Free Republic

It doesn't rank with last year's Exorcism of Sarah Palin, but the Blessing of Newt Gingrich is an early contender for Church-Based Political Moment of the 2012 presidential campaign. It's also the clearest evidence yet that Gingrich is positioning himself to the far Christian Right of fellow 2012 presidential hopefuls Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. Gingrich's latest venture into the conservative evangelical world came when he spoke/preached at Lou Engle's "Rediscovering God in America" conference last Friday, hosted by Rock Church in Virginia Beach and broadcast on GodTV. Last month, Gingrich made a very public conversion to the Catholic faith...

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...

The Episcopal Church filed suit Tuesday to regain control of Fort Worth-area church buildings and other property held by a breakaway contingent led by Bishop Jack Iker. "We're stewards of property that has been given for generations to the Episcopal Church. We can't just let people walk off with it," said Kathleen Wells, chancellor for the reorganized Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. The suit was filed in Tarrant County district court and names Iker as a defendant, among others. -snip-

Anti-God Ads Hit Dallas by Christine Dao* In the heart of the Bible belt, billboards stating “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone” have been posted in parts of Dallas, home of the Institute for Creation Research. The boards are sponsored by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason (DFWCoR), an atheist nonprofit group which joins together smaller local anti-theistic organizations to “increase the growth, visibility and acceptance of nontheists throughout the Metroplex.”[1] Two ads have been posted in the D/FW area, one just a few miles from ICR headquarters, and will remain up through April. According to Fred Edwords...

The atheists and humanists must have been eyeing the benefits of Christian congregations because they now want a piece of the action. To accomplish this, they are establishing God-free, um, church-type places. They want all the benefits of a Christian church without the Christian part. I can save them a great deal of trouble in starting this God-free denomination. All they need to do is find their local mainline Protestant church. Why reinvent the wheel? These atheists, agnostics and humanists will feel right at home on Evolution Sunday, listening to lectures about the glories of man, and they can have...

Christians and Muslims have been kept apart for over 1,300 years, because they were taught that irreconcilable differences exist between their religious beliefs. This has resulted in mutual distrust, persecution, and even wars. I was motivated to read the Qur’an by the events of September 11th, 2001. I wanted to know the teachings in the Qur’an that could convince Muslims to be willing to sacrifice their lives, in order to kill persons who did not appear to be associated with Islam or their conflict. My Christian tradition was the source of some anxiety, since I had been taught that “the...

Scholarship suggesting the existence of the Essenes, a religious Jewish group that lived in the Judea before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, is wrong, according to Prof. Rachel Elior, whose study on the subject will be released soon. Elior blasts the predominant opinion of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars that the Essenes had written the scrolls in Qumran, claiming instead that they were written by ousted Temple priests in Jerusalem. "Sixty years of research have been wasted trying to find the Essenes in the scrolls. But they didn't exist, they were invented by [Jewish-Roman historian] Josephus. It's...

Preaching God's word with an eye on national politics Pepperell vicar leads liberal think tank By Rich Barlow Globe Correspondent / March 5, 2009 One day about six years ago, the Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale was testifying before Congress on behalf of abortion rights, basking among politicians who were interested to hear her views and happy to shake her hand. The next day, the Episcopal priest was back for a meeting at St. David's, her tiny Pepperell church, where a 2-year-old scaled her chair to perch on her head.

Ministers in New Orleans kick off recall campaign Wednesday, February 18, 2009 A group of black ministers in New Orleans is kicking off a campaign to recall newly elected 2nd District Congressman Joseph Cao. An organization called the Louisiana Ministerial Alliance of Churches says it will file papers with the Secretary of State to begin the process of seeking the signatures needed to force a recall election. The group is upset over Cao's two votes against an economic stimulus package which Cao said would mean little in terms of job creation to his district. Cao joined fellow GOP members of...

When I became a board member at Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest a few months ago, I was trained in my calling; but nothing could have prepared me for the letter to the editor by Hans Neumann of Spirit Lake that appeared on Tuesday, Jan. 27.Mr. Neumann, whom I have not met, began with a rant, "Elections have consequences. We lost; they won, so they can do what they want for now." As a clergyman for most of my adult life, I do not accept "them and us" divisions among and between people with differing views. Planned Parenthood supports...

President Obama addressed the National Prayer Breakfast this morning and used the opportunity to discuss the launch of the White House office of faith-based and neighboring partnerships. Obama stressed the inclusion of secular groups into his faith-based office by giving examples of his own life story. Could this office be a conduit for further government funded community organizing? The transcript of video highlights is below. This is not only our call as people of faith but our duty as citizens of America and our duty as citizens of the world. And it will be the purpose of the White House...

http://i.usatoday.net/news/TheOval/Obama-prayer-breakfast-2-5-2009.pdf Read the lies, half-truths, and dripping hypocrisy.

President Obama will unveil a revamped office of Faith-Based Initiatives Thursday, and a new approach to the controversial program established by former President George Bush. The office, tasked with steering federal funds to charitable organizations tied to churches and faith-based organizations, will be headed by Josh DuBois – a 26 year-old Pentecostal minister who was in charge of religious outreach for the Obama campaign. According to a White House official, the basic structure of the office will remain the same as it was under Bush, but Obama is introducing a new component: an advisory council of 25 leaders — secular...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has compiled a new group of faith-based advisors who will comprise his new White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. However, unlike President Bush's group of religious advisors, Obama's includes abortion advocates.The revamped White House office will direct federal funds to religious and neighborhood groups for social service projects.The members of the office will officially be announced on Thursday, but a preview of the some of the people who have been appointed shows Obama has included some abortion advocates.Joshua DuBois, a 26-year old political activist who headed up for the Obama...

Josh Dubois, the 26 year-old who ran religious outreach for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, has been tapped by the new president to head the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House aide tells ABC News. Dubois, who previously worked as an associate pastor for a small Pentecostal church in Massachusetts, was drawn to Obama in 2004 when he heard the future president tell the Democratic National Convention that, "We worship an awesome God in the Blue States." After hearing that line, DuBois tried to work on Obama's US Senate campaign but was rejected. Following Obama's...

Liberals have practiced secular politics since the 1960s, but with the ascent of Barack Obama, the left discovered it can actually keep the faith. When I was a high school kid in 1969, my church youth group leader took a bunch of us to Berkeley in the aftermath of the People’s Park uprising so we could soak in the café scene and experience some of what he was witnessing as a young seminarian at the Pacific School of Religion. The rigid establishment was being overthrown – in politics and the church – and something new in activism was being caffeinated....

On election night, hope was palpable. A sort of jittery excitement filled the air at the Catoosa Democratic Headquarters in Ringgold, Ga. A year ago, the local party was lucky to have 20 people at a breakfast meeting. Now, giddy Obama supporters edged past each other in the crowded banquet hall, sharing smiles and ogling the vast array of T-shirts and buttons. “Your grandparents were right,” read one sticker, “Vote Democratic.” For decades, this area has been Democratic. That’s the reason we are known for having some of the best public schools around. It’s the reason we have a fabulous...

Conservative evangelicals who saw environmentalism as alarmism welcomed Richard Cizik's resignation as the National Association of Evangelicals' Washington lobbyist last week. But evangelicals and scientists who had been working on "creation care" for several years saw it as a blow to their efforts. More than 50 evangelicals — including several environmental advocates — sent a letter to the NAE President Leith Anderson this morning, signaling their support for Cizik's efforts and urging the organization to "carry out Richard's vision of a broad Christian moral agenda." Those who signed the letter included presidents of organizations, professors, pastors, and authors, such as...

This past week, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington State allowed—in the spirit of multiculturalism and intellectual-immolation for which the Northwest is (in)famous—a large sign to be placed next to a Nativity scene and a Christmas holiday tree (and a menorah) in the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington: "At this season of THE WINTER SOLSTICE may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." Yes, I am truly shocked: I cannot believe that a Nativity scene and...