Free Republic

Old Joe Biden’s ghostwriters issued a statement Thursday to congratulate Muslims on Eid al-Fitr, the feast marking the end of the fasting-by-day-and-gorging-by-night month of Ramadan. Predictably, it was anodyne and obsequious in the extreme, with Biden celebrating how Muslims “decorate their homes, give gifts to loved ones, wear new clothes, and visit family and friends.” The faux president is made to add: “I am moved by the generosity that is shown from families that can provide food and give charity to those in need through Zakat-al-Fitr.” In the course of all this flattery, Biden’s writer drops in a serious note:...

To Shawn Teamann, posting a sign of the Ten Commandments in the front yard of his North Huntingdon home is an affirmation of his faith and his stance against what he sees as an erosion of religious freedom in America. “It's just standing up for what you believe in. We feel religious freedom is being taken away,” said Teamann, a member of the Immaculate Conception Church of Irwin. Immaculate Conception has joined with the two Roman Catholic churches in North Huntingdon — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Agnes — in distributing about 1,000 signs to members of the three...

Several months ago I received a scathing rebuke from a gay professor who we will call Rod – because that is his name. He was angered by my insistence that a Christian musician should not be forced to perform at gay weddings. He asserted that the “cost of doing business” is that you must “accommodate” all segments of the population, regardless of your religious beliefs. In other words, he articulated the belief that every single business has to serve every single customer in order to “accommodate the public” – even if that means attending religious services that violate his conscience....

In a state ruled by a former Jesuit, perhaps we should not be shocked to find ourselves in the grip of an incipient state religion. Of course, this religion is not actually Christianity, or even anything close to the dogma of Catholicism, but something that increasingly resembles the former Soviet Union, or present-day Iran and Saudi Arabia, than the supposed world center of free, untrammeled expression. Two pieces of legislation introduced in the Legislature last session, but not yet enacted, show the power of the new religion. One is Senate Bill 1146, which seeks to limit the historically broad exemptions...

When Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth after becoming the first person to travel into outer space in 1961, the then-officially atheist Kremlin heralded his historic journey as “proof” of the non-existence of God. Fast-forward to today’s Russia and such pro-atheist sentiments could land you behind bars. In a court case now underway in southern Russia, 38-year-old blogger Viktor Krasnov faces up to a year in prison after writing, “There is no God” on VKontakte, the Facebook of the former Soviet states. In a heated online exchange that took place in October 2014, Mr. Krasnov also described the Bible...

Ken Ham, a biologist and supporter of young Earth creationism, said evolution is a "belief," not a "theory" -- a "fairy tale" for people who "try to explain life without God" -- and he added that the secular State has established a church, the "Church of Evolution, with Darwin as the High Priest," and teachers and professors as "priests" who push the Darwin religion in the schools. In an interview on VCY America on Feb. 10, two days before the international Darwin Day, host Jim Schneider said to Ken Ham, "I was disturbed in my spirit to hear we have...

Cardinal Francis George, head of the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago, said the levers of power in government, education, entertainment, and media are enforcing a “public creed,” a “fake church” that requires all citizens to approve of gay marriage and related sexual anomalies or be punished by the State, just “as Christians and Jews are fined for their religion in countries governed by Sharia law.” Cardinal George, who was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2007-10, made his remarks in his Sept. 7 column for the archdiocesean newspaper. In his commentary, the cardinal explains that America, despite...

Cardinal George: US is adopting ‘official religion’ on homosexuality that is reminiscent of sharia Catholic World News - September 10, 2014 In an archdiocesan newspaper column, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said that American law has “taken upon itself the mantle of a religion and officially told its citizens what they must personally think or what ‘values’ they must personalize in order to deserve to be part of the country.” He writes: Since the biblical vision of what it means to be human tells us that not every friendship or love can be expressed in sexual relations, the Church’s teaching...

Author and speaker Diana Butler Bass suggests that we are in the process of reinventing American civil religion, the way we think about God and national purpose. And she says President Obama is part of that process. Obama, like his predecessors in the White House, has generally drawn the older form of civil religion complete with biblical language, social justice evangelicalism, and the themes of orthodox theology. But, she suggests, something has changed in the last couple of years. His speeches have included a view of God with an appeal to a wider faith audience, she says. “Gone is the...

This weekend, new state law enforcement officers to completed training in Islam that they were compelled to attend by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The new recruits were in training from October 8 through the 11th; experienced recruits are expected to have similar training at their regularly scheduled in-service. This sensitivity training is aimed at helping “bridge the understanding” of Islamic culture to law enforcement. However, some think this is more of “be a good dhimmy” on the part of Governor Christie. New Jersey.com reports that the training is a min-version of a 10 week course on Cultural Understand taught...

The prime objective of secularists in modern times has been to “free” us all from the influence (The burden, they’d say) of Christianity. Just how they have gone about destroying that influence on the course of human affairs is ably described in Dr. Benjamin Wiker’s new book Worshipping the State:  How Liberalism Became our State Religion.Wiker, who has taught at Franciscan University and Thomas Aquinas College, holds that the raison d’être of secular philosophers’ has been to reduce Christianity’s hold on Western culture, and either to subordinate the Church to the state or to establish a rival civic religion that...

(Following is a brief summary of the article's contents) Raleigh, North Carolina - Two North Carolina legislators introduced a state resolution asserting the State of North Carolina can make its own laws regarding the establishment of religion. [See the article for further details.]

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, June 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) –  The nation of Denmark has voted to force churches in the established Evangelical Lutheran Church to perform same-sex “marriage” ceremonies inside their sanctuaries, although one-third of all the denomination’s priests say they will not participate in such rituals. Danish parliament voted by an overwhelming 85-24 margin to compel churches to carry out unions for same-sex couples that are identical to heterosexual marriage celebrations. The law takes effect June 15. Since 1997, homosexuals have been able to get “married” in a blessing ceremony after the normal church service. Under the new law, priests may...

When it comes to climate change, just have a little faith!In an unusual case in the United Kingdom, it has been ruled that climate change beliefs should be afforded the same legal protections as religious freedoms. The bizarre ruling sets a landmark legal precedent and could have broad implications both in Britain and abroad. The case began when Tim Nicholson, former head of sustainability at property firm Grainger PLC was laid off in July 2008 for his criticism of management on the basis of climate change beliefs. Mr. Nicholson, who renovated his house to be greener and refuses to fly...

“For what my grandpa called the cause of his life, as he said that every American have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege, we pray to the Lord.”

Barack Obama has apparently now been advised to shift the ground in the debate over health care reform, to get it away from discussions about specific provisions in the pending legislation (whether it will force us to unplug grandma or use our tax dollars to pay for others' abortions) and get it onto a far loftier moral high ground. This he did last weekend in a conference call to liberal clergy, urging them to endorse universal health care because of what he has decided is all part of the biblical injunction to "be our brother's keeper." Ostensibly, many moral theories...

Some cities urge residents to go on citywide exercise kicks. Others promote municipal book clubs. Berkeley wants its citizens to go on a collective low-carbon diet. To meet its ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Berkeley is encouraging all 100,000 residents to join support groups to help individuals fight global warming. Like Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight Watchers, the groups are part social, part confessional and partly about accountability. "It does sound like AA," said Timothy Burroughs, Berkeley's climate action coordinator, who is helping to start the program. "But it's in the context of a policy goal of the city's....

Antioch Bible Church: Prayer Warrior Thursday, 04 December 2008 As you are aware, the State of Washington has allowed the Freedom from Religion Foundation to place a plaque, near the nativity scene, in the Capitol Rotunda Building in Olympia denouncing faith in God as "myth and superstition...enslaving minds." Antioch Bible Church will be placing its own sign in the Capitol Rotunda during a press conference on Friday, December 5 at 11:00 west coast time. Please be praying during this time that God will be glorified! Pastor Hutch

REBUILDING IN THE GULF Iraqi Christians flee Islamic republic Believers leave country before June 30 designation of state religion -------------------------------------------------------- Posted: June 10, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. By Ken Joseph Jr. © 2004 Insight/News World Communications Inc. Several developments that bode ill for Christians in Iraq are causing believers to flee the nation. Facing a June 30 deadline for transfer of power, a temporary constitution that reads, in Article 7, that Islam is the "Official Religion of...

LYON, France, Jul 12, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A court has ruled that a French civil servant who wore an Islamic headscarf on the job committed a "particularly serious offense" and may face disciplinary action because she violated the separation of church and state. Nadjet ben Abdallah, a 33-year-old work inspector in the central city of Lyon, had argued that a disciplinary committee's decision to sanction her for wearing the headscarf at work was unjust. The administrative court in Lyon disagreed and in a decision released Friday, the court said the woman was wrong to go to...