Free Republic

Shorter University in Rome, Ga., is requiring its employees to certify that they are not gay as a condition of employment. All 200 employees of the Baptist university, located about 65 miles northwest of Atlanta, received a "personal lifestyle statement" last Wednesday, which they must sign or risk being fired. Employees must pledge to be "active members of a local church" and to abstain from, among other things, drug use, premarital sex and homosexual behavior. "I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality," the statement...

Lorna Jose Mendoza has been given a choice. She can either assist in an abortion this week at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, or she could refuse and risk losing her job. Mendoza is one of a dozen nurses who filed suit today against the hospital – accusing them of violating federal and state law by forcing them to assist in abortions against their religious and moral objections. “The hospital told the nurses they have no regard for their religious beliefs,” said Matthew Bowman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “They were going to be assigned...

(AINA) -- In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix. "We wanted to believe the official version," said activist Mark Ebeid, "because the Coptic version was a catastrophe, as it would take persecution of Christians also to schools."...

I recently read an article that said that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world and nowhere more persecuted than in the middle east. Pope Benedict recently expressed concern for the persecution of Christians around the world. Coptic Christians have been repeatedly slaughtered in Egypt, both pre and post Arab Spring.  Earlier this month Egyptian forces drove over Coptic Christians in military vehicles at a rally in Cairo. ACN reports: Christians in Egypt are currently experiencing their worst time in recent centuries. This statement was made by the Coptic Orthodox Bishop Stephanos of Beba and Elfashn to the...

Pastor Nadarkhani Is One of Many Christian Leaders Suffering Persecution in Iran Iranian officials are attempting to convert Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani while he awaits his verdict under the jurisdiction of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported. CSW has been informed that during Nadarkhani’s stay in prison, guards and officials have provided him with religious Islamic literature “allegedly as part of an official campaign to convert Christian prisoners.” “CSW is deeply concerned at news of a further increase in the harassment of Iranian Christians,” CSW Special Ambassador Stuart Windsor said in a statement. Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor,...

WASHINGTON — In an escalation of the U.S. bishops’ campaign against “grave threats to religious liberty,” Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., endorsed three bills designed to strengthen First Amendment rights. The bishop, who heads the newly established Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops testified before Congress yesterday, Oct. 26. “I am here today to call to your attention grave threats to religious liberty that have emerged even since June — grim validations of the bishops’ recognition of the need for urgent and concerted action in this area,” said the bishop. “I focus...

An employee with the New York Archdiocese warned of an “impending persecution” after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called same-sex “marriage” opponents discriminatory and “anti-American” last week.

No Way Out: A campaign by Christian Solidarity Worldwide Egyptian Christians need your support now more than ever. After living with the threat of discrimination, harassment or violence for decades, they are highly vulnerable. This long-planned campaign has the chance to bring hope and change to Egypt's Christians as the vital reform process begins. Speak up for Egypt’s Coptic community As peaceful protests turned violent in Cairo this week, we need your help to speak up for Egyptian Christians in the face of increasing sectarian attacks. Peaceful demonstrations led to bloodshed on Sunday as a crowd of thousands of Coptic...

A New Jersey high school teacher became the center of a Facebook controversy on Thursday after writing on the site that “homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation” and complaining about a school display recognizing October as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History month. The teacher, Viki Knox, posted a photo of a display from the school, Union High School in Union Township, on her personal Facebook page last week. It included photos of Virginia Woolf, Harvey Milk and Neil Patrick Harris. When a friend asked if the school had really put it up,...

The principal at a Catholic elementary school in Winnipeg faces possible dismissal after he allowed students to count the 40 Days for Life vigil towards community service hours. Principal David Hood of Christ the King School advertised the local 40 Days campaign in a recent newsletter and then allowed students who approached him to join the vigil to satisfy part of the 10 hours of community service required of grade 7 and 8 students. The move led to a media firestorm this week with calls for the school, which is independent and under the auspices of the Archdiocese, but receives...

Last week, President Obama's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in a case that pits religious protections against the courts' ordinary ability to intervene in a labor dispute to prevent discrimination.In the early 2000s, Cheryl Perich was a "called teacher" or "commissioned minister" at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Mich. As such, she taught religious classes, led students in prayer and incorporated religious teachings into secular subjects like math, science, social studies and art.But in 2004, she was diagnosed with narcolepsy and became unable to teach the fall semester that year. When she...

In yet another stunning attack on freedom of religion, President Barack Obama's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court last week to give the federal government the power to tell a church who its ministers will be. The case involves a former teacher at Lutheran school, who along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is pushing a claim that a Lutheran congregation should be forced to restore her ministry position. Americans United for Separation of Church and State and American Atheists, Inc. have filed briefs siding with the Obama administration against the church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church...

(CNSNews.com) -- There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime. In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country. The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last...

The Texas school where a teen was punished for saying homosexuality was wrong has apologized and stated the boy “has the right to express an opinion in a manner consistent with law and policy.” The Fort Worth Independent School District has issued a letter fully vindicating high school freshman Dakota Ary, who was given in-school suspension for telling another student that he believes homosexuality is wrong because of his Christian faith. The controversy surrounded an incident that happened when Dakota was in Kristopher Franks’ German language class at Western Hills High School and the topic of homosexuality arose. Dakota said...

Dr. Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. (AP Photo.) (CNSNews.com) – A national group representing more than 2,000 military chaplains from evangelical Christian and Orthodox backgrounds said on Wednesday that the Pentagon has launched a “direct assault” on marriage, and the chaplains they endorse will not be allowed to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies under any circumstances.Dr. Ron Crews, executive director of the newly formed Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, said his 2,000-plus membership is concerned about a Sept. 30 Pentagon memorandum that authorizes chaplains and military chapel facilities to be used for “any private ceremony,”...

An organization representing more than 2,000 of the nation’s 5,000 military chaplains announced Wednesday they would join forces with Catholic Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Service, saying they will not perform same-sex ceremonies. The 2,000 members of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, a group of evangelical clergy, are concerned about the Pentagon’s memorandum – issued 10 days after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal took effect – that authorizes chaplains to officiate “any private ceremony.” A Sept. 20 order lifted the military’s long-standing DADT policy, allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the armed forces. While the...

(CNSNews.com) - Bantering with the audience at a fundraiser in St. Louis yesterday, President Barack Obama bragged about a new regulation, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has denounced as an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty.” "Darn right!" an audience member at the fundraiser shouted as Obama described the regulation. “Darn tooting!” Obama said back. The proposed regulation, designed to implement part of Obamacare, will require all private health plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives--including those that cause abortions—without charging any fees or co-pay....

The church in Iran is growing and Christians are excited about it, despite persecution. Most Christians in Iran are remaining steadfast to their faith in spite of pressure from the government. Michael Wood of Open Doors USA recently returned from the Middle East and explains the spiritual climate there. “The government has gotten wind of what's going on and as you can understand they don't like it, so we see some repercussions that [have] happened,” Wood says. “The house church is coming under a lot of pressure -- freedoms are even more taken away from individuals that had been found...

FORT WORTH, Texas, September 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The teacher responsible for suspending a student after he expressed opposition to homosexuality has been placed on administrative leave with pay. Last week, Western Hills High School teacher Kristopher Franks retaliated against high school freshman and honors student Dakota Ary after he was overheard telling one other student that he believes homosexuality is wrong because of his Christian faith. The conversation, held during a class discussion on religious beliefs in Germany, arose when one student asked what Germans thought about homosexuality in relation to religion. Ary says the instructor “started yelling” upon...

LEDYARD, NY, September 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another town clerk in New York may lose her job for refusing to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples, the New York Times reports. Fifty-seven-year-old Rose Marie Belforti has been the town clerk in the small rural town of Ledyard, New York for ten years. When the state of New York legalized homosexual “marriage” this past summer, Belforti decided that she could not reconcile signing same-sex marriage licenses with her Christian faith. Instead, she decided to delegate the task to a deputy, who would issue such licenses by appointment. Now, a lesbian...