Free Republic

Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended. What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers. The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up,...

PFC Brendan Schweigart was helping to retrieve a tank in Iraq when he felt as if he had been hit with a sledge hammer. It was deadly fire from an enemy sniper. But this day called up a miracle for the young soldier who believes in God and the teachings of the Bible. According to a report by NBC affiliate WGRZ, the bullet missed Schweigart's vital organs because over his heart was a Bible. Scott says it's the one he got at boot camp. The Bible acted as a shield, that trapped the bullet. He had promised his mother that...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Everything from detergent to computer discs is packaged with the Sunday newspaper. So why not Bibles? A Christian ministry wants to deliver custom-designed New Testaments to newspaper subscribers around the country as part of an effort to find innovative ways to spread a Christian message. But even in the Bible Belt, not everyone thinks that's a good idea. International Bible Society-Send the Light is planning on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to distribute Bibles with 11 newspapers during 2007 and 2008. New Testaments would be packaged in pouches on the outside of newspapers, much...

All praise to the Father for His provision and protection. The China missions trip went well and seeds were sown far and wide. Below are three notes from team members. The first two are from my sons, Caleb and Christian and the last is from this years team leader. There are many stories I could share and will be happy to do so as we speak face to face. I have heard numerous stories of Yah's faithfulness in answering specific prayers that were lifted up in the States at the exact moment they were needed most. Friends waking up in...

Mary Harwell Sayler   Other Articles by Mary Harwell SaylerPrinter Friendly Version   Glimpsing Words, Practices, or Beliefs Unique to Catholicism April 10, 2007 Question: Are there specific Catholic beliefs in the books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, the last six chapters of Esther and three passages of Daniel 3:24-90; 13; 14) that Protestant Bibles don't contain? Maybe that's why non-Catholics ask "where is that in the Bible?" because it's not in theirs?Discussion: Yes, deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament of Catholic Bibles contain some passages that influence various practices or beliefs. However, early Christians and...

Unmasking the Divine on Purim.Nineteen years ago, during my first month living in Israel, I was riding a bus up Jerusalem's main thoroughfare, Jaffa Road. The bus stopped for a red light, and I gazed out the window. I saw an elderly, overweight woman trudging up the hill, schlepping many large bags. A beggar was sitting on the pavement, his hand outstretched. The old woman stopped, set her bags down, one at a time, on the sidewalk, rummaged through her purse, took out her wallet, and handed a coin to the beggar. At that point, the light changed and my...

ST. LOUIS - A federal judge ordered a small-town school to suspend a program that gives free Bibles to students, saying it improperly promotes Christianity. U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry also scolded school officials for continuing the program after warnings that it violated the Constitution. South Iron Elementary in Annapolis, a town of 300 in southeastern Missouri, has quietly allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to fifth-graders for years. After concerns were raised last year, the then-superintendent consulted with the district's attorneys and insurance company and recommended that the handouts stop, but the school board voted to continue...

Back in the saddle again The Pony Express returns to Wyoming By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle When Stanley Bean led Apache into a gallop, the pair came close to making the 21st century disappear. Cars and the semi-trailers that sped past them on U.S. Highway 26 near Torrington took a back seat to the rhythmic thud when Apache's hooves sank into the damp grass alongside the road. Bean, 59, has worked in ranching for 40 years. He lives in Riverton and was one of the riders in this year's Pony Express re-ride. On a hazy Tuesday...

Archaic Words in the NIVAdapted from, Archaic Words in the NIV by Dr. Laurence M. Vance featured at Dial the-Truth Ministries Website   NIV BIBLE VERSE AV abasement Ezra 9:5 heaviness abashed Is 24:23 confounded abutted Ezek 40:18 over against acclamation 2 Chr 15:14 voice aghast Is 13:8 amazed alcove Ezek 40:13 little chamber annotations 2 Chr 13:22 story armless Num 31:50 chains bewilderment Acts 2:6 confounded blunted Ps 58:7 cut in pieces blustering Job 8:2 strong breakers Ps 93:4 waves brooches Ex 35:22 bracelets brood Is 57:4 children burnished Dan 10:6 polished carnelian Rev 4:3 sardine charioteers I...

THE Howard Government says it wants another 600 spies, but it sure won't be hiring people as dumb as you. Reckon I've sold your brains short? Then sit this quick test, Sherlock, which I've drawn up using real cases from the past month. Which two of the following three things are so obviously dangerous that they've just been banned? And which one was this week declared safe for distribution? Exhibit A: Free Bibles placed by Gideons International in the bedside cupboards of public hospitals. Exhibit B: A jokey TV commercial in which Wogs Out of Work's George Kapiniaris complains about...

Meet Randy Brinson, the advance guard of evangelicals leaving the GOP. -snip- The newly converted are the most zealous, sharing the good news with gusto to any and all comers. Every few days, Randy Brinson calls me with another revelation. Republicans? “The power structure in the Republican Party is too entrenched with big business. It's not with evangelicals—they're a means to an end.” The Christian Right? “They just want to keep the culture war going because it raises a lot of money for them.” Abramoff? “Evangelicals were being used as pawns to promote a big money agenda.” His fellow evangelicals?...

A British airline banned its staff from taking Bibles and wearing crucifixes or St. Christopher medals on flights to Saudi Arabia to avoid offending the country's Muslims. British Midland International also has told female flight attendants they must walk two paces behind male colleagues and cover themselves from head to foot in a headscarf and robe known as an abaya, the Mirror newspaper of London reported. Teddy bears or other cuddly toys also are not allowed. Airline officials, who have sparked outrage, the paper says, explain the Islamic kingdom's strict laws – enforced by religious police – prohibit public practice...

In order not to offend the religion of peace and tolerance, an airline that flies to Saudi Arabia is banning Bibles, crucifixes, and teddy bears. Women also have to walk two paces behind their male colleagues and cover themselves from head to toe. It’s interesting how Islam is always given a pass when they degrade women and are intolerant of other religions. A British airline banned its staff from taking Bibles and wearing crucifixes or St. Christopher medals on flights to Saudi Arabia to avoid offending the country’s Muslims. British Midland International also has told female flight attendants they must...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A group of atheists at the University of Texas at San Antonio was asking students to exchange bibles for porn magazines Wednesday and that has made some religious leaders angry, according to a report by San Antonio TV station WOAI-TV. At a Wednesday night church service, The Bible is the bond between believers, but on the University of Texas at San Antonio campus a group of students were calling scripture - smut. “We consider The Bible to be a very negative force in the history of the world,” student Ryan Walker told WOAI-TV. He is part...

Religious persecution in China has reached the point that distributing Bibles is earning a three-year prison sentence. Cai Zhuohua, 34, a Beijing underground church leader, was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for distributing Bibles and other Christian materials. His wife, Xiao Yunfei, got two years, and her brother Xiao Gaowen was sentenced to 18 months by the Haidian Lower People's Court in Beijing. They were arrested September 2004, said the China Aid Association of Midland, Texas. They were accused of distributing 200,000 Bibles and other materials as part of an unregistered house church Mr. Cai oversaw for 10...

Two Gideons International representatives were in the Robert S. Payne Elementary School cafeteria Friday alongside a table of small red Bibles. The two men had permission to be there from Lynchburg City Schools. Superintendent Paul McKendrick said city school policy requires students to give the Gideons representative a form signed by a parent before they can accept a Bible. Gideons representatives were scheduled to visit fifth-graders at Payne, Heritage, Sandusky and Perrymont elementary schools Friday, according to a school activity and events calendar posted on the Lynchburg City Schools Web site. The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union...

EDINBURGH University is set to ban Bibles from its student halls of residence amid concern that the Holy Book is “discriminatory” and makes students of other faiths feel unwelcome. The move is the result of protests from the students’ association and is being considered in an effort to pursue a policy of “evenly supporting all faiths”, a university spokesman said yesterday. A Gideon Bible is traditionally placed in every new student’s room at the start of the academic year and there are currently around 2,000 Bibles in the Pollock Halls campus on the edge of Holyrood Park. Their distribution is...

Prisoners in Zimbabwe's main remand prison are forced to use pages from the Bible as toilet paper, an opposition lawmaker said on Friday. Opposition lawmaker Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga made the remarks following a trip she made to Harare Remand Prison with other members of a parliamentary committee. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker confirmed press reports that inmates at the notorious holding cells are forced to tear out pages from Bibles inside their cells to use as a substitute for toilet paper. "Prisoners sometimes use blankets to clean themselves. But that's the level of desperation. The Bible is the only...

Hospital bosses in Britain are considering moving Bibles from patients’ bedsides because of concerns about offending non-Christians and spreading the superbug MRSA, it emerged today. They will meet tomorrow to discuss whether the tradition of placing copies of the Bible in people's bedside lockers should continue at Leicester’s three main hospitals. The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is worried that the Gideons testaments could offend people from other faith groups who are receiving treatment. At the same time, the Trust wants to consult on whether the publications could increase the risk of spreading MRSA if they become contaminated with...

In the last week, Joseph Brant lost his apartment, walked by scores of dead in the streets, traversed pools of toxic water and endured an arduous journey to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in his hometown New Orleans... Gerald Greenwood, 55, collected a free Bible earlier in the morning, but sat watching a science fiction television program above the stands in an enclosed stadium once home to Houston's baseball and football teams. "This is the work of Satan right here," he said of the floods. The Bible was one of the few books many of the refugees had among...