Free Republic

AMERICAN CHURCH OFFICIALS pleaded for forgiveness for the sins of the United States last week--from the Iraq War, to Bush's rejection of the Kyoto Accord, to the racism exposed by Hurricane Katrina, to economic exploitation, and for the more general American sin of idolatry. The clerics were representing 34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in America at the Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Our leaders turned a deaf ear to the voices of church leaders throughout our nation and the world, entering into imperial projects that seek to dominate and control for the...

Forces Reshaping Christianity Around World By BRIAN MURPHY ASSOCIATED PRESS The forces reshaping Christianity come with many names. In Nigeria, the Mountain of Fire and Miracles congregation holds huge all-night revivals. Across Asia, the True Jesus Church preaches biblical interpretations that include shunning Christmas as a pagan-tainted holiday. In Brazil, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God says rewards - spiritual and material - may await those who give to its fast-expanding empire. Such ways of worship that challenge the dominance of Christianity's mainline denominations on every continent will be high on the agenda this week as envoys from...

An Egyptian historian claimed on Saudi television that the United States helped carry out a Vatican plot to destroy Islam by orchestrating the 9-11 attacks -- on "assignment" by the World Council of Churches. Professor Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz told Saudi Iqra TV in a May 26 interview that the decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which posted a clip of the program.http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=708 Abd Al-Aziz claimed the Vatican's decision to "Christianize the world" included a plan, first, to "absolve the Jews...

Liberals in recent days have begun to assert their moral superiority over conservatives on various social issues. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, for instance, ran an editorial urging people to realize that the "state budget is a moral document." In a post-election appearance at Tufts University, Hillary Clinton said "No one can read the New Testament of our Bible without recognizing that Jesus had a lot more to say about how we treat the poor than most of the issues that were talked about in this election." It's all in the spirit of alluring "religious" voters. In the third presidential...