Free Republic

Our society is in the midst of a massive cultural shift. According to the Barna Group, “rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have been dropping for decades. Americans’ beliefs are becoming more post-Christian and, concurrently, religious identity is changing.”This is the environment in which Generation Z is growing up.

If you live in America, the chances are that not only is religion not the most important thing in your life—84% of you—but additionally, nearly 30% of you feel it’s not important at all, or up 10% from a decade ago. A new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) contains both warning and comfort for the nation’s faithful. On the one hand, religion is plummeting fast on the priority lists of most Americans, but on the other, most of those remaining in the Christian church, 59%, have attended their houses of worship for more than 10 years. And...

In a recent survey of born-again Christians, less than half claimed to believe that Jesus lived a sinless life while on Earth, or that human life is sacred.The American Worldview Inventory (AWVI) 2023— a national representative survey of 2,000 adults, including 650 born-again Christians, was conducted in January by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.

Paul Maxwell, a former Desiring God writer and the author of the book The Trauma of Doctrine, has announced he is no longer a Christian. “What I really miss is connection with people,” Maxwell said on his Instagram feed. “What I’ve discovered is that I’m ready to connect again. And I’m kind of ready not to be angry anymore. I love you guys, and I love all the friendships and support I’ve built here. And I think it’s important to say that I’m just not a Christian anymore, and it feels really good. I’m really happy.” “I can’t wait to...

They can't say they weren't warned. Everyone in America knew where Joe Biden stood on abortion -- because he told them. In 13 debates, multiple campaign ads, and a Planned Parenthood townhall, no one had any doubt that if this man won the White House, his folksy faith talk would take a backseat to his political deal with the far-Left. If Evangelicals for Biden want to say they never saw this COVID bill and its abortion funding coming, then they were the only ones.

A granddaughter of the Rev. Billy Graham, Jerushah Duford is a committed evangelical Christian who describes herself as “pro-life.” For most of her life, she voted Republican. Yet this year, she is voting for Joe Biden and is encouraging fellow Christians to distance themselves from a president who she says is trying “to hijack our faith for votes.”

[Barf Alert] Accommodating homosexuality makes ‘better Catholics,’ priest insists at ‘Pride Mass’ Despite gay 'Pride' events being canceled from coast to coast due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinal Joseph Tobin permitted an LGBT 'Pride Mass' to be conducted in his archdiocese. HOBOKEN, New Jersey, June 29, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Despite gay “Pride” events being canceled from coast to coast due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinal Joseph Tobin has permitted an LGBT “Pride Mass” to be conducted in his archdiocese. For the third year in a row, the “Annual Pride Mass in support of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters” was held...

The foundational rupture in the tectonic plates of Western civilization is the breakage along the fault line of truth. The very concept of truth as we have known and inherited it is a Judeo-Christian concept. Germany became a post-Christian nation after its seminaries and universities rejected the Scriptures as God’s perfect, revealed truth. The United States has become a post-Christian nation after its best seminaries and universities—founded as teaching centers for the Word of God—rejected Scripture as God’s perfect, revealed truth. As American culture drifts further and further from anything Christian, the pressure to abandon the authority of the Bible...

It's been 500 years since Martin Luther pointed out the errors being made by the Papacy, claiming to be the One True Church. Now, despite the protests to the errant teaching of the Catholic Church, the "movers and shakers" in the charismatic movement are guiding their flocks toward a reunification with Rome, who continues to mislead many. God warns us to ready to rebuke false teachings...yet so many are now embracing it in the spirit of "unity." Likes lambs to the slaughter, the spiritually unaware are potentially fulfilling the predicted one-world religion that will manifest in the end time. John...

At the end of the general audience in Saint Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke affectionately with a Dutch priest who had gained permission to present him with a compilation of funeral homilies about the theme of homosexuality. After the short meeting, Father Pierre Valkering, a parish priest from the diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, told the press that he had been “profoundly touched” by the Pope’s welcoming attitude. Gay websites in the Netherlands gave prominence to the meeting, underscoring the way Pope Francis went out of his way to show his affection and interest for Fr. Valkering and his work....

Christianity is in sharp decline in America, according to new research from the Pew Research Center, making for a significantly less Christian country than that of just seven years ago. The number of Christians dropped by almost 8 percentage points in seven years to 71 percent, and the trend holds across race, gender, education, and geographic dimensions, though Christianity still dominates American religious identity at 70 percent, USA Today said. "It's remarkably widespread," Alan Cooperman, director of religion research for the Pew Research Center, said, according to The Washington Post. "The country is becoming less religious as a whole, and...

Peek behind the curtain of some "progressive" or "hip" evangelical churches, past the savvy technology and secular music, and you will find more than just a contemporary worship service. You'll find faith leaders encouraging young evangelicals to trade in their Christian convictions for a gospel filled with compromise. They're slowly attempting to give evangelicalism an "update"—and the change is not for the good. It's painful for me to admit, but we can no longer rest carefree in our evangelical identity—because it is changing. No doubt you have seen the headlines declaring that evangelicalism is doomed because evangelical kids are leaving...

Christianity is a dying relic of an ancient past. The Internet is killing it. Science is killing it. Western sophistication is killing it. Right? [correct] Wrong. [incorrect] In many ways, Christianity is on the rise as never before—worldwide, and in America [disagree]. Here are the ways we can tell: 1. Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide. The research shows Christian numbers rising, not falling worldwide. "Christianity should enjoy a worldwide boom in the coming decades, but the vast majority of believers will be neither white nor European, nor Euro-American," writes Philip Jenkins of Baylor University, author of "The...

Wednesday on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," Al Sharpton offered a curious explanation involving President Barack Obama for the meaning of Easter: "I think that the message is, no matter what the world may do to unfairly, no matter how your crucified, nailed to the cross at home, or in your personal relationships, or on the job that you can rise if you don't lose yourself during the hard times and the challenges. The story of Jesus on the cross. no matter what they humiliated him with. no matter how they mocked him he took it, because he knew he...

Obama pulled a surprise move Monday at the White House’s Easter Prayer Breakfast when he selected Gene Robinson to lead the closing prayer. Robinson is famously known as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Talking Points Memo’s Tom Kludt spotted the following tweet from Robinson, who was in attendance: Bishop Gene Robinson @BishopGRobinson POTUS "preaches" at the Easter prayer breakfast. Then, out of the blue, asks ME to close with prayer. OMG! #privilege Robinson, 66, became diocesan bishop of New Hampshire in March 2004. He retired in January 2013 and is currently a senior fellow at the progressive Center for...

In a previous post, I noted how The Catholic Free Press is once again promoting Sister Joyce Rupp, a dissident religious who rails against the hierarchical Church while promoting New Age spirituality. Many parishes throughout the Worcester Diocese are also promoting the upcoming day-long retreat with this angry, dissenting religious. The retreat, which is to be held on September 29th at St. Anne's Parish hall in Shrewsbury, is being sponsored by the "Commission for Women," and has as its theme: "The Gift of Self - Compassion." Sister Rupp, the self proclaimed spiritual midwife, claims to have learnt a lot from...

The Church of England is reviewing its investment in a company building Jerusalem's light railway amid concern that the tramline "will help to cement Israel's hold on occupied east Jerusalem". But the Church has stopped short of endorsing a campaign urged by Palestinian churches to boycott "everything produced" by Israel's West Bank occupation. The boycott call was made in a document known as 'Kairos Palestine', issued by Palestinian Christians last December. It denounces "Israeli occupation of Palestinian land" as "a sin against God and humanity". Last week, the Methodist Church voted to circulate the document among its members, taking up...

It was a lovely ceremony. Lots of hugging and crying, all the old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages along for the party. And even television cameras there as well. Which is why, truth be told, a lot of the people came along in the first place. A wonderful day out, and the catering was, darling, absolutely first class. I refer to the ordination as bishop in the United States of an obscure homosexual clergyman in an obscure place in an obscure denomination. The name of the man isn't even that important. His religious affiliation is Episcopalian, a...