Free Republic

As more details of ex-Judge Richard Baumgartner's behavior while in the grip of prescription drug addition come to light, more disturbing questions arise. The public needs answers. A News Sentinel investigative report published one week ago revealed the disgraced Criminal Court judge allegedly shook down court employees for painkillers and intimidated a court security officer into becoming one of his pill suppliers, and that the Knox County Sheriff's Office had at least three chances to uncover his misdeeds. Baumgartner's fall has thrown the criminal justice system in Knox County into disarray. The four defendants in the gruesome Christian/Newsom killings will...

Mexico's epidemic of violence first erupted in 2006, according to most accounts. But an ex-Muslim from India, who serves as a Christian pastor along the Texas-Mexican border, believes the problem began much earlier, with human sacrifice, witches, and the adoration of death in ancient Aztec days. (SNIP) "A large majority of the Valley's population is Catholic, but the Catholicism here is mixed up with ancient pagan rites, witchcraft, false religions like Santeria, Voodoo, Palo Mayombe, and other demonic cults, and the worship of false saints like 'Saint' Death and Jesus Malverde," Elijah said. "Basically, it all adds up to Satan...

In September 2011, I traveled to Lebanon with members of my church to attend a Christian Conference there in Beirut. During that trip I had the opportunity to travel throughout the country visiting the ancient cities of Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon. I also had the chance to visit the city of Zahle, which is the largest, all Christian city in the Middle East. Zahle sits on the western slope of the infamous Bekaa Valley where many large battles in the Lebanese Civil War were fought. Today, it is a fertile region known for its great wineries. In Zahle, I had...

SNIP The 59-year-old unmarried vicar had arrived last July at the parish of St Mary’s in the quiet medieval market town of Thornbury in south Gloucestershire. It was to be, the former barrister had said, a “retirement posting”, closer to his extended family in Dorset than his previous incumbency in Essex. But that didn’t mean he was cutting any corners in his ministry. In a sermon last October, Mr Suddards spoke of what he called “his Christian duty” to open the door of his vicarage to all vulnerable strangers and offer them shelter and support. “It’s a bit risky,” he...

CRANSTON, Rhode Island (Reuters) - A Rhode Island school board voted on Thursday to comply with a federal court order to remove a prayer banner that has been displayed in a public high school for nearly a half century, saying the cash-strapped district cannot face a costly appeal.

As the saying goes, “Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are.” Who are the bedfellows of the ELCA? In a past blog, Exposing the ELCA revealed the close ties and similar ideologies the ELCA has with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Now we find that the ELCA is also very close with an organization called the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Court of secrecy: How Richard Baumgartner, a drug-addicted judge, stayed on the bench despite warningsIt was a Thursday night in January 2010 when the phone rang at the Andersonville home of then-Knox County Sheriff's Office courtroom security officer Meredith Driskell. "He said, 'I'm coming to get those pills.' He told me to put them in a brown paper bag. I told him no ... but he told me I was going to," she recalled when contacted by the News Sentinel. "So, I put them in a brown paper bag and handed it to him, my husband, who hadn't been in...

The pro-life movement has long argued the inextricable link between the right to life and the other two rights affirmed in our Declaration of Independence.  There is a reason, we have argued, the Founding Fathers intentionally wed “life� to “liberty� and “the pursuit of happiness.�  The “unalienable rights� of the Declaration are derived from our being “created equal� by a “Creator� who “endowed� us with “certain unalienable rights.� Without the first of these rights, there is no basis for the second and third.  Our liberty as Americans is based upon our identity as human persons.  We have been given...

It is a rare moment indeed when faith denominations of all stripes unite together in common cause, and it is rarer still when that cause is a political one, with a sole piece of legislation as its principal target. But when that law eviscerates the very foundation of religious liberty in America as protected under the First Amendment, it should not be surprising that Catholics and Jews, evangelical Christians, and mainline Lutherans alike find common cause in defense of their liberties.Such is the case with the firestorm of opposition to Obamacare and the Obama Administration’s attack on religious liberty. Under...

Richard C. McCarty, Vanderbilt provost and vice chancellor (Vanderbilt University) Since the Supreme Court’s sharply divided and startlingly wrongheaded decision two years ago in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, those concerned about religious liberty on campus have known that the fallout was on its way. At Vanderbilt University, it has arrived — and it’s as bad as anticipated.In Martinez, the Court determined that public institutions like the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law could require all student groups — even those based on shared belief, such as religious and political organizations — to admit members and even leaders...

February 6, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lisa Miller, an ex-lesbian who made national headlines during her battle to protect her daughter from a custody transfer to her former sex partner, is now telling the story of her struggle through a book by one of her attorneys, Rina Lindevaldsen. “Only One Mommy: A Woman’s Battle for Her Life, Her Daughter, and Her Freedom” (New Revolution Publishers, 2011), gives readers new insights into Miller’s inspiring odyssey from abused and neglected child, through the horrors of sexual and chemical addictions, to redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. Miller’s final act of bravery was her...

A couple from Texas who moved to a violence-plagued area of northern Mexico to run a Baptist church were found murdered on Tuesday in their ransacked home, relatives said. John and Wanda Casias, originally from Amarillo, Texas, moved to an area outside of Monterrey, Mexico, in the late 1970s or early 1980s to make it their home. Valerie Alirez, the eldest child of John Casias, said one of her brothers found her father and stepmother dead on Tuesday in their home in Santiago, Nuevo Leon. John Casias, 76, was a Baptist preacher and the couple ran the First Fundamentalist Independent...

I am a born again Christian. I am protestant, but am not attached to any particular church or denomination at this time, though I have been in times past. I am committed to Christ, but am imperfect in areas of commitment, yet I glory in my Risen Savior. As regards voting for any particular individual for POTUS, my view is to vote for the individual who, in my estimation, would do the least harm to my freedoms as granted by God and enumerated in our founding documents. Having lived through numerous presidencies, I have observed this; no man governs perfectly,...

A prominent Orthodox rabbi in Toronto has condemned the latest book by celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and pronounced it is “forbidden” for anyone to buy or read it.In an open letter published on the Jewish news website The Algemeiner, Rabbi Immanuel Schochet denounced Boteach’s newest book, “Kosher Jesus,” as “heretical.”The book “poses a tremendous risk to the Jewish community,” wrote Schochet, an emeritus professor of philosophy and religion at Toronto’s Humber College and spiritual leader of the city’s Congregation Beth Joseph.“I have never read a book, let alone one authored by a purported frum (religious) Jew, that does more to...

This is an encouragement to all my "Freepers" keeping the faith and hanging on. Breaking down how we must be the change , we can't wait on government

GOING INTO MATTHEW THE 20TH CHAPTER , TO SEE IF WERE ENTITLED MORE THAN THE NEXT IN THIS TRUTH ? IS MY GIFT GREATER THAN YOURS ??? OR VICE VERSA ??? LET'S FIND OUT , THUS SAITH CHRIST NOT ME !

The following petition requires 25,000 signatures by February 27, 2012. Even if you support this bill and are not catholic, please sign the petition. Note - a White House account is needed to sign the petition. we petition the obama administration to: Rescind the HHS Dept. Mandate Requiring Catholic Employers to Provide Contraceptives/Abortifacients to Their Employees The present Administration, through the Health and Human Services Department, is mandating that all employer healthcare insurance plans provide coverage for procedures which violate the beliefs of the Catholic Church, and Catholic institutions.Basically, the new rules require the Catholic Church, and the institutions operating...

Hello, Right now there is a huge debate about whether the United States is or is not a Christian nation. But what makes a nation a Christian nation? I'm working on a presentation and was looking for some ideas of what would characterize a truly genuine Christian nation and the society it created? What would the domestic and foreign policy be like? What would the people be like? How would they think? I look forward to any ideas you might have. Michael Peabody, Editor ReligiousLiberty.TV

A judge in Detroit has ruled that the decision by police in neighboring Dearborn to arrest a Christian pastor who wanted to hand out Christian tracts at the city’s Arab fest in 2009 will cost the city some $100,000... Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen said his recommendation for fees and costs totaling $103,401.96 be awarded in the case that was handled by attorney Robert J. Muise. Whalen said Saieg and his Arabic Christian Perspective organization sued Dearborn and its police chief, Ron Hadda, because after distributing Christian information at the event for several years, he was told police would arrest...

On the surface, it’s another attack on a Coptic Christian village by a Muslim mob, this time 3,000 of them, burning homes and shops to the ground and looting where they could on January 28th. The violence started after a rumor was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police for his protection. But, as Wendy Wright of Christian Freedom International (CFI), can explain, beneath the story is an even greater concern—a systemic case of Christian persecution that is growing...

The conversion testimony of Kevin McGrane, elder of Bury St Edmunds Presbyterian church. I was raised in a Roman Catholic family, my father having been born in Dublin of Roman Catholic ancestry. Baptism, Confession, Holy Communion and Confirmation followed in regular course. After junior education under Ursuline nuns, I moved to a boys' grammar school established by Jesuits. The education was of a high standard (four years of Greek being particularly useful later). However, no student could take an 'O' Level in Religion as every examination board required study of the Bible, which was not permitted. Instead, we were fed...

A pagan mother's challenge to the distribution of donated Bibles at a local school has prompted the Buncombe County Board of Education to reevaluate its policies regarding religious texts. Ginger Strivelli, who practices Witchcraft, a form of Paganism, said she was upset when her 12-year-old son came home from North Windy Ridge intermediate school with a Bible. The Gideons International had delivered several boxes of the sacred books to the school office. The staff allowed interested students to stop by and pick them up. Schools should not be giving out one religion's materials and not others," Strivelli said. According to...

madrasa in Pakistan  Like other boys in his Pashtun tribe along the Pakistan-Afghan border, he was sent to a madrasa at age four, where he was compelled to read, recite and memorize the Koran.“The children mimic or copy the mullah, who is very heavy-handed. You have to memorize out of fear,” says John Taimoor, founder of The Crossbearers, a ministry devoted to presenting biblical Christianity within an Islamic context.By age 14 he was reading Shakespeare and searching for heroes, when he stumbled across the name ‘Isa,’ the Arabic name for Jesus in the Koran. “I read the name of Jesus...

I saw two of my daughters being raped in front of me,” an old lady from Essa Nagri told The News ... Forcible conversions Within the past three months, nine women have been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. MPA Javed adds that the purpose is not to gain good deeds, but to sell them. A majority of the Christian girls converted are married, he says. According to reports he received from different areas of the city, the abducted women are later sold to feudal lords in Sindh and Punjab. Citing a recent example, Javed says that in Essa Nagri,...

A lay leader of Israel's Christian minority was stabbed to death during an Orthodox Christmas procession by a person dressed as Santa Claus, his church said. Six Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in Friday's murder of Gabi Kadees in Jaffa, a predominantly Arab port district of Tel Aviv. Mr Kadees was stabbed in the back during a parade marking Jesus's birth according to the Eastern church calender, Israeli media said. Last month, Mr Kadees won a third term as the lay leader of the Greek Orthodox community in the town in an election Israeli media says...

For those who missed the commercial from Focus on the Family that aired during the Broncos vs Patriots games from Saturday ... Focus on the Family commercial.

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum touted an 11th-hour endorsement from conservative Christian leaders on Sunday ahead of South Carolina's crucial nominating contest but it appeared to have little influence on churchgoers. With South Carolina's January 21 primary approaching, time is running short for Santorum and other Republican candidates who hope to slow front-runner Mitt Romney's march to the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum said Saturday's endorsement by evangelical leaders proved that he is a better choice to take on Democratic President Barack Obama. "They know I'm the consistent conservative," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday." "They saw me as...

ROME, JAN. 13, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The director of the "Church and Sport" section at the Pontifical Council for the Laity admits that the "Tim Tebow phenomenon" has heightened his interest in the NFL playoffs.Legionary of Christ Father Kevin Lixey works in the Roman Curia helping the Church make a contribution to the world of sport, with the aim of promoting a sports culture suitable to the integral development of the individual.ZENIT spoke with Father Lixey about the Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, after Tebow led his team to an overtime win in last Sunday's playoff game. Those familiar with the NFL...

A New Jersey Judge has ruled that a Christian organization engaged in wrongdoing and violated the state’s discrimination laws when it prevented a gay couple from holding a civil union ceremony on its property. (snip) Administrative Law Judge Solomon Metzger made the ruling Thursday in a case involving the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. In 2007 the group stopped a lesbian couple from using its boardwalk pavilion. “Respondent opposes same-sex unions as a matter of religious belief, and in 2007 found itself on the wrong side of recent changes in the law,” Judge Metzger wrote in his ruling.

Tim Tebow is called a "Christian Taliban" by an atheist, comparing Southern Baptists to Muslim fundamentalists. Link to Mindposts article hereExcerpt: "Superstar NFL quarterback Tim Tebow looks like an All-American guy, but he has more in common with the Taliban than with our Founding Fathers. The press has given Tim an open mic to opine on abortion, virtue, and piety. When will reporters ask Tim to share his views on gay marriage, the subservience of women, the power of the devil, where the dinosaurs too big for the Ark, or the age of the planet? His overt Christianity has resounded...

A federal judge has sentenced the pastor of a now defunct Los Angeles church to 15 years in prison after he was convicted for bilking millions from Medicare for unnecessary power wheelchairs.     Christopher Iruke, 61, must also pay $6.7 million in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-conspirators.     In August 2011, a jury convicted Iruke; his wife, Connie Ikpoh; and one of their employees, Aura Marroquin, of conspiracy and health care fraud.     Iruke and Ikpoh, a nurse at two local hospitals, owned four fraudulent durable medical equipment supply companies, Pascon Medical Supply, Horizon Medical Equipment and Supply, Contempo Medical Equipment, and Ladera Medical...

I must admit, I got a mild kick out of this bit on the statistics of yesterday’s Bronco game: It’s surely all coincidence, but how many yards did Tebow throw for as he led the Denver Broncos to a 29-23 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s divisional playoffs on Sunday night?Answer: 316.And what did Tebow have on his eye black as he led the Florida Gators to victory in the 2009 national championship game three years ago to the day of his performance in Denver Sunday night?Here is another one: Tebow completed 10 passes on 21 attempts...

Last night’s win by the Denver Broncos over the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime was nothing short of thrilling. Watching as much of the National Football League, or NFL playoffs game which took place in Denver, CO, USA, in between watching EWTN’s Father Benedict Grouchel’s Sunday Night weekly show presentation. Coming back to what was left of the playoff game, and seeing that Pittsburgh had tied Denver in points, 23 to 23, which ended up going into overtime and this part of the game it was the best that was saved for last. Mr. Tebow would throw what would be a...

Pope Benedict XVI attends his annual meeting with Holy See Diplomats at the Hall of the Throne on January 9, 2012 in Vatican City, Vatican. Credit: Stefano Carofei-Pool/Getty Images News/Getty Images Vatican City, Jan 9, 2012 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict stressed the plight of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in his annual address to Vatican-accredited diplomats on Jan. 9. “In many countries Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and sidelined from public life; in other countries they endure violent attacks against their churches and their homes,” the Pope reminded the 179 diplomats accredited to the...

Stereotypes and broad brush labels are common in the current political climate. If someone says they believe homosexuality is a sin and that drugs ignite societal problems, they would almost immediately be placed in the “Christian right-wing” category. If another person says that the government should not be in the marriage business and that drugs should be decriminalized, then that person would likely be labeled a “liberal.” But what if a person believes both sides of the argument? Enter the Christian libertarian. A Christian libertarian is generally aligned with the core moral beliefs of Christian conservatives but emphasizes free will...

A Christian parenting book has come under fire after the deaths of three children from abuse. The families are reported to have been following the guidance of the book "To Train Up a Child" by Michael and Debi Pearl. The "Today" show reports: Hana Williams, 13, died of hypothermia after allegedly being starved, abused and locked outside by her parents. Lydia Schatz, age 7, died after being repeatedly beaten by her parents. And 4-year-old Sean Paddock suffocated after his mother wrapped him in a blanket too tightly in an effort to keep him from getting out of bed. ...

And win the Baylor Bears most assuredly did by a score of 67-56 in the Valero Alamo Bowl from San Antonio.

Prof. Justus Reid Weiner discusses the situation regarding Christians living in Palestinian Authority controlled Bethlehem as opposed to those Christians living in Nazareth, Israel.

SNIP 4. Are Mormons Christian, and can Christians vote for a Mormon?: With the rising popularity of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, many were left questioning his Mormon faith. Perhaps one of the biggest questions Christians have is whether they could or should vote for a Mormon. Then amid the controversy were the Joel Osteens who claimed Mormonism was just another form of Christianity… Mormonism, Democracy and the Urgent Need for Evangelical ThinkingCan a Christian Vote for a Mormon?Does Joel Osteen Not Know, or Does He Not Care?SNIP 10. Tim Tebow's faith: Former Heisman Trophy winner and Denver Broncos quarterback...

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under Pakistan's notorious blasphemy law for insulting Islam. She is now in prison. The law is often used to settle grudges, persecute minorities and fan rage of the Islamic devout. The same thing is coming here. The recent cancellation of my event by a Houston hotel, and the subsequent cancellation of an anti-Sharia conference in Nashville represent the first stage of the application of Islamic blasphemy laws here in America. Where full-on Sharia is enforced, "blasphemers" get the death penalty. Here in America, your character is assassinated. As part of...

Sean Hannity's use this week of President Reagan's Christmas Message may have noted the stark difference between the content of that message with those of last year and this year.The contrast we may not have been able to draw, however, is the contrast between the current President's messages and the words and celebrations of Presidents throughout the past 200 years.Without reviewing them all, however, and especially for young people who may visit FR, may I suggest that visitors here also visit the web site of Wallbuilders.com where such information has been collected and referenced. Democrats and others who may think...

Some years ago, a class of students was asked to write about the meaning of Christmas. One student wrote, “Christmas is when Christians celebrate Christ.” The teacher liked the paper, but asked the student to change that one line to “Christmas is when people celebrate love.”What, some may wonder, is the difference? After all, Christians are people and Christ is love.Yet there is a difference – and the difference is so profound that if we miss it, we have missed the meaning of Christmas and Christ.Of course, Christians are people. But not all people are Christians. To be a Christian...

DENVER, COLORADO, December 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It looks like a cross between a genuflection and Rodin’s “The Thinker.� The characteristic kneel Tim Tebow makes to thank God after a big play has become a worldwide phenomenon, creating a new craze and stirring controversy over the role of religion in public life. The Global Language Monitor reports that the term “Tebowing� has become an officially recognized English word. “The rapid rise of the word has seldom been equaled,� it adds.  A website, Tebowing.com, quickly collected photos of people striking the reverent pose all over the world, from Stonehenge to...

URBANDALE, Iowa: Rick Santorum received a big Iowa endorsement Tuesday that should help rally the splintered Christian evangelical community here around him. A social conservative leader in the state, Bob Vander Plaats, backed the former Pennsylvania senator just two weeks before the caucuses here, calling him “the Huckabee in this race.” “I saw him as a champion for the family in the U.S. House, I saw him as a champion for the family in the U.S. Senate. I saw him as a champion for the family on the campaign trail,” Vander Plaats said. “I believe Rick Santorum comes from us,...

The Holy Shroud New research from ENEA on the sacred Linen kept in Turin marco tosattirome Enea, the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, has published a report on five years of experiments conducted in the ENEA center of Frascati on the “shroud-like coloring of linen fabrics by far ultraviolet radiation”. “Simply put: we tried to understand how the Shroud of Turin was imprinted by an image so special that it constitutes its charm, and poses a great and very radical challenge, "to identify the physical and chemical processes capable of generating a color similar...

Compare and contrast the performance of Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos with that of Tony Romo of the Denver Broncos.

This seems like a basic enough question that needs addressing by Mormons. Where does this article go? 1. The Mormon church claims to be a “Christian” church – much like fundamentalist Mormons (fLDS) who claim to be "Mormon." Mainstream Mormons object to that inclusion -- much the same Christians object to counterfeit religions claiming authenticity -- at the expense of Christians, of course! 2. Where might boundaries be established and respected when it comes from moving from one religion to another? Where are Mormonism's misguided boundaries? 3. Does it sound very “civil” for Mormon “prophets” to label all those who...

In Denver, where the Broncos are the closest thing to a universal religion, the faith for football is so fervent that it sometimes supersedes other beliefs -- especially since the arrival of Tim Tebow. Tebow has defied his skeptics in ways that might make even the most secular of pigskin purists consider the possibility of divine intervention. On Sunday, he led the Broncos to yet another comeback victory, as they rallied from a 10-0 deficit with 2:08 remaining in the fourth quarter to beat the Chicago Bears 13-10 in overtime. The win was the Broncos' sixth straight and moved the...

"The Republican meets with business contacts and conservative Christian groups, seeking ground troops and donations for his surging presidential bid." Newt Gingrich and his circle of supporters have launched a new plan to provide his reenergized presidential bid with two things it desperately needs: money and organization. The effort relies in part on the network of donors and business contacts that Gingrich has cultivated since leaving the House in 1999, and on his unlikely alliance with Christian conservatives. It also hinges on new campaign finance rules that allow donations of unlimited size to independent groups backing candidates. The campaign has...

What Christmas means to Christians..and why.