’re going to love this. It’s free! If you’ll allow me to introduce myself, I’m a Jewish follower of Jesus (just like Peter and Paul and John and the rest of the apostles), an author, professor, minister, and national talk radio host. My wife, Nancy, and I have been married for almost 40 years, and...

DURHAM - Some Class of 2019 students at Duke University opted out of reading the recommended summer book.\ “Fun Home” is a graphic novel that depicts the author’s, Alison Bechdel, relationship with her father and issues with sexual identity. According to the Duke Chronicle, some incoming freshmen decided not to read “Fun Home” because of the sexual images and themes conflicted with their personal and religious beliefs. Some students also added that Duke University didn’t consider people with more conservative beliefs. The summer reading book committee said the book was controversial but wanted it to spark a discussion even if...

The Brandon High School Band did not perform at halftime during the season-opening game Friday night. A statement from the Rankin County School District says a July federal court order is the reason the band was banned from Friday night's halftime show. The band had been slated to perform the hymn "How Great Thou Art." The district made the decision to ban the halftime show after learning the hymn was included in the performance. "It bothers me because you look at the schools and all of the school shootings and all the bad things that are happening, and wonder why....

I go out of my way to use the word ‘Christmas,'” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told an Alabama radio host, seemingly in an attempt to capture the crowd of voters that, like Bill O’Reilly and Fox & Friends, think the word “Christmas” is under assault. “There’s an assault on anything having to do with Christianity,” Trump told Yellowhammer Radio host Cliff Sims on Friday. “They don’t want to use the word Christmas anymore at department stores…. There’s always lawsuits and unfortunately a lot of those lawsuits are won by the other side.” As president, Trump vowed, “I will fight...

...But Fans in Stands Have an Answer for That Ruling A Mississippi school district had just been through some serious gavel pounding from a federal judge — including a $7,500 fine — and didn’t want any more problems. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves gave Rankin County School District the word on July 10, saying it promoted Christianity during school hours after it agreed to stop. So Reeves fined the district $7,500 and again ordered it to stop sponsoring prayers at graduations, assemblies, athletic competitions and other school events, WLBT-TV reported. “That means administrators, teachers and staff of the Rankin County...

Just when youÂ’re starting to think that the entire country is going down the tubes sideways, a story comes along to remind you that it all just might work out in the end after all. Todd Starnes at Fox news uncovered one of those small town stories of political correctness infecting the courts and running completely off the rails this week. At Brandon High School in Mississippi, the traditional Friday Night football game was missing their halftime show. The schoolÂ’s marching band had been ordered off the field because their presentation included the hymn How Great Thou Art. That may...

Franklin Graham’s annual compensation of $880,000, revealed in a Charlotte Observer story, has some worrying that too many top Christian nonprofit leaders as well as pastors are seeing themselves as CEOs instead of as God’s servants... A spokesman for Franklin Graham said his compensation was determined by independent commissions that compared similar organizations’ top salaries. Graham was not available to answer questions.....

. After Action Report St. Petersburg (FL) Planned Parenthood Protest 2018-08-22 ================================================ Executive Summary: St. Petersburg Pro-Life citizens (175) rallied 'en masse today protesting the Holocaust-style butchery practiced by Planned Parenthood and funded by U.S. citizen tax dollars. Rally organizer Pastor Dick Maxwell (lifeguards@live.com) did a superb job in rallying Christians and Pro-Life citizens from all across the Tampa-Clearwater-Dunedin-St-Petersburg metropolitan area. Location: Planned Parenthood Office, 8950 Martin Luther King Drive North, St. Petersburg, Florida. A group of rally attendees gathered for a few moments at the very front door of the St. Petersburg office for a photo shoot. The Planned...

Over a decade ago, I went to Yale University to give a speech at the law school. While I was there, my host took me on a tour of the campus. When we visited the divinity school, he commented on the fact that atheists often sought their divinity degrees at Yale. We both agreed that it made sense. If you really hated Christianity, it would only be wise to try to destroy it from within. The concept of destroying Christianity from within was not unfamiliar to me when I visited Yale. I had already seen it before on my own...

In the second half of our discussion on “the Soul and Friendship’s Role”, my educator friend and co-producer Tom Pazdan and I will discuss meaningful friendships that become toxic. If you are an emotionally sensitive person, and you feel (or have felt) hurt, anger, disappointment, or what have you due either to a broken friendship, or one that is now full of animosity, this show will try to make some sense out of your feelings. Also on the program, we will discuss how Jesus Christ provides a template for friendships, as the perfect model for them, on this edition of...