Free Republic

During a three-day visit to Singapore, Pope Francis declared that “all religions are a path to God,” sparking backlash among religious leaders in the U.S. The statement was made at an interreligious meeting with young people at a Catholic junior college shortly before his departure back to Rome. Departing from his prepared remarks, Francis spoke off the cuff, stating that different religions are like “different languages” to reach God. “If you start to fight, ‘my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn’t,’ where will that lead us?” he asked,” according to Crux Now. “There’s only...

In 2023, major entitlement programs—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and other health care programs—consumed 50 percent of all federal spending.Soon, this spending will be larger

Volodymyr Zelensky has banned all Russian influence from Ukraine, including the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. Zelensky may thought he had found an ally in the Catholic Church after meeting Pope Francis who shared sentiments about ending the war, but the pope is now condemning Zelensky for persecuting Christians. Zelensky Pope “Please, let no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!” the pope declared, adding that “a person does not commit evil by praying.” A day prior to the pope’s comments, Zelensky banished ALL churches affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, including the Ukrainian...

T Coronae Borealis is a binary star system composed of a red giant and a companion white dwarf located in the constellation of Corona Borealis. Nicknamed the “Blaze Star,” it is a recurrent nova with a period of approximately 80 years. Very soon, it is expected to increase rapidly in brightness and astronomers worldwide are training their gaze to catch a glimpse of the expected nova event.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Muslim-majority region of Chechnya on Wednesday, marking his first trip to the area in 13 years. The visit has garnered significant attention, particularly after a video surfaced showing Putin respectfully kissing a gifted Quran and holding it close to his heart. Upon arrival, Putin received a warm welcome from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, with whom he discussed strengthening bilateral relations, military, trade, and economic ties. The two leaders have consistently demonstrated strong relations, with Kadyrov frequently referring to Putin as a close friend in media interactions. During the visit, Russian president, accompanied by Kadyrov...

The Democratic National Convention meets next week to nominate Kamala Harris for president, drawing renewed scrutiny to the party’s platform. Last month, the Democratic Party released a draft of its 2024 platform that vows to nationalize abortion-on-demand across all 50 states, support taxpayer-funded abortion, protect the predatory transgender industry, and continue “fighting” against parents who seek to keep pornography out of their children’s school libraries. The draft platform, released on July 13, places a high premium on abortion and extreme gender ideology. “The word abortion is mentioned 13 times. [The concept of] reproductive rights is mentioned 14 more times. The...

Kamala Harris would ‘eliminate religious freedom,’ has ‘extreme’ anti-Catholic agenda: Catholic leadersKamala Harris, who was ranked the most liberal senator in the US, has an ‘extremist’ pro-abortion, pro-LGBT record and would likely ‘persecute’ Catholics, as the Biden-Harris administration has already done, Michael Hichborn and other Catholics leaders warned.A Kamala Harris presidency would be a threat to the religious freedoms of Catholics and the lives of preborn babies, Catholics leaders are warning.Vice President Kamala Harris is currently the Democratic Party’s choice to run for president in 2024. Barring any last-minute changes, the Democrats will formally nominate her in the first week...

Most people would agree that politics and religion are the two most likely topics that divide even the best of friends. Websters dictionary says that politics is the political opinions or sympathies of a person, while it says that religion is a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. I don’t see the difference between the two. When I watch elected officials on the floor of the US Senate or House, I am reminded of an old friend of mine who pastors a church in Columbus, Georgia. He will flail his arms all around...

Florida Satanists are volunteering to fill school counselor roles after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law allowing religious chaplains into public schools amid staffing shortages. “Nothing in the text of the bill serves to exclude us, and no credible interpretation of the First Amendment could. Should a school district now choose to have chaplains, they should expect Satanists to participate as well,” Lucien Greaves, cofounder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, said in a statement... Back when DeSantis signed the bill in April, he described Satanism as “not a religion” and said its members would not be allowed to...

A town in the Mountain West found out the hard way that banning the most potent symbol in Christianity is not the best way to celebrate the nation’s enduring freedoms. Rules for this year’s Fourth of July parade in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, originally prohibited religious symbols from being part of the procession — a bitter irony in a country where the very first provision of the very First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion. And the backlash forced organizers to back down.

Oklahoma schools will be required to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments to all grade school children. Effective immediately, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters sent a memo to schools saying that grades five through 12 are required to refer to the Bible and the Ten Commandments for their “substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution.” Walters said the new curriculum is to ensure that “historical understanding is there for every student in the state of Oklahoma.” “It’s crystal clear to us that in the Oklahoma academic standards under Title 70 on multiple...

The state of Louisiana has ignited a hot new controversy on the role of religion in American public life by passing a law requiring a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in every classroom and in every K-12 public school and college classroom in the state. Other states such as Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah are considering similar legislation. Predictably, Americans for Separation of Church and State and the ACLU have declared this act as a violation of the constitutional mandate that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free...

A newly approved law will enable Oklahoma public school students to receive off-campus religious instruction during the school day if they choose to. Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 1425 into law Wednesday. The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature last month, with the Senate voting 38-7 and the House of Representatives voting 51-40.The law authorizes school districts’ boards of education to “adopt a policy that excuses a student from school to attend a released time course for no more than three class periods per week or a maximum of one hundred twenty-five class periods per year.”The...

Making Reparation For the Offenses Against the Sacred Heart of Jesus That Have Grown Progressively Worse Since Vatican IIIn his June 5, 2024 General Audience, Francis announced his intention to publish a document on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in September:“We are passing through this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart. . . This is why I am pleased to prepare a document that brings together the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual...

A Colorado university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal court has ruled. The Sept. 1, 2021, mandate “clearly violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause as interpreted by our precedents,” a majority of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit said in the May 7 decision. While the mandate was later updated, the newer version also violates the Constitution, the judges said. The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2021 required COVID-19 vaccination of all students and employees. It initially offered religious exemptions to anyone who checked a box, but later said...

Is it any wonder Americans no longer share a hope for the future and a sense of the common good?A new study by researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Buckingham, which analyzed 57 international studies, concluded that religious schools are far more effective at teaching children to become engaged citizens than secular public schools — resulting in students who model political tolerance, knowledge, and skills better than their publicly educated peers.The study found that receiving a private, faith-based education increased political tolerance and knowledge by 12 percent of a standard deviation. In turn, receiving such an...

Although he appeared well and spoke in a clear voice, he also made a rare acknowledgement of the strains of the job. "Please pray for me because this work is not easy," he told thousands of faithful gathered in St Mark's Square. He started the day by flying by helicopter into a women's prison where the Vatican has set up an exhibition that is part of the Venice Biennale -- a prestigious international art show that has never been visited by a pope before.

The Sunshine State is now welcoming chaplains into public schools, but Satanists need not apply. On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a bill into law allowing chaplains to volunteer to offer counseling at public and charter schools. However, the Catholic governor warned that Satanists would not be accepted into the program, as some Christian and conservative groups had feared. “Now some have said if you do a school chaplain program that somehow you’re going to have Satanists running around in all our schools,” DeSantis said in a press conference. “We’re not playing those games in Florida. That...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, is a Christian hero for many. Executed by the Nazis just days before the end of WWII for his participation in a plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer is hailed as a 20th-century martyr. But Bonhoeffer struggled with a moral dilemma – his religious views were in stark contrast to the evil he saw all around him. He chose to face possible imprisonment and execution and to remain faithful to the principles of his belief in God. Across the political and theological spectrum, Bonhoeffer is celebrated as an icon of true Christianity and his theological writings...

The Summary of the Report Background 2014-2021 Since the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2014, faith-based communities of various denominations have fully experienced the brutality and ruthlessness of Russia’s repressive policy in the occupied territories of Crimea and the Donbas region. Russian troops and Russian- backed separatists have targeted religious leaders and individual believers of most faiths, except the Orthodox parishes affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate. Representatives of religious minorities were arbitrarily arrested, threatened, beaten, illegally imprisoned, tortured, and some were deliberately killed. The repressive policy in the self-proclaimed “people’s republics,” in those parts...