Free Republic

Dozens of churches, from Park Hill Congregational in Denver to Hillview United Methodist in Boise, Idaho, and First United Lutheran in San Francisco to St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Honolulu, are planning to send "a message both here at home and to the Arab and Muslim world about our respect for Islam" with a time to read the Quran during worship this Sunday. It's not just wrong, but dangerous, according to Christian trends analysts. The aim of the program, which is promoted by social activists behind the Faith Shared website, is to counter the message from Islamic activists who say...

If there is such a thing as a controversial, lightning rod Baptist minister, then one is headed to North Texas. Ergun Caner is the former head of Jerry Falwell's Liberty Baptist Seminary in Lynchburg, Virginia, and his claims of having terrorist ties have clouded his credibility — and perhaps his future. Claims of being so hated that he once had to dodge oranges being hurled from the audience is not what you might expect to hear from the Dean of Theology at Liberty Baptist Seminary. But it's part of the Ergun Caner mystique and legend... of having been raised a...

While Noah will likely always remain the first name in arks, tourists are chomping at the bit to climb aboard “Johan’s Ark,” an ambitious re-creation of the biblical boat that’s attracting gawkers galore along a waterfront shipyard in Dordrecht, a city in the western Netherlands. Dutch builder Johan Huibers is expected to complete work on the massive vessel sometime next month in what has been a staggeringly ambitious project to bring one of the best-known stories of the Bible to life. It’s taken three years of his life and $1.6 million out of his pocket, but Huibers, owner of a...

(CNN)–When Westboro Baptist Church protesters roll into any given town, most places don't exactly put out the welcome mat, until this Sunday. "This False Prophet and His Blind Lemmings Welcome You to Our Whore House for God's Grace and Free Donuts," Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle announced on his blog this week after learning that Westboro plans to picket one of his churches on Father's Day. Driscoll is a popular pastor in the Pacific Northwest. He heads a group of multisite churches that regularly draw 10,000 parishioners a week across 10 locations. He preaches live at...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The Diocese of Allentown has found itself the target of a lawsuit that claims a woman was fired for being a Muslim. Omayma Arafa filed the federal lawsuit against the Diocese in May. The lawsuit states Arafa, who is a Muslim from Egypt, had no problems as an employee of the Diocese until August 2008, when her supervisor changed. In the lawsuit, Arafa said her new supervisor, a Monsignor, was not respectful of her religion. She said during Ramada in 2008 he forced her to take a lunch break, even though all she could do was sit...

A California broadcaster who wrongly forecast the return of Jesus last month is now hospitalized after suffering a stroke. Harold Camping, 89, of Oakland-Calif.-based Family Radio was reportedly taken by ambulance Thursday night from his home in Alameda, Calif. "He had a stroke, it was on his right side," a neighbor of Camping's told the Oakland Tribune, noting that she and her husband helped and comforted Camping's wife, Shirley, as the event took place.

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A traveling evangelist who has sometimes aligned with Westboro Baptist Church has been jailed in Tennessee on charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.</p> <p>Nashville police Sgt. Robert Haught told WSMV-TV in Nashville that 48-year-old Glynis Bethel, who is associated with Twenty-First Century House of God in Loxley, Ala., pepper sprayed him in the face as he tried to stop her from leaving a scene Saturday.</p>

President Obama's faith adviser, Eboo Patel, likened television evangelist Pat Robertson to Osama bin Laden, calling both "totalitarians" who worked collectively against coexistence. The statements by Patel mark the latest in a series of controversial remarks by the faith adviser to be reported by WND, including comments against the U.S. and Christianity. In February 2010, Obama named Patel to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Patel, a Muslim activist, is the founder and executive director of Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, which says it promotes pluralism by teaming people of different faiths on service projects.

Bible prophecy may have a bad name in the light of Harold Camping's misguided date-setting, but the biggest sign of the end may have been overlooked in all the rapture hysteria of last weekend. Once again, we've seen the U.S. hit with a series of deadly superstorms following Barack Obama's pledge to return Israel to pre-1967 borders. Just days after Obama insisted Israel must give up lands it won through military victory with its enemies, some 200 people were killed by a tornado in Joplin, Mo. There's a pattern here. We saw it in Katrina, when George Bush forced Israel's...

During the final episode of her namesake show, Oprah Winfrey credited God for her success and said His grace is something everyone can have "if you let it in." While Winfrey's lengthy remarks about her beliefs during Wednesday's curtain call of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" drew applause from the audience, many Christians remained skeptical. "People often ask me what is the secret to the success of this show -- how have we lasted 25 years. I non-jokingly say, 'My team and Jesus,'" Winfrey said. "Because nothing but the hand of God has made this possible for me." Christians have criticized...

Take a look at this video of Olbermann waddling around Yankee Stadium over the weekend. What is he wearing?! Is that a duster or a lab coat or maybe a butcher's smock?When is the last time you saw one of those - other than the bad guys in Pale Rider? And what does he have underneath that ridiculous jacket? Did he steal 25 sweatshirts from the Yankee store and is trying to smuggle them out?

Al Gore Denounces Rupert Murdoch's 'Abuse of Power'By Adam Martin 01:03 PM ET Al Gore and Rupert Murdoch have never been best friends, but now they're locked in a very public clash, at the root of which sits Keith Olbermann, who recently joined Gore's Current TV. Gore took a swipe at Murdoch in the press today, telling the Guardian that it was an "abuse of power" for the News Corporation magnate to force his left-leaning Current TV off the air in Italy because it didn't fit his "idealogical agenda." Current got the abrupt word three weeks ago that the digital...

With the great evangelist in his twilight, his children are jostling over his image and the family name. In this week’s Newsweek, Lisa Miller reports on the younger Grahams’ politics, infighting—and efforts to protect their father from the press.

Richard Dawkins has made his name as the scourge of organised religion who branded the Roman Catholic Church “evil” and once called the Pope “a leering old villain in a frock”. But he now stands accused of “cowardice” after refusing four invitations to debate the existence of God with a renowned Christian philosopher. A war of words has broken out between the best selling author of The God Delusion, and his critics, who see his refusal to take on the American academic, William Lane Craig, as a “glaring” failure and a sign that he may be losing his nerve.

Cable network Current TV says Keith Olbermann will return to the air on June 20. Current said Tuesday the title of the weeknight news-commentary hour will be "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." "Countdown" was the name of the program Olbermann hosted on MSNBC until his heated departure from that network in January. Less than a month later, he signed with Current TV, the public affairs channel launched in 2005 by former Vice President Al Gore and Joel Hyatt. A liberal lightning rod, Olbermann has often clashed with his former bosses and with the corporate culture of General Electric, until recently MSNBC's...

OSLO (Reuters) – A North Atlantic current flowing into the Arctic Ocean is warmer than for at least 2,000 years in a sign that global warming is likely to bring ice-free seas around the North Pole in summers, a study showed. Scientists said that waters at the northern end of the Gulf Stream, between Greenland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, averaged 6 degrees Celsius (42.80F) in recent summers, warmer than at natural peaks during Roman or Medieval times. "The temperature is unprecedented in the past 2,000 years," lead author Robert Spielhagen of the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature...

South Korea a word of understanding concerning todays attack from North Korea This morning who happens to be Korean rushed in and said "North Korea just attacked South Korea" ! Immediately The Spirit of The Lord began to speak to me and I rushed out and wrote this down . . . for your discernment . South Korea your time is at hand , What is it you do not understand , For you worship me with your lips and your mouths , But this is not what it is all about ! Come away from the Laodicians they can...

MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS INQUIRE OF ME ! My ways are not your ways I have plans for you that you know not of to keep you humble so that you remain in covenant and oneness with me always and though I test you, you shall come through the fire as gold for my Rhema word shall call to you and guide you to my breath ( Ruah ) that releases my will through the eyes of my understanding alone for you are my signet ring I press into all I AM doing in and through all things...

Australian News Defends Pope: "You've Got the Wrong Man!" Following up on my earlier post, "Did the Pope Cover Up Abuse? No!" . . . Noted New Testament Scholar, Michael Bird, my Australian friend over at Euangelion, kindly sent an article my way that I have to share here. This is a piece that deserves wide circulation. Scott Stephens, a writer with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has written a piece defending the pope against the scurrilous charges that have been made against him and has essentially lowered the boom on those who have recklessly propagated them: his message, "You've Got...

America your portion has been measured in full and the time of true shaking has come ! Now watch as I touch your pocketbooks , watch as I annihilate the sin in your lives and watch as All this occurs I set the captives free and destroy the rebellious as korah for I shall swallow up sin and it's roots . I shall cleanse this nation as never before . There shall be crevasses where there has been great rivers allowing the ocean in , Deserts where there has been pools of great waters , Mountains where there has been...