Free Republic

The diplomatic showdown between Lithuania and the world’s second-largest economy began with just one word. In Uagust, Vilnius authorized Taiwan to set up a “Taiwanese” represents office in the country. Using that name offended Beijing…. MORE-

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A Kenosha pastor is fasting for climate change. The Rev. Jonathan Barker, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, stopped eating on Saturday and said he will continue the protest until Congress passes a climate bill. Democrats pushed a $3.5 trillion, 10-year bill through the House Budget Committee that strengthens social safety net and climate programs. The measure is a “once-in-species-moment,” Barker said. “As a Christian, I am called to be on the side of love for neighbor,” Barker said. “Love for neighbor means making sure my neighbor has a livable future, a family-sustaining green job, clean air...

Evangelical Lutherans are making a move.It’s been said culture is defined by morality, and morality is informed by religion.But sometimes, it works in the reverse.Have hell-and-brimfire preachers gone the way of the dodo bird and thus society’s less legalistic, or is it the other way around?Whether the chicken or the egg, on Saturday, history was hatched.The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) installed its first transgender bishop.As relayed by The Associated Press, Rev. Megan Rohrer will now lead one of ELCA’s 65 church councils (known as “synods”), putting the minister in charge of nearly 200 Nevada and Northern California congregations.Megan...

FINLAND – Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, Diocesan Dean and Bishop Elect of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) has been charged by Finland’s Prosecutor General with incitement against a group of people. The charges stem from a 2004 booklet published by Luther Foundation Finland (the legal entity behind the ELMDF) which articulates historic Christian teaching on human sexuality. “As a Christian, I do not want to and cannot discriminate against or despise anyone created by God,” Dean Pohjola said in reaction to being charged. “Every human being, created by God and redeemed by Christ, is equally precious.” At...

In the 1620s, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered the construction of a new warship to protect his citizens. The warship was named Vasa and its construction was hurried as the Swedes waged war in those years with the now-historic bi-confederation entity reigned by one monarch–the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

When we picture the classic, stereotypical Thanksgiving scene, what are we picturing? The glow of candles, the golden turkey, the large table laid out with the feast, the family gathered in their Sunday best on a Thursday, perhaps with a “kids’ table” in the background—it has always been more of a Norman Rockwell-esque idea than a reality for any particular family. The real pictures of what is going on in tens of millions of homes around the country on Thanksgiving Day would show tens of millions of distinct, unique variations on that theme. They would have a certain, central aspiration...

Capital University announced in a statement by the Chair of the Board of Trustees Andre Porter and Interim President Dave Kaufman that the university will change its mascot, Cappy the Crusader, after the Board of Trustees passed a resolution in favor of doing so. The Board of Trustees completed “a 15-month process of study, discussion, and reflection.” Their studies showed that “a significant portion of the Capital Family” agreed that the “nickname and mascot should be a unifying symbol that enhances school spirit and pride for all who are affiliated with Capital.” The university community recently “challenged” the nickname because...

May 20, 2020, 7:21 p.m. EST: BREAKING: The Minnesota Catholic Conference and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in Minnesota sent Governor Tim Walz separate letters today announcing that they will resume worship services on May 26 despite Governor Walz’s current COVID-19 executive order which allows retailers to operate at 50 percent capacity but caps church worship services at ten people. Governor Walz’s latest re-opening order allows the Mall of America to open its doors to those seeking retail therapy but disallows churches from providing spiritual healing to their congregations. At the same time, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sent Governor...

Sweden is sticking with its unusual coronavirus strategy, relying on people to take responsibility and follow guidelines instead of implementing lockdown measures like most other countries with outbreaks have done.There’s only a handful of restrictions in place, like a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, while shops, restaurants, bars, and schools remain open.The government has defended its strategy and says people are following its advice, while statistics have suggested that many people are taking social-distancing steps like avoiding public transport.Sweden’s Parliament is also moving to give the government powers to quickly introduce more restrictions if needed, though...

A lot of evangelicals are swimming these days. They’re slipping on their metaphorical fins and masks and churning their way across bodies of water to emerge on the other shore as members of a different faith community. Those that move from evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism are said to swim the Tiber; those that become Orthodox swim the Bosporus. Reasons for their aquatic activities vary. Some like the art and architecture associated with the ancient faiths. Some like the ceremonial aspects–the liturgies, the veneration of icons, the Eucharist. Some like the history that oozes from Catholicism and Orthodoxy, a history that...

The following is an exclusive excerpt from Michelle Malkin’s new book, Open Borders, Inc: Who’s Funding America’s Destruction?, available Tuesday, September 10. *** The Illegal Alien Shelter Network Operating in Plain Sight from Central America, across Mexico, and into the U.S. To fully appreciate the manufacturing of the 2018–2019 invasions of our southern border, you must first understand this: Pueblo Sin Fronteras is just one cog in the well-oiled, illegal-alien caravan-generating machine. Let’s start with what open-borders advocates themselves call their “Underground Railroad” of migrant safe houses that extend across Central America, through Mexico, and up and into the U.S…...

Police are investigating a Christian politician in Finland for an alleged “hate crime” because she shared a Bible verse on Facebook to criticize a national church that participated in LGBT Pride festivities. In the post, congresswoman Päivi Räsänen, a Christian Democrat, criticized the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for participating in the Helsinki LGBT Pride events in June. Her criticism was alongside a picture of Romans 1:24-27 that describes same-sex relationships as “shameful.” Her post made Räsänen the subject of a pretrial investigation by the Finnish Police for a suspected incitement against sexual and gender minorities. “The pre-trial investigations have...

If you were shocked by the images of the Mexican flag flying over an Aurora, Colorado, immigration detention center this weekend, you'll be appalled at an even more disgusting spectacle: One of the top promoters of the so-called Lights for Liberty nationwide protests by Trump-hating, ICE-bashing radicals was a nonprofit religious organization known as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. As a designated "host," LIRS played a key role in publicizing, organizing and participating in demonstrations against President Donald Trump's deportation enforcement actions targeting some 2,000 illegal immigrants and their families who have ignored removal orders or skipped out on...

The story goes like this – Lutheran Social Services is working out of the love of Christ to bring Somali refugees to MN in order to help them escape extreme poverty. That may be true in some regards, but the money involved is difficult to ignore. For example, in an article last month, 89% of the money is coming from government grants used to pay high salaries. “That supposedly ‘Christian’ charitable organization is directly responsible for the high Somali numbers in St. Cloud, and they are jointly responsible for bringing over ten thousand Somalis from around the world to colonize...

Austrian Evangelical Church votes to publicly ‘bless’ homosexual unions AUSTRIA, March 15, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – After weeks of discussion, the General Synod of the Austrian Evangelical Church (EKÖ) – a Lutheran denomination – agreed on Saturday, March 9 to allow homosexual couples to receive a church blessing during a public ceremony of worship. The move was approved by 45 votes to 18. Despite several measures intended to protect conscientious objection on the part of pastors and communities, the vote is expected to create a deep divide in the Austrian Lutheran church and some commentators in Austria are already warning that a...

Among Protestant Christians in the United States, Lutherans are most likely to say that they consume alcohol while Pentecostals are least likely, a recently released LifeWay Research poll has found. The poll, which was conducted in August 2017 but released Tuesday, found that over 75 percent of Lutherans surveyed answered “yes” when asked if they drink alcohol. Meanwhile, 62 percent of Methodist respondents responded with the same answer. By comparison, just 43 percent of nondenominational Christians, 33 percent of Baptists and 23 percent of Assemblies of God/Pentecostal Christians said that they consume alcohol. The survey is based on a sample...

A Christian university in Washington state will open its stage in March to women who believe aborting their unborn babies was a good thing. The theater department at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington is sponsoring the pro-abortion event in partnership with the Planned Parenthood abortion chain, according to the Daily Caller. The event, “Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign,” will promote the disproved statistic that one in three women will abort an unborn baby in her lifetime. “From the halls of Congress to pulpits and court houses around the country, women’s personal stories about...

SIERRA VISTA — For more than 20 years a group of women — most of them members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Sierra Vista — have been making lap covers for hospitalized veterans. On Dec. 4, about 20 members of the group — The Crafty Ladies of Immanuel — will travel to the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (hospital) in Tucson to present veterans with 175 lap covers. Some are knitted, some crocheted and others are machine sewn. The women also make body covers, sewn in patriotic colors and used to cover veterans who have died while hospitalized. “If...

Hundreds of asylum seekers from the Middle East, including from Iran and Iraq, have converted to Christianity in Finland, according to officials in the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran community. ....While some who are seeking to covert cited disillusionment with Islam as the key reason, others said they felt conversion will help them fit into the Finnish culture, according to Sputnik News, which also speculated that an underlying reason also could be to guard themselves against possible deportation. In Finland, 4.1 million of the 5.5 million people are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church....

While there are many threats to religious liberty, few are more consequential over the long term than the state’s ever-expanding role in private life. If the government is able to vacuum up tax dollars, create programs large and small for public benefit, and then exclude religious individuals or institutions from those programs, it has functionally created two tiers of citizenship. Secular individuals and institutions enjoy full access to the government they fund, while religious individuals and institutions find themselves funding a government that overtly discriminates against them. That’s the issue the Supreme Court addressed today in Trinity Lutheran Church...