Free Republic

Wondering whether there are any members of the Free Presbyterian movement (North America or Ulster), or of the Bible Presbyterian movement who are Freepers. A new pastor, Richard Clark, has been installed at the Salem Presbyterian Church in Salem, Indiana. The following, in his own words, is his vision for the church (as quoted in the Salem Leader-Democrat Newspaper, Thursday, July 8, 2021: "My vision for the Salem Presbyterian is openness, new ideas, social justice, and getting back to the real teachings of Jesus instead of the doctrines about him. To follow Jesus means more than worshipping him; it means...

When I tell people about my childhood church, they will usually insist that I was in a cult. While I strongly suspect that they are correct, I never thought of myself as a cult member. Sure, my church may have shunned the outside world and taught that it alone possessed “the truth” but we never had to swear our undying loyalty to the leaders or live in a compound or drink poison. Should you wish to stop attending the church, you were free to do so, but you had to accept that the members who remained were no longer your...

Fr. Terry is a priest in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Raised in the Baptist Church, he was later very active in the Assembly of God church before finding his way home to the Catholic Church at the age of 26. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986 with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1995 he graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, PA, with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts. That same year he was ordained a priest for the Arlington Diocese. He is the brother of Catholic apologist Tim Staples.

Today we remember the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Nearly universally respected, King is particularly commended by secular liberals. This is highly ironic because King, a baptist minister, embodied many of the things that secular liberals today dislike the most about “conservative” Christians. If you actually read what King wrote and said, you might be surprised (or not surprised) to find that he regularly appeals to God, the Bible, and even the natural law. Put any of these words in the mouth of a conservative Christian today and liberals would probably label the person a “fundamentalist,” sound...

In the interview Pope Francis gave on the return flight to Rome, he spoke about interreligious dialogue, asking political leaders, scholars and Muslim religious figures to speak out against fundamentalist terrorism. Regarding unity between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, he said that “uniatism” is not the way forward. “I want to go to Iraq“ and “I would like to meet the Patriarch of Moscow”

The term “fundamentalist” is a pejorative term today, used to label someone the speaker believes is an irrational religious extremist of some kind. But a hundred years ago, the term was taken as a badge of honor by theologically conservative Protestants to distinguish themselves from liberal Protestantism. While liberal Protestants in mainline denominations were denying basic Christian teachings like the authority of the Bible and the bodily resurrection of Jesus, conservative Protestants called for going back to the “fundamentals” of the faith – hence the term. There are obviously a lot of issues on which Catholics and fundamentalists disagree, but...

Why I Returned to the Catholic Church (Al Kresta) Monday, February 06, 2006 br />This is why I returned to the Catholic Church, not necessarily why you ought to. I'm more than happy to make a presentation some night to say why you ought to. This is my story of how I returned. I was raised Roman Catholic, in a church-going, sacrament-receiving home. I have, really, very positive memories of my upbringing. I liked it. It was kind of mysterious. I remember going there, and there was the Eucharist, and that was Jesus, and the church was in hushed...

The two groups with more than a few members are the FLDS (see Are members of the FLDS church “mormons”?) and the Community of Christ (formerly known as the Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) The Salt Lake based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has 14M members, and the second largest of such groups has at most 40,000 members. Historically...the other groups are all splinters from from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... SNIP It is also reasonably argued that “mormon” should be allowed as a genericized noun. There are many famous cases...

SALT LAKE CITY - Imprisoned polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs has released a series of so-called revelations in which he says a succession of natural disasters will strike the U.S. The 55-year-old Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison this year for sexually assaulting two girls whom he took as wives when they were 12 and 14 years old. He released his apocalyptic predictions to the Utah attorney general's office on Monday. Jeffs' apparent prophecies included tsunamis on the East Coast and in Seattle and earthquakes and volcanoes in Utah and Arizona. He also says that Idaho "shall be as...

Anders Behring Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto shows that the Norwegian terrorist’s depiction as a “right-wing, Christian fundamentalist” by many in the mass media may be as inaccurate as that of their so-called “Christian” bomber, Oklahoma City terrorist Tim McVeigh. Breivik was charged with two violent attacks in and around Oslo: a bombing in the capital that killed seven, and a shooting spree at a youth political retreat that killed more than 80, but though he was called a Christian for these most unChristian acts, Breivik’s own words reveal he isn’t very religious and actually prefers science over scripture.

The death toll from attacks in Norway has risen to 91 with police also confirming they have arrested a suspect whom they described as a 'right-wing Christian fundamentalist'. In a press conference police said that they had arrested Anders Behring Breivik, 32, on suspicion of carrying out the Oslo bombing and the youth-camp shooting rampage. Norwegian Breivik, did not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism. The suspect appeared to have acted alone and police said "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all". Internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits...

Few hot-button, “fighting words” are tossed around with wilder abandon in journalism today than the historical term “fundamentalist.” The powers that be at the Associated Press know this label is loaded and, thus, for several decades the wire service’s style manual has offered this guidance for reporters, editors and broadcast producers around the world.“fundamentalist: The word gained usage in an early 20th century fundamentalist-modernist controversy within Protestantism. … However, fundamentalist has to a large extent taken on pejorative connotations except when applied to groups that stress strict, literal interpretations of Scripture and separation from other Christians. “In general, do not...

LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET April 04 Michael Matthews - Former Baptist Minister Michael's conversion story - in pdf format

Terry Jones is neither a priest nor a Catholic, but the Islamic Republic's Ahlul Bayt News Agency cannot be expected to have mastered the intricacies of Christian sectarianism. But note in any case that we have never seen such outrage and indignation from Islamic ambassadors or any other Muslims regarding any of the jihad terror attacks and plots against non-Muslims in the U.S. or Europe. These so-called "hijackings" of their peaceful faith never seem to move them to this kind of outrage. Note also that the ambassadors are trying to use this incident to attempt yet again to restrict the...

It took me a looong time to finally decide to start a blog. I love to write...I love writing little things on Facebook to make my friends smile...but I just sort of feel like blogging has been done to death. I mean, who isn't blogging? But then I realized that, like everything else, this isn't something I need to do to please (or displease) other people...and this isn't something I should do only if I think I can find a niche in the blog-world that hasn't already been filled (which I'm thinking is pretty impossible at this point). God has...

VANCOUVER — In 2005, two fathers from the fundamentalist Mormon community of Bountiful, B.C., drove their 12-year-old daughters across the U.S. border. They went separately and, in one case, the girl’s mother went along. The purpose of the trips? Marriage, according to documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court Friday. The girls were “sealed for time and eternity” in religious ceremonies to Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... The ceremonies took place in the FLDS-controlled twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. In one case, both the girl’s mother and...

Fundamentalism is not confined to Islamic religions. In fact fundamentalist movements are to be found in all societies and religions, including Catholic Christianity. Fundamentalism is a form of organised anger in reaction to the unsettling consequences of rapid social and religious change. Fundamentalists find rapid change emotionally extremely disturbing and dangerous. Cultural, religious and personal certitudes are shaken. Consequently, fundamentalists simplistically yearn to return to a utopian past or golden age, purified of dangerous ideas and practices. They aggressively band together in order to put things right again – according to what they decide are orthodox principles. Sometimes they turn...

The fallout continues for the Brown family of TLC’s “Sister Wives.” After the cable television series debuted Sept. 26, Meri Brown, of Lehi, lost her job. “They felt that they needed to protect the company, I think,” Meri said in an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that aired Thursday. “It actually makes me really sad because I loved my job. It breaks my heart, definitely. ... But I understand where they’re coming from.” “Sister Wives” chronicles the lives of Kody Brown; his wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn; and their 16 children. The final two half-hour episodes of the...

One of the points of contention in recent textbook battles in Texas is the issue of slavery and how it will be explored in classrooms. Those opposed to revision argue that it will be whitewashed. Actually, if the complete history of slavery were explored, those purists might be surprised at what they find. For one thing, few texts even mention the enslavement of Christians by Muslims. “The Barbary pirates, using what would now be called a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam as their pretext, regularly kidnapped Christian livestock from Italy, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica and from the ships of all...

AN MP fears the Pope’s visit to Birmingham could be marred by violence after a fundamentalist Muslim group told followers to ‘convert’ Catholics attending an open air mass. The sinister orders have appeared in an inflammatory article on a hardline website called the Islamic Standard – which also brands the Pontiff ‘evil’. It is urging Muslims to disrupt Pope Benedict XVI’s appearance at Cofton Park in September when up to 80,000 Catholics will attend a live mass. Last night, Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood called for a police probe into the Leicester-based website. He said: “These supposed Muslims are doing...