Free Republic

Parents of a sixth-grader at a public charter school in North Las Vegas want an apology after they say a teacher barred their daughter from using a Bible verse in an assignment. Nonprofit legal group Liberty Institute, representing Tim and Kate Frasier, sent a letter Wednesday containing their demand for the apology to the Somerset Academy's Losee campus. The Fraisers said their daughter Mackenzie was told she couldn't use the Bible verse John 3:16 for a technology class assignment called "All About Me" that involved creating a PowerPoint presentation and including an inspirational saying on a slide.

In the tradition of charlatans like Ahmed Deedat and Zakir Naik, Yusuf Ismail is convinced that he can be as inaccurate as he likes, because most of the people listening to him won't bother examining what he says (so long as he sounds confident when he speaks). This tactic is based on numbers. If 400 people are watching a debate, and a Muslim debater completely distorts the facts while sounding like he knows what he's talking about, how many in the audience will take the time to research his claims? One or two? And if one or two do the...

I recently attended a service that might help solve the riddle of the fantastic decline of American Christianity. It was a different church from the one I normally go to. Let me set the scene, perhaps it will sound familiar: I walked in and immediately realized that IÂ’d inadvertently stumbled upon a totally relaxed, convenient, comfortable brand of church. The first hint was the choir members dressed in shorts and flip flops. Sweet, bro. So chill. There were a bunch of acoustic guitars and drums and tambourines and a keyboard. Before the service/concert began, some guy came out to rev...

Maybe someone can explain this. Making sense of this can't be easy. The question is whether or not it can be done and even greater, whether it should. How did society come to a point in which a person can sue for forced abortions on minority children and be lauded as an advocate? Isn't this something that anyone on the most basic of levels, and I'm talking real basic over here, should find loathsome and disgusting? At the same time, a person who says that the life of a potential or developing baby is worth more than that of a...

Pope Francis met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday, calling him “an angel of peace,” days after the Vatican said it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine to the anger of Israel. Abbas met the pontiff for about 20 minutes for a private audience, a meeting that comes a day before the pope is due to canonise two Palestinian nuns, who will become the first Palestinian Arabs to gain sainthood.

All it took was one act of kindness – a Bible in particular, to turn the tide for eight year old Phoenix and her brother, seven year old Kingston Walywyn, who were being bullied by a kid from their bus. Like most kids, they were getting frustrated. According to Phoenix, the bully constantly called them names and this made them want to confront him at times. "It made me feel like I wanted to yell at him," Phoenix said in an interview with KHOU. Instead, the siblings told their parents, who asked to have the bus seating arrangement changed....

<p>VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects.</p> <p>The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.</p>

A stolen Bible with two $1,000 savings bonds issued to a 90-year-old Carver County man who was murdered led police to arrest two suspects in his death. Earl Olander was found beaten and robbed inside his home on the 16000 block of Homestead Road back on April 11. Police say his hands and ankles were bound with duct tape and that he was found lying face-down on the floor of his living room. According to the criminal complaint, Olander had multiple injuries to his head, face and body. Police also say his entire home was ransacked, with drawers pulled out...

These must be very troubling and frustrating times for you, homophobes. A majority of Americans now support marriage equality, and face it, if it’s not fully recognized where you live yet, it will be and soon. A majority of us also support gay political candidates, and we seem to be able to watch gay people on television and movies and listen to them as we drive around in post breakup sadness without the fabric of society crumbling — probably because if you look across the population, it’s composed entirely of people who either are LGBT or who know someone who...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said that after a new Israeli government has been sworn in he will investigate whether there are "realistic options" for a return to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Reuters reports. "Once a new government has been sworn in, the Secretary-General will explore with Prime Minister Netanyahu realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations on a two state solution," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, after Netanyahu was able to clinch a deal to form a coalition hours before a deadline. Dujarric also said Ban was "deeply concerned by recent...

Wanted: A Teaching Church from Daniel Hyde May 06, 2015 Category: Articles The Bible is the Word of God. All Bible-believing evangelical churches affirm this. In historic Protestantism, there is a theology of the Word that not only professes sola Scriptura but also professes the sufficiency of Scripture for all things concerning doctrine, worship, and godliness. What the church of the twenty-first century needs to be is a teaching church that plainly and powerfully proclaims the Word of God. Then the church will be equipped to fulfill its task in the world to worship and to witness to that world.As the “pillar...

Question: A friend of mine has been reading the Left Behind books that have all of this stuff about the “Rapture” in them. Is there really going to be a “Rapture” like these books talk about?   Answer: No.The “Rapture” refers to a passage in First Thessalonians 4, where Christians are “caught up” in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Many Christians believe, and the Left Behind books promote, that this being “caught up” to meet the Lord will occur before the Great Tribulation sometime in the near future. Christians will simply vanish, meet Jesus somewhere in the...

Men and women think and act differently, and now that’s a government-approved fact. The National Institutes of Mental Health, a federal agency with a budget of just under $1.5 billion, paid for a study to determine if men’s brains and women’s brains are wired differently. They might well have also studied whether men can give birth, or women can father children. This study, while good for the researchers who got to look at nearly 1,000 brain scans of men and women, and write scholarly papers based on their observations, contributed to the sum total of human knowledge in this way:...

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Former US president Jimmy Carter on Saturday urged Palestinians to hold elections to end the de facto division of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Islamist-run Gaza Strip. He was speaking at a joint news conference with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the Palestinian political capital Ramallah in the West Bank. "We hope that sometime we'll see elections all over the Palestinian area and east Jerusalem and Gaza and also in the West Bank," said Carter, a member of the independent Elders Group of global leaders. No election has been held in the occupied territories...

US Secretary of State John Kerry has given his first interview to Israeli media since spearheading the controversial framework deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Speaking to Channel 10, Kerry sought to bypass Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's stern opposition to the deal by appealing directly to the Israeli people. Kerry sought repeatedly to reassure Israelis that despite the criticism from Netanyahu and many others, any deal with Iran would be watertight. "I say this again - we will not sign a deal that does not close off Iran's pathways to a bomb and that doesn't give us the confidence...

FUN THINGS TO NOTE FROM THE BIBLE: Remember what Jesus said: 'He will put His sheep on His right and the goats on His left.' (Matthew 25:33). Jesus also told Peter that if he wanted to catch fish do it from the right side of the boat. They did and filled the boat with fish. John 21:6 (NIV) ... He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish." Origin of Left & Right... I...

Almost all of the declared and undeclared Republican candidates for 2016 could be found this weekend at one of two events, or both. The first was organized by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, and held in Point of Grace Church in Waukee. Dominated by Evangelical Christians, who were 60 percent of Republican caucus-goers in 2008 and 2012, the Point of Grace Church event drew no fewer than nine Republican hopefuls. Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, past winners of the Iowa caucuses, were there. So, too, were Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Scott Walter. Cruz and Walker are...

Former Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann stated that President Barack Obama’s handling of the Iranian nuclear deal is a symbol of the coming of the end of times and the “imminent” return of Jesus Christ, during a recent radio interview. Bachmann explained that if Obama and the United States turn their back on Israel, this would bring severe “curses” upon the United States, similar to those seen in the end of days. But, Bachmann is not afraid of the end of days, rather she says that “these are the most exciting days in history” because nothing is more important than the...

The Heavenly Elements of the LiturgyBy: Msgr. Charles PopeIn November, Catholics are encouraged to meditate on the “Last Things.” As you know, I write quite often on Hell. But I have written on Heaven, too. In this post I propose simply to set forth how much of our liturgy is a kind of dress rehearsal for Heaven.Indeed, Catholics are often unaware just how biblical the Sacred Liturgy is. The design of our traditional churches; the use of candles, incense, and golden vessels; the postures of standing and kneeling; the altar; the singing of hymns; priests wearing albs and so forth are...

After having written about Prince of Egypt several readers told me I should also watch Joseph: King of Dreams. I did and, I have to say, you all were right. Like Prince of Egypt, Joseph: King of Dreams is a must-watch because it touches on some very important things about our relationship with God: [VIDEO] Like Prince of Egypt, Joseph: King of Dreams is a must-watch because it touches on some very important things about our relationship with God: [VIDEO] 2. God guides us, but it’s up to us to act. Joseph used every opportunity he got to improve his...