Free Republic

The liberal activists we know as secularists do not behave as broadly as the term might imply.  When held to their own standards of tolerance and fairness, these focused meddlers fail because, in truth, secularists are just anti-Christians.  The intriguing question is why.First, are secularists particularly hostile to Christianity?  A recent study indicated a marked bias against Christians by university faculties.  These faculties are a good proxy for secularists in general.  Among other unsurprising findings, the study observed: [...] political liberalism is the dominant ideology on college campuses, especially in the social sciences and humanities. This study demonstrates that this...

The "Courtyard of the Gentiles,” a Vatican bid to start conversations with non-believers, will be unveiled in Paris next week. At a March 18 Vatican press conference, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, explained the project, which his office has undertaken on a suggestion from Pope Benedict XVI. "The aim is to help to ensure that the great questions about human existence, especially the spiritual questions, are borne in mind and discussed in our societies, using our common reason,” Cardinal Ravasi said. The title, “Courtyard of the Gentiles,” is drawn from the area outside the...

Barcelona, Spain, Jan 26, 2011 / 01:50 pm (CNA).- Administrators from the University of Barcelona, Spain have announced that its weekly Wednesday Mass will be suspended due to protests  by a group of self-proclaimed “secular progressive” students.The university stated that no more Masses will be celebrated “until the university can guarantee the security of students who wish to attend the liturgy.” At the beginning of November, shortly before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Barcelona, a group of “secular progressive” students tried to boycott one of the university Masses, reported the Spanish newspaper ABC. Police then began providing security at the...

At long last, Christian leaders have faced up to their persecutors in the secularist, socialist, One-World, PC, UN-promoted axis of evil and said: No more. In the popular metaphor, they have drawn a line in the sand. For harassed, demoralised faithful in the pews it will come as the long-awaited call to resistance and an earnest that their leaders are no longer willing to lie down supinely to be run over by the anti-Christian juggernaut. This statement of principle and intent is called The Manhattan Declaration, published last Friday in Washington DC. It is difficult to believe that so firm...

As our great country accelerates its slide into economic and moral Hell, be careful whom you blame. The present boldness of liberals and timidity of conservatives are only the secondary causes. Much of the blame can be placed at the foot of the church. When I say the church, I don’t mean an institution like the Roman Catholic church, but the entire body of believers—those from all denominations who believe that the Bible is true, that people are sinners, that God sent the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from our sins, and that we are charged with spreading...

We Want a Divorce. Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, Obama supporters, et al: We have stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, and go our...

A well-known California atheist says he and 17 others, plus atheist and humanist organizations, will file suit Tuesday in D.C.'s District Court to strip all references to God and religion from President-elect Barack Obama's January inauguration ceremony. Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, Calif., says he wants to remove the phrase "so help me God" from the oath of office, plus axe the invocation prayer from Pastor Rick Warren, already under fire from the left for his opposition to gay marriage. According to Newdow, any reference to God or religion violates the Constitution. "Equality is important to me," Newdow told The Examiner....

A group advocating separation of church and state is suing to keep prayer out of the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and several of its members are among the 29 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Monday in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit seeks to block the Presidential Inaugural Committee from including prayers in the official inauguration. It says clergy have not led prayers at inaugurations for most of the nation's history.

On his November 10 Huffington Post, Nicholas Graham and nearly every commenter thereafter, purposefully distorted what Governor Palin said about prayer and the 2012 presidential race. The universal misconstruction of Palin's comments was that she was "praying to become president" in 2012 and that somehow God was speaking directly to her. But reality is she did not say that at all. Graham offhandedly claimed that Palin said that she was waiting "for a sign from God" as to whether she would run in 2012. Further distorting her comments, he claimed she was "confident God would show the way to the...

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the IRS to investigate the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J. and Rock Christian Fellowship in Espanola, New Mexico. According to AU's letter to the IRS, Roman Catholic Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli has published a letter on Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.'s website and newspaper attacking Barack Obama." The letter criticizes Obama for his pro-choice stance and encourages parishioners not to vote for Obama. AU also wants the IRS to investigate Rock Christian Fellowship in Espanola, New Mexico for posting a large display that encourages voters to support republican candidates...

PHOENIX, September 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Statistically church-going Catholics are pro-life, and pro-family.  However, many nominal Catholics (in some parts of North America, the majority of Catholics) are non Church-going and thus tend to fall in with the general population in terms of adherence to life and family values.  However, an innovative media company is changing those statistics by airing a series of powerful commercials which have been shown to drive Catholics back to church in droves.   Catholics Come Home Inc., an independent, non-profit is the group behind the current TV advertising campaign that is contributing to thousands of...

Dutch police raided the home of Gregorius Nekschot (a pseudonym meaning "Gregory Deathblow"). Mr. Nekschot makes rude and often sexually explicit cartoons that poke fun at the multicultural society and at religious people, especially Muslims. The police confiscated his computer and a number of drawings. The cartoonist was also arrested and jailed for 36 hours but has been released until his court case is due. "Gregory Deathblow" — the first name refers to Pope Gregory IX who established Papal Inquisition — hides behind an alias.. made drawings for Mr. van Gogh's Web site until it ceased publication in 2004, after...

Religious right is deadBILL PRESS 26.DEC.07 No matter who becomes the next president of the United States, the American people have already won a great victory — with the total disintegration of the once all-powerful religious right. Starting in 1979 when Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, Christian conservatives have been the most powerful voting bloc in the Republican Party. Ironically, they began by casting out of the White House a born-again Christian who continued, as president, his lifelong practice of teaching Sunday school, and replacing him with a divorced and remarried man who seldom stepped inside a church. But...

As the election season proceeds apace, we can expect to see increasing attention to the influence of religious figures on the Republican leadership. It made the headlines when the chancellor of Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian school, endorsed Mitt Romney. Similarly, televangelist Pat Robertson’s endorsement of Rudy Giuliani was big news. Religious leaders are portrayed by the press as kingmakers in conservative politics. In contrast, we rarely hear about the links between nonbelievers and political power. The assumption is that nonbelievers are disorganized and relatively politically weak. Indeed, this is the explicit lament of some high-profile atheists. In a...

Green MartyrdomSeveral months ago I heard a provocative description of martyrdom from Fr. Robert Cook, President of the new Wyoming Catholic College. His idea was that martyrdom in the modern age is not necessarily one of bloody (red) martyrs who die violently for the Faith. Neither is it the daily, silent and sacrificial (white) martyrdom of humble believers. He says that modern martyrs will manifest their heroic courage economically; that is, we will be called to pay dearly for our principles, not necessarily at the cost of lives, but at the cost of dollars. This is “green” martyrdom, and it...

Tristan Emmanuel says secularists, like cockroaches, 'seem to thrive on filth' "I'm sure you've heard the saying: "You'll attract more bees with honey than with vinegar." The adage equates using honey with "being nice." And the point seems to be that if we are "nice" - if we are sweet - then we'll be able to win others over to our way of thinking. It sounds nice. But in a war it is totally useless. And frankly, foolish. Too many free-market traditionalists have tried to advance their agenda with this sappy strategy. The thinking - the unspoken hope of some...

Newsweek's Anna Quindlen recently wrote that a presidential victory for Rudy Giuliani "wouldn't be a good thing for this country, but his candidacy may wind up being a good thing for his party," which Quindlen obviously believes has been hijacked by the Christian right. Giuliani's strong poll numbers, said Quindlen, perhaps "indicate that the end is nigh for the stranglehold the Leviticus Lobby has had on the GOP." It's no longer surprising that those screaming most loudly against Christianity and its influence on public policy in America often employ the same tactics and represent the same dangers they falsely attribute...

An article in The Wall Street Journal (April 12) breathlessly informs us of the latest fad on the Incredible Shrinking Continent -- "As Religious Strife Grows, Europe's Atheists Seize Pulpit: Islam's Rise Gives Boost To Militant Unbelievers; The Celebrity Hedonist," the headline teases. The "Celebrity Hedonist," isn't geriatric frat-boy Hugh Hefner, but Michel Onfray, a 48-year-old author dubbed "France's high-priest of atheism" in the Journal piece. Reporter Andrew Higgins describes the doyen of disbelief -- commander of the faith-less -- strutting onto the stage of Caen's 500-seat Alexis de Tocqueville auditorium, dressed in black from head to toe, to deliver...

Two recent press releases from the Democratic National Committee reflect the party's continuous struggle to understand evangelicals in America. A March 30 press release entitled "DNC Offers Passover Greetings" included a joint statement by Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Vice Chair Susan Turnbull. The release was appropriate and timely and included their definition of the event, though it ignored the religious aspect. "On Monday night, Jews around the world will begin celebrating Passover, a week-long holiday that commemorates the Israelites' freedom from persecution and slavery." Then, a week later, the DNC celebrated Easter with another statement from Dean, including his...

Falwell, Dobson, and Robertson: the left’s favorite targets for pointing out the undeniable truth that Christians are both human and flawed. I thought about these three men when reading Howard Fineman’s piece on the Orlando conference of religious broadcasters. Mr. Fineman’s headline labels them the “Three Kingmakers”. Each of the men have had moments in their lives in which the glare of the spotlight has magnified their spoken words, causing the casual observer to wonder who these men think they are, and the committed left to have their worst fears confirmed, and even supporters to question the wisdom of their...