Free Republic

Vice President Pence's asking a Messianic Jewish rabbi to pray at a political rally in Detroit ignited a controversy this week, given the Saturday massacre of 11 Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue. At a Monday rally for Republican Congressional candidate and Reform Jew Lena Epstein, who invited Loren Jacobs — leader the Messianic Jewish Congregation Shema Yisrael in the Detroit area and is active in Jews for Jesus — to pray in an apparent attempt to be ecumenical, the Messianic Jewish rabbi prayed openly in "Yeshua's name," which is Jesus in Hebrew and referred to Jesus as the "Messiah" while...

In the first of this two-part interview, philosophy professor Thomas Pink explains why forgetting that we live in a fallen, unconverted world of largely unbaptized people has led many Church leaders to falsely believe the Church can peacefully dialogue with it.Over recent decades, some Church leaders have become ever more reticent in standing up for Catholic teaching, especially when it comes to morality. Rarely do these prelates defend the unborn from the pulpit, condemn the intrinsic evil of artificial contraception, or speak out against same-sex “marriage” — topics guaranteed to bring them into conflict with the modern world. This can...

It is that time of year again when Orthodox and some other Christian writers attempt to warn people about the evils of Halloween. They assert—and I have done no less in my much younger days—that Halloween is a pagan holiday, and thus everyone who participates in its celebrations by default participates in the ancient Gaelic harvest festival called Samhain (“summer’s end”). As I grew older I saw that the people who dress up as princesses and Marvel super heroes have about as much to do with devil worship (for this is often the claim) as people who send each other...

Just when we thought we’d seen it all, a Boston Archdiocesan parish led by a “gay-friendly’ pastor has done something worse than we could have imagined. The “gay-friendly” pastor at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Chestnut Hill — welcomed by Cardinal O’Malley to the parish in 2016 despite his published history of leading a “gay-friendly” parish in New York City — has a full-page propaganda letter in their parish bulletin touting the parish administrator’s story as a transgender person and urging parishioners to vote “Yes” on the upcoming “Bathroom Bill” ballot question. A “Yes” means the existing law stands that...

The number of abortions in Russia has dropped by nearly 2/3 since the beginning of the century, according to statistics presented by Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, reports Interfax-Religion. In 2000, there were 2,138,000 recorded abortions in Russia, and in 2017—779,999. “That’s a very serious decline—63.5%,” Golikova noted. Moreover, the number of Russians who condemn abortion has tripled in 20 years, from 12 to 35%. There is still a long way to go, however. It was previously announced in January 2017 that the number of abortions had been halved in Russia in the span of four years, with a 13%...

Bangkok — Thailand’s capital of Bangkok is a large, bustling, chaotic metropolis. The friendly, informal nation of Thailand draws visitors from around the world. Filling some backstreet neighborhoods are impoverished Pakistani Christians, stranded in the Thai capital while hoping to gain religious asylum elsewhere. They survive with support from my friends at Christian Freedom International, which aids victims of religious persecution, and other humanitarian groups. The problem reflects domestic failures in Pakistan, especially social and legal discrimination and persecution, often violent, against religious minorities. Islamabad is formally an American ally but in practice has constantly challenged U.S. interests. The domestic...

Pope Francis, ending a month-long meeting on the theme of Catholic youth, told young people Sunday that in order to be good members of the Church they should not be obsessed with “doctrinal formulæ” but blend its rules with social activism to help those in need. Francis said a Mass for about 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica to ceremoniously close the Synod of Bishops, officially titled “Young People, Faith and Discernment of Vocation” and attended by some 300 bishops, priests, nuns and lay participants. The gathering’s final document, issued late on Saturday night, called for women to play a...

‘Ireland is rightly proud of our reputation as a modern, liberal society,’ says FlanaganEvery single one of the 40 constituencies in Ireland voted to remove the word “blasphemous” from article 40.6.1 of the Constitution in a unanimity unique in recent Irish referendums. Last Friday’s vote was closest in constituencies along the Wild Atlantic Way. In Donegal 51.5 per cent voted Yes to 48.4 per cent No, while those in Sligo-Leitrim voted 56.1 per cent to 43.9 per cent to change the Constitution. Meanwhile, voters in Mayo voted by 56.9 per cent to 43.07 per cent; though the heavily urbanised Galway...

There’s nothing he can do. Massacres like the one that unfolded at a Pittsburgh synagogue have “little to do” with lax gun laws and are “even tougher when you're the President of the United States and you have to watch this kind of a thing happen,” President Trump said Saturday afternoon. Trump painted himself as a helpless observer unable to prevent such tragedies, despite being the leader of the free world. “For me, as President, to watch any of this go, you know, before I ran for office, I'd watch incidents like this with churches and other things and think,...

If you remember from middle school science, "Supersaturation" is a state of a solution that contains more of the dissolved material than could be dissolved by the solvent under normal circumstances. It can also refer to a vapor of a compound that has a higher (partial) pressure than the vapor pressure of that compound. Such is the state of the world today. We are prophetically supersaturated both with the burden of the actual events, plus the pressure that is building toward the future events and developments on all fronts. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. John explains in this week's...

It is nine days to Election Day. This novena is nine days of pray asking St Michael The Archangel, an angel we know is one of God's favorite creations, to intercede for us and ask God to bless us with victory on November 6th. The link is in the first comment. I have presented it this way to make people look it up as those who do will be the most likely to say it start to finish For those who believe no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe no explanation can change their minds.

(PHOTO: US EMBASSY, Berlin)Vice President Mike Pence (M), Second Lady Karen Pence (L) and their middle child, Charlotte, tour Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial in Germany on February 19, 2017.Vice President Mike Pence has always encouraged his three children to make his Christian faith their own. But in order to do that, at least one of his daughters had teetered on the brink of atheism.Pence's 25-year-old daughter, Charlotte, released her new book, Where You Go: Life Lessons From My Father, on Tuesday. While the book focuses on the advice and words of wisdom that her father has offered her and her siblings...

The ECHR ruled against an Austrian woman who claimed calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile was protected by free speech. The applicant claimed she was contributing to public debate.An Austrian woman's conviction for calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile did not violate her freedom of speech, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday. The Strasbourg-based ECHR ruled that Austrian courts carefully balanced the applicant's "right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected, and served the legitimate aim of preserving religious peace in Austria." The woman in 2009 held two seminars entitled...

October 26, 2018, (LifeSiteNews) – Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said in a CNN interview this week that being gay “is God’s greatest gift to me.” While mainstream and gay media are greeting Cook’s statement as breaking news, the Apple CEO made precisely the same declaration exactly four years ago when he penned a ‘coming out’ article for Bloomberg Technology on October 30, 2014, saying: So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.Steering away from controversy, Cook avoided answering interviewer Christiane Amanpour’s question about the level...

Abortion activist Cecile Richards told a women’s group that one of her “sweetest” moments in life was working with President Barack Obama on the oppressive Obamacare HHS mandate. Richards, who made a nearly $1 million salary running the abortion “nonprofit” Planned Parenthood, spoke Oct. 11 to the National Council of Jewish Women’s annual Women of Vision in Michigan. The Jewish News reports she urged women to vote for liberal candidates, and spoke about her proudest moments working for Planned Parenthood, which aborts about 320,000 unborn babies every year in America. “Marching is great, knitting ‘pussy’ hats, calling senators, sending postcards,...

When the stunned political class woke up to a world in which Donald Trump was president, plans began almost immediately over what they would do when they held power again. Even civility and basic human decency could wait until left-leaning leaders gained control of the country, opined Hillary Clinton. This culture clash was on full display during the confirmation process of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but those saying that the Supreme Court controversy is the lever motivating the electorate in the midterms are missing the bigger picture.The issues that animated some of Trump's most dedicated voters leading to the 2016 presidential upset, which were under the...

VATICAN – While European bishops discuss how to bring young people back to the Church at the 2018 Synod of Bishops, one bishop from Cameroon said that he has the opposite problem. “My churches are all bursting, and I don’t have space to keep the young people,” said Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Mamfe said at a Vatican press conference Oct. 24. “And my shortest Mass would be about two and a half hours,” he added. A study by Pew Research Center in August 2018 found that church attendance and prayer frequency was highest in sub-Saharan Africa and lowest in...

HOUSTON, TX—A suspicious package mailed to Joel Osteen and intercepted by Lakewood Church security was found to contain a copy of the Christian Bible, sources confirmed Wednesday.

10/17/2018 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – In its latest attempt to ensure that religion is under the government’s control, Wenzhou city, also known as “China’s Jerusalem,” has set up a three-person team mechanism to monitor religious venues with the goal of checking on security, collecting information, providing guidance and education, and keeping an eye on their activities.In a series of undated photos recently published online by the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness, several Powerpoint slides which appear to be training materials for local officials lay out details of the composition, objectives, and implementation of this new measure.The three-person teams will be...

In this post, growth is defined by reaching people and converting them and an increase in church attendance, not birthrate or immigration. Measured in that way, Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world, without a close second. Periodically updated.A Pew Research report says that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. However, in this post it is not about birthrate or immigration, but outreach and converts (including immigrants who convert to Christ). Pew does not predict how many people born in Muslims countries, often in squalor, will convert to Christ, which is happening now.The growth...