Free Republic

I wasn’t going to write anything about Billy Graham’s passing simply because I don’t have anything new or interesting to say about him. I never met him, although my grandmother went to hear him out of curiosity at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam in 1955 with a fellow nurse. I attend a conservative Reformed church, and so our theology runs to the George Whitefield tradition as opposed to the more Wesleyan tradition of Billy Graham, who apparently preached directly to more than 210 million people—the largest number of anyone in human history. But the response to Graham’s death was interesting,...

A group of Louisiana State University football fans whose admiration for the Tigers is second only to their love for Jesus is outraged after the school digitally erased the tiny crosses they painted on their bare upper chests at a recent football game. LSU officials sent ... The Painted Posse, Christian students who paint... LSU school colors and small crosses ... email about the LSU game... . image to prevent other students from being offended by the weekly Geaux-Mail newsletter. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/10/22/holy-photoshop-lsu-erased-christian-football-fans-crosses/#ixzz2A3glWrWy

The head of a second Christian conservative organization said Friday she was told by authorities that a note containing her group's contact information was found in the pocket of a man charged with opening fire at the Washington offices of another such group, wounding a security guard. Traditional Values Coalition President Andrea Lafferty said FBI agents visited her group's Capitol Hill offices hours after the Wednesday morning shooting as part of their investigation. The next day, she said, members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force came by and confirmed that "our information was in his pocket," including the location of...

A gay activist group “re-launched” a boycott of the embattled Chick-fil-A restaurant chain, with a protest at the only Chicago store Wednesday afternoon. Protesters gathered at 4:30 p.m. at the 30 E. Chicago store. In a statement, the group Gay Liberation Network is seeking to boycott what they claim is millions of dollars that is used to promote discrimination against gays. The restaurant became a lightning rod for controversy last month when the company’s CEO Dan Cathy said “we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say 'We know better than you...

For several tense weeks, our nation has been broiling unpleasantly in the cultural equivalent of polyunsaturated fat. And despite any profits or political points made during this Chick-fil-A debacle, I think we’ve all gotten a bit burned. As everyone now knows, this entire ordeal—from the Mike Huckabee-orchestrated “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” to the “Same-Sex Kiss Day” that came after, the talking heads, the relentless stream of articles and opinion pieces on the controversy, the thousands upon thousands of online comments, the vitriolic tweets, impulsive Facebook statuses, and equally tart replies, the strained friendships, heated arguments with family members, all of it—began...

Welcome to 21st century America, where everybody is a victim. Once upon a time, victim status was the reserved property of a few minority groups. No longer! Americans have opened the doors of self-pity to all. White or black, rich or poor, straight or gay, male or female: all believe themselves uniquely persecuted and oppressed. This July, a humble fried chicken sandwich became the symbol of two competing persecution narratives: gays vs. Christians. The sandwich is made by Chick-Fil-A, a 1,600-store restaurant franchise owned by the billionaire Cathy family of Atlanta, Georgia. The Cathy family have generously supported Christian causes:...

As Americans celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr., the ideals of tolerance and civil rights are once again highlighted. And while segregated schools and lunch counters may be things of the past, modern battles over female contraception and same-sex marriage have kept the boundaries and definition of civil liberties on the national stage.

Former Air Force Officers: UFOs Tampered With Nuclear Missiles Updated: 2 hours 39 minutes ago (Sept. 25) -- Former U.S. Air Force officers and a former enlisted man are about to break many years of silence about an alarming series of UFO encounters at nuclear weapons sites -- incidents officially kept secret for decades. When the group appears at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday, it will offer testimony about events so chilling, it will seem like a day at a science fiction movie festival. To put you in the mood for the...

BEKASI, Indonesia – A banner with a picture of a young, bespectacled Christian man is draped in front of a mosque, a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!" Churches are shut down. And an Islamic youth militia held its first day of training. Though the events all occurred less than nine miles (15 kilometers) from Indonesia's bustling capital, making headlines in local papers and dominating chats on social networking sites such as Facebook, they've sparked little public debate in the halls of power....

Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North...

(CBS/AP) The Supreme Court opened its new term Monday refusing to get involved in two church-state disputes - one over religious organizations paying for workers' birth-control health insurance benefits, the other over an evangelical group's plea to hold religious services at a public library. The birth-control benefits dispute was triggered by a New York state law that forces religious-based social service agencies to subsidize contraceptives as part of prescription drug coverage they offer employees. New York is one of 23 states that require employers offering prescription benefits to employees to cover birth control pills as well, the groups say. The...

A new book climbing the New York Times Bestseller List warns Americans of a minority of religious fanatics who are hijacking a great religion and working to destroy the United States Constitution and set up a theocracy in America. Nonbelievers will be discriminated against or even summarily killed. Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Muhammad Atta? No, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, and Tim LaHaye. ...

Bartlett library keeps baby Jesus out of nativity display Dec 6, 2005, 10:02 PM CST You can see Santa on the door here, there are also Happy Chanukah, Kwanzaa and Merry Christmas signs inside, but you won't find any nativity scenes because the library won't allow them and that could land the library system in court. But a close look at this nativity scene at the Bartlett Public Library has something missing: Jesus, Mary or Joseph? Library officials banned the figurines from a public display. "I took one piece out at a time and I said, what about this donkey...

Over the years I have appreciated and admired what Billy Graham has stood for and against. His integrity has been near perfect. When most evangelists have slipped or stuck their foot in their mouth Billy Graham has stood on the Word of God, without wavering. During the past six decades, his message of Jesus Christ has been heard by over 210 million in 185 countries. He has been counsel to presidents, a passionate evangelist, a loving husband, and a caring father. This past weekend in New York, it was Graham’s much-anticipated last revival. Instead of focusing on his revival, Graham...

After the dust has settled -- after the processions are over and the Masses have been said, after the new pope has accustomed himself to new apartments, new tasks, new vestments -- Benedict XVI will face an extraordinary list of problems, ranging from the bioethical to the geopolitical. But for this German pope, among his toughest tasks by far will be the battle for acceptance on the continent of his birth. It sounds paradoxical, given the European splendor in which the church has been cloaked for the past several weeks -- the scenes of Rome, St. Peter's Square, the Sistine...

Denver-area churches decided that the official, government-sanctioned secularization of the Christmas holiday had gone too far recently when the city's mayor decided to replace the traditional "Merry Christmas" banner atop the local City and County Building with a "Happy Holidays" greeting and the organizers of the local Christmas parade denied permission for a local church to participate. Christians around the city rose up in protest by descending on the city's annual Christmas parade and sang carols emphasizing the Christian origins of the celebration, as noted in this surprisingly sympathetic account in yesterday's New York Times. "Like a spark in dry...

The 2.1 million U.S. Episcopalians will have to ponder three urgent questions now that their General Convention in Minneapolis has approved the election of an openly homosexual cleric as next bishop of New Hampshire: Will their tiny denomination (there are fewer Episcopalians now than convicts in jail) remain in communion with the rest of the world's 70 million Anglicans? Their chances are slim, given the warnings of the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, archbishop of Lagos and primate of Nigeria, who has of late become the world's most forceful Protestant voice. How will the Minneapolis decision impinge on ecumenical relations with...

Dean has strong lead among various queers SUMMARY: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is strongly favored by gay voters, according to survey results released Monday by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (news - web sites) (NGLTF), with three times as many backers as any other candidate. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is strongly favored by gay voters, according to survey results released Monday by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), with three times as many backers as any other candidate. The survey was given to 1,471 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender participants at three June...

This morning I decided to let BRAVO have an earful. Here is my email:"As a DirecTV subscriber, I am notifying you I am permanently blocking BRAVO from my menu on my DSS receiver.Your push for homosexual-'friendly' programming demonstrates your pandering to an audience that exhibits behavior that is not only detrimental to their own health, but the health and safety of families everywhere. I refuse to risk allowing my children to see promo material on your channel, so I find it necessary to block BRAVO and will encourage others to do so. Your advertisers will no longer reach me or...