Free Republic

Here are 10 key reasons experts say U.S. support for Ukraine should be continued: 1. Putin's aggression must be stopped. 2. Putin's atrocities need a response. 3. Russia is targeting evangelical Christians for persecution. 4. Ukraine wants only to regain its sovereign territory. 5. Russia has not "won" the war. 6. Russia is rearming for a larger war. 7. Most Ukraine aid goes to U.S. contractors. 8. Europe fears a coming attack on NATO. 9. Support for Ukraine signals to China: Do not invade Taiwan. 10. Give Ukraine aid to let Trump bring peace.

Pollster Frank Luntz tried on Friday to explain to an oblivious CNN host why Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly support former President Donald Trump. While the reasons should be obvious — Trump helped repeal Roe v. Wade, staunchly supports religious liberty, and has been an ally to Christians — host Brianna Keilar just couldn’t figure it out. Indeed, in her opinion, Evangelicals should revile Trump because — wait for it — he’s an imperfect human being who’s said and done imperfect things. For example, when asked in 2015 about whether he’d ever asked God for forgiveness, he essentially said no. “I’m not...

Trad Catholic Family Dragged Out of Home at Gunpoint, Locked in Van After FBI ‘Goaded’ Teen to Post Offensive Memes, Dad SaysA traditional Catholic family was allegedly “dragged out of their home at gunpoint, handcuffed and locked in a van” earlier this year after the FBI “goaded” their 15-year-old son to post “offensive memes” online. The teen, a volunteer firefighter and altar boy, was then hospitalized on mental health pretenses, according to his father, Jeremiah Rufini.The FBI’s aggressive “investigation” only resulted in a misdemeanor conviction against the boy for breach of peace, but financially devastated the family with substantial legal...

Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent Iowa Christian evangelical leader, announced his endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president on Tuesday. Vander Plaats, the CEO and president of the Family Leader conservative group, argued that DeSantis, 45, is the best chance Republicans have at winning the 2024 general election and said his endorsement shouldn’t come as a surprise. “I think America would be well served to have a choice, and I really believe Ron DeSantis is that guy and I think Iowa’s tailor-made for him to win this,” he added.

Three candidates — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — sat down for a roundtable “family discussion” in Des Moines Friday. Trump did not attend, though he was invited. The candidates shared their personal stories in an unusual forum, as they have rarely appeared side-by-side in such a collegial setting on the campaign trail. The Family Leader reiterated that the event was not a debate after the Republican National Committee’s counsel’s office circulated a letter to campaigns dated Oct. 28 reminding candidates of their pledge not to participate in non-sanctioned debates and...

Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that the Evangelical community’s support of former President Donald Trump was a “deep contradiction.” Anchor Jen Psaki asked, “Did you interact with President Jimmy Carter at all?” Warnock said, “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are two of my favorite people on earth. And here is a man who demonstrates how you have faith and how it ought to work and come alive. He is used not as a weapon but as a bridge.”

Earlier today, we reported on the sad reality that Ohio had voted to enshrine the right to murder babies into its Constitution, a seismic shift that was partially carried forward by an unlikely contingent—25 percent of white evangelicals according to exit polls conducted by the Washington Post. This alarmingly high minority within the evangelical community, by their ballot, have signaled a disturbing shift in the moral landscape of the Church. In the face of such a vote, one must question the influence of evangelical leadership. Figureheads like Brent Leatherwood and organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty...

Religious persecution is nothing new to Massachusetts. But the commonwealth’s recent denial of a Catholic couple’s application to become foster parents because of their faith is a notable variation on the mass hysteria that once sent “witches” to the executioner.... In this instance, Michael and Catherine “Kitty” Burke were told they weren’t qualified to be foster parents unless they vowed to support a child should he or she someday identify as “LGBTQIA.” Talk about a litmus test. In fact, during a rigorous interview process with a social worker to determine their fitness as foster parents, the Burkes said they would...

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfYSB9z746o I was raised in Hollywood, although I looked Chinese, I'm really not. I'm actually a Hollywoodite. My parents were both motion picture actors. My father, you know, was a motion picture actor, and my mother, raised in a Hollywood family, grew up around Hollywood and Beverly Hills with all the movie stars. I sat on the knee of most of the biggest movie stars that have lived, people like Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, June Allyson, and Fred Astaire. Those are people that I grew up with at our house parties and hanging around my dad's restaurants. But I...

Many white evangelical Christians love Donald Trump — a fact of American politics that has shaped the makeup and rulings of the Supreme Court, the culture and morality wars waged by the Republican Party and the political evolution and power of evangelicals themselves. At the same time, some forms of evangelical Christianity are becoming less Christian, with believers less likely to attend church and less likely to embrace some of the faith’s most bedrock beliefs. How did this happen? How did millions of Americans go from “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” to Mr. Trump, who appeared on the cover of Playboy...

CWN Editor's Note: In a June 18 address to the Conference of European Churches, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople strongly criticized a “’new ecumenism” that champions “traditionalistic values.” “Some American evangelical Christians, who had previously considered Catholic and Orthodox Christians as pagans worshipping idols, now appear willing to work with certain Catholic and Orthodox Christians in order to support these values,” he said. This ‘new ecumenism’ has even gone so far as to anoint President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation as its political champion, and Patriarch Kirill of the Orthodox Church of Russia as its spiritual leader.” “We see...

Heavenly Father - thank you that I, David French, am so much more righteous than all the other white evangelicals in the world. It is such a deep privilege, every Lord's Day, to publicly proclaim in the pages of the New York Times how stupid and bigoted white evangelicals are - with one exception (me, David French). What a gift it is to be me. Yes, I thank you Lord! Thank you that I am not like those evil "Christians" who declined the COVID vaccine. From my seat atop this shining hill of righteousness, I can write articles declaring those...

Thousands of people attend the Spring Love Festival held by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at the Phu Tho Sports Facility in Ho Chi Minh City on Mar. 4. (Photo: oneway.vn)An estimated 14,000 Christians in southern Vietnam attended a historic religious event organized by an American evangelist association in Ho Chi Minh City. People including government officials from the city and neighboring provinces attended the Spring Love Festival held by the US-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at the Phu Tho Sports Facility on Mar. 4-5. Reverend Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the association told the crowds that “God makes...

GATHER ‘ROUND EVERYONE! It’s that special time of year once again: The FCC complaints over the Super Bowl Halftime Show have arrived! Rolling Stone obtained the complaints to the proverbial television manager via a Freedom of Information Act request, and you better believe people were mad about Rihanna’s performance. In total, the FOIA request returned 103 pages of complaints, and almost all of them were about Rihanna — her gyrating, her crotch-grabbing, her finger-sniffing, and crude lyrics. (There were a couple of exceptions, like the person who complained about broadcaster Terry Bradshaw “fat shaming” Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid...

The early nineteenth century was a period of immense change in the United States. Economic, political, demographic, and territorial transformations radically altered how Americans thought about themselves, their communities, and the rapidly expanding nation. It was a period of great optimism, with the possibilities of self-governance infusing everything from religion to politics. Yet it was also a period of great conflict, as the benefits of industrialization and democratization increasingly accrued along starkly uneven lines of gender, race, and class. Westward expansion distanced urban dwellers from frontier settlers more than ever before, even as the technological innovations of industrialization—like the telegraph...

A former minister at a New Jersey evangelical church has pleaded guilty to multiple sex abuse crimes, admitting that he blackmailed teenage boys into performing explicit sex acts via webcam. During a hearing last week at Burlington County Superior Court in Mount Holly, New Jersey, Sean Higgins, 32, of Palmyra, pleaded guilty to four counts of Endangering the Welfare of Children. In exchange for the plea, Higgins is expected to serve 27 years in a New Jersey state prison. Higgins’ sentencing is scheduled for March 3. According to a grand jury indictment last August, prosecutors say Higgins victimized at least...

(click link upper left-hand corner for video) The video is just over 28 minutes long. I believe that many of the topics Dr. Hagee discusses will ring a bell with God-fearing conservative FReepers.

This article is meant to be a continuation of my previous article entitled Don’t Let Satan Steal Your Enjoy. I sympathize with any true born-again believer in Jesus that has moments of occasional doubt about their own salvation. It is a miserable place to be, and the Lord wants us to have assurance. How do we become a child of God (born-again, a Christian)? We must admit that we are a sinner. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We must believe on Jesus (His death, burial and resurrection). “For I delivered to...

A scandal that rocked the Evangelical Christian community is the subject of the upcoming Hulu documentary God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty. The film focuses on the downfall of former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., who endorsed Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. “As a pool attendant, I would get hit on,” says former pool-boy turned Falwell business partner Giancarlo Granda at the start of the trailer (watch below). “But if I would have known that accepting this woman’s invitation to go back to her hotel room would have led...

While conservative evangelical and Catholic churches across America celebrated Friday’s Supreme Court ruling rescinding a federal right to abortion care, sermons and prayers in other congregations ranged from lament to outrage to calls for simply getting along with each other. Sunday, June 26, turned out to be one of those rare occasions when the connection between faith and politics could not be avoided. Tim Schaefer “I am put in a position to address things that concern the people, the congregation, and sometimes those issues are difficult to address. They’re not easy, especially when we may not all agree. But I...