Free Republic

While GLAAD is super protected by the media, both liberal and conservative, Christians, in general, are experiencing a renewed full-out onslaught against their faith, pre presidential election. As usual, the faith of those running for the highest office is being scrutinized more than ever, first by Republicans. We never hear much concern about a Dem's faith, because faith is not much of an an issue to Dems. President Obama's religious bona fides came into question, only because his mentor/minister was from a planet even beyond Louis Farrakhan's Mother Ship. Like, who ever knew that Joe Biden is the first Catholic...

I belong to a women's club (bit like Junior League AKA sorority for grown-ups) in our area where we raise money for various charities. We have normally given to the Komen Foundation in the past. Today, the President of the club said that we now are going to give to "Relay for Life" because of the controversy (thank God!) Does anyone know about this organization? Do they also contribute to the destruction of life? Someone in the meeting said they are tied to the American Cancer Society and that it was "OK"....but reading online.....not so much. Any insight, greatly appreciated.

The controversy over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate is at a boiling point, as many Catholic leaders continue to view the president’s so-called “accommodation” as a failure to protect religious liberty. Now, Glenn Beck is coming forward with a new movement called “We Are All Catholics Now.” The main goal of the initiative is to ask Americans to reach out to Congressional leaders (at the moment, Senators) to encourage the passage of legislation that would protect religious groups’ conscience rights. Watch Beck discuss the effort on his radio show this morning: The main push, Beck says, is to support the...

TULSA, Okla.—Rick Santorum stirs his ever-growing crowds when he promises to right a country awash in "immoral debt" and to replace an administration he argues has "callousness toward life and family and faith." Of the GOP presidential hopefuls, Santorum is the most public and emphatic about his faith, drawing on his Catholicism and deeply held views on social issues as the foundation of his message. It serves to solidify his standing among religiously motivated voters -- and subtly remind them of lingering reservations of opponent Mitt Romney's spiritual background. The former Pennsylvania senator found a receptive audience Friday in Washington,...

Being a Victoria's Secret model can offer fame and fortune beyond a woman's wildest dreams. But this wasn't enough for Kylie Bisutti, who decided to stop modeling for the lingerie maker because it didn't match with her religious beliefs. Bisutti tells "Good Morning America" she turned down the work because, "I just became so convicted of honoring the Lord and my body and wanting to be a role model for other women out there who look up to me." The 21-year-old won the gig after beating out 10,000 others in a Victoria's Secret Model search in 2009. Bisutti adds that...

One of the most influential evangelical leaders in the United States says Christians should go to jail rather than comply with the Obama administration’s mandate to provide all contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, in their health care plans. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), told LifeSiteNews.com “we will not comply” with the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ mandate requiring religious institutions to cover abortifacient products such as Plan B, Ella, and the IUD. “We want the law changed, or else we’re going to write our letters from the Nashville jail, just...

I received this inspirational video by email and thought I would share it with all you FReepers and your children. We can't ever forget the foundation our Republic was built on and it's more important than ever for our children to understand it because they sure aren't learning it in our schools. I believe we CAN restore our country if we keep the faith.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Blending politics and religion, President Barack Obama said his Christian faith is a driving force behind his economic policies, from Wall Street reform to his calls for the wealthy to pay higher taxes.</p> <p>Obama's remarks Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast were his most explicit account of how his personal religious beliefs factor into his decision-making on the nation's pressing problems. The comments came amid election-year criticism from Catholic groups and some Republicans that the president is waging a war on religion following his decision to require church-affiliated institutions to cover free birth control for employees.</p>

President Barack Obama says he relies on his faith and values to guide his work on the nation's most urgent problems, including the economy. Obama says that as a Christian, he believes in the teaching that to whom much is given, much is required. He says that belief, and his reliance on economic good sense, is behind his policies — including his call for the wealthy to pay more taxes. Obama urges other leaders to not abandon their values or "the moral glue" that has guided the nation for centuries. ...

...A religious studies class late last year at Utah State University...was unusual for two reasons. The small group of students, faculty and faithful there to hear Mormon Elder Marlin Jensen were openly troubled about the future...asking hard questions. And Jensen was uncharacteristically frank... Did the leaders...know that members are "leaving in droves?" a woman asked. "We are aware," said Jensen, according to a tape recording of his unscripted remarks. "And I'm speaking of the 15 men that are above me in the hierarchy of the church."... "My own daughter," he then added, "has come to me and said, 'Dad, why...

LUTZ, FLORIDA— On the last Sunday before the Florida primary, Newt Gingrich bowed his head at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, a megachurch in a suburb north of Tampa. As the remaining Republican candidates scramble to reach as many voters as humanly possible before Tuesday's all-important primary, every chance to preen before a captive audience is a golden opportunity. And no audience is more glued to their seats than devout Christians on a Sunday. Most parishioners appeared unaware that a celebrity was scheduled to be in their midst. When Gingrich stepped off his bus, reporters formed a swarm that enveloped him...

In the last few weeks, a videotape of four United States Marines urinating on some dead insurgents in Afghanistan surfaced. Obviously, this is inexcusable behavior in polite society, but ladies and gentlemen, the places we send our Marines are not civilized places. Never in the history of the United States have we sent our troops to a civilized place to wage war. It is disheartening to see how quickly some Americans have turned on the men that provide them safety. Although the methods and weapons of war have changed in the last century, the one thing that hasn’t changed is...

For the next week, I will be publishing excerpts from my soon-to-be released book, "America's History is His Story!" These were written as a favor for a friend of mine, who started a Christian radio station in West Virginia. And at the time of their writing, I had no thought of ever publishing them in book form. There is one of these brief essays for every day of the year. They are intended to be read on the radio on a daily basis, to establish the fact that America is indeed a Christian nation. I hope you find them both...

A response to the video "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus". The purpose of this video is to do a response from a Catholic perspective, in a spirit of love, but also with a spirit of passion to defend our Mother the Church. The things that are said are not meant to offend, but we do have to be direct about what we believe and what we stand for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE

How Will The Shocking Decline Of Christianity In America Affect The Future Of This Nation?January 19,2012 Is Christianity in decline in America? When you examine the cold, hard numbers it is simply not possible to come to any other conclusion. Over the past few decades, the percentage of Christians in America has been steadily declining. This has especially been true among young people. As you will see later in this article, there has been a mass exodus of teens and young adults out of U.S. churches. In addition, what "Christianity" means to American Christians today is often far different from...

Mitt Romney, one of two Mormon candidates in the Republican presidential field, was pressed about his faith by a woman who attended his veteran's event here. He was asked to expand on his faith by a woman who asked him: "Do you believe in the divine saving grace of Jesus Christ?" "Yes, I do," Romney responded. "I would hope that there are people in our nation that have different beliefs. There are people of the Jewish faith and the Islamic faith and other faiths who believe other things, and our president will be president of the people of all faiths,"...

In an incredible span of a few months, Tim Tebow has gone from a guy who should be working at Jiffy Lube to a guy who shouldn't be a starting quarterback in the NFL to a guy who will never win a game in the NFL to a guy who will never win a playoff game in the NFL. Who's got next? **snip**The heart of the matter is that with Tebow, it's always been about much more than X's and O's. Each game behind center for the Denver Broncos has become a morality play, with the haters and the atheists...

As nearly everyone by now knows, a devout football player named Tim Tebow is set to play a huge game Saturday -- after winning a number of games this year that seemed miraculous (alongside others in his earlier college career). We'll get to that in a minute. But first, let's start out by meditating on how the nature of life is such that God always leaves room for doubt and always leaves room for faith. Both. Perhaps in equal measure. Quick examples: There is the Shroud of Turin. Recently, a team that has studied that relic for five years recently...

Leadership: Even before George Washington is said to have taken a knee in prayer at Valley Forge, men and women of faith and courage endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights have guided this nation to greatness. Some 45 million people watched Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow complete that 80-yard touchdown pass play to Demaryius Thomas on the first play from scrimmage in overtime to lead his team over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday's wild card playoff game. They also saw him take a knee and give thanks to the God he believes in, an act that's been dubbed "Tebow-ing."...

Only a fool believes that all those with whom he differs are bad people. Moreover, just about all of us live the reality -- often within our own family -- of knowing good and loving people with whom we strongly differ on political, religious, social and economic issues. That said, I have come to believe that the more committed one is to leftism, the more likely one is to become meaner. Two examples in just the past week offer compelling evidence. Prominent left-wing commentators used the way in which Rick Santorum and his wife handled the death of one of...

Much of Mitt Romney’s life as a Mormon missionary in France was not as poor or arduous as he has claimed, say those who knew him at the time. It was a rare reflection by Mitt Romney on his life as a young Mormon, offered as proof to struggling Americans that despite being born into privilege and amassing a $250 million fortune, he too had known hard times. A day after being labelled “out of touch” for casually offering a $10,000 bet to a rival candidate, Mr Romney told supporters he had experienced austerity as a missionary in France, using...

Recently I’ve been asked about witnessing to “unsaved believers” as one writer called them. I usually refer to them as Christians-in-name-only. They call themselves Christians and do some things that make them appear to be Christians. They go to Church, make regular contributions, sign up for volunteer service projects, even teach Sunday School, but they’re not born again. Being born again means you know you’re a sinner in need of a savior. You believe Jesus died for all your sins and have asked Him to be your Savior. According to Jesus, people who are not born again will be denied...

I'm not a big time football fan, even though I played my fair share of football back in the day. What a thrilling end to the Denver - Pittsburgh game when Saint Tebow threw the game winning, overtime pass to the similarly remarkable Demaryius Thomas. Just as interesting as the game itself has been the media's game of trashing Tim Tebow for his praying and showing "excessive celebration" on the field by kneeling on the turf, poining his fingers up to the Lord, and other Christian confessions. The media has lightened up a bit after seeing and believing Tim's...

I read Ann’s latest column with a heavy heart. I came away with the unmistakable feeling that she has lost faith in the philosophy and movement she has been a firebrand for until now. And I think about how it happens that a person at the age of 50 becomes the very cheerleader for the status quo that she argued against these many years. I believe it is true that as we age we develop different thoughts about things, through experience, through people we meet, through having to be forced to take a position on something we cannot imagine when...

Last week, I documented more than a dozen ways in which, in just the past six months, the Obama administration is trampling on the religious liberties of America's finest military service members. (If you haven't read Part 1, you can find it at creators.com.) I am very disappointed by the dissolution of religious liberties in the U.S. military. Times have sadly and radically changed since my father served in World War II, since I served four years in the Air Force and since my two brothers, Wieland and Aaron, served in the Army in Vietnam. (My brother Wieland paid the...

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but...

Thousands of Texans, including the state attorney general and the governor, have sent a clear message to Wisconsin atheists who enjoy intimidating small towns into removing nativity scenes. At least 5,000 showed up at a rally supporting Henderson County officials who have refused to comply with the group’s demand that they remove a nativity scene from the Athens, Texas, courthouse lawn. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said that if the Wisconsin atheists sue as threatened, his office would come to the county’s defense. Texas’ governor, Rick Perry, also said he would fight to support the county, noted the San Antonio...

The world's most famous physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking has declared that God does not exist. Hawking joins the opinion of several other world-class scientists like Richard Dawkins, Peter Atkins, James Watson, Victor Stenger and many others who deny the existence of God in the name of the latest advancements in physics, biology and other scientific domains. The so-called "New Atheism" (championed by Richard Dawkins) sees God as a delusion, a by product of the mind of superstitious and scientifically uneducated people. "Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing ... Spontaneous creation...

By Jeff Darlington NFL.com Reporter Published: Dec. 19, 2011 at 05:48 a.m. Updated: Dec. 19, 2011 at 07:58 a.m. DENVER -- For the first time in seven days, each of which I spent in Denver because of Tim Tebow's polarizing impact on the NFL, the Broncos' quarterback and I finally had the chance to exchange more than the daily salutations I'd come to expect from the overbearing nature of Tebowmania. We walked toward the exit -- among the last to leave the locker room after a 41-23 loss to the Patriots on Sunday -- as I began to ask the...

On a brisk Thursday evening in mid-November, I sat high in the stands at a Denver Broncos home game, covering the ears of my 4-year-old son as the fans around us launched f-bombs at Tim Tebow, the Broncos' struggling second-year quarterback. Mr. Tebow was ineffective and off-target for most of the game, and one of his more voluble and obnoxious critics was standing right in front of us. Tebow reacts after running in for a two-point conversion during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 4. But the heckler's friend wasn't joining in....

Gov. Rick Perry began his 42-city bus tour on a rather populist note Wednesday, saying a diagram of the country’s problems would be a straight line between Washington, D.C. and Wall Street. Perry has been struggling in the polls for months but hopes a tour of Iowa’s small towns in the three weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 can lift him back to the front of the pack. “I hope some of you are taking a second look,” Perry said. Perry is trying to sell himself as the true Washington outsider in the Republican race, and...

In the state of Iowa, is the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, experiencing his own Field of Dreams? According to a recent poll, Gingrich now has the support of 25% of likely Republican primary voters – up from 7% in late October. Central to his ambition is his need to win over evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic voters. But although his "Contract with America" delivered a Republican majority in congress in 1994, Gingrich, now on his third wife, is a man who has twice left a wife to marry his mistress. The ingenious solution his...

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth them out of them all (Psalm 34:19). Every problem already has the ability to comply to God's word. But, it's the word spoken that causes it to (Isaiah 55:11). Like in Ezekiel's vision God told him to prophesy "Thus saith the Lord". And what happened, those bones started coming together. When you start speaking God's word things start coming together. You should start speaking God's word as the scripture says "Let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith" (Romans 12:6). Notice it says to speak in proportion to...

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...

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Campaigning in South Carolina on Thursday, both Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry visited a hotel ballroom to seek the support of a crucial coalition here, as well as in Iowa: Evangelical pastors. They were both featured speakers at the Pastors Policy Briefing, a gathering of roughly 400 church leaders hosted by the South Carolina Renewal Project, a branch of an under-the-radar evangelical group that holds similar events in other major primary states. Gingrich and Perry– one recently thrust into the glare of public favor, the other trying to get back in it – gave speeches that demonstrated...

Last week, after the Broncos' victory against Minnesota, Mr. Tebow was asked by a reporter to name something memorable that had been said to him in the wake of the extraordinary win. "I'll tell you one thing that happened during the week that I remember," he said. Mr. Tebow proceeded to talk about spending time with a young leukemia patient from Florida who had just been transferred to hospice care and about how delighted Mr. Tebow was to say the kid's name on television and to let him know that someone cared. Mr. Tebow may or may not enjoy long-term...

.....“I’m not ashamed to talk about my faith,” he says in the first spot. “Some liberals say that faith is a sign of weakness. Well, they’re wrong.” In the second ad, titled “Strong,” Perry bravely comes out as a follower of Christ. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian,” he says, before vowing that “as President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion.” ......But most flagrant is Perry’s reference to “Obama’s war on religion” without evidence or explanation. He leaves the strong impression that it is Obama’s administration–instead of Supreme Court decisions from the 1960s–that took school-sanctioned prayer and...

Despite the fact that in America, 60 to 70 percent of people identify themselves as “Christian” to one degree or another, Christian-bashing seems to be just about as popular a pastime as watching football these days. And when a national football player commits the unpardonable sins of being both pro-life and vociferously, pro-Jesus, you end up with Monday morning pundits who cast ridiculous judgments from on top of their lofty thrones, much like the old Muppet Show characters Statler and Waldorf. The persecution of Christians has been going on since the days of the Roman Empire; it continues today in...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whom some pundits had written off as the GOP's nominee, may find a second coming in Iowa, if new poll data holds up. As Mitt Romney's campaign has suffered a startling decline in recent weeks, only to see Newt Gingrich eclipse the former Massachusetts governor's front-runner status, the battle for the Iowa caucuses set for Jan. 3 has become a wide-open race. New survey data prepared for the Perry campaign and shared by a source close within the campaign shows that the Texas governor may be poised to do much better in next month’s Iowa caucuses...

Time magazine didn't mind ruffling feathers in religious America with a cover this summer that asked "Is Hell Dead?" Never mind that America is overwhelmingly Christian. Then Time found only one letter worth plucking out to feature in large, bold type from a man in Dallas: "Hell is easy to define. It would be spending eternity with evangelicals." That sums up the secular, liberal media attitude toward America's Christian majority, and it explains why they find Republicans so objectionable when they make their religious faith part of their campaign for the presidency. Matthew Philbin and Erin Brown of the Media...

...Texas Gov. Rick Perry is on the attack, claiming in a new TV ad that President Obama is waging a "War on Religion," and he's the GOP candidate that can defend faith in America. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I'll end Obama's war on religion. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage," says...

In an effort to drown out the president’s infuriating class warfare comments in Kansas, I scavenged my inbox for anything else to write about and remembered I haven’t yet highlighted this very interesting report.Remember when the mainstream media covered every last detail of President Barack Obama’s connection to a certain racist, anti-American pastor by the name of Jeremiah Wright? No? Hmm.The MSM might not have had much curiosity about the way Obama’s 20-year attendance at Wright’s church shaped him, but they have more than a passing interest in the way religion has shaped the 2012 GOP presidential candidates.According to a...

Catholic “Fluff” – The Enemy Within by Gary Zimak on Feb 10, 2011 We don’t like to speak the truth about evil because we’re going to hurt somebody.  Let me tell you, you are going to hurt somebody, but that somebody is God.  If you would rather hurt God than your neighbor, there is something wrong with your spirituality.  It’s your obligation to speak the truth and everyone can take it or leave it.  But truth must be in us.  We live in such poverty of the truth today” (Mother Angelica). I was recently asked to comment on an article...

Reporting from Sacramento— Rick Perry expresses no regrets. He's not taking any kind of mind-altering drugs. And he can laugh at his disastrous debate performance — the one with the infamous brain freeze — and wants you to laugh too. Above all, the Texas governor wants another chance, a do-over of sorts after one of the quickest rise-and-pratfalls in modern presidential campaign history. "I'm asking people to give me a second look," Perry said in an interview Thursday between California fundraising stops and a late-night appearance on NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno." "If there's one story out there that...

An anonymous group of Christian leaders have distributed an open letter to Bob Vander Plaats telling him that supporting Newt Gingrich would be a deal breaker. The letter is below. ---------------------- Dear Mr. Vander Plaats: We are aware that you are preparing to endorse a candidate for President of the United States in the coming weeks. This will undoubtedly be an important decision considering you have the ear of many Christians throughout our state of Iowa. Our group believes that we must select leaders who not only espouse our values, but who live them each and every day. With that...

“That was really an accident,” Mitch Albom recently called the publication of his first nonfiction book, “Tuesdays with Morrie. .” At the time, the sports columnist was just trying to help pay his former professor’s medical bills. However, when the book was published, it became something more. An international sensation. It also changed Albom’s life. Next Sunday, the television movie based on “Have a Little Faith”-- Albom’s second nonfiction book-- will air on ABC. I recently had the opportunity to interview Albom about his new film, his career path and finding his glory in life. “Faith” tells the true story...

Hoping to garner an endorsement from Bob Vander Plaats and his Family Leader organization, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry decided to sign the group’s controversial “Marriage Vow” pledge. Perry is only the third candidate to sign the pledge, which is a prerequisite for The Family Leader’s support. Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum quickly took the oath when it was unveiled in early July. However, controversy with some of the wording in the document quickly arose. The preamble to the vow seemed to indicate that children born into slavery were better off than they are today. The backlash was fierce, eventually...

DES MOINES, Iowa – Texas Gov. Rick Perry Saturday participated in the Presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum, hosted by the Family Leader, where he reiterated his principled and longstanding commitment to conservative values. “I am a faithful, fiscal and social conservative of conviction, not of convenience,” said Gov. Perry. “As Governor of the State of Texas, I have signed more pro-life legislation than any governor in my state’s history and championed and signed the Texas Defense of Marriage Act. Traditional family values are important to me, to the people of Iowa and to citizens and future of our nation. America needs...

I think we witnessed a miracle last night. I'm not talking about Tim Tebow's incredible 95-yard game-winning drive. I'm talking about the fact that Tebow got at least two NFL Network football analysts and stellar former players—Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin—discussing God on a post-game football show. Overall, the analysts were flabbergasted by what they saw in Tebow's performance.  They couldn't explain it. But they could sense something was different. I've watched football religiously growing up. I've never seen a cluster of NFL analysts, most of them former players and coaches, so star-struck as when Tebow came on set last...

PERRY,IOWA - Rick Perry will be in Iowa to participate in a family values forum Saturday evening, but he has yet to light in the small Iowa town that bears his name... "You can't win this state without showing up," said Phil Stone, a retired high school history teacher and current Perry city councilman. The lifelong Republican favors former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney,.... ...........Neither the tea party nor evangelical Republicans have made much of a splash in Perry. "That's mostly the mega-churches over in Des Moines," Pattee said. Bob VanderPlaats, the minister and evangelical activist who organized Saturday's Thanksgiving Family...