Free Republic

The growing role of religion worldwide will particularly be seen in the political context, says Hanna Salomäki, the director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s Church Institute for Research and Advanced Training.Speaking at the theological conference of Perusta magazine in early January, Salomäki mentioned how the world’s economic powers have connections with a range of religions. Hence, the influence of faith will not disappear from the world in the future.According to Salomäki, Western countries are the exception to the global rise in religiosity. In regions like Europe and North America, participation in religious events is decreasing, and membership in...

A Methodist church is causing controversy this week with a message targeting President Trump, suggesting his push for a border wall is racist against people who are not white. The sign in front of the Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, states: “White supremacy is the real crisis.” “We really wanted to respond to our president who is taking this opportunity to manufacture a crisis at the border,” Rev. Andy Oliver at the church told WFLA-TV. He told the station he sought to extend a message of love and acceptance to those who see the placard. “Targeting people...

Gallup publishes in February of each year a survey of the extent of self-described religiosity in each state; and they report that religiosity is rising throughout the country. Gallup headlined this year’s survey on February 3rd, “Mississippi Maintains Hold as Most Religious U.S. State; Vermont is the least religious.” Last year, it was “Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont Least Religious.” No change there: in fact, the rank-orders of the 50 states (plus D.C.) are almost unchanged during the past 12 months. What’s notable is instead that the percentages of people saying that they are “Very religious” have increased in almost...

Two in five Americans say they regularly attend religious services. Upward of 90 percent of all Americans believe in God, pollsters report, and more than 70 percent have absolutely no doubt that God exists. The patron saint of Christmas, Americans insist, is the emaciated hero on the Cross, not the obese fellow in the overstuffed costume. There is only one conclusion to draw from these numbers: Americans are significantly more religious than the citizens of other industrialized nations. Except they are not. Beyond the polls, social scientists have conducted more rigorous analyses of religious behavior. Rather than ask people how...

Gallop recently released polling research which suggests the median proportion of residents worldwide who said religion is important in their daily lives is 82%. Not surprisingly, America's average was 65%, well below the worldwide average. What do these numbers mean, and how has America's declining religiosity affected it? http://conservativebrawler.blogspot.com/2009/02/implications-of-decline-in-american.html

Is Obama a Muslim? You Decide. Why was Obama's first interview given to Al-Arabiya, a Saudi owned Arab news network? In the following interview, Obama stated, “I have Muslims in my own family. I have lived in Muslim countries. …..And America’s a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and nonbelievers. …….And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.”

(IsraelNN.com) A series of research studies – known as the JPSYCH program - at Bowling Green State University in Ohio reveals that traditional religious beliefs and practices are protective against anxiety and depression among Jews. Spearheaded by David H. Rosmarin and Kenneth Pargament in Bowling Green’s psychology department, the studies are amongst the first to examine the impact of Judaism on psychological health. "Most research in this area has been conducted with Christians," says Rosmarin, and some has been conducted with Muslims and Hindus as well, "but now we have strong evidence to suggest that religiousness is correlated with lower...

I'm just interested. I could do without church. Thanks to all who participated in my other thread on "who believes salvation can be lost". There are just so many responses. How important is church to you as a conservative? I think you can be moral and christian without church.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas police on Tuesday sought a Baptist pastor and his twin brother on charges they used a tree branch to beat an 11-year-old boy nearly to death for misbehaving in a Bible class. Investigators sought Joshua Thompson, 23, and his twin brother Caleb Thompson for the July 3 incident, which left the Louie Guerrero in intensive care for four days after broken blood vessels caused his kidneys to fail, court records say. Both men are charged with a single count of felony injury to a child, according to an affidavit filed on Monday. Court records allege...