Free Republic

Today: a call to action on two fronts. There is a groundswell now developing among faithful Catholics that something must be done, and done now, about sexually abusive bishops and their brother bishops covering all this up. The recent revelations about Cdl. Theodore McCarrick have set off an explosion of comments and overall disgust at the role of so many members of the Establishment Church — particularly the hierarchy — in covering up this decades-long evil. And let's be clear, we are not talking about the child molestation cases, we are talking about adult men who are sexually harassed or advanced...

Eric Church, one of the headliners at the Route 91 festival in Las Vegas — the scene of the 2017 massacre known as the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in modern U.S. history — is blaming the NRA for the attacks. Church performed at the festival two nights before the shooting, and the experience has changed his views on guns “a little,” he says. While fellow country singer Jason Aldean was performing, a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing at least 58 people. Now Church is speaking out about the incident. While he says he considers himself a...

CHEVIOT, OH (WLWT/CNN) – A restaurant owner in Ohio is facing legal questions after offering a discount to churchgoers. "This was the furthest thing from my mind when we came up with this idea," said Justin Watson, the owner of Starters Cafe in Cheviot, OH. Watson opened the restaurant about seven weeks ago. He said all he was trying to do was stir up some business with his discount offer to churches. Instead, he stirred up a hornet's nest. "Any congregation, any religion, any area, whatever, as long as you brought me a church bulletin, I would give you 10...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.To be added or dropped from this ping list, post or freepmail to stars & stripes forever.

Barclay, a transgender person who identifies as neither male nor female and thus uses the pronoun “they,” was commissioned on Sunday as the first non-binary member of the clergy in the United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church is one of the largest denominations in America, falling behind only the Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. The mainline Protestant denomination has been bitterly divided over sexuality and gender identity: Its official rules say clergy must either be celibate or in heterosexual marriages, and can perform only such marriages, but American bishops have ordained gay and transgender clergy before, and...

For more than a century, St. Catherine of Siena Church was a cornerstone of the Charlestown neighborhood, a close-knit parish that seemed impervious to the change that swirled around it. When the Catholic church closed a decade ago, it took a piece of the old Charlestown with it, residents said. It had stood vacant ever since. But now, the church has taken on new life — if a decidedly secular one — as a haven for bargain shoppers known as Dollar Tree. Where parishioners used to receive communion, patrons now peruse aisles for food, toys, party supplies, and other discounted...

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.( Isaiah 53:1-3)The true Church is the creation of Jesus. He said...

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Ephesians 3″9-11)The Bible...

Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. ( I Corinthians 11:17-19)All things work together for the good, to those who Love God and who are the called according to his purposes (Romans 8:28)I hope my readers will indulge me briefly...

An Oregon business has filed a complaint against a church that prohibited it from hosting an LGBT event in a building owned by the church, claiming that the fallout from that decision has harmed the company. In 2015, Ambridge Event Center, which once rented out a space owned by Holy Rosary Church for various events, was compelled to reject an LGBT group's request to hold an event on the property due to the church's "morals clause." In a lawsuit filed last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon, Ambridge alleged that the church's rules against them hosting the LGBT...

Standing on the front steps of First Congregational Church of Oakland late last month, Nichola Torbett issued a declaration. "We can no longer tolerate the trauma inflicted on our communities by policing," Torbett, a white church volunteer, said in front of churchgoers who held photos of African Americans shot dead by law enforcement. The church, she promised, would never call the cops again in nearly every circumstance. Dozens of members had agreed to do the same. "How do police help? They often don't," Torbett later said in an interview. "So, especially as white people, why call them?"

For those of you familiar with fundamentalist movements, particularly the IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist), you’ll know these movements tend to be rife with sexual abuse and cover-ups. Because the IFB maintains ideologies of separatism and elitism, they tend to deal with their issues “in house.” The trend is: keep it in the church, don’t tell anyone (authorities included), blame the victim, and re-locate the offender to another church in another town (and don’t forget his severance package). Well, in a shocking turn of events, one IFB mega-pastor took a public stand against these actions, and those of us who have...

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,(Ephesians 1:22) For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:23) But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.1 Corinthians 11:3) He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the...

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. ( I Peter 5:1-4) I am a Pastor. By that...

Executive Minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches Dr. Rev. Donald Anderson will be taking a three-month sabbatical. According to an announcement by RI State Council of Churches Governing Board President Chontell Washington, Dr. Rev. Anderson shared with the Governing Board last fall that she is transgender and is "in the process of transitioning." The organization has granted Rev. Dr. Anderson a three-month sabbatical to take the time she needs to do that "free of the day-to-day operations of the council."

JAKARTA - A family of six carried out suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java province during Sunday mass on May 13, killing at least 13 people, according to the police. The attacks took place at the Santa Maria Church in the Ngagel Madya area of Indonesia's second-largest and busiest city, the Surabaya Centre Pentecostal Church and the GKI Diponegoro Church. East Java provincial police spokesman Colonel Frans Barung Mangera told reporters a total of 41 injured victims from the attacks have been sent to hospital. At least two of the injured were police officers on...

Police in Indonesia say suicide bombers have struck three churches in the city of Surabaya on the island of Java. Officials say at least two people were killed and 13 others injured in a blast Sunday in front of the Santa Maria Catholic Church. There was no immediate word about injuries at other sites. Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city. Debris is seen outside Santa Maria church, where an explosion went off in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, May 13, 2018. Media reports say simultaneous attacks on churches in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya have left casualties.

Undocumented migrants storm into a Catholic Church in France during mass & have to be removed by the police. This is what open borders has done to Europe.  https://twitter.com/MarkACollett/status/993470847179517952  

Some undocumented immigrants living in North Texas are getting church-issued identification cards through a local partnership. While they're not official government-issued documents, some law enforcement agencies will recognize them.

Missouri is one of nine states where the government generally prohibits people from carrying firearms in church. As in any question, the government may be neutral, which is the default position in the United States, or it may actively interfere.  According to concealedcarry.com, there are two states that ban concealed carry in churches, Nebraska and Louisiana. Nebraska allows a church to authorize an armed security team if the team members have carry permits and if written notice is given to church members.  Louisiana law is similar, but requires an extra eight hours of training every year. Seven states and...