Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves, has a family history deeply entwined in the issue: Two of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, U.S. census records show. The two great-great-grandfathers, James McConnell and Richard Daley, owned a total of at least 14 slaves in Limestone County, Alabama — all but two of them female, according to the county “Slave Schedules” in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. The details about McConnell’s ancestors, discovered by NBC News through a search of ancestry and census records, came in the wake of...

James McConnell, a 78-year-old Belfast pastor, has been found not guilty of broadcasting "grossly offensive" speech about Islam. McConnell, who made his remarks at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast in 2014, was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network. Both are prohibited under the British 2003 Communications Act. The verdict follows a trial after one of McConnell's sermons was broadcast online. In it McConnell said: "Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell." McConnell...

A pastor is facing a court trial this week on a government charge that his message, delivered through a public electronic communications because it was online, was grossly offensive to the point of being criminal. The decision that results from the case, which is based on the pastor's description of Islam as a "doctrine spawned in hell," could determine whether Christian pastors will be allowed to preach biblical doctrine in the United Kingdom going forward. U.TV in the United Kingdom reports that Pastor James McConnell, 78, of Shore Road, Newtownabbey, is facing a three-day trial for charges stemming from alleged...

A Belfast preacher will be prosecuted for referring to Islam as “satanic” and claiming that its doctrine was “spawned in hell.” During a sermon at his Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in May 2014, 78-year-old born-again Christian pastor James McConnell denounced Islam as a “heathen” religion, saying it was barbarian and Godless. Although the pastor initially defended his remarks, a huge public backlash and accusations of Islamophobia forced him to publicly apologize for any offense his sermon caused the Muslim community. Despite his apology, Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service informed McConnell last week that he was to receive an “informed warning” regarding...

Just a week after a scandal was sparked by a preacher slating Islam as "satanic", a second preacher has launched a broadside against the faith. The minister at Lord Bannside's former church, Martyr's Memorial Free Presbyterian in east Belfast, has blasted Islam as a "violent intolerant wicked religion". The Rev Ian Brown was speaking at a recent Sunday evening service in defence of Pastor James McConnell, whom he described as a "prophet". The Free Presbyterian minister told his flock last Sunday evening he felt the situation had become "thoroughly ridiculous". In an sermon posted on the Martyr's Memorial website, Rev...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – A 75-year-old Irish preacher was subjected to a police probe after he condemned Islam in a sermon and was accused of ‘hate mongering.’ James McConnell, pastor of the Whitewell Metropolitan Church in North Belfast, Ireland, discussed the religion of Islam during an evening sermon on Sunday, May 18th. During the sermon, McConnell denounced Islam and said the contrast between it and Christianity is stark. “The God we worship and serve this evening is not Allah,” he proclaimed, according to a video of his sermon. “The Muslim god—Allah—is a heathen deity. Allah is a cruel deity. Allah...

Police have launched a probe into a a potential hate crime after an outspoken evangelical pastor defended describing the Islamic faith as “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell”. Senior Pastor James McConnell made the remarks as he addressed his congregation at the Whitewell Tabernacle Metropolitan Church on Sunday evening. They were described as “very offensive”, “hurtful” and “irresponsible” by a representative from the Belfast Islamic Centre. […] During his sermon, the clergyman said: “Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.” He also likened Muslims to the IRA, saying there were cells spread right...