Free Republic

In January 2009, ICR received a copy of a recent ministry letter published by television personality Dr. John Ankerberg. For many years, Dr. Ankerberg has skillfully tackled tough issues related to the church, society, the Middle East, and other topics of interest to believers. Christians everywhere need to be informed, challenged, and also taught sound doctrine—there is no substitute for the Bible. However, the January letter from Dr. Ankerberg’s television ministry reveals a dangerous trend toward subjugating the accuracy, understandability, and authority of the Bible to the foolish musings of men—namely, scientists who deny that God’s revelation in the book...

ABC has apparently never heard that phrase, "There are two sides to every story." On Feb. 1, "World News Sunday" helped shamed former-pastor Ted Haggard take shots at the Christian conservatives who he says "shunned him." Reporter Dan Harris introduced the piece by qualifying Haggard as a former "insider, a powerful pastor at the highest levels of the Christian conservative movement." Haggard, who made headlines two years ago for getting caught in a gay sex scandal, is now offering advice to the Christian conservative movement; and ABC gave him the megaphone. Here is a portion of Harris' interview with Haggard:

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - Once one of the most popular televangelists in the U.S., the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch in Southern California is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple that has been on the air worldwide for more than three decades.The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by...

The Israelis just struck back hard at Hamas in Gaza. In response, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab world (at least publicly) expressed their anger at the killing of over 300 Palestinians, most of whom were terrorists and Hamas officials. For several prior weeks, Hamas terrorists had been daily launching rockets into Israeli towns that border Gaza. The recent volleys of missiles had insidiously become more frequent — up to 80 a day — and the payloads larger. Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists were reportedly supplying their own training and expertise. These terrorists point to the Lebanon war of...

A well-known California atheist says he and 17 others, plus atheist and humanist organizations, will file suit Tuesday in D.C.'s District Court to strip all references to God and religion from President-elect Barack Obama's January inauguration ceremony. Michael Newdow, of Sacramento, Calif., says he wants to remove the phrase "so help me God" from the oath of office, plus axe the invocation prayer from Pastor Rick Warren, already under fire from the left for his opposition to gay marriage. According to Newdow, any reference to God or religion violates the Constitution. "Equality is important to me," Newdow told The Examiner....

Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled.

Birds fly, tortoises crawl and politicians lie, particularly when they feel cornered. That's the natural order of things. Big deal. I don't waste too much indignation on it. But what irks me, and should concern us all, is not the everyday disregard for this or that particular truth but the very assault on the idea that there is such a thing as truth at all. ~ snip ~ As believers in the old-fashioned idea of truth, conservatives generally have found postmodernism distasteful and have vociferously protested its emergence.

Younger evangelicals split over Palin choice as VP Sun Sep 14, 12:50 PM EDT When Jessica Stollings learned on Facebook that John McCain had named Sarah Palin as his running mate, the 26-year-old from Bristol, Tenn., took the day off and picked up some campaign yard signs. Just like that, she went from "just a voter" to a McCain evangelist. "He's a lot more visionary than I thought," said Stollings, a blooming evangelical activist for her generation who believes God has raised up Palin "for such a time as this."Similar excitement built on the Virginia campus of conservative Christian Patrick...

Postmodernism by R. Wesley Hurd At the end of this century the big questions about reality and being human rise with unexpected power. We ask ever more agonizingly: What does it mean to be human? How do human beings fit into this vast cosmos? Where to from here? We live in a time of great uncertainty--caught in the transition from a bold and passionate optimism about the future to a deep skepticism and spirit of nihilism about finding any universal ways for mankind. We live in a postmodern time. The term "postmodernism" pops up in newspapers, magazines, and other media....

Sprinters will be paid £10 per hour to run through the halls of one of the UKs most famous art galleries. Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed has the revealed the runners as his new work of art 'Work No. 850' at Tate Britain. The show will see a series of semi-pro athletes sprinting through a 86 metre long gallery every 30 seconds for eight hours per day for the next four months. Creed, 39, who won the 2001 Turner Prize for a piece called The Lights Going On And Off, said: “I like running. I like seeing people run and I...

California's Supreme Court has made its contribution to the ongoing debasement of our law, our language and our culture by legalizing same-sex marriage. California now has law in the tradition of Groucho Marx who said, "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes." When the court says there is no difference between couples consisting of a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, and that it's irrelevant that only one combination can produce children, whom are you going to believe? The court or your own eyes? This decision shouldn't...

"Either relativism is a genuine theory in which a real assertion is made, or else it isn't. But any attempt to assert relativism without relying on just-plain truth [absolute] would inevitably fail, because it would generate an infinite regress. And, of course, any assertion of relativism that does not rely on just-plain truth would be-self defeating. So it looks like any apparent assertion of relativism is either self-defeating or else is not a real assertion, but something more like an empty slogan." (Jubien, Michael. Contemporary Metaphysics. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997) "The only way the relativist can avoid the painful dilemma...

Postmodernism is a worldview characterized by a belief in the lack of an objective truth, and wehich asserts that assertions of objective knowledge are essentially impossible. A strong part of postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from traditional approaches that had previously been dominant... Some postmodernist idea are: Truth is a "social construct," rather than objectively provable. There is no superior culture; Western culture is no better than any other (see cultural relativism)...

... There are lots of questions to be asked about Postmodernism, and one of the most important is about politics involved -- or more simply, is this movement toward fragmentation, provisionality, performance and instability something good or bad? ... the postmodern avowal of fragmentation and multiplicity tends to attract liberals and radicals. This is why, in part, feminist theorists have found postmodernism so attractive as Sarup, Flax and Butler all point out. ... postmodernist politics offers a way to theorize local situations as fluid and unpredictible, though influenced by global trends. Hence the motto for postmodern politics might well be...

Postmodernism At Work The following two statements are parts of comments made on the Free Republic forum in response to Pamela Hewitt's "Problems of Evolution." "Nothing in Science is ever “proven”, just provisionally accepted pending further data." (—allmendream) All science is tentative, and nothing is ever proved! (—Coyoteman) Normally, I would not bother with such mindless statements, but they just happen to perfectly exemplify the post-modernist nonsense that is being taught in today's colleges and universities. It is why we are living in the age of gullibility. Do not suppose this is just ignorance, however. These things are being taught...

Both his fans and his critics hail Bill Clinton as the first postmodern president. In his personal constructions of truth and morality, his continual re-invention of himself, and his insistence that even the word "is" depends upon your interpretation, President Clinton became a poster boy for the relativistic worldview. Now Hillary Clinton is continuing her husband's political legacy. The most flagrant example of Mrs. Clinton's embrace of contemporary philosophy is her description of a trip to Bosnia in which she had to duck sniper fire, landing with no ceremony into a war zone and running from the airplane with her...

Postmodern Epistemologies by: Bethany Stotts, February 19, 2008 ...How does style affect our perception of the text, and does style itself impart its own distinct meaning?...Modern Language Association (MLA) professors attempted to answer these questions by drawing upon postmodern academics who remain skeptical of absolute knowledge, one of whom belongs to the radical “naturalist” Brights movement. Among the scholars mentioned were Donald Freeman, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Mark Turner, Daniel Dennett, and Noam Chomsky.... Instead, Chodat referred the audience to the works of radical atheist and Brights Movement member Dennett, who is listed on the site as one of the movement’s “enthusiastic...

Cedarville University, a Baptist school in southwest Ohio, decided on January 30 to cancel a lecture from Christian social activist Shane Claiborne originally slated for tonight (Feb. 11) in the school's Dixon Ministry Center, after a small but vocal number of bloggers saw the lecture as a step toward liberal theology. After Cedarville's public relations office announced on January 22 that Cedarville would be hosting "An Evening with Shane Claiborne," some blogs decried the decision to invite someone they labeled as belonging to the Emergent community. Links to the blogs were then e-mailed to alumni and pastors, some of whom...

The Future Lies in the Past -- Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them. For younger evangelicals, traditional churches are too centered on words and propositions. And pragmatic churches are compromising authentic Christianity by tailoring their ministries to the marketplace and pop culture....

A Markham firm has been sent hopping to yank a Valentine version of the Happy Bunny book series after a mother complained of its "disturbing" messages. Scholastic Canada Ltd. yesterday said it was responding to Tina Dale's objection after her daughter Emily, 8, brought home It's Happy Bunny: I (Love) Me Valentines, by Detroit author Jim Benton. Some of the 36 pull-out stickers include references to "floating face down in a river"; "Wow! You're icky! Would some candy make you feel better about that?"; "I think you're the best. (The best I can do for now.)"; "I know how you...