Free Republic

Disney's big-budget adaptation of the best-selling novel "A Wrinkle in Time" falters in many of the same ways the book does— but there was one major change made in the movie from the novel. The film's version of events strips away explicit mention of God or religion, instead trimming down the central conflict to one between "evil" and "light." Though the film adaptation has several critical flaws...the removal of L'Engle's religious overtones leads to a key issue. ....Author Madeleine L'Engle, who died in 2007 at age 88, spoke about the importance of her own Christian faith as it relates to...

Nations that abandon their Christian heritage wallow in self-loathing Beginning in the spring of 1915, the Ottoman Empire carried out a systematic extermination of Armenian Christians who occupied territory west of present-day Turkey. Over 1.5 million men, women, and children were slaughtered during a two-year period, an event credited with coining the word genocide. To this day, the Turkish government rejects that label and has made it a crime (Article 301 of the penal code) to insult the nation by mentioning it. In 1937 the Japanese Imperial Army captured Nanking, then the capital of the Republic of China. Over a...

By now, most have heard about the deadly opioid epidemic that has struck our nation.According to data compiled in a Kaiser Family Foundation report, there were 42,249 casualties in 2016 related to opioids. This is double the 21,089 reported in 2010.For a little perspective, given all the attention guns are getting these days, per the FBI, in 2015 there were 13,455 murders, 9,616 committed with firearms.What is driving this opioid crisis?According to a recent report about opioids by the Social Capital Project, organized in the U.S. Senate, “the oversupply and abuse of legal prescription pain relievers is at the heart...

(Skip) For the in group, it’s easy to see the appeal of the philosophy. There’s an animating purpose — fighting injustice, racism, and inequality. There’s the original sin of “privilege.” There’s a conversion experience — becoming “woke.” And much as the Christian church puts a premium on each person’s finding his or her precise role in the body of Christ, intersectionality can provide a person with a specific purpose and role based on individual identity and experience. The faith is fierce. Intolerance in the name of tolerance is the norm. (Skip) Indeed, you can often prove your faith through your...

If you’ve ever wished someone a “Merry Christmas” or said “God bless you” when someone sneezes, you’ve committed an act of “Islamomisic microaggressions,” according to college librarians at a Massachusetts college. The Anti-Oppression Library Guide at Simmons College in Boston is a collaborative effort among the school’s librarians, reported CampusReform.org.

Hidden from the media narrative of Russian cyber sabotage is the content of the DNC leaks, and how the leaks revealed the arrogance and corruption of the Democratic Party elite. Amidst the blame Russia hysteria, the actual content of the the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hacks has been consigned to the memory hole. In a veritable tidal wave of false narratives, the mainstream media has succeeded in drowning the legacy of the leaks in (not terribly convincing) accusations of Russian culpability. Erased from this narrative is the fact that the highest levels of the Democratic Party—supposedly neutral arbiters of the...

“I hope the irony is not being lost on anyone that three liberal atheists are being sponsored, their event is being sponsored, by the most conservative groups on campus,” Dr. Peter Boghossian said. That statement kicked off an hour-long discussion (plus an hour of Q & A) on the question “Is Intersectionality a Religion?” The discussion took place at Portland State University a couple weeks ago, just days after another group hosted a talk with former Google engineer James Damore. Almost exactly a year ago I pointed out a piece by Andrew Sullivan (yes, that Andrew Sullivan) on the same...

David Brody and Scott Lamb's latest book, The Faith of Donald J. Trump, A Spiritual Biography, published by Harper Collins, is an absolute joy to read. It chronicles the history of the 45th president’s faith in two parts. The first takes the reader down memory lane, following the footsteps of Trump’s grandparents and parents to understand the cultural and religious influences that shaped his Christian worldview. The second focuses on Trump’s more recent statements about God, faith, forgiveness, and personal relationships with Christian leaders. It details interviews with Trump during and after his successful presidential campaign, controversial statements, and...

“Weak Power and Foolish Wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31) Every so often an organization called the American Religious Identification Survey conducts a national survey to find out how Americans are identifying themselves by their religion. And so we have data to compare from complete surveys taken in 1990, 2001, and 2008. In 1990, 86% of Americans identified themselves as some sort of Christian--Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, non-denom, you name it. By 2008, that number had dropped ten points, down to 76%. In 1990, the percentage of the population that said they had no religion was just 8%. By 2008, that number had...

This vanity post describes my fascinating journey towards becoming a semi-cripple for the rest of my life. A week ago last Saturday I was replacing smoke detector batteries in my home and fell off a ladder I’ve been to war, flew fighters and was a Texas police officer and I make it through relatively uninjured, but falling off a ladder does me in. Yup. That simple and that silly. And all my fault. There is a long recovery ahead, with full recovery not really possible. I may need a walker, may need a cane for the rest of my life.

For seven hours Wednesday, the remains of the Rev. Billy Graham lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Hundreds of people streamed past his coffin, many with tales of how the iconic pastor brought them closer to Jesus Christ. The coffin was to be escorted out of the Capitol Thursday morning for its journey to Charlotte, N.C. for a private funeral Friday. Wednesday began with a private, televised memorial at the Rotunda, the nation’s three most powerful politicians — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and President Trump — speaking of Graham’s great...

A Pennsylvania school district will be moving its elementary students for the day on Wednesday due to a nearby church’s decision to bless couples carrying AR-15 rifles. The Wallenpaupack Area School District will move students out of Wallenpaupack South Elementary School in Newfoundland due to its proximity to the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary church, where couples will be blessed alongside their semi-automatic rifles. The district in the Poconos sent letters to parents on Friday notifying them that students would attend class at another elementary school further from the church on Wednesday. Students who miss school that day will be...

LIVINGSTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A sizable crowd gathered at a synagogue in Livingston, New Jersey Sunday to hear three survivors of the Parkland, Florida school massacre speak. As WCBS 880’s Ethan Harp reported, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students David Hogg, Ryan Deitsch, and Matthew Deitsch all took part in a rally at Temple B’nai Abraham in support of what they call common sense gun legislation.

In the aftermath of another school campus mass murder by a deranged individual, there were a myriad of reactions as people tried to come to grips with why this continues to happen. Many of the reactions are expected -- especially those speaking of the need for greater controls over the acquisition of guns. One reaction I don’t understand is why clergy are not calling for more religion instead of more gun control. By now you know that (to their credit) the FBI stated they did not act on a tip received on the Parkland, Fla., murderer that could have potentially...

While Americans try to cope with the losses in Florida, they're saying goodbye to someone else: America's pastor, Billy Graham. Never has our nation so desperately needed to hear the message of hope and healing that the 99-year-old spent his life sharing. So surely, it's no earthly coincidence that even in Reverend Graham's death, he's forcing us to look in the one place where the answers to this heartbreak lie: up.Torn apart by grief and rage, Americans are frantic to know why our nation is unraveling in one act of violence after another. "We're done with thoughts and prayers!" an...

Gayle Myrick, a 68-year-old grandmother of three, loved her job as a magistrate in North Carolina. For almost five years, she set bonds, issued warrants, and granted protective orders to domestic violence victims, all while offering a message of hope to individuals in a tough spot.“You can start over every day,” Gayle would tell the Americans who came before her. “You don’t have to be in this situation forever. There’s plenty of people that want to help you.”She especially loved presiding over marriage ceremonies.“Presiding over two people committing their lives to each other filled me with so much joy...

The first week of the Holy Forty Days of Lent, in the words of our pious ancestors and all Orthodox Christians, is called the dawn of abstinence, the week of purity. This week the Church convinces its children to come out of that sinful state into which the whole human race fell and lost paradise through our first parents’ lack of restraint, and which each of us only increases through our own sins; to come out by the path of faith, prayer, humility, and God-pleasing fasting. This is the time of repentance, says the Church, this is the day of...

No, they are not going to bring back times tables, Teachers think this sort of thing is beneath them, and that making any child learn things is cruel.... But employers, if they can, somehow seem to prefer to hire Poles or Romanians. We may have the certificates. But it is the people from the old-fashioned countries that tend to have the education...... Amid all the usual fuss about guns, important information about Nikolas Cruz, the alleged Florida shooter, is as usual obscured. So here it is. The Miami Herald spoke to his aunt, Barbara Kumbatovic, who said: 'I know he...

.....She's in the small market of Rock Island, Illinois in the Quad Cities. She works at WHBF and she is trying to make it in this business. She has been rejected for on air jobs time and time again. She wasn't rejected because of her talent, she was rejected for what she was wearing. Tahera Rahman wears a hijab and as you clearly know, seeing a Reporter wearing a hijab...

The issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage just won’t go away these days. Thus, Christians need to make sure they are well-equipped to meet the challenges of the post-Christian world we find ourselves in. There have been many good books written to address this subject, but one of the most original I have seen is the recent volume by Don Fortson and Rollin Grams, Unchanging Witness: The Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition (B&H Academic, 2016). Don Fortson is the Professor of Church History here at RTS Charlotte, and Rollin Grams is professor of New Testament at...