Free Republic

At the center of the battle over marriage, the popular Christian-owned restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is once again a target of criticism, this time over a $1.65 million donation to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to support summer camps for inner-city Atlanta youth. The LGBTQ blog Outsports called attention to the donation, saying the company’s charitable arm “has been continually criticized for its donations to organizations classified as anti-LGBTQ.” Chick-fil-A Foundation Executive Director Rodney Bullard told Business Insider the foundation has a “much higher calling than any political or cultural war.” “The calling for us is to ensure that we’re relevant...

According to the latest available U.S. Commerce Department data, the number of Michiganders employed in the auto and auto parts manufacturing industry is about half what it was at the turn of the millennium. United Auto Workers (UAW) union bosses, who for decades have wielded their government-granted monopoly-bargaining power to foist counterproductive work rules and inefficient benefit plans on unionized autoworkers and automakers, bear a large part of the responsibility. Of the roughly 170,000 remaining Michigan auto manufacturing employees, it’s likely that more than 100,000 are subject to UAW officials’ monopoly-bargaining power. In order to keep their jobs, employees must...

Sergio Marchionne, longtime CEO and chief for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, stepped down Saturday due to serious complications after surgery, the company announced. Mike Manley, head of Jeep and Ram brands, replaced him. John Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli and chairman of the company that controls FCA, said his family was shocked by Marchionne's failing health. "I am profoundly saddened to learn of Sergio’s state of health. It is a situation that was unthinkable until a few hours ago, and one that leaves us all with a real sense of injustice," Elkann said in a statement. Elkann will fill Marchionne's chairman...

DETROIT - A former senior ranking United Automobile Workers (UAW) official is accused of taking part in a conspiracy in which she and other union officials accepted a stream of concealed payments and things of value from FCA executives. Nancy A. Johnson, of Macomb Township, allegedly took part in this bribery scheme with FCA executives in the months leading up to the 2015 collective bargaining negotiations, according to the United States Attorney's Office....... Johnson is accused of illegally accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of designer clothing, golf resort fees, limousine services, lavish meals, luxury accommodations, luggage, and first-class...

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is not a car for normal people. For starters, it comes standard with only one seat. Because passenger seats, and passengers, weigh too much and would slow it down. Your friends aren't worth that. Then there's the engine. The Demon's 840-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged V8 is the most powerful V8 engine ever put into a regular production car. That makes the Demon the most powerful factory-produced muscle car... ever. The Demon has already recorded the fastest quarter-mile run by a factory production car ever, as officially certified by the National Hot Rod Association. Starting from a...

DETROIT (AP) -- Fiat Chrysler will add three new Jeeps to its lineup including a pickup truck as it invests $1 billion in two U.S. factories, furthering its effort to increase production of hot-selling SUVs and pickup trucks and get out of producing small and midsize cars. The expansion will create 2,000 new jobs. The Italian-American automaker said Sunday it will modernize a factory in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan, to make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs. A factory complex just south of there in Toledo, Ohio, also will get new equipment to make the...

A wise pastor, whose name I’ve forgotten, once said, “If you want to know what to preach about, find out what sin with which your congregation is struggling.” Or, as I noted after the infamous Obergefell ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that legally redefined the oldest institution in the history of humanity, pastors, as they prepare their sermons, should always be asking, “Where is the enemy at work in attempting to deceive my congregation?” Likewise, any organization devoted to the works of Jesus Christ—or seeking to “impact the world for Jesus Christ”—should be well prepared to confront the popular...

A little good culture news. 4 senior football captains along with the public school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a 2 night revival in the high school gym last weekend. 2 preached each night. This is the promo

Chrysler Group LLC has changed its name to FCA US LLC. The change will be largely unnoticed by consumers, affecting mostly corporate and financial communications. Chrysler-branded cars will continue to bear the Chrysler badge, as those branded Fiat will bear the Fiat badge. …

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit points to a story at Tax Prof Blog about Northeastern University's decision to bar the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A from that fine institution's campus. Why the exclusion? On the basis of some of its charitable giving, Chick-fil-A is considered to be anti-gay by the gay rights group Equality Matters. Among the groups that raise ire are outfits such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Focus on the Family, The Family Resource Council, and Exodus International. Certainly some of these groups talk often about pushing back on what they consider "the homosexual agenda" that has continued to...

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - It was a stunning development for students and staff at duPont Manual High School: a teacher has resigned and police say she could face serious charges after being found partially clothed with a student in a local park. Now we're learning more about 38-year-old Carrie Shafer. Manual students say Shafer's resignation Sunday was all the talk around school Monday. And they say the reason it's so shocking is because, according to them, Shafer is a married mother who also led their chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Manual students we spoke with had nothing but...

Born of Irish, German and British stock, Mrs Palin, 44, is a committed Protestant who headed her high school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes and would lead team prayers before games of basketball - Barack Obama's favourite sport. She is still remembered for winning an Alaska schools championship in 1982 by hitting a free throw in the final seconds despite a stress fracture in her ankle. At school, she met her husband Todd and eloped with him to marry exactly 20 years before she was chosen by Mr McCain for the Republican presidential ticket. A former Miss Wasilla 1984 and runner...

One of the primary advocates in an annual campaign to keep the word "Christmas" in the public square says it has donated 1,000 Christmas buttons to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) club at a high school in Maryland. The American Family Association (AFA) says the FCA chapter at Glenelg High School in Howard County was told by the school's principal that signs posted by members around campus -- for their "Operation Christmas Child" project -- needed to be changed. He allegedly forced them to cover the word "Christmas" and replace it with "Holiday." School officials did not immediately...

Weston, WI - Late yesterday afternoon after receiving a demand letter from Liberty Counsel, the D.C. Everest School District reversed course and decided not to censor religious themes from a student-sponsored, homeroom door decorating competition. From December 12-14, students will be participating in the "Winter Spirit Week Door Decorating Contest sponsored by the Student Council. But in a December 7, 2005, Weekly Bulletin, the D.C. Everest Senior High School told students that no religious Christmas themes were permitted. The Bulletin stated that the doors can be decorated to depict "[a]ny winter scene," so long as there are "[n]o religious ties."...

Every preseason for 30 years, Coach Bobby Bowden has taken his Florida State football players to a church in a white community and a church in a black community in the Tallahassee area in an effort, he said, to build camaraderie. He writes to their parents in advance, explaining that the trips are voluntary, and that if they object, their sons can stay home without fear of retaliation. He remembers only one or two players ever skipping the outing. Since becoming the football coach at Georgia in 2001, Mark Richt, too, has taken his team to churches in the preseason....

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden said Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry is fighting the government over the role of religion on his team. Bowden brought up DeBerry while speaking to the Southern Colorado Fellowship of Christian Athletes on Sunday night. Last season, DeBerry was asked to remove a banner from the locker room which displayed the “Competitor’s Creed,” including the lines “I am a Christian first and last ... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ.” “Fisher is fighting a heck of a battle over here at your academy (with) the U.S. government,” Bowden...

Northwestern University tailback Jason Wright closed out his college career as the school's fourth-leading rusher, and was a two-time first team Academic All-American. On Saturday, however, he recorded a first: he gave his first formal speech, as the keynote speaker at the Rolling Meadows Community Prayer Breakfast. "I'm just glad for the opportunity," Wright said afterward. "This is the only group I've ever spoken to, besides my (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) group." It won't be his last. He already is booked to speak to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes coaches meeting on March 13 at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire....

Conservative Episcopalian bishops and church leaders are organizing a network of socially conservative parishes in order to stem the tide of liberalism within the Episcopal Church USA. Frank Griswold, the leader of the movement, emphasizes that the members of the new network will remain Episcopalian and that their mission is both religious and political. The new group, The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, joins the diverse group of religious conservatives commonly known as "The Religious Right." In "The Orthodox Alliance" (November/December 1995), Fred Barnes discusses how theological conservatives of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant churches, who now have more...

<p>Young Republicans can topple Saddam Hussein and Christian athletes can let Jesus rock their night away at the homecoming parade after high school officials agreed Wednesday to let their floats roll.</p> <p>After officials at Dr. Phillips High School raised concerns earlier this week that the floats might offend some people, the students involved contacted the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando-based conservative civil liberties legal group.</p>

Homecoming floats stir free-speech controversy By Jason Garcia Sentinel Staff Writer November 5, 2003 Students and administrators at Dr. Phillips High School might be headed to federal court over homecoming floats with skits featuring Saddam Hussein and Jesus Christ. The flap has students hiring a lawyer and promising a constitutional battle. At issue are two floats -- one depicting Young Republicans fighting "evildoers" and tearing down a statue of Saddam Hussein, and the other, by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, urging students to "Let Jesus Rock Your Night Away." Students are building floats for Dr. Phillips' "Panther Pounce" parade on...