Free Republic

The president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says comments by best-selling author John Grisham at the recent "New Baptist Covenant" meeting are theologically off base. During a rare public speech, Grisham criticized Baptists who believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. The novelist spoke about a Baptist church he attended as a youth, which he described as intolerant because its leaders said the Bible should be read literally. The Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president, Dr. Richard Land, disagrees with Grisham and says it is not intolerant to defend God's Word....

Dear Friend, Hillary once told me that she reads my novels for relaxation. It's an honor to have her reading my books, but given that I write about suspense and high drama, I sure hope she meant it as a compliment. Either way, she's a great friend, and I even finagled an invitation to sit with Bill to watch her in an upcoming debate. I hear you might be joining us. With the upcoming FEC deadline, this is a pivotal moment in the campaign -- a perfect time for you to contribute to Hillary. It's also a great time for...

I am really getting tired of these messages. Now, I get one from John Grisham. This is heartbreaking, but as it gets a little cooler here at night, I may have to use some books to start the firewood. That is not censorship. It is my property and I can do with it what I wish. No, I guess it really would be better to sell them and give the money to Fred or Duncan.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- About 1,000 supporters of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jim Webb filled the Paramount Theater last night to hear readings by Webb and best-selling authors John Grisham and Stephen King. Webb is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. George Allen in the Nov. 7 election. Grisham, King and Webb each said he had been a Republican before switching parties. All three wore combat boots to honor Webb's son, Jimmy, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq. "How fitting that boots have become a symbol of this campaign," said Grisham, an Albemarle County resident. "On one side you have cowboy boots. A...

Biloxi, Miss. ON Aug. 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille roared onto the Gulf Coast with winds of more than 200 miles an hour, only the second Category 5 storm to hit the mainland United States. It killed 143 people in Mississippi, and 201 more in flooding in central Virginia. Over the years, Hurricane Camille's legend grew, and it was not uncommon when I was a child and student in Mississippi to hear horrific tales from coast residents who had survived it. I myself was sleeping in a Boy Scout pup tent 200 miles inland when the storm swept through. Our losses...

TUPELO, Miss. -- Bestselling writer John Grisham and his wife will contribute $5 million US to a relief fund they established this week at a Tupelo bank to help Mississippians rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. "We don't normally publicize gifts. It's something we keep extremely private," Grisham said Friday during a conference call with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and officials with BancorpSouth. "But in these very, very rare circumstances -- this tragic time -- we hope the gift will get some attention and inspire other people to contribute money and help our fellow Mississippians on the Gulf Coast," said Grisham,...

HOUSTON - Will Denton, a prominent trial lawyer and adviser to best-selling novelist John Grisham, died Friday of complications following a heart transplant. He was 62. His health had been deteriorating for two years, said his wife, Lucy. Denton, a decorated veteran and former Air Force staff judge advocate, devoted more than half of his nearly 40-year legal career to personal injury cases that took him around the world. He developed case law that helped refine the Jones Act, a federal maritime law. Denton was attorney for the Biloxi Port Commission in Mississippi, a former Biloxi, Miss., city judge, co-author...

RUNAWAY JURY is a left-wing propaganda movie that is absolutely shameless in the way it makes all the characters opposed to its radical message look as bad as possible. Ironically, the game that this movie about jury tampering plays is as phony and rigged as the jury in the story. John Cusack stars in the movie as a young man who infiltrates a jury in New Orleans during a trial against a gun manufacturer. Dustin Hoffman plays the lawyer suing the manufacturer for being culpable when a disturbed man uses one of the manufacturer’s guns to slaughter a bunch of...