Free Republic

The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that the consecration of its first openly gay bishop violated church law, compounding a bitter rift over homosexuality that has brought the 13-million-member denomination to the brink of schism. In a 6-to-3 vote made public on Friday, the church’s Judicial Council found that a married lesbian bishop and those who consecrated her were in violation of their “commitment to abide by and uphold the church’s definition of marriage and stance on homosexuality.” Still, the court ruled that the bishop, Karen P. Oliveto of Denver, “remains in good standing” pending further proceedings, offering...

Karen Oliveto clutched a friend's hand, closed her eyes and wept when she learned last year she had been elected a bishop of the United Methodist Church. Oliveto, who is married to another woman, had become the denomination's first openly gay bishop.

April 24, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s bishops must clean up or shut down Development & Peace in the wake of a LifeSiteNews investigation that revealed the Catholic aid organization funded pro-abortion and pro-homosexual activist groups in Latin American, pro-life leaders say. “We can’t have Catholic money going to organizations that don’t have respect for human life from the very time of conception onward,” said Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family political lobby group. “It’s time for the bishops to shake this whole thing up and put into positions of authority people who are going to...

For the International Church of Cannabis in Denver, there were three reasons to celebrate on Thursday. First, it was opening day. The church, a more than century-old building recently adorned with brightly colored paintings by the artists Kenny Scharf and Okuda San Miguel, welcomed the public early in the afternoon, at which time no cannabis consumption was allowed inside. “It seemed to be a nice steady flow of people,” said Lee Molloy, a founder of the church and a member, who estimated that a couple of hundred people had come by.

In what would be a highly unusual omission, President Trump has not asked to meet Pope Francis during the president’s visit to Italy next month for the Group of Seven summit, sources said. Trump, who Francis suggested was “not Christian” if he wanted a wall on the Mexican border, is due in Sicily on May 26-27 for a meeting of the heads of the world’s richest nations. The two men have diametrically opposing positions on immigration, refugees, climate change and unbridled capitalism. Trump called the pope’s criticism of his plan to build the Mexico wall “disgraceful.”

NOTRE DAME, Indiana, April 7, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – The University of Notre Dame will award its highest honor to a priest who has openly dissented from Church teaching on homosexual “marriage,” women “priests” and worthiness to receive Holy Communion. Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle will be this year’s Laetare Medal recipient, the university announced recently. Father Boyle is renowned for his decades-long work with incarcerated and gang-involved individuals. He will be given the award at the university’s May 21 commencement ceremony. Father Boyle criticized the U.S. Bishops’ opposition to homosexual “marriage” in a 2010 interview during the debate over California’s Proposition...

Since President Donald Trump's election, monthly lectures on social justice at the 600-seat Gothic chapel of New York's Union Theological Seminary have been filled to capacity with crowds three times what they usually draw. In January, the 181-year-old Upper Manhattan graduate school, whose architecture evokes London's Westminster Abbey, turned away about 1,000 people from a lecture on mass incarceration. In the nine years that Reverend Serene Jones has served as its president, she has never seen such crowds. "The election of Trump has been a clarion call to progressives in the Protestant and Catholic churches in America to move out...

However, multiple reports have pointed out that Gorsuch and his wife attend St. John's, Boulder — a liberal Episcopal church headed by a very liberal, pro-LGBT female rector named Rev. Susan Springer. Opposition to Gorsuch's affiliation with St. John's was voiced even before he was nominated. Christian conservative activist and lawyer Andy Schlafly, the son of the late pro-life leader Phyllis Schlafly, voiced his concern over the possible nomination of Gorsuch in an email sent in November with the subject line: "veto these Sup. Ct. nominee candidates." Schlafly wrote that Gorsuch "probably would NOT be pro-life on the Supreme Court"...

Senior Minister Meg Barnhouse knows she’ll need beds, a dresser, chairs and a mirror to make the classroom at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin feel more like a home for a mother and her young daughter who are still deciding whether they will become the latest immigrants seeking sanctuary from deportation by moving into a church. It would be the second time Barnhouse’s congregation had offered sanctuary. She was hesitant in 2015 because of the unknown legal and insurance risks, but this time she agreed immediately. There is growing fear in the city’s immigrant community as President Donald...

Tim Keller founded one of the most influential urban churches in America, Redeemer Presbyterian, which is theologically conservative, racially diverse and growing across its three New York City congregations. He was set to receive an award from Princeton Theological Seminary, also a Presbyterian institution in the Reformed tradition, for his contributions to the “Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement.”

Peek behind the curtain of some "progressive" or "hip" evangelical churches, past the savvy technology and secular music, and you will find more than just a contemporary worship service. You'll find faith leaders encouraging young evangelicals to trade in their Christian convictions for a gospel filled with compromise. They're slowly attempting to give evangelicalism an "update"—and the change is not for the good. It's painful for me to admit, but we can no longer rest carefree in our evangelical identity—because it is changing. No doubt you have seen the headlines declaring that evangelicalism is doomed because evangelical kids are leaving...

Paul Dionne, Inclusive Success Coordinator for Beloit College’s Office for Academic Diversity and Inclusiveness, gave a speech entitled, “Working Against Whiteness” as part of a “Love Made Public” lecture series. The lecture series started during the fall, but resumed this semester. To help define “whiteness,” Dionne instructed the student attendees to chant “imperialist, capitalist, white supremacist patriarchy,” a phrase originating from feminist and self-avowed socialist bell hooks, who spells her name with all lowercase letters. “Working against whiteness for me is interrogating myself and who I am and where I come from and all of my privileges,” said the school...

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is looking into ways to handle an apparent drop in satisfactory rates in Bible test scores among people preparing for ministry within the Mainline denomination. Earlier this month, a task force created by the executive committee of the Committee on Theological Education released a statement on the Bible Content Examinations and a trend of lower than average evaluation rates that began in the summer. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is looking into ways to handle an apparent drop in satisfactory rates in Bible test scores among people preparing for ministry within the Mainline denomination. Earlier this month,...

A religious-based charity has received nearly $18 million in federal grants to help refugees and immigrant children who entered the country illegally since Donald Trump was elected president.. The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) has received nine federally-funded awards since Nov. 8, all of which came from the the Department of Health and Human Services ... Seven of those – worth over $13 million – were awarded under the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program, and the remaining two – worth $4.5 million – were used to helped refugees. ... LIRS ultimately raked in $60 million total for fiscal 2016 –...

As soon as the news broke last week that Disney’s new Beauty and the Beast movie would feature an “exclusively gay moment,” Franklin Graham called for a boycott of Disney in a Facebook post that has since been shared almost 100,000 times. The next day, a drive-in theater in Alabama announced that it would not show the movie, while, even before Franklin Graham’s comment was posted, the conservative group One Million Moms called for a Disney boycott, with a clear warning: “Alerting all parents! In a first for the Disney Channel, a Disney XD show subtly displayed several gay kisses...

The abortionist who appealed to the Supreme Court in oral arguments this week says Jesus would supportively hold the hands of women as they abort their children. Amy Hagstrom Miller, whose Texas abortion business conglomerate Whole Women's Health owns and runs seven abortion facilities, says she is "mission-driven" by her commitment "to human rights and justice."

If the Trump administration orders mass deportations, undocumented immigrants could take refuge in Catholic churches with the support of local parishioners, said Sacramento’s Roman Catholic Bishop Jaime Soto on Ash Wednesday.

Last month it was the Anglicans who chose to "queer the liturgy" of evening prayer in honor LGTB history month by renaming the Holy Spirit "The Fantabulosa Fairy" and God the Father became "the Dutchess". Not to be outdone, Catholic LGTB supporters and numerous left leaning protestant churches throughout the United States and Canada intend to show their support by wearing "glitter ash" on their foreheads to mark Ash Wednesday.

Senator Tim Kaine met with Pope Francis after attending a general audience with him on Wednesday. Kaine and the Pope discussed the Holy See’s work to address the global refugee and migrant crisis, according to the senator’s office. “As the Pope stated so clearly yesterday, it is a ‘moral imperative’ to protect and defend the ‘inalienable rights’ of refugees and respect their dignity, especially by adopting just laws that protect those fleeing dangerous or inhumane situations,” said Kaine in a statement. Kaine also participated in a discussion focused on Latin American issues with Vatican officials and members of other religious...

It’s not just a political battle anymore. It’s spiritual warfare now. Exorcists, witches and occultists “in a number of magical groups” are announcing plans for a ritual designed to “bind Donald Trump and all who abet him.” It’s to happen Friday at midnight at a variety of locations across the nation, and again every month until Donald Trump is no longer in office. The rite, requiring a stub of a candle, a pin, salt, matches, a tarot card, a feather and other odds and ends, calls on spirits to ensure President Trump will “fail utterly.” It also includes burning a...