Free Republic

Atheists have long argued that atheism is not a religion as they deny the existence of God or any other form of deity. Atheists, starting with Madalyn Murray O’Hair, are the ones that led the efforts to remove the Bible, prayer and all aspects of Christianity out of the public schools, government buildings and property. Christians have long argued that atheism is a religion as it is a belief in no God and that by removing Christianity from schools established atheism as the official religion of the public school system. It is impossible to have a vacuum of religious belief...

There is a new case in the never ending war waged by homosexual activists on people of faith. From the Washington Post: "The state Bureau of Labor and Industries will investigate whether Sweet Cakes by Melissa violated a 2007 state law that protects the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people in employment, housing and public accommodations, The Oregonian...reported Wednesday. In her complaint, Rachel N. Cryer, 30, said she went to the Gresham bakery on Jan. 17 for an appointment to order the cake. She met with owner Aaron Klein, who asked for the date and names of the...

Once more we learn of military personnel being punished for causing homosexuals in the military to feel bad. From Fox News: An Army chaplain’s assistant said she was accused of creating a “hostile and antagonistic” environment after she posted a message on her personal Facebook page calling homosexuality a sin. The soldier, who asked not to be identified, said her commander ordered her to either remove the Facebook message or face a reduction in rank and pay. “I haven’t taken it down and I won’t take it down,” she told Fox News. “It is frustrating that people are trying to...

An atheist group that is known for targeting supposed violations of the separation between church and state recently protested a Holocaust memorial because the monument plans to feature a Star of David.The Freedom From Religion Foundation, or FFRF, has stated its opposition to the proposed Ohio Statehouse Holocaust memorial because its leaders believe that including the religious symbol would create "legal precedent."The co-presidents of the FFRF, Don Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, wrote a letter to Richard Finan, chair of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board about the proposed memorial, The Blaze reported.“Permitting one permanent sectarian and exclusionary religious...

Writer and scholar Reza Aslan was 15 years old when he found Jesus. His secular Muslim family had fled to the U.S. from Iran, and Aslan's conversion was, in a sense, an adolescent's attempt to fit into American life and culture. "My parents were certainly surprised," Aslan tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. As Aslan got older, he began his studies in the history of Christianity, and he started to lose faith. He came to the realization that Jesus of Nazareth was quite different from the Messiah he'd been introduced to at church. "I became very angry," he says. "I became...

Deandre Poole will return to Florida Atlantic University after being placed on administrative leave.Florida Atlantic University has reinstated an instructor who had students stomp on pieces of paper with "Jesus" written on them as part of a lesson. The school announced Friday that 32-year-old Deandre Poole would return to teach summer classes, as well as the next academic year. The Palm Beach Post reports that he will only teach online through the rest of 2013 because of safety concerns. Officials said in March that he would be placed on paid administrative leave for safety reasons and to prevent disruption of...

Via the Examiner and NRO, a few more credible, confidence-inspiring breadcrumbs from this morning’s Ways and Means hearing. It’s starting to make sense now why protesting Planned Parenthood might present a risk to your tax-exempt status, isn’t it?The second clip is of Miller saying that he did indeed ask his underlings who was targeting conservative groups, and they told him, but now he can’t remember the answer. Really. The disdain this guy harbors for the proceedings is palpable, but that’s probably in his best interest: The more antagonistic he is, the more liberal support he’ll have when the administration inevitably...

People like Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , and Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God Is Not Great (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) , et al, when attacking “religion”, play on various ambiguities. They create ambiguities in their choice of terms and then these ambiguities are convenient for them. The first instance of ambiguity is the use of the term “religion”. It puts together all sorts of people and doctrines which may have very little in common. To give an analogy, the flat earth theory is undoubtedly a theory of physics. It says something...

Monday morning, Congressmen Steve Scalise and John Fleming—both Republicans representing districts in Louisiana—sent a letter signed by 59 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon, demanding answers regarding Pentagon officials meeting with an anti-Christian extremist. This story began two weeks ago when Breitbart News reported on at least one such meeting. Since that time it has become a growing controversy, as Breitbart News reported additional disturbing details. Now Congress is weighing in. The Scalise-Fleming letter begins: It has come to our attention that as recently as April 23, 2013, Pentagon officials...

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”. The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. (From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military...

The United States Army has blocked the website of the Southern Baptist Convention from government computers, saying the Christian site contains "hostile content." An Army officer assigned to a U.S. base said he tried to access SBC.net from his government computer, but instead, he got a message that said the site was being blocked by "Team CONUS": Team CONUS protects the computer network of the Department of Defense. "So the Southern Baptist Convention is now considered hostile to the U.S. Army...it just corroborates the recent string of events highlighted by AFA," the officer wrote in an email to American Family...

A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned.

You will be shocked when you view American Life League’s latest video report. Directed toward adults only, the report Hooking Kids on Sex contains jolting, unedited pictures from Planned Parenthood’s community efforts to indoctrinate children and teens into a sick culture of sex. This report is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, a long-overdue wake up call. It provides the ammunition that concerned citizens need to get Planned Parenthood out of local schools and community organizations, and is an indispensable aid in defunding the predatory organization. The report drives home the fact that the abortion giant is...

A Florida Atlantic University student said he was punished after he refused a professor’s directive to stomp on a piece of paper with the word “Jesus” written on it. The university, meanwhile, is defending the assignment as a lesson in debate. “I’m not going to be sitting in a class having my religious rights desecrated,” student Ryan Rotela told television station WPEC. “I truly see this as I’m being punished.” Rotela, who is a devout Mormon, said the instructor in his Intercultural Communications class told the students to write the name “Jesus” on a sheet of paper. Then, they were...

In our increasingly politically-correct society, Christmas isn’t the only holiday too hot to handle for school districts. Easter, another holiday rooted in Christian faith, is now being marginalized by governmental entities. School districts and cities across America are holding “Spring egg hunts” and similar events, frequently omitting the word “Easter” from calendars and public announcements. Consider these: • On March 16th, Flat Rock Elementary School in Anderson, South Carolina is holding a “Community Egg Hunt.” • West Shore School District will be holding its “PTO Egg Hunt” on March 16th. • New York’s East Meadow Schools will be holding its...

If you think by abstaining from teaching about sex within a moral framework that Planned Parenthood is not teaching a definite belief system to children, think again. ETR Associates—a sex program clearinghouse and offshoot of Planned Parenthood of Santa Cruz—admits on its webpage that a program being taught in North Carolina schools and elsewhere across the nation teaches toward four major “outcome expectancies or behavioral beliefs.” Belief number 4 is described in the ETR overview as “Hedonistic Beliefs.” Hedonistic philosophy places pleasure above everything else—as the greatest good. For more than 13 years, North Carolina mandated that its schools teach...

Whoops. I'm sure the President just made a mistake and the words "under God" just happened to be missing in the pledge of allegiance. During the pledge of allegiance during the inauguration yesterday, the words "under God" were removed by the President. Introducing the President, Myrlie Evers-Williams read a flowery version of the pledge: “We now stand beneath the shadow of the nation’s capital, who’s golden dome reflects the unity and democracy of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all...” Of course this isn't the first time that the Democratic party has removed God from their speeches. During...

The American Humanist Association is promoting a new Web site that is designed to furnish children with a naturalistic or atheistic perspective on science, sexuality, and other topics. The stated goal of the Web site is laudatory: “to encourage curiosity, critical thinking, and tolerance among young people, as well as to provide accurate information regarding a wide range of issues related to humanism, science, culture, and history.” The problem is that those values have no inherent connection with naturalism, which is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that there is nothing beyond the physical contents of the universe. One doesn’t need...

The Navy directed service members serving in Bahrain to cancel and dismantle a “Live Nativity” after receiving a complaint from a military atheist group who said the manger scene endangered Americans serving in a Muslim country and violated the U .S. Constitution. The chaplain at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain confirmed to Fox News the nativity scene was cancelled – but referred any further comments to the NSA’s public information officer. The “Live Nativity” was a long-standing tradition at NSA Bahrain that featured the children of military personnel dressed as shepherds, wise men, along with Mary and Joseph. It was...

A cadet quitting West Point less than six months before graduation says he could no longer be part of a culture that promotes prayers and religious activities and disrespects nonreligious cadets. Blake Page announced his decision to quit the U.S. Military Academy this week, telling The Associated Press that he could not become an officer because of clinical depression played a role in his public protest against what he calls the unconstitutional prevalence of religion in the military. "I've been trying since I found that out: What can I do? What can I possibly do to initiate the change that...