Free Republic

FULL TITLE: The number of atheists in America could be 10 TIMES more than previous estimates: Shocking study shows a decline in people who believe in God The number of atheists in this country could be as much as 10 times more than previous estimates, according a study published earlier this year. The percentage of atheists in the US varies depending on who - and how - you ask. According to a Gallup poll in 2016, only one in 10 Americans answered 'no' to the question: 'Do you believe in God?' Even fewer actively identify as atheist, with numbers clocking...

The peacemakers are not allowed to be blessed in Montgomery County, Virginia. The sheriff was ordered on May 17 to remove decals bearing a portion of a well-known Bible verse from patrol cars. The decal, which had been posted on vehicles in March, bore the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers…Matthew 5:9.” “Our intent was, and still is, to honor our fellow brothers and sisters in law enforcement,” Sheriff C.H. Partin wrote in a statement to Fox News. The sheriff said the decals were removed at the request of the county’s board of supervisors. “In the midst of National Police Week,...

“We are still building an Islamic museum and sanctuary,” says the shady developer behind the Ground Zero Mosque scheme, Sharif El-Gamal. An Islamic sanctuary is a mosque. The article adds: “An Islamic museum ‘is just as much of an insult,’ Pamela Geller, a blogger and one of the center’s most vocal opponents, wrote in an email. ‘It will be like having a museum touting the glories of the Japanese Empire at Pearl Harbor.’” This is what I actually told the New York Times: “The 16-story mosque that El-Gamal initially planned to build there has not been built. Our efforts in...

nce again, ABC’s Matthew Dowd has proved that even Twitter can’t keep him from saying something so stupid in so few words. Responding to FNC’s Shannon Bream tweet announcing that she was going to be talking to Franklin Graham about the increasing persecution of Christians across the world, Dowd bitterly brought up anti-Muslim “persecution” in the United States as the real issue we should be talking about. ABC’s chief political analyst and a self described “Catholic” bitterly slammed the idea that Christians are persecuted across the world, calling Muslim “persecution” in the United States, a “bigger issue” and “bigger problem.”...

Eyerusalem Solomon of Tacoma Park, Maryland, prays for Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception March 31, 2005 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Scientists found that damage in a certain part of the brain is linked to an increase in religious fundamentalism. In particular, lesions in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reduced cognitive flexibility - the ability to challenge our beliefs based on new evidence.The researchers, led by Jordan Grafman of Northwestern University, utilized data gathered from Vietnam War veterans as part of the Vietnam Head Injury Study. They compared...

Picking up where my guest John Beechy and I left off, we begin the conclusion of this discussion talking about Bible prophecy and the authority of God's word as supplemental to His capital on truth. From there, everything rests on the condition of your heart in terms of whether or not you believe Him and what He says, whether or not you want a relationship with Him, and whether or not you desire a change from the impositions that sin has weighed your perception of things. Also, why does all of what we talked about in this series amount to...

MAY 8 EVENING Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence. Thou ... hast made us unto our God kings and priests.The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations. And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies..I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in...

Freedom From Truth: FFRF is beyond all reason by Daniel Clark “Our purpose is to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church,” At least that’s what Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote in a thinly veiled threat to the Allegheny County Council, to dissuade it from installing a plaque in the county courthouse that says “In God We Trust.” That principle, like everything else the FFRF stands for, is a lie. If Gaylor and friends can point to anything in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits a Pittsburgh courthouse from acknowledging God, this particular resident...

President Donald Trump said he’d promote commonsense policies that would “Make America Great Again” and would stand up to politically correct bullying from the left.So why isn’t he doing that in the case of religious freedom?Twice now, he has failed to stand up for commonsense policy on religious liberty when liberal opponents lashed out against it.Back in February, he caved to the protests of liberal special interest groups as he declined to issue an executive order on religious liberty that had been leaked to hostile press.And earlier today, he issued an executive order on “free speech and religious liberty” that...

Yesterday, President Trump issued an Executive Order on religious liberty. The Executive Order cheered many conservatives who had expected some action on religious liberty during the President’s first 100 days.With this executive order, the Trump Administration is making clear that the federal government will never penalize any person for their protected religious beliefs.  It will be the policy of the administration to vigorously promote religious liberty.It shall: Direct the IRS to exercise maximum enforcement discretion to alleviate the burden of the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits religious leaders from speaking about politics and candidates from the pulpit; Provide regulatory relief for...

President Trump's Religious Liberty executive order, like many of his orders, set out good general principles. The principles, e.g. "It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal law's robust protections for religious freedom" are good. The actual legal authority is limited. It's a good start for a much broader program. The order largely takes on the Johnson Amendment. But as a practical matter, that needs to be repealed by Congress. And it should find its way to the agenda. President Trump can try to limit its enforcement, but as long as it's there, it's a...

Earlier today President Trump signed an executive order promoting speech and religious liberty during a ceremony in the Rose Garden:

President Donald Trump today signed an executive order that would allow religious organizations to endorse political candidates and expand participation in politics. The executive order signed today also enables private employers to use religion as a pretext to deny reproductive health care to their employees. “The actions taken today are a broadside to our country’s long-standing commitment to the separation of church and state. Whether by executive order or through backroom deals, it’s clear that the Trump administration and Congressional leadership are using religion as a wedge to further divide the country and permit discrimination. We intend to file suit...

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday will ease restrictions on political activity by churches and charities, White House officials said, but has backed away from a broader religious liberty order that would have allowed faith-based organizations and companies to avoid serving or hiring gay people. Conservative religious leaders who were fierce supporters of Mr. Trump’s candidacy had pushed the president to provide faith organizations with much more sweeping relief from Obama-era regulations that protect gay men, lesbians and others from discrimination. Instead, in an executive order, Mr. Trump will offer a vague promise to “protect and vigorously promote religious liberty.”...

Saying that Girl Scouts is “no longer a compatible partner in helping us form young women with the virtues and values of the Gospel,” the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is severing ties with the organization and switching its support to a Christian-based scouting program. “I have asked the pastors of the Archdiocese to begin the process of transitioning away from the hosting of parish Girl Scout troops and toward the chartering of American Heritage Girls troops,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann said in a statement released Monday.

Consider the hate speech legislation....all generally designed to protect homosexuals and Muslims from any speech that is critical of them. It is the Bible, the Word of God that speaks out most forcefully against such immorality and false religion and God commands His followers to stand firm against sin. The hate speech legislation is absolutely directed at the Christian faith and Christians.

I can't copy on my iPad. Sorry. Very annoying article from the Huffington Compost.

What is repentance?  Is it turning from sin?  Is it not sinning?   Is it reforming one's life?  Is it getting cleaned up first, before coming to Christ? No word causes greater trepidation and uncertainty among those considering a decision of faith and no word causes greater fear and confusion among those already in the Church. This word has caused me some of the greatest angst in my life, largely because of how I've understood it: turning from sin, reforming my ways, being perfect.  Yet I continue to fail.  Daily.  This incredible dichotomy exists in my mind between the biblical...

I already know I’ll be scoffed at, challenged, and attacked for what I’m going to say here. That would be, because my outlook and opinions are from another era—and not part of the current, fashionable, “safe” Collective. I’m not in synch with this more “advanced,” time, of millennials, false reality, lying media, scum politicians, pornographic Hollywood, multi-millionaire kneeling athletes, and other drugged hipsters. But, I shall never take “the blue pill:” representing security in this Matrix of group lies, illusion—and the bliss of collective ignorance. No, I choose the red pill: representing freedom, knowledge, and the real world—truth, justice, and...

Between 1935 and 1975, Will and Ariel Durant published a series of volumes that together were known as “The Story of Civilization.” They basically told human history (mostly Western history) as an accumulation of great ideas and innovations, from the Egyptians, through Athens, Magna Carta, the Age of Faith, the Renaissance and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The series was phenomenally successful, selling over two million copies. That series encapsulated the Western civilization narrative that people, at least in Europe and North America, used for most of the past few centuries to explain their place in the world...