Free Republic

Much has been made of the Democratic Party’s new platform plank on abortion. Jim Wallis has hailed the new language as “an historic step forward.” Is it? Well, Sen. Obama says that “words matter,” so let’s examine the actual words. It is true that the Democrats did add language stating that the party “strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child by ensuring access to and availability of programs for pre and post natal health care, parenting skills, income support, and caring adoption programs.” This is good to know and does provide a certain moral symmetry to their promotion...

CBSNews.com: So, Tom Ridge, who's been discussed. You think … Richard Land: That would be a catastrophe. CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community? Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She's strongly pro-life....

While John McCain has risen to the top of the heap among contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson remains adamant that he will not support McCain’s bid for the White House. Dobson, one of the nation’s most influential evangelical Christians, declared more than a year ago that he wouldn't support McCain under any circumstances, saying McCain didn't support traditional marriage values. A Dobson spokesman told the New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick Wednesday that he stood by that position, and as a matter of conscience could never vote for the Arizona Senator. According to...

RUSH: First, Fred Thompson just got some encouraging news. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told the Brody File, which is a blog at the CBN.com website, the Christian Broadcast Network, "My assessment is that at this moment in time it is Fred Thompson's race to lose. It may be a convergence of the right man at the right place at the right time. I have never seen anything like this grassroots swell for Thompson. I'm not speaking for Southern Baptists, but I do believe I have my hand on the pulse of...

WHEN Mike Huckabee went to Houston Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved candidacy, a luncheon for the ordained Baptist minister was arranged by evangelical Christians. On hand was Judge Paul Pressler, a hero to Southern Baptist Convention reformers. But he was a non-paying guest who supports Fred Thompson for president. Huckabee greeted Pressler warmly. That contrasted with Huckabee's anger two months ago when they saw each other in California. The Arkansas ex-governor took issue then with comments by Pressler that Huckabee had been a slacker in the war against secularists in the Baptist church. Warmth in Texas and...

Around 2 P.M., ET, I called Dr. Richard Land's radio show, and talked with his substitute guest host regarding Duncan Hunter. I didn't have to wait too long to get on the show at that time. Anyway, I told the host, as well as the audience, some of the things that Duncan Hunter stands for on both the social issues, and other issues. I also said so many people like Hunter, but need to have the courage to fight for him, and it's still early. The host said he thought Hunter was a great candidate, too. Right after my call,...

Here is an outstanding discussion about Fred Thompson between Radio Talk Show Host Phil Valentine and Dr. Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Valentine asks Land about recent attacks on Fred by some Evangelicals, particularly that of Dr. James Dobson. This is a great interview!

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his rivals for the Republican nomination will face a tough crowd when they address the religious conservatives at the Values Voter Summit starting Friday. “I think what we can expect is a lot of folks talking about how dissatisfied they are with the choices they have,” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said. Giuliani’s positions on abortion and gay rights continue to dog him as he looks for support within the leadership of the religious conservative movement, and those leaders say they want to hear more from the former mayor this weekend than...

Here is audio of Southern Baptist Leader Richard Land speaking with Laura Ingraham about Fred Thompson and the recent attack on him by James Dobson. Land debunks the attack and sets the record straight. . . . .

It is now clear that a “death cult” has taken root within Islam. These fanatical enemies of freedom will as soon rain death and mayhem upon a schoolyard of innocent children (Muslim as well as non-Muslim) as they will attack a military vehicle. Yet while we denounce these zealots who seek to destroy in the name of religion, we should also acknowledge that a “death cult” has arisen in our own society as well. Many in this group worship at the altar of secularism. They have devalued life, and their handiwork is memorialized in the ignominious Roe v. Wade decision...

WASHINGTON – The controversial immigration bill proposing to legalize millions of illegal immigrants has revived but its fate on the senate floor is unpredictable, said the top Republican senator Sunday. “It’s a mixed picture,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on CBS’ Face the Nation. “There are good things in the bill, and not-so-good things in the bill.” McConnell said the vote is too close to call, according to The Associated Press. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and McConnell pledged to revive the bill days after President Bush made a personal lobbying visit to a Republican...

WASHINGTON (BP)--Most Southern Baptists want the country’s immigration laws to be enforced before supporting a type of guest-worker program, ethics leader Richard Land told President Bush March 23 at a White House meeting on the controversial subject. The president discussed the topic with Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and 14 others during a week in which the rhetoric on illegal immigration had escalated even as the United States Senate prepared to confront the issue when it returns from a recess March 27. Various proposals have been offered to address the increasing number of illegal...

State GOP seeks church directories The North Carolina Republican Party asked its members this week to send their church directories to the party, drawing furious protests from local and national religious leaders, the Greensboro News & Record reported on Friday. "Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. During the 2004 presidential race, the Bush-Cheney campaign sent a similar request to Republican activists across the country. Officials of the Republican National Committee maintained that the tactic did not...

A Southern Baptist leader says the White House called him with advance notice that President Bush would nominate Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The Reverend Richard Land says Karl Rove called him less than an hour before the president's announcement Monday morning. The head of the Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says he told Rove that he thought some conservatives had been too hard on him and Harriet Miers. He says Rove agreed, but wanted Land to know that Bush had chosen Alito instead. Advertisement The Baptist leader says he responded, "That's great" and thanked Rove for the...

Karl Rove called key conservative interest group leaders yesterday morning to give them a heads-up just before the White House made public President Bush's nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. Many of the same conservatives had been labeled "sexist" and "elitist" by the White House for their criticisms of Harriet Miers, Mr. Bush's previous court choice. But all seemed forgiven yesterday as leaders across the Republican spectrum, from economic libertarians to religious conservatives, united in praise of the Alito nomination. The chance to heal a rift between the president and his conservative supporters brought the...

The Talk Shows Sunday, October 9th, 2005 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Texas Supreme Court Judge Nathan Hecht; Gary Bauer, president of the American Values Coalition; Dr. Steven Rosenberg, chief surgeon with the National Institutes of Health.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Pat Buchanan, former presidential candidate; Richard Land, president, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary...

Democrats, reeling from the Republicans' success at courting churchgoers, are focusing new attention on a religious and political anomaly: Jim Wallis, one of the few prominent left-leaning leaders among evangelical Protestants. At the start of the Congressional session, Senate Democrats invited Mr. Wallis to address their members at a private session to discuss issues. A group of about 15 House Democrats invited him to a breakfast discussion about dispelling their party's secular image. And NBC News has enlisted him to appear as a guest during its inauguration coverage opposite Dr. James C. Dobson, one of the most prominent evangelical conservatives....

"I am appalled," Richard Land stated. Land was referring to reports that the Bush-Cheney Canpaign was asking volunteers to share names and addresses from their church directories with the campaign. I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way.

The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush, said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes. "I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "The bottom line is, when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate," he said. "I suspect that this will rub a lot of pastors' fur the wrong way." The Bush campaign defended a...

Baptists Angry at Bush Campaign Tactics Saturday July 3, 2004 3:31 AM AP Photo WHRE103 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush, said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes. ``I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way,'' said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. ``The bottom line is, when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate,'' he said....

<p>Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's ethics and religious liberty commission, will tackle issues ranging from pornography to the moral dilemma of war during a four-day lecture series beginning Sunday at Temple Baptist Church in Ruston.</p> <p>The forums will be held daily at the church, with additional sessions scheduled for college students on Louisiana Tech University's campus.</p>

Runaway judiciary is central issue in controversy surrounding the public display of the Ten Commandments, Land says WASHINGTON (BP)--Judge Roy Moore's monument to the Ten Commandments may have been locked up in a private room in the Alabama Supreme Court building, but the ruling to remove the monument has sparked a national debate that shows no sign of letting up. Richard Land said he, like a majority of Americans, is displeased with the direction the courts are pushing the country. And he doesn't plan on letting this issue rest, saying his concern with the way Judge Roy Moore handled the...

<p>By Jan Fletcher, Faith Correspondent A seven-hour drive to Montgomery, Ala., Monday, brought one Campbellsville man to the very center of the national controversy over public display of the Ten Commandments.</p> <p>Ricky Cox, a dentist and former state representative, made the decision Monday morning to leave for the showdown at the Alabama Judicial Building after his office closed at 5 p.m. He was back at work at 10 a.m. Tuesday, after participating in a vigil for three hours -- from midnight to 3 a.m. -- alongside 150 protesting citizens. Protesters vowed peaceful resistance to stop a court order to remove a 5,300-pound monument to the Ten Commandments.</p>

Evangelical leaders James Dobson and Pat Robertson came down on opposing sides of the Alabama Ten Commandments controversy Aug. 25, while a third evangelical, Richard Land, released a further elaboration of his position. Speaking on his daily Focus on the Family radio program, Dobson said he supports Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and "strongly" disagrees with evangelicals who have criticized Moore's legal strategy. Robertson and Land both said that while they believe Moore's Ten Commandments display is constitutional, they think he should have obeyed a federal court order and removed the monument. Robertson made his comments on the "Jay Sekulow...

While Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore stands tall in defense of the Ten Commandments, absolute morality and responsibility to God, many others involved in the case, analyzing it and pontificating about it are headed for the tall grass. Oh, I'm not talking about U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, the activist politician masquerading as a defender of the Constitution. No. Surely there are many like him in this nation who can scarcely hide their desire to obscure what America owes to God, to the Bible and to our founders who drew their inspiration from them. I'm not talking about...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 13, 2003 Contact: Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27 President Bush appoints new Commissioners WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush today appointed the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput of Denver, Colorado, Professor Khaled M. Abou El Fadl of Los Angeles, California, and Dr. Richard D. Land of Nashville, Tennessee, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent and bipartisan federal agency. “I am delighted that President Bush has appointed three individuals as distinguished and knowledgeable as Archbishop Chaput, Dr. Land, and Professor El Fadl. The experience and perspective they bring will...