Free Republic

President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation drew one kind of protest. Whether the evangelical pastor offers the prayer in the name of Jesus may draw another. At George W. Bush's 2001 swearing-in, the Revs. Franklin Graham and Kirbyjon Caldwell were criticized for invoking Christ. The distinctly Christian reference at a national civic event offended some, and even prompted a lawsuit. Warren did not answer directly when asked whether he would dedicate his prayer to Jesus. In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Warren would say only that, "I'm a Christian pastor so I...

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among...

KGO radio's popular "Godtalk" show will stay on the air whether its embattled host returns or not, a spokesman for the all-chat channel said Friday. NewsTalk 810 fired Bernie Ward in December after he was indicted on two counts of possessing and distributing pornographic images of children, charges that stem from a period at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005. Ward said he was researching a book on hypocrisy. He has pleaded not guilty. A trial is set for June 9. In addition to "Godtalk," Ward also talked politics on the nightly "Bernie Ward Show." Fans have...

(09-20) 17:30 PDT Lincoln, Neb. (AP) -- A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha. "This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!" Friend said. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of...

On Saturday in Jerusalem, I participated in a moving religious service to honor one of Israel’s most celebrated heroes from last summer’s war against the Hezbollah terrorists. Lieutenant Eli Kahn, 23, led a unit of elite Paratrooper Commandos advancing against heavily defended Hezbollah positions in the Southern Lebanon town of Maroun al-Ras in the early days of the fighting. The Israelis, hoping to knock out Katyusha rockets that had already taken a bloody toll on civilian targets, drew unexpectedly intense fire from the enemy and sustained heavy casualties. While tending to one of his wounded paratroopers, Lt. Kahn saw a...

With the predictability of a John McCain temper tantrum (or a John Edwards $200-haircut), every two year the Democrats announce that they're going to fight like hell for the religious vote - a vow duly reported by the media in the hushed tones of revelation. Thus, a story on the recent CNN Democratic presidential forum began with the following observation: "After barring their souls in a live television confessional, top Democratic White House hopefuls have put Republicans on notice that religious voters are up for grabs." At the forum, sponsored by Jim (Hugo-Chavez-Is-My- Shepard) Wallis and his Sojourners collective, Hillary...

The Times sets their premise quite straightforwardly with their very first sentence in a recent discussion of a new theory on the source of morals being promulgated by Harvard biologist, Marc D. Hauser. Who doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong? Yet that essential knowledge, generally assumed to come from parental teaching or religious or legal instruction, could turn out to have a quite different origin. What follows is several slaps at religion, the Times asserting that religion has nothing to do with morals short of serving as "social enforcers of instinctive moral behavior". But the Times seems not...

MALIBU, Calif. --Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Monday urged people of faith to work cooperatively on problems such as poverty, global warming and reducing the number of abortions -- "godly tasks" that transcend the nation's culture wars. In a speech laced with anecdotes of his own journey of faith, Kerry, a Roman Catholic, told students in a speech at Pepperdine University that "we can take up God's work as our own. "Shame on us if we use our faith to divide and alienate people from one another, or if we draft God into partisan service," Kerry said. "As God gives...

I hadn't realized until recently that Stephen Harper was using "God Bless Canada!" as a tagline for his speeches. Some may think this a harmless, or even beneficent, expression for a politician to use, but for those with knowledge of history, nothing could be a more frightening. I do believe we all know to whom Harper is tipping his hat with these words. George Bush, author of two wars which have killed more than a hundred thousand innocent people and the champion of an ugly set of repressive laws in the United States, says "God Bless America!" every chance he...

What do you do if you are devoted to the Democratic Party, which has spent years defining itself as the party of secularism, and you suddenly discover that Americans are becoming more religious? Answer: You learn how to sound spiritual. America's third great religious awakening, about which I started writing 10 years ago, is well under way. Magazines like Business Week, Fortune and Forbes have all carried articles speculating on the growing buying power of America's evangelicals. Yes, Henry, they really do spend over $7 billion a year just on religious articles. Time recently ran a cover story about the...

In May of this year, a Jonesboro student gave a prayer during a high school graduation ceremony at the Arkansas State University Convocation Center. During the prayer, which lasted four minutes, she gave an “altar call” to the community, asking those in the audience to come forward to accept Jesus Christ. “In the closing moments of this service, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, here's your chance,” said senior Jessica Reed in a May 20, 2005 taped video of JHS graduation ceremonies. “We were contacted sometime after that by the American Civil Liberties...

BBC shies away from Bush story Tara Conlan Friday October 7, 2005 BBC programme editors turned lukewarm on a claim by a BBC2 programme that George Bush believed God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan after a strong denial by the White House. Just 24 hours after accusations that the corporation's news coverage was backing away from risk-taking, some of the BBC's key outlets decided not to run an exclusive story unearthed by BBC2 about the US president. It was all the more unusual as yesterday morning the corporation sent out a press release trumpeting the exclusive in BBC2's...

Canada's liberal press has greeted Disney's coming movie version of C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" with a delicate note of caution. "Be alert for hidden Christian messages," warns the Toronto Globe and Mail's movie reviewer Liam Lacey. No question, this is a man sensitive to religious innuendo. In the opening Narnia episode, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," after all, the lion plainly represents Christ, the witch is Satan, and the whole thing is an allegory of the Christian doctrine of the atonement. So yes, there could definitely be "hidden Christian messages," perhaps because Lewis wrote the whole series...

The American people have once again demonstrated that they are the most glorious on earth. The entire world ganged up on them to dump a moral president whose signature issue was a belief that people have a right to be free. Europe mobilized its millions in the streets to show their hatred of this man and his ideals. The United Nations frowned at his speeches and treated him with contempt. Hollywood and the recording industry unleashed its superstars to prevail upon the American people that they dare not re-elect a monster. And Osama bin Laden released a video tape informing...