Free Republic

Many historians call the Founding Fathers "Deists," and many of them were not true Christians -- after all, Thomas Jefferson tore all the miracles out of the Gospels! But judging by the Declaration of Independence, our Founders were more religious than many think: our founding document mentions God no less than four times.This is not to say America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation -- the federal government has never had an established religion. But the Jewish and Christian understandings of God deeply influenced the founding generation, and that influence radiates from the Declaration of Independence.Here are the four...

He was known as the most charismatic and consequential president of the post-war 20th century. His contagiously positive demeanor, moral resoluteness, and clear focus, as well as his ability to radiate hope, optimism, and an ambitious “let’s get this done” attitude, though commanding, pragmatic, and firm when he needed to be, enabled him to take on the threat of the most dominant and occupying force in the world since the beginning of that century; The Soviet Union. As communism spread throughout the world not only in the Soviet Union, but in Cuba and other parts of the world as well,...

One of the most wonderful things about Christianity is that there’s remarkable diversity in the way we can worship, provided we believe in the essentials of the faith. After the Protestant Reformation, denominations sprang up that allowed for variations in thoughts on secondary theological issues as well as styles of worship. In more recent years, the “mainline” denominations, so called because they were the churches along the main roads in towns, have opted for theological and political liberalism (and downright heresy) and have seen a resulting decline. Denominations still loom large on the landscape of American Christianity, but their influence...

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”Since that quote was first published in 2017 by G. Michael Hopf in Those Who Remain, it has become one of the most oft-quoted phrases in the conservative universe. (I’ve quoted it several times.) That’s because it perfectly captures the current state of Western civilization. I’ve experienced a good bit of that Western civilization. I’ve had the good fortune to have lived over a quarter of my life outside of the United States. I’ve lived in Cuba—albeit on a rather...

Who exactly was the Biblical Esau, and how did he become “Edom”? What are the true origins of Amalek, the “eternal enemy” of Israel? Why is Edom associated with Rome and the Western world? And what is the role of Edom in the End of Days and the Messianic Age? Find out in this thrilling class as we begin a new series on the complex and controversial world of Esau and Edom. Also discussed: Baphomet and pagan symbolism in Hollywood and the music industry, a possible hidden Scriptural reference to Elon Musk, and Biblical blueprints for today’s conflict in the...

France’s war on nativity scenes is a calculated assault on Christianity, aiming to erase the nation’s cultural roots while empowering Islam, leaving the defense of France’s identity to bold local leaders.The administrative court of Nîmes delivered yet another blow to France’s Christian heritage last Friday, ordering the mayor of Beaucaire, Nelson Chaudon, to remove the Provençal nativity scene from the town hall. The charge? A supposed violation of secularism, gleefully pursued by the left-wing Human Rights League (LDH)—an organization that seems to consider any public expression of Christianity an existential threat.This is not an isolated incident. Across France, nativity scenes...

The Vatican is set to open five sacred portals starting on Christmas Eve for the first time in 25 years. The opening of the Holy Doors marks the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee which is a year of forgiveness, reconciliation and renewed focus on the spiritual life.... At the start of Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Francis will push open the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica, which will stay open throughout the year to allow the estimated 32 million pilgrims projected to visit Rome to pass through.... The process of opening the four basilica doors involves removing the brick wall...

A stone box believed to have once held the bones of Jesus’ brother James is now on display in Atlanta, Georgia. If authentic, “The James Ossuary” is the only archaeological find directly attributed to Jesus’ family, according to Pullman Yards, the event venue displaying the object. The box is “considered the most significant item ever discovered from the time of Christ,” ... Etched into the 2,000-year-old limestone relic are the words, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” in ancient Aramaic, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.... “We’ve analyzed the likelihood of someone with this combination of names living in...

Remember Washington’s prayer at Valley Forge. It is arguably the most iconic image from the American Revolution. You can find drawings, paintings, and sculptures commemorating its significance in town halls, courthouses, libraries, churches, and veterans’ associations throughout the country. Variations were once commonly displayed in homes, schools, and businesses. Is it Paul Revere’s historic engraving of the Boston Massacre? Or Emanuel Leutze’s famous Washington Crossing the Delaware? Or perhaps John Trumbull’s The Declaration of Independence? Those are all good answers, but the image of which I write is of George Washington kneeling in silent prayer near the Continental Army’s winter...

7,970,788 views Dec 8, 2010 Kerrie Roberts Performing her version of "O Holy Night" from the Essential Christmas Collection.

2,832,470 views Dec 17, 2011 Greg Lake (of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer) performs his 1975 classic "I Believe in Father Christmas" filmed live at St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, in the City of London with Jethro Tull' s Ian Anderson on flute, David Arch on keyboards, Florian Opahle on acoustic guitar and the church choir.

256,045,398 views Oct 3, 2009 #LiveInLondon #LeonardCohen #Hallelujah "Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions. Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a new version recorded by John Cale in 1991. Cale's version inspired a 1994 recording by Jeff Buckley that in 2004 was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone's "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Wikipedia

It was last read by a human 1,800 years ago, when Christianity was regarded a burgeoning cult.Now, scientists have finally deciphered the 'Frankfurt silver inscription' – an 18-line engraving on a thin piece of foil, housed in a protective amulet.Measuring 1.4 inches (3.5cm) long, the 1,800-year-old silver amulet was found with the skeleton of a man at a burial site on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany.Researchers have used CT scans to 'digitally unroll' the 'wafer thin' foil and read the inscription within for the first time since the 3rd century AD.Incredibly, the text represents the oldest known evidence of Christianity...

SNIP Just ahead of the holidays, archeologists have “digitally unrolled” a 1,800-year-old silver amulet to decipher an inscription that’s being hailed as the oldest known evidence of Christianity in Europe. Authentic evidence of pure Christianity north of the Alps has never existed before now. And the findings have the potential to change holy history forever. “It will force us to turn back the history of Christianity in Frankfurt and far beyond by around 50 to 100 years,” said Mike Josef, mayor of Frankfurt, Germany, where the artifact was exhumed. “The first Christian find north of the Alps comes from our...

World Man identifying himself as American Travis Timmerman found in Syria after being freed from prison By Haley Ott Updated on: December 12, 2024 / 9:31 AM EST / CBS News A man identifying himself as an American from Missouri, Travis Timmerman, was found Thursday in Syria after he said he was freed from a prison earlier in the week, when longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was forced from power by a shock rebel offensive. Timmerman told CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer that he had been trying to make his own way out of the country after walking out...

A Virginia real estate broker faces the prospect of losing his license and paying a hefty fine because of a Facebook post about a Bible verse about homosexuality. On Feb. 13, 2015, Staunton-based broker Wilson Fauber reposted the Rev. Franklin Graham’s post citing a verse in the Bible and added commentary from his own perspective as a pastor. After 44 years in the business with a clear record, Fauber learned that the National Association of Realtors received an ethics complaint about him earlier this year. The “real basis of that complaint was from 2015, when I posted Leviticus 18:22,” he...

The phrase “Judeo-Christian” has been around since the 1930s but US President Donald Trump recently resurrected it in a deeply problematic speech on October 13, 2017 in which he said: “We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values … We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” It might seem neighbourly, even pluralistic, to include Judaism in a declaration of purported Western values. But in reality this isn’t how the term has functioned, either historically or more recently. Instead, the phrase is used to exclude rather than include. Despite implying that Jews are part of this resurrection of Judeo-Christian values, Trump in...

The Democrats could win every presidential election and control the other levers of government if they would reconsider their views on this one thing: religion.In the past, Democrats could comfortably speak the language of the religious, especially the religious working class they have now lost to Republicans — at least, enough of them from every ethnic and racial demographic to cause Democrats to lose the presidency and control over the rest of government.The religious working class are indeed aggrieved. They have been neglected economically, educationally and religiously. The Democrats failed in their responsibility to fight for them — their base...

If only these floors could talk. Scientists are going gaga over the earliest inscription declaring “Jesus is God,” claiming that this 1,800-year-old engraving could change our understanding of Christianity. The mosaic is “the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls,” declared Carlos Campo, CEO of the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., where the theologically significant relic has been housed since July, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported. Dubbed the Meggido Mosaic, the 581-foot artifact was originally underneath a floor of the Meggido Prison in Israel in 2005, after which it was excavated in pieces by the Israel Antiquities...

When I first started reading the works of Russell Amos Augustine Kirk in the fall of 1989, that most joyously fateful of seasons, I had no idea I would wind up three decades later having spent much of my adult life reading him, writing about him, and holding a position named in his honor. At the age of fifty, I happily and proudly stand in his shadow. Of all of the things I have learned about him, though, nothing has impressed me more than the man’s charity, his saint-like dedication to all around him: the poor; the lonely; the disabled;...