Free Republic

Last spring, the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon of Tupelo, Miss., decided to hold a summit meeting of the Christian conservative movement. Mr. Wildmon felt the movement was losing the culture war, he recalled in an interview on Friday. Since plunging into political activism nearly 30 years ago, Christian conservatives had helped Republicans take control of Washington but did not have enough to show for it, Mr. Wildmon said. At the same time, the election of Republican politicians had drained some of the motivation out of its grass-roots constituents. So Mr. Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association and a crusader...

<p>An appalled friend sent in the quick solution to what happened at half-time during the Super Bowl: "The entire Jackson family should be launched into outer space." Since we can't do that (can we?), it falls to we earthlings to discern just what came to pass on Super Bowl Sunday. Another friend -- also young, urban and sophisticated -- found cause to be perplexed: "One feels like a bluenose complaining, but that's part of the problem. How did things reach this point, with strip-club sleaze part of mainstream youth culture?"</p>

<p>WASHINGTON -- Your driver's license soon may become a lot smarter, and a lot more worrisome.</p> <p>State motor vehicle agencies want Congress to standardize the license, share more driver data between states and mandate techniques such as biometrics to "uniquely identify" each of America's 228 million drivers.</p>

DALLAS - The hopes of the Rev. Billy Kim that the singing of his Korean Children's Choir might "soften the hearts" of Southern Baptist conservative leaders and lead them to change their minds about seceding from the Baptist World Alliance was only partially realized this week. Kim, president of the international Baptist group, said the children's host at a reception Monday in Fort Worth was Dorothy Patterson, wife of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson. Patterson is one of the conservative leaders who advocates withdrawal from the Baptist World Alliance. "My staff told me that Mrs. Patterson was moved...

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...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of the world's leading cardinals and rabbis vowed on Tuesday to stand up to a rise of anti-Semitism in Europe at what participants called the highest level talks in the troubled history of Catholics and Jews. A dozen cardinals, six chief rabbis and a contingent of Europeans, Americans and Israelis said they identified ways to boost religious understanding just days after the pope had a ceremonial meeting with Israel's two chief rabbis in Rome. "The participants expressed consternation at continuing expressions of hatred in the world, and noted with concern the recent rise of anti-Semitic...

ROME, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The two Chief Rabbis of Israel, Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar, met today with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican to discuss the need for the world's religious leaders to help stem a rising tide of anti- Semitism and terror throughout the world and to continue to decry attacks on the very sanctity of life. It was the first time both chief rabbis met together with His Holiness. Both Rabbis called the 30-minute talk with the Pope "historic" and productive. The meeting was arranged by the Vatican's Ambassador to Jerusalem Henazio Puerto Sambi amid...

In his final "Sermon By the Sea" given in 1959 at Asilomar, California, Ernest Holmes shared with us his vision of the outcome of global well-being, the human species and Earth transformed by the consciousness that he had articulated as Science of Mind. His Sermon is a prescription for planetary resurrection, a prophetic, millennial assertion of the role of Religious Science in bringing about the world's rebirth: [Science of Mind] is the most direct impartation of Divine Wisdom that has ever come to the world, because it incorporates the precepts of Jesus, and Emerson, and Buddha, and all the rest...

Dutch Protestant Churches Agree to Merge Fri Dec 12, 1:42 PM ET By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Three Dutch Protestant churches formally agreed Friday to put aside their ideological differences and merge, the culmination of a process that began more than 40 years ago. The Dutch Reformed Church, the Calvinist Reformist Church, and the small Lutheran Church will unite to form the Protestant Church of the Netherlands, together representing about 2.2 million churchgoers — or about 14 percent of the population. In much of the country, the churches already have been merged in practice for some...

Preaching abundant living The Rev. Della Reese Lett teaches lessons of material success and personal empowerment in her own church. Della Reese, who played a down-to-earth heavenly being on "Touched by an Angel" isn't acting as she stands in front of a congregation on Sundays in West Hollywood. She's preaching — in her own church. And her message has no mention of sin, no mention of good and evil and no endorsement of sacrifice if it means doing without. She talks about abundant living, not in the hereafter but in the here and now.

<p>Canada's two largest conservative parties have agreed to merge as a way to halt the vote-splitting that has helped deny them power in Ottawa for a decade.</p> <p>Members of the Progressive Conservative Party voted 90 percent in favor of the merger with the larger Canadian Alliance on Saturday, a day after the Alliance backed the move by 96 percent.</p>

Ottawa -- The Progressive Conservative party approved a merger with the Canadian Alliance on Saturday, clearing the final hurdle in a marathon effort to unite the right. Tory delegates voted 90 per cent in favour of merging with the Alliance to form a new Conservative Party of Canada in time to challenge the powerful Liberals in an expected spring election. “With this overwhelming vote, we have just become (Liberal Leader) Paul Martin’s worst nightmare,” said a jubilant Peter MacKay, the Tory leader. “Finally, after 10 years, the Liberal Party of Canada will be facing a united, strong conservative family in...

<p>TORONTO — Canada's fractured right soon might be united after years of bitter infighting, party revolts and failed bids to stave off successive Liberal governments.</p> <p>Members of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party are voting this week on whether to ratify a deal that would see it merge with the larger Canadian Alliance to form an organization simply called the Conservative Party.</p>

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, 17 October 2003 &#8212; Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday called on Muslims the world over to unite in the face of an attack orchestrated by Jews. He told a summit of Islamic leaders that &#8220;Jews rule the world by proxy&#8221; and the world&#8217;s 1.3 billion Muslims should use nonviolent means for a &#8220;final victory.&#8221; Mahathir criticized the Jewish domination of the world and the Muslim nation&#8217;s inability to adequately respond to it as he opened the meeting of Islamic leaders from 57 nations. &#8220;The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews...

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia -- In a blistering attack on Israel and hectoring criticism of the Islamic world, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a summit of Muslim leaders Thursday that Jews ruled the world and recruited others "to fight and die for them." "The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy," Mahathir, a widely respected statesman in Asia and the developing world, said in a speech as he became chairman of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference."They get others to fight and die for them," he said.The speech drew...

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday told a summit of Islamic leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims should unite, using nonviolent means for a "final victory." His speech at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, which he was hosting, drew criticism from Jewish leaders, who warned it could spark more violence against Jews. Mahathir, who is known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric, criticized what he described as Jewish domination of the world and Muslim nations' inability to adequately respond to it as he opened the meeting of...

Historic indeed. Canada's possible return to a functional two-party political system after a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party -- if it actually happens --has huge implications. The possibility that the government in Ottawa could really change hands in the next election, will not only wipe the smirks off the faces of Liberal organizers from St. John's to Vancouver, but will have the effect of awakening the country to a meaningful debate about ideas and policies. It will suddenly matter what Liberal politicians say because they will now be held accountable. They can actually be beaten!...

OTTAWA - A deal to unite the country's two federal right-wing parties is very close, Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said on Wednesday. INDEPTH: Uniting the Right Stephen Harper "I do think that we are approaching something that's very historic," Harper said. "It's not often that the political landscape is altered in a big way so quickly, but I think we're very close to doing that." The Progressive Conservative caucus held a conference call on Wednesday morning and were told a deal was in the works. Tory Leader Peter MacKay discussed the issue with Harper on Tuesday and they reportedly made...

Williams reignites row over gay bishop Jamie Doward, social affairs editor Sunday October 12, 2003 The Observer Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is set to reignite the ferocious row surrounding the appointment of an openly gay man as an Anglican bishop in the United States - by arguing that it defies the Church's established position. Williams is expected to tell Church leaders meeting in London on the divisive issue that the impending consecration of Canon Gene Robinson - an openly gay man with a long-term partner - as Bishop of New Hampshire is in breach of the Church's position...

London (CNSNews.com) - Any possible union between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches has run into serious problems, Pope John Paul II told the Archbishop of Canterbury at a personal audience over the weekend. "As we give thanks for the progress that has already been made, we must also recognize that new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity," the Pope told Archbishop Rowan Williams. "These difficulties are not all of a merely disciplinary nature; some extend to essential matters of faith and morals," the pope said. Tensions between the two denominations were raised in 1992 when...