Free Republic

I don't write vanities. This isn't intended as one. But I've been wrestling with the question of "why won't they call it Islamic Radicalism?" But today was an epiphany. After listening to Marie Harf explain that "extremists need jobs" I realized that the violence that won't be named is only an example of the ongoing culture war in our own country. Fundamentally, Marxists of whom Obama is an adherent attribute historical movements the material dialect. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism) Essentially matter precedes thought. People, as groups, are motivated not by religion, which is a mere epiphenomenon of matter, but by material need. I...

Let me first (try to) give you a justification for the seizure of bank deposits in Cyprus. Everybody who knows any thing about Cyprus also knows that the domestic banks were a parking lot for Russian hot money. I wrote about this back in 2011 (Link). There are a gazillion other articles saying the same thing. That being the case, the seizure of some of the black Russian money as part of a bailout for Cyprus is not really a surprise. With dirty money flowing in, the stupid banks in Cyprus used the deposits to buy crappy assets like the...

There is no gay birthright without a gay gene. The "born that way" argument lives and dies on a gay gene. Show me the gene or shut up gays.

In 1776, when America announced its independence as a nation, it was composed of thirteen colonies surrounded by hostile powers. Today, the United States is a country of fifty states covering a vast continent. Its military forces are the most powerful in the world. Its economy produces almost a quarter of the world's wealth. The American people are among the most hard-working, church-going, affluent, and generous in the world. Is America exceptional? Every nation derives meaning and purpose from some unifying quality—an ethnic character, a common religion, a shared history. The United States is different. America was founded at a...

Remember Mr. Smith Goes To Washington? What offends the American people more than anything else, isn't the content of the laws being made. What offends the American people, is the audacious chicanery and immorality in lawmaking today. McCain-Feingold completely missed the mark. Why? Because what needs reform isn't the interests of lobbyists, but the process by which someone like Alcee Hastings can say, "There ain't no rules." Or by which someone like Harry Reid, can gut a bill and by amendment substitute a completely unrelated bill in wanton false pretense. The resulting monstrosities that are created by unless amending of...

Former youth minister to hear sex abuse verdict Defense lawyer concedes guilt on most charges Thomas Clouse Staff writerJuly 12, 2007 The parents of a 14-year-old girl pulled her out of the Youth Group led by James D. Ritter after her brother intercepted a phone call from Ritter where he was talking about his favorite body parts. But the parents kept their daughter in Spokane Lutheran School where Ritter, who is on trial for eight sex crimes against minors, taught a class called "Choices." "It was basically preteens learning to make the right choices in their lives … about how...

Updated Monday, June 25, 2007The recycle of abuse continues at Baptist churches By Greg Warner Associated Baptist Press JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Secrecy about clergy sexual abuse may protect an abuser's current church from embarrassment but often comes at the expense of his next church - and its children. Like many small, rural congregations that find themselves without a pastor, East Bonne Terre Baptist Church had a small budget and few options. So when church members heard there was a new preacher in the area who was seeking a pulpit, it looked like God's timing. "When somebody comes along who has...

Bea Wilkins thought one thing when we reported that Steven Haney was under arrest on serious sex charges."I thought, thank God," says Wilkins.Wilkins was once an active member of Walnut Grove Baptist Church.  But she says she lost faith in its longtime pastor, Steven Haney, when accusations involving another teenager first surfaced in the mid 90's."I never thought a family would let anything like that come out if it weren't true," says Wilkins.Despite an investigation, the preacher was never charged.  So, Wilkins and nearly 30 other families left the church.But she never forgot."I prayed that God would do something to...

Tavares - The mother of a Lake County boy who was sexually abused by his pastor has sued the clergyman, two area churches and two Baptist groups, maintaining they should have protected her son. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for the boy's continuing psychotherapy from the Rev. Douglas W. Myers, his defunct Triangle Community Church in Eustis, Bay Street Baptist Church in Eustis, the Lake County Baptist Association and the Jacksonville-based Florida Baptist Convention.

A rather deafening silence at the Synod of Bishops about the pre-Vatican II Mass was broken on Saturday, when Colombian Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos proposed that the bishops' final message contain an opening to Catholics attached to the old Mass, perhaps treating it as one among several approved rites in the Catholic church. Sources told NCR that Castrillón Hoyos did not specifically mention the idea of a "universal indult," meaning permission for priests to celebrate the old Mass whenever they like, but that his remarks "could be read in that way." .... The Synod of Bishops met Saturday morning to...

OUR LADY AND ISLAM: HEAVEN’S PEACE PLAN     Fr Ladis J. Cizik, Blue Army National Executive Director IslamIslam is an Arabic word that can be defined as "to make peace." Islam is the religion founded by Mohammed, which considers the Koran as its holy book. In addition, Islam accepts the New Testament of the Christians and the Old Testament of the Jews as Divinely inspired works. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims (also: Moors, Turks, and Moslems) and, just as Jews and Christians, believe in only one God. Yet, over the centuries, Muslims have engaged in tremendous wars with...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE MAY 13, 2003 19:48:58 ET XXXXX EMERGENCY MEETING CALLED AT OLD GRAY LADY; NY TIMES NEWSROOM IN CRISIS [DRUDGE OBTAINED THIS INTERNAL E-MAIL TO NY TIMES STAFF] Howell, Gerald and Arthur request that you join your newsroom colleagues at an open forum at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, to discuss the Jayson Blair matter and anything else you might have on your mind. The meeting will be held at the Loew's Astor Theater, the moviehouse just behind The Times on 44th Street at Broadway, across from Carmine's. Doors open at 2:15 p.m. Please be sure...

The Futures Project: Facing the Facts The Archdiocese is faced with a future with fewer priests. We have known about this for several years, and have studied the likely effects. Over a decade ago we established two archdiocesan-wide planning projects, For the Harvest (circa 1985) and Ministry 2000 (circa 1991), to analyze this situation. Both succeeded in making some adjustments in our ministry to meet the problem for a short time. However, further action is needed. In the Jubilee Year of 2000, Archbishop Pilarczyk established the Futures Committee. The mission of this committee is to advise and help the Archbishop...

Area clergy continue to plan for future needs By Tricia Hempel DAYTON DEANERY — In their continuing effort to be "agents of change" rather than "victims of change," priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati gathered March 27 at Incarnation Parish in Centerville to continue the work of planning for a future with fewer priests. The process began in 2000 with the establishment by Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of the Futures Committee, priests from various age groups and level of responsibility. Along with the entire local presbyterate, the committee worked with CARA (The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) to...

Anyone have any experience with Legion of Christ/Regnum Christi? I have found disparagement in the usual sources National Catholic Reporter, etc. But I'm wondering if anyone has personal experiences to relate.

Enhancing Democracy: the Key to Religious Reform by James Carroll Plenary address at 2002 CTA national conference in Milwaukee Carroll develops these themes more fully in his 2002 book, "Toward a New Catholic Church: The Promise of Reform." In the last thirteen months, we Americans have discovered with something approaching astonishment the wild diversity of religious and spiritual impulses that has come to mark not only the planet, but our own nation. "Today," as the great Catholic theologian Karl Rahner put it, "everyone is the next-door neighbor and spiritual neighbor of everyone else in the world." And the organizers...

GO TELL EVANGELISM[ Home ] [ About GTE ] [ Newsletter ] [ Go Tell Seminars ] [ The Personal Evangelism Syllabus ] [ What We Believe ] [ The Institute Of Personal Evangelism ] [ Free Grace Theology ] [ Grace Bible Notes ] [ The Christian Library ] [ Need Good News ] [ The Christian Book Store ] [ E-mail Directory ] WHAT IS "FREE GRACE" THEOLOGY  by Arch Rutherford [A friend and fellow pastor wrote and asked me, "Arch, what do you mean by "Free Grace" theology? The following is the basic letter I sent to him. I have also used it to help others briefly understand the core values and convictions of those of us who are committed to "Free Grace" theology. Perhaps it can be of help to some in the GES family as well.] Dear John:Sorry I used a term that is not well...

Tuesday, November 12, 2002, St. Josaphat Titus 2:1-8, 11-14, Psalm 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29, Luke 17:7-10 THE MALE-MAN “Tell the older men that they must be temperate, serious-minded, and self-controlled; likewise sound in the faith, loving, and steadfast.” —Titus 2:2 “Tell the young men to keep themselves completely under control.” —Titus 2:6 In the USA, we often expect our parishes and pastors to provide for the religious education of our children. We expect our pastors to provide the sacraments and to reach out especially to the elderly and the sick. These expectations are good, but they are different than...

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) For: Friday, August 16, 2002 19th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial: St. Stephen of Hungary From: Matthew 19:3-12 Marriage and Virginity ---------------------- [3] And Pharisees came up to Him (Jesus) and tested Him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" [4] He answered, "Have you not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, [5] and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall...

SELLING HOMOSEXUALITY TO AMERICA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul E. Rondeau. "[I]nstitutional sites from which discourse proceeds must be identified . . . . [D]iscourse is power itself, and the power to control discourse is thus the master power in any society." "Truth is not the issue. The issue is power." I. INTRODUCTION Among America's culture wars, one of today's most intense controversies rages around the issue alternatively identified, depending on one's point of view, as "normalizing homosexuality" or "accepting gayness." The debate is truly a social-ethical-moral conceptual war that transcends both the scientific and legal, though science and law most often are...