Free Republic

Dating back to Genesis and to some of the most primordial of myths, man’s history is replete with cautionary tales created to impart wisdom to any misguided soul seeking to make a lesser god of himself or his species. Be it the fruit first plucked by Eve from the biblical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or Icarus’ hubristic flight on waxen wings, or the fable of the gamine Pandora’s curiosity, the moral was clear: Not all knowledge was meant for the finite minds of us mortals, nor should we fly too close to the sun lest we perish....

Nothing rounds out the day like a good “America in decline” poll. I don’t think is evidence of decline per se, of course. I’m not religious myself. But it’s hard not to notice that tribalism, political and otherwise, seems to be expanding as religious identity weakens. And that many of those substitute tribal identities are underwhelming or obnoxious.

Over the past several years, the Social Justice Warrior movement has swelled to become a formidable beast in the US. Anyone who does not follow their strict doctrine is lambasted with terms such as “fascist”, “racist”, “mansplainer“, “deplorable” and an abundance of other dehumanizing insults. SJWs have corrupted academia, the media and politics. However, this isn’t the first time America has had to deal with such a corrosive ideology. The wave of Evangelicals that came during the last part of last century was (and still partially is) extremely similar to the SJW movement. Just to be clear, being a believer...

The aim to eliminate poverty, especially under sanction of law, results in all sorts of injustice, including taking from one group of people in order to give to another without the consent of either. That is not charity. It is compulsion, and God admonishes against it. (2 Corin 9:6-8) Moreover, like all social programs, the lofty goal of eradicating poverty breeds corruption among those who administer the agenda. Emotions are manipulated to loosen the purse strings of well-meaning citizens to contribute to a cause that no human could ignore. Yet very little of the money raised or taxed to address...

People promoting “hostility” towards a religion or the transgendered online could get much harsher sentences, of up to six years in jail, especial if they have a large online audience according to new proposals. The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has drafted changes to public order offences, including anyone perceived as targeting online a “protected characteristics” including “race; sex; disability; age; sexual orientation; religion or belief; pregnancy and maternity; and gender reassignment.” The most severe punishments will be handed to those “in a position of trust, authority or influence and abuses their position to stir up hatred,” such as...

Is Christianity Just Wishful Thinking? By Philip Cottraux Sigmund Freud devoted his life to studying the intricate workings of the human mind. He is responsible for many of the common psychological terms saturating modern culture: the id, the ego, the superego. The Oedipus complex. But in recent years, many of Freud’s ideas have come under scrutiny. Some have taken it as far as to suggest that most of his theories were made up. His influence has been so strong, however, that it’s hard to sort out what might have been pseudo-science. But I want to focus on Freud’s other notorious...

Christian leaders are reacting positively to news that President Donald Trump is unveiling a new White House plan to protect religious freedom and to work more closely with the faith community. The president is announcing the new initiative today on the National Day of Prayer. Evangelist Franklin Graham praised the move saying, "I'm extremely grateful that we have a president who realizes the importance of prayer, faith, and religious freedoms to our nation." Trump's executive order calls for the executive branch to ensure "conscience protections," and it states a broader goal to preserve "the religious liberty of persons and organizations...

Lawyer who helped Hobby Lobby win before the Supreme Court will serve on Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Religious liberty advocates received a boost in federal courts after the Senate confirmed one of the nation's leading First Amendment attorneys to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate voted to approve President Trump's nominee, Kyle Duncan, to Louisiana's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. Duncan is the former general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that "exists to defend the free exercise of all faiths, from Anglican to Zoroastrian," as it says on...

A California bill that aims to ban Christian books and resources which address issues of homosexuality and gender identity could pass in the California Senate as soon as late May, sources told CBN News. Assembly Bill 2943 declares biblical books and Christian conferences dealing with biblical views on homosexuality or transgenderism as fraudulent under the state's consumer fraud statute. Ultimately, it would penalize those who share a traditional view on marriage. "Whenever a pastor or a church or a para-church ministry holds a conference or an event or sells a book or video about overcoming same-sex desires or gender confusion,...

During your daily poring over of The Babylon Bee‘s award-winning coverage of all theological camps, you may have found yourself wondering about the worldview known variably as “theological liberalism,” “liberal theology,” “liberal Christianity,” or “butter in sunshine.” Well, wonder no more! We have put together this short, accurate, plain-English crash course on the essentials of theological liberalism, just for you. What is theological liberalism? Theological liberalism is a movement that seeks to incorporate various aspects of modern thinking and trends into the Christian faith, while still staying true to the historical Doctrine of Things That Make Me Feel Good Are...

.... self-appointed elites will privately meet at an invite-only "consultation" to figure out what's wrong with us mouth-breathers.... .... attendees included Tim Keller, co-founder of The Gospel Coalition; Fuller Seminary president Mark Labberton; Gabriel Salguero of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition; and Trillia Newbell of the Southern Baptist Convention.... ...who wasn't invited: prominent evangelical Trump supporters like Franklin Graham of Samaritan's Purse; Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas; and Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University....

And church attendance by Roman Catholics is on the decline again. So, in fact, is the religious affiliation among Americans at large.The drop continues a long trend of declining attendance at mass. In the last three years, an average of only 39 percent of Catholics reported attending church in the past week. That’s down from an average of 45 percent just 10 years ago. And severely off from the mid-1900’s. In 1955, for instance, 75 percent of Catholics reported attending mass during the previous week.On the other side of the aisle, the new Gallup survey found that church attendance...

Banned from the Bible? (Run time: about 1 hour 25 minutes).This is the final class in a 12-part series on the archaeological evidence supporting the Bible.This class is about the common idea that the New Testament is "incomplete," and that there are certain books telling us a different story about Jesus that were banned by the church.I discuss in length many historical misconceptions from Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" as well as other books that have misrepresented the birth of the Christian church.I also go into the controversial idea that Christian story of Jesus is somehow "borrowed" from other...

Yes, at first glance the title of this piece appears to be provocative (indeed, some probably stopped there and refused to continue reading). However, it is provocative only under two conditions. First, it is provocative when viewed within the frame of reference to which we’ve become conditioned – that is, that Progressivism and religion are examined as totally separate and distinct topics, a conceptual version of the so-called “separation of church and state” if you will. Second, it is provocative if this writer had deliberately crafted it just to get a reaction..... More at Link:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with his wife Svetlana Medvedev have arrived to the Easter Service in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. The service, conducted by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is also attended by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and other prominent political and public figures. Shortly before midnight, a capsule containing the Holy Fire from Jersualem has been brought to the cathedral. In line with a longstanding tradition, Putin attends the night-time service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Easter.......

A Wake Forest University religion professor thinks it is not just illogical to believe in God, but also immoral, according to a Wednesday report. Dr. Jarrod Whitaker specializes in South Asian religions at the North Carolina school and also allegedly asserted that belief in an objective truth “is the most tremendous evil that is responsible for all the great suffering in the world,” reported The Wake Forest Review. The professor would perpetually “explain why Christian theology is problematic, racist, sexist, imperialist, and fundamentally evil,” Whitaker’s Catholic student John told the Review, who kept his identity concealed.

KJV-Only Church Requires Clear Bible Covers To Verify No One Concealing NIV April 3, 2018 MOORE, OK—In a new security measure designed to increase congregational safety, Ye Olde Baptist Church AV 1611 has begun requiring congregants to utilize clear Bible covers while attending services in order to verify no one is concealing a different translation like the “extremely dangerous” NIV.

In "Why God? Explaining Religious Phenomena", sociologist Rodney Stark writes that these godless movements do not count as religions because "without the existence of a conscious divine being ... these 'Godless religions' can offer no otherworldly rewards, no miracles, not even any reason for prayer or worship." (Skip) ... he makes the following proposition: "The everlasting basis for religion will be the human conviction and hope that life has meaning." Is this not exactly the point of Marxism: that instead of the endless cycle of exploitation of man by man, we are entering an era in which workers of the...

As more evidence the world has truly gone mad: The Pope has declared there’s no such thing as hell. In a bizarre yet entirely logical way, it makes perfect sense. Read on. You’ve heard the expression, “Is the Pope Catholic?” It’s a figure of speech used to point out that the answer to a particular question is unequivocally “yes”. Now that the Pope has come out against the existence of hell, I suppose we’ll have to abandon that expression. Controversy erupted this week with reports that Pope Francis denied the existence of hell. Quoted by an Italian journalist who is...

Europe is a hugely diverse place in terms of culture, language and especially religion. The European Social Survey 2014-2016 found that across the continent, there is a huge difference in the share of young people identifying as having no religion. The research found that the youth in Poland are still quite religious with only 17 percent of respondents aged 16-29 not associating themselves with any religion. The situation is much different in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands where 7 out of 10 young adults identify as having no religion. The highest share on non-religious youth was recorded in the...