Free Republic

.....Despite the 1st amendment and his oath, Sen. Schumer (D-New York) says that religious Americans have a choice: hold their religious faith or go into business but, according to Sen. Schumer, religious people cannot both practice their faith and conduct business in America.... The first part of the answer is that...it became a given in the modern period that religion is an essentially private, theoretical matter. ....The second part of the answer is really a question. How did it come to be that, in America, a nation founded on the principle of the right of relatively unencumbered religious practice, in...

Moderate Malay­sians are making a stand against the unilateral conversion of children, urging that they be allowed to hold on to their original faith until they can decide for themselves at age 18. Businessman and moderation activist Anas Zubedy said a child’s religion must be agreed on by both parents. “Unilateral conversions should not be allowed for whatever religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism. “Should a parent convert to a religion different from that at the time of marriage, especially during dissolution of the marriage, the children should remain in the original faith until they turn 18,” he...

Until we recapture the true meaning of elected officials as representative servants, and use our tongues to reinstate that fact, we will suffer the consequences of our own folly Deeper than PC mania that has skewed culture, government role titles have been reconfigured to instill reverence over familiarity. The repetitive wrongful identification of officials has produced a mindset far different from the original intent of government. All this to say that we’ve inadvertently changed our relationship to government by allowing changes in address to occur. At the top of the list is how we refer to elected officeholders – we’ve...

A group of North Carolina parents are joining forces to fight the Obama administration over its policy that forces public schools to allow transgender students into restrooms, showers, and locker rooms that are opposite from their biological sex. “It’s not safe for my daughter,” Tammy Covil, a mother from Wilmington, N.C. told The Daily Signal. The parents, part of a nonprofit called North Carolinians for Privacy, allege in a lawsuit filed May 10 against the Department of Justice and the Department of Education that the federal government is forcing them to choose between their children’s privacy and educational future.

We have lost the great art of Bible meditation today, and we are the poorer for it. In 1987, newsman Ted Koppel gave a classic commencement speech at Duke, in which he famously said that Moses didn’t come down from Mt. Sinai carrying the “Ten Suggestions.” Note what Koppel then said about television and our ability to concentrate: “Look at MTV or Good Morning America and watch the images and ideas flash past in a blur of impressionistic appetizers. No, there is not much room on TV for complexity.” We have been losing concentration power through the constant stimulation of...

An important lesson of the Christian life is that the heart of the battle is a fight not between abstract commands (do this! don’t do that!) but rather arguments... 1. ANXIETY IS WORTH IT BECAUSE GOD IS TOO FAR AWAY TO HEAR MY NEEDS... 2...GOD DOES NOT CARE FOR ME AND I NEED TO GET MYSELF OUT OF THIS HUMILIATING STAGE OF LIFE... 3...IF MY PROBLEMS AREN’T SOLVED I COULD DIE.... 4...I HAVE NO PRACTICAL EVIDENCE IN THE WORLD THAT GOD VALUES ME OR WILL TAKE CARE OF ME.... 5. ANXIETY IS WORTH IT BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH IT HELPS...

Babylon Rises By Philip Cottraux I normally avoid controversial topics, preferring Bible teachings to divisive political issues. However, I have addressed gay marriage, church shootings and abortion, and now a particular firestorm has come against my state in recent weeks that I can no longer ignore. God is calling His people to take a stand. As homosexual fascism has swept America into embracing immorality under the phony guise of “civil rights,” ethical dilemmas have been created for local governments to deal with. North Carolina recently passed House Bill 2, which states that a transgendered person should use the restroom of...

Since the Supreme Court decision on marriage, the government has put many religious universities on the "shame list" if they seek waivers that allow them to teach traditional values of marriage and sexuality without being stripped of grants or funding. "It is sad to think how far things have come where religious institutions are now being targeted for disfavor from the government because of their views on marriage," religious liberty attorney Roger Severino said at the Heritage Foundation on April 13, 2016. Dr. Derek Halvorson, the President of Covenant College, on the panel with Severino, said "Christian colleges and universities...

<p>Jesse Hughes: I saw fear fall like a blanket on the whole crowd and they fell like wheat in the wind—the way you would before a god. I was totally alert from the very beginning. The first thing I needed to do was find my girl. Fear took a backseat and “where’s my girl?” took over. I could smell gunpowder in the backstage area and I knew someone fired a round back there. I saw a guy with an FAL and when he turned to face me his eyes looked like marbles. He was stoned out of his mind, and we now know they were on Xanax and cocaine. I recognized him. I’d seen him earlier in the day and noticed him staring at us...</p>

A little good culture news. 4 senior football captains along with the public school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a 2 night revival in the high school gym last weekend. 2 preached each night. This is the promo

The persecution of Christians is escalating worldwide. A recent survey found that in just the past year, more than 7,100 believers were killed for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In many countries, they are being systematically tortured and slaughtered by Islamic radicals hellbent on eradicating any vestige of Christianity. Churches are burned, looted, and bulldozed. Pastors are frequently targeted and martyred. In dozens of other countries, Christians are severely oppressed by government authorities and routinely denied any chance at an education and jobs. They live as second-class citizens, shunned and mocked by their neighbors who despise Christ. And...

In a new video purportedly released by Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf, Canadian hostage John Ridsdel is beheaded after Canada’s refusal to pay the terrorists his ransom. In the latest video, ISIS crudely beheads Ridsdel. Watch the video above. Viewer discretion is advised.

Looper's church has used the site for Easter services. Looper said, "We don't need the cross to have that service. He planned on being there again this year but apparently the gentleman connected to the lawsuit who lives here secured that area for himself; apparently to prevent us from being able to use it." The cross is located on the northeast side of Bayview Park. Since the park is public, some want it taken down. They want people from all religions to feel comfortable going to the park. Monica Miller, senior counsel for the American Humanist Association said, "These citizens...

When it comes to religious liberty debates, big businesses don’t want the people to decide. Or at least they don’t want the people of Missouri to decide.... ...Missouri was debating a bill that, if passed, would have gone to the people to vote on, not the governor’s desk. ....But apparently even allowing people to vote on a constitutional amendment that protected the religious liberty of both those opposed to and in favor of same-sex marriage—a bill that the citizens of Missouri were free to reject if they opposed it—was a step too far for big businesses. [Opposing religious liberty for...

Hillary Clinton claims to be Christian. Barack Obama claims to be a Christian. And I am claiming to be a brain surgeon! Any takers? You see just saying, "I am a brain surgeon," doesn't mean I can perform brain surgery. I would need to back it up with a diploma and years of training. In the same way, no American will get elected president claiming, "The Bible is outdated, it's just a bunch of stories. I am a humanistic socialist at heart!" Sure the left will have no problem with that, but you can't win without independents. So the candidates...

When the people turn to man as the answer rather than God, failure and bondage will always be the outcome. It is the process we see in motion with Obama who has a pharaoh complex, and it will continue when Obama is gone regardless of whether we have a Democrat or Republican president if salvation is looked for from the greatness of a man. We have been given a historic example of this phenomenon in the story of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. Nimrod (meaning: rebel, or, let us rebel) was the first renown tower builder who united the...

Dinesh D'Souza has received a lot of attention for his documentaries like "America: Imagine The World Without Her" and "Obama's America", both looking at what factors shaped Obama and the US' influence on the world. This older book is a good look at the influence Christianity as a whole has had on the world and the United States.

"Midtown Manhattan cathedral engulfed in flames: 'Irreplaceable' 160-year-old Orthodox Christian church is consumed by fire" A 160-year-old Orthodox Christian cathedral in New York has been completely destroyed after a huge fire tore through it on Sunday The blaze broke out at the Serbian Cathedral of Saint Sava on 25th Street in Manhattan's Flatiron district at around 7pm. It is not known how the fire started, though it is believed to have broken out on the first floor of the building before consuming the interior and roof. An FDNY spokesman said that nobody was believed to be inside the building at...

A huge fire has engulfed a Serbian Orthodox Church in downtown Manhattan, on the day that Orthodox Christians are celebrating the Holy Easter.

Russians are becoming more and more religious, according to a poll by state survey company WCIOM. More Russians claimed they relied on divine help or intervention and more believed in predetermined fate than they did 25 years ago.