Free Republic

A Baptist pastor in Dallas is facing some harsh realities more than a year after leading his congregation to affirm homosexuality. In November 2016, Wilshire Baptist Church voted to extend membership to those involved in the homosexual lifestyle. The church's slogan is now "Open to all, closed to none." The action prompted the Baptist General Convention of Texas to sever ties with the church. A year later, Chelsen Vicari decided to contact senior pastor George Mason to see how the church has been affected by the change.

Catholic church attendance in the United States fell by six percent between the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, the sharpest drop in decades, a new Gallup poll has revealed. An average of 39 percent of U.S. Catholics attended church weekly during the heart of the Francis papacy, from 2014 to 2017, Gallup found in a survey released April 9, which represents a significant drop from the 45 percent of Catholics who attended weekly Mass from 2005 to 2008, in the early years of the Benedict pontificate. Weekly Mass attendance among American Catholics had stabilized in the mid-2000s...

The comparison is obvious. A new Gallup poll finds a precipitous drop in Catholic Church attendance coinciding with the years of Pope Francis's papacy. Francis is known for shoving secular statist left-wing ideology into church teachings, through both his words and his deeds, just as Colin Kaepernick did with the National Football League. That's clear in what Pope Francis says and in whom he invites into the Vatican to provide advice. And surprise, surprise, the result is the same: the fans and the flock stay away. Breitbart reports: Catholic church attendance in the United States fell by six percent between...

Often in history, the "White American Bible Belt" paid homage to racism while calling it "Jesus Christ," according to prominent evangelical Russell Moore. Delivering a speech at the MLK 50 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Moore drew a parallel between America's struggle for racial equality and the ancient Israelites being told to choose between serving God or serving Baal. "Time and time again, when told they could not serve both, the people of God tragically often chose to worship Baal but to rename him God," said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "And...

A Mississippi United Methodist Church recently voted to leave its denomination, in part, because of the denomination’s position on abortion. In the past, the United Methodist Church has been affiliated with the pro-abortion group Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and some of its pastors continue to support pro-abortion causes. The denomination does not describe abortion as a sin, either. Its position statement describes abortion as a “complex” issue. It says: “Our belief in the sanctity of unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of...

LOS ANGELES, California, March 29, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ recent large-scale religious education gathering (LA REC) continued to feature in this year’s event a number of outspoken dissident Catholic leaders who championed the LGBT agenda. One pro-LGBT priest dismantled centuries of Church teaching on sin, claiming sin is a development of the Council of Trent. “The Religious Education Congress is nothing short of a disaster,” stated one attendee of the March 15-18 event. “With insolent, gay-affirmative priests crying for change, and liberal Ph.D.’s with a soapbox and a bone to pick, it’s no wonder why so...

Earlier today, Francis addressed the Conference of Rectors of German Language Seminaries, gathered in Rome. The conference is taking place in the shadow of comments made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, suggesting the possibility of blessing homosexual unions. Those unfamiliar with this story would do well to read Maike Hickson, whose English language reporting on the activities of the Church in Germany is unparalleled. As most readers likely recall, in a recent interview, Cardinal Marx said: This [decision to confer a blessing on homosexual couples] I really must leave up to the local pastor and...

The Duke Divinity School is hosting a workshop on “Confronting White Fragility” Tuesday to address why white people have a hard time talking about and acknowledging racism. “This workshop will explore questions of why it is often so hard for white people to have honest conversations about race and racism in the United States today and how can this difficulty in engaging with race and racism manifest in the classroom in harmful ways—often in combination with intersecting issues related to gender and sexuality,” a description of the event reads.

Dr. Willie Parker slowly and methodically dismembers babies for a living. Because he claims to do these evil acts in the name of Christian compassion, there are a lot of people who will never again be able to take Christianity seriously. That is the reason why the Mississippi State University (MSU) Gender Studies program recently hosted Parker’s lecture “Abortion and the Christian Case for Choice.” It was the perfect choice for feminist ideologues wishing to denigrate Christianity.Kimberly Kelly, Director of Gender Studies at MSU was quoted in the March 6, 2018 edition of The Reflector as saying, “abortion (is) critical...

Pair green-lighted by NY Catholic leadersNEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) - New York's Catholic leaders marked the city's 257th St. Patrick's Day Parade by spotlighting openly gay marchers, chief among them, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland. The prime minister and his boyfriend helped lead the parade, marching alongside Governor Andrew Cuomo and Congressman Peter King, both self-described Catholics. Varadkar hailed the significance of the event. "It was a real privilege to march with my partner at this parade in New York," he said after the parade. "Only a few years ago, people couldn't march under the rainbow banner but that has...

DES MOINES, Iowa, March 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Sixty-eight faith leaders who say they are Christian signed a letter of protest against a proposed Iowa law that would protect preborn children from abortion once their heartbeat is detectable. "As faith leaders, we want to use our collective voices to stand with Iowa women in support of their constitutional right ... to an abortion," the letter to the editor of the Des Moines Register begins. Speaking against the Iowa Heartbeat Bill, the faith leaders write supportively of a pregnant mother's "private medical decisions,” referring to her choosing abortion. “Most Iowans, people...

Hailed as “a climate change evangelist,” Katharine Hayhoe believes that her Christian faith obliges her to preach the word about climate change, especially to climate skeptics. An atmospheric scientist and evangelical Christian, Hayhoe is a firm believer in manmade climate change and recently addressed a UN-sponsored climate change conference in Edmonton, Alberta, on the woes that await the human race if global warming is not curbed. Hayhoe teaches political science at Texas Tech University and is also the CEO of the consulting firm ATMOS Research and Consulting, which specializes in preparing organizations of all sorts to face the impact of...

“Some men have vaginas and some women have penises,” congregations have been told in a Church of Scotland resource urging greater sensitivity towards transgender people. The 30-page booklet, a copy of which was delivered to every Scottish church on Tuesday, asks ministers to consider using gender-neutral language for God as part of a range of measures to make their congregation more inclusive for individuals who identify as transgender.

When it comes to the gun control debate, there is little sunlight between the most ardent Marxist and politically liberal “Christians,” especially those of the so-called “Red-Letter” stripe.So when a homicidal maniac shoots up a mall, a movie theater, a concert, or a school, as was tragically the case last week in Parkland Florida, both liberal Christians and run-of-the-mill Leftists bleated for the same unworkable solution - more gun control.Run-of-the-mill Leftists, of course, are expected to trot out the disarmament song-and-dance. After all, how else do they expect to impose a totalitarian state on the populace? But how is it...

When it comes to the gun control debate, there is little sunlight between the most ardent Marxist and politically liberal “Christians,” especially those of the so-called “Red-Letter” stripe.So when a homicidal maniac shoots up a mall, a movie theater, a concert, or a school, as was tragically the case last week in Parkland Florida, both liberal Christians and run-of-the-mill Leftists bleated for the same unworkable solution - more gun control.Run-of-the-mill Leftists, of course, are expected to trot out the disarmament song-and-dance. After all, how else do they expect to impose a totalitarian state on the populace? But how is it...

This spring, a group of Christian liberals (yes, apparently “Christian liberal” is a “thing,” not an oxymoron) plans to visit Lynchburg, Virginia, the home of conservative Liberty University, and protest what they consider the “toxic evangelicalism” coming from leaders like Liberty’s president Jerry Falwell and others like him who happen to support President Trump. The “Red Letter Revival” was announced last week by Christian author and social justice warrior Shane Claiborne via Twitter, and is set to take place April 6-7. According to his website bio, Claiborne “heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to...

On February 6 the Pontifical Academy of Sciences run by the controversial Argentinean Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo re-tweeted from its Twitter account “Casina Pio IV” a New York Times article entitled: “No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering it.” The re-tweet produced strong reactions. Paweł Chojecki, an US-style Protestant preacher in Lublin, Poland, commented underneath, “Today the Vatican is promoting a diabolical depopulation teaching! This is not a church of Christ.”

HOBOKEN – Churchgoers attending Sunday service at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church celebrated the renaming of their pastor. The Rev. Rose Beeson has been transitioning from woman to man since last summer, sharing the journey with parishioners. After giving a sermon on what is known in the church as Transfiguration Sunday, the Rev. Tracie Bartholomew, bishop of the New Jersey congregation, held a "renaming ceremony" where Beeson will now be called Peter.

Slash CEO income, bring more women on board and go low carbon, Church Investors Group tells companies. The Church Investors Group has warned some of Britain’s biggest companies it intends to take a hard line on executive pay, gender diversity and climate change over the forthcoming annual meeting season. The group, which represents church organisations with combined investment assets of about £17bn, has told companies listed on the FTSE 350 index it will refuse to re-elect directors at firms failing to make sufficient progress in key areas. “The best companies contribute to the common good through their products and services...