Free Republic

You undoubtedly know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a progressive Christian and champion of civil rights and the social gospel. You may also know that he spoke out against the Vietnam War, harshly criticized U.S. foreign policy, and questioned the capitalist system that produced poverty. But do you know his theology? Right up until Dr. King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had traveled to support striking sanitation workers, the civil rights leader worked—not as a secular activist but as a Baptist minister—to awaken the conscience of the nation. What was the meaning of Jesus for Dr. King?...

Lutheranism is dead, or at least soon will be and it wants to take the Catholic Church with it. Herbert W. Chilstrom is former presiding bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Chilstrom has written an open letter to the Bishops of Minnesota asking them to accept gay 'marriage' becuase gays are like blacks or something. May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota?First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that,...

1. Inclusivism rules, so.. 2.If you disagree with us, you're intolerant and hateful... 3.God is Whatever or Whoever… 4.There are many paths to 'God'… 5.There is no such thing as Divine revelation, truth is what science or reason says it is at the moment or what works for you... 6.The Bible is outdated, of limited value, and in most areas simply wrong…unless interpreted to support what we believe... 7.Science is infallible, not the Bible... 8.The Creation account is myth; evolution is fact... 9.No human life is sacred; in or out of the womb... 10.Mankind is basically good and self-redemption is...

Janice Robinson is a dental hygienist and for a time worked at a dental office in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Hyde Park. For reasons she could never quite fathom, she seemed to have a following of gay patients who would ask for her specifically when they made their appointments. Some of them would bring her cookies and other treats, and though she brought them home to her family, she wouldn’t eat them herself because, she said, they had “gay cooties.” “I was ‘Miss Pompous’,” she says now. “I believed that anyone outside my tunnel-vision is not a good person, and...

The number of female pastors in Baptist churches has grown by a third in the past five years, according to a recent report covered in the Associated Baptist Press. Baptist Women in Ministry found that women’s involvement in ordained ministry is slowly growing among organizations like the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The Southern Baptist Convention’s position is that Scripture forbids women from serving as pastors.

Dozens of churches, from Park Hill Congregational in Denver to Hillview United Methodist in Boise, Idaho, and First United Lutheran in San Francisco to St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Honolulu, are planning to send "a message both here at home and to the Arab and Muslim world about our respect for Islam" with a time to read the Quran during worship this Sunday. It's not just wrong, but dangerous, according to Christian trends analysts. The aim of the program, which is promoted by social activists behind the Faith Shared website, is to counter the message from Islamic activists who say...

For the second time in less than a year, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), an official agency of the denomination, has published an article arguing that sexual relationships outside the covenant of marriage are not necessarily improper. “An Ordained Single Woman and the Discipline,” published June 7 as part of the “Sex and the Church” series in GBCS’ weekly Faith in Action online newsletter, contends that sexual relationships should not be off-limits for unmarried UM clergy. Last August, the controversial series featured an article by Unitarian “sexologist” Debra Haffner who wrote that one can have...

Earlier this week, the Pew Research Center released a survey on the views of religious Americans regarding torture. They survey found that white evangelical Protestants were the most supportive of torture--only 16% of evangelicals reject the use of torture. A whopping 62% of white evangelical Protestants think that torture is justified in most or many circumstances. Since the findings became public, numerous columnists, pundits, and bloggers have opined on why evangelicals support torture. The unaddressed question is, however, why white mainline Protestants--those belonging to the historic "brand name" churches--do not support torture. Indeed, approximately twice as many mainline Protestants (31%)...

Message from the world Church: 'Stop the infection' By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Monday, June 20, 2005 Edina, Minn. – Church leaders from around the globe gathered in a seminar at the New Wineskins Convocation on June 17 to discuss their relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The contrast was palpable, for in each country represented, the church is growing by leaps and bounds, while in the United States, progenitor of many of these vital communions, the Presbyterian Church is hemorrhaging members so rapidly that observers, both inside and outside the denomination, are predicting its demise. Rev. Tom...