Free Republic

ROME, May 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Francis raised eyebrows earlier this month by concelebrating Mass with and kissing the hand of a leading homosexual activist priest campaigning for changes in the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. On May 6, Francis received the 93 year-old priest who has cofounded the homosexualist activist organization, Agedo Foggia, that is opposed to Catholic Church teaching. Fr. (Don) Michele de Paolis concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis at the Domus Santa Martha and then presented the pontiff with gifts of a wooden chalice and paten and a copy of his most recent book, “Dear Don Michele...

The Church of England says all its dioceses have voted to let women serve as bishops, leaving just one major hurdle to changing centuries of church practice. The issue has long divided the Anglican Communion, a Christian denomination with more than 80 million adherents worldwide. …

Martha Holzer, a senior leader in the dissident Catholic group We Are Church, is “shocked” that Pope Francis has taken the extraordinary step of excommunicating her and her husband Gert. Pope Francis took this action after the pair “simulated the Mass”–that is, they regularly took part in “private Eucharistic celebrations” at her home with no priest present. The Church considers the simulation of the Mass a delictum gravius, or “grave delict”. We Are Church, which has members in more than 20 countries, is notorious for its disregard for the priesthood–insisting, as they do, that all participate in the “priesthood of...

Von wrote: Here's a clue, John, about the cost for climate change in the near future: PUBLIC WORKS! I should thank you since I'm going to be really busy. Unfortunately many places won't be able to pay for the costs so lots of people will die. --Settled Science Brakes Into Cold Sweat Dear Comrade Von, Wow, it's a wonder that I'm not deaf. CAP LOCKS ARE ONLY FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. Truthfully, it looks like you have nothing but time since you’re writing here arguing with a guy who's never going to agree with you anyway. Part of it is ideological....

A study released Saturday found that Americans tend to exaggerate their religious beliefs—and that liberals are more guilty of it than conservatives. The Public Religion Research Institute asked participants about their religious affiliation, their belief in God, how often they attend religious services and the importance of religion in their lives. Roughly half were interviewed over the phone and the other half answered an online questionnaire. Of the people interviewed over the phone, 43 percent said they attended religious ceremonies and 27 percent said religion is the most important thing in their lives. Among online respondents, those numbers dropped to...

Obama Spiritual Adviser and Megachurch Pastor Joel Hunter Launches Interfaith Initiative to Tackle Climate Change Florida pastor Joel Hunter is launching an initiative that empowers multifaith leaders to lead and engage others on climate solutions. The initiative, called Blessed Tomorrow, brings together more than 20 evangelical, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Jewish leaders who are committed to working with their congregations and communities in response to climate change. “Blessed Tomorrow empowers faith leaders from across religious traditions to both steward God’s creation and inspire their congregations, communities and other leaders to do the same,” a statement says. “Faith leaders and their...

Faith is making a comeback among liberal Democrats, but they still have a way to go. First, some history. Hoping to attract some Evangelical Christian votes more than 20 years ago, former vice president Al Gore wrote that the biblical story of Noah and the Ark could be paraphrased in modern terms, "Thou shalt preserve biodiversity" ("Earth in the Balance" p. 245). Gore also claimed the first recorded instance of pollution was when Cain killed Abel and Abel's blood "falls on the ground, rendering it fallow" (p. 247). Gore seemed fluent in religious language and theology compared to a comment...

The recent and ghastly botched execution of a man in Oklahoma has rekindled my thoughts on capital punishment -- a practice outlawed in most civilized countries. Indeed, most of the industrialized world looks with horror on the United States, in this regard, as a primitive and backward country. Just in passing fact, capital punishment was banned in the Netherlands in 1870, in Costa Rica in 1877, in Colombia in 1910. In allowing the death penalty, the United States stands with Libya, Uganda, Cuba, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea, among our other peers. It's a sad commentary on justice in this country...

At the Brookings Institute, a center-left think tank, Washington Post contributor E.J. Dionne, theological professor Gary Dorrien, and Columbia University professor Dorian Warren discussed the future of religious progressives in American society and how it could influence community organizing. “The Romney coalition is actually made up, a religious make-up that is even more white and Christian of Americans over 65 years old” while the “Obama coalition [has] more religiously unaffiliated [voters] …[a] higher proportion of non-white Christians…much closer to the younger cohort.” He claimed, “The Obama coalition is much more diverse.” Yet, Dionne admitted, “Only 13% of Democrats are religious...

Gene Robinson made headlines in 2003 as the first openly gay Anglican bishop. Eleven years later, the Episcopalian has announced that he is filing for divorce from his partner of 25 years. In a post published by the Daily Beast, Robinson explained the situation. Recently, my partner and husband of 25-plus years and I decided to get divorced. While the details of our situation will remain appropriately private, I am seeking to be as open and honest in the midst of this decision as I have been in other dramatic moments of my life—coming out in 1986, falling in love,...

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The first openly gay bishop in the Anglican church has announced he is divorcing his husband.

Bishop Gene Robinson, whose 2003 election as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop rocked Anglican Communion, has announced his divorce from his longtime partner and husband. Robinson, who retired in 2013 as the Bishop of New Hampshire, and his partner of 25 years, Mark Andrew, were married in a private civil union in 2008. The announcement was made public Saturday (May 3) in a statement to the Diocese of New Hampshire. “As you can imagine, this is a difficult time for us — not a decision entered into lightly or without much counseling,” Robinson wrote in a letter. “We ask...

Responding to Georgia's new "guns everywhere" law, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta has pledged to keep guns out of Catholic churches, schools and other institutions. ..."Before this legislation takes effect in July, I will officially restrict the presence of weapons in our Catholic institutions except for those carried by the people that civic authorities have designated and trained to protect and guard us, and those who are duly authorized by law and military officials," Gregory wrote. ...Georgia has always banned licensed weapons in churches, but the new legislation drops the penalty to a $100 fine and the legal charge to...

A good rule of thumb with Hillary Clinton is this: If it comes out of her mouth, it’s insincere. You will never lose money taking that bet 100 times out of 100. And a good corollary to that rule is this: When she tells you what something is supposed to mean, that’s not what it means at all. Especially when she’s talking about the Bible. Pay attention: When a liberal who “rarely mentions his or her faith” suddenly shows up in a church quoting Scripture to you, it’s a pretty good bet that liberal is trying to pervert the Scripture...

Bart Ehrman, prolific author, New Testament scholar and former evangelical Christian, says it took him eight years to research and complete his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Yet, a group of fellow scholars responded in their book, How God Became Jesus, by claiming that the Christian-turned-agnostic's "sloppy" scholarship on Jesus' divinity leaves much to be desired. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says his research reveals that Jesus, a first century Galilean, never claimed to be God, and that it...

The Boy Scouts of America has revoked its charter agreement with a Seattle church that refused to remove a gay troop leader after the organization withdrew his membership. A Boy Scouts attorney told Rainier Beach United Methodist Church last week that it no longer could host troops under the Boy Scouts name. The church has stood by Geoff McGrath, 49, a Seattle software engineer and Eagle Scout, after his membership in the organization was revoked last month, setting off an impasse between the church and one of the country’s most popular youth organizations. …

Another bizarre Obama holiday address… In his Easter Address this year Barack Obama reminds us that the great religions, including Islam, teach us to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” From the White House website: Hi, everybody. For millions of Americans, this time of year holds great meaning… …For me, and for countless other Christians, Holy Week and Easter are times for reflection and renewal. We remember the grace of an awesome God, who loves us so deeply that He gave us his only Son, so that we might live through Him. We recall all that Jesus endured for...

On a sunny weekday morning just east of downtown Los Angeles, a crowd of about 75 people rallied outside the LA County/USC Medical Center. They toted signs with slogans like “Healthcare is a Human Right” and “Salud Para Todos” (“Health for All”). “How can we say we live in a just and humane society,” said one speaker, “without providing for the sickest and most vulnerable among us?” Los Angeles, with its massive low-income population and largest concentration of immigrants anywhere in the country, may be the epicenter of the continuing uninsured crisis in America. Somewhere around one million county residents...

Well, that didn't take long. As my colleague Edward Malnick reports, the first gay Church of England priest – a canon, no less – today married his boyfriend. Canon Jeremy Pemberton, 58, a divorced hospital chaplain and father of five, wed his long-term partner Laurence Cunnington, 51. We're not told where, but obviously it wasn't in an C of E church. That's against the law. But they may well be able to have their marriage blessed in church because that's only "against the rules" as opposed to illegal.Campaigners predicted that Canon Pemberton would be the first of many. I think they're...

A faded fragment of papyrus known as the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” which caused an uproar when unveiled by a Harvard Divinity School historian in 2012, has been tested by scientists who conclude in a journal published on Thursday that the ink and papyrus are very likely ancient, and not a modern forgery. Skepticism about the tiny scrap of papyrus has been fierce because it contained a phrase never before seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife...’ ” Too convenient for some, it also contained the words “she will be able to be my disciple,”...