Free Republic

The Christian women’s blog Sheologians received a powerful testimony recently from an atheist who visited Planned Parenthood looking for adoption information. That’s not what she got. In her letter to Sheologians, she described how the abortion group repeatedly pressured her to abort her unborn child, ignored her desires to make an adoption plan and tried to manipulate her emotionally. The Blaze reports Apologia Studios created a video of blogger Summer White reading the woman’s letter. The woman’s name is not used. “I am a victim of rape, but I’m also a victim of feminism. I was lied to,” the woman...

In the Santa Clara WEEKLY that I picked up yesterday, I learned that atheist activists won yet another battle locally to eradicate religious symbols from public life. Removal of Park Cross: City Cave-in or Prudent Compromise? described the removal from city property of a 14 foot granite cross that stood in the Mission Cross Park in Santa Clara for nearly 64 years. Much pressure is being put on cities to remove Christian religious symbols. Sometimes even when Christian images are banned, by some lapse of logic, pagan idols are not. Near where I live in San Jose, for example, nativity...

Comedian and atheist Ricky Gervais recently squared off with comedian and Roman Catholic Stephen Colbert over religion during a recent taping of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The exchange was brief and mostly unproductive in terms of articulating anything of value, but it did provide some insight into one of atheism's blind spots—teleology (the purpose of things). I encourage you to watch the video. Not long into the discussion, Colbert presents Gervais with the philosophical question, "Why is there something instead of nothing?" Gervais immediately dismisses the question as making "no sense at all." Ricky Gervais then proceeds to change the question...

A few months ago, a man named Dave Rubin reached out to us at Word on Fire to ask if Bishop Barron would be open to an interview. (Apparently lots of Dave’s Twitter followers suggested the idea.) To be honest, we didn’t know much about Dave at the time. But after some Googling, we discovered he’s a well-known comedian and host of the super popular “Rubin Report”, a show that airs directly through YouTube. “The Rubin Report” has over 350,000 subscribers and 100 million views. It’s one of the most popular YouTube channels in the world. Dave mostly shares cultural...

No one has ever seen one, but scientists are now sure they exist.In fact, by definition it’s impossible to see a black hole—an object whose gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape its grasp. Black holes had long been just a theoretical possibility that stemmed from Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. But then, in 1971, scientists were sure they had found one.But how could they observe what by definition was incapable of being seen?The first hint was a blue supergiant star many times larger and brighter than our sun. As one astronomer observed its...

The number of Americans who don’t ascribe to any religion grew significantly during Obama’s eight years in office, according to a recent Pew Research report on how the country changed during the Obama era.U.S. President Barack Obama (L) stands with Pope Francis during an arrival ceremony for the pope at the White House in Washington September 23, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst “When it comes to the nation’s religious identity, the biggest trend during Obama’s presidency is the rise of those who claim no religion at all. Those who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, as well as those who say their religion...

“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).  Hattip to Thomas Sowell.Originally filmed backed in 2007, the above video is still on target.  The global warming scam has little to do with science and everything to do with an ecological substitute religion for wealthy elites in the West.  This substitute religion is eagerly embraced by politicians in search of green crusades to bring themselves political power.  The harsh reception this...

December 15, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has asked the atheist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, to send him “positive waves” as support for his pontificate in just the same way he asks for prayers from Catholics. “I ask you in good faith to pray for me or to think of me and send me positive waves (onde positive),” Pope Francis said in the closing of his letter to Hidalgo, as Le Point reports. Pope Francis signed the letter sent by his private secretary to thank Hidalgo and 70 other mayors from all over Europe for participating in a conference...

Hey — guess what? There's something cosmically special about us human beings after all. Even the Washington Post says so. One of the cardinal tenets of a worldview shaped by materialism and Neo-Darwinism is a rejection of the idea that human beings are in any way special. Instead, we're merely the result of a fortuitous accident. What's more, many adherents postulate that this accident has occurred, perhaps even often, elsewhere in the Cosmos. So there's nothing exceptional or unique about us. However, Howard A. Smith, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian-Harvard Center for Astrophysics, begs to differ. In a recent Washington...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - An atheist's request for a personalized license plate saying "IM GOD" was denied by the state of Kentucky, which said it might distract other drivers, and would be in bad taste. Bennie Hart says that by announcing "IM GOD" on his license plate, he simply wants to show the impossibility of disproving anyone's claim to being "God." Besides, Hart says, he had the same plate for a dozen years when he lived in Ohio, without causing any problems.

Can European Christianity withstand assaults from radical secularism and Muslim immigration? The current trends suggest that Christianity may vanish from Europe, as happened to Christianity in North Africa in the 7th Century.

Usually feted ecstatically by Catholics across the world, Pope Francis may face a far more muted reception when he arrives next week in Sweden, one the world's most secular nations, with openly gay Lutheran bishops and special cemeteries for atheists. Add to that the fact that Francis will be there to take part in a joint Catholic-Lutheran service in Lund to mark the start of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's anti-Catholic Reformation that led to a bloody schism in Europe. In the first papal visit to the country in nearly 30 years, Francis, who is seen as breathing freshness...

Richard Gallagher is a board-certified psychiatrist and a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College. He is at work on a book about demonic possession in the United States. In the late 1980s, I was introduced to a self-styled Satanic high priestess. She called herself a witch and dressed the part, with flowing dark clothes and black eye shadow around to her temples. In our many discussions, she acknowledged worshipping Satan as his “queen.” I’m a man of science and a lover of history; after studying the classics at Princeton, I trained in psychiatry at Yale and in...

July 13 **The Kingdoms of Our Lord** “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” REVELATION 11:15 God WILL establish an Irresistible Kingdom on the earth. This Kingdom does not rise up from the earth, but it comes down from heaven. This Kingdom will break to pieces and consume all the other kingdoms. And this Kingdom will increase from a single Stone into a great mountain that fills the entire earth (Daniel 2:35). It is an Irresistible Kingdom! Not only can this Kingdom not be...

The Vatican newspaper has published a front-page reflection on conversions to Islam. Summarizing a recent book by journalist Virginie Riva examining the conversions of 11 French women, historian Lucetta Scaraffia writes that the women were between the ages of 25 and 35, university educated, not attracted by terrorism, and either agnostic or Catholic. These women were drawn to Islam, Scaraffia said, through their friendship with Muslim students who witnessed to their religion, delighted in studying the Quran, and did not downplay Islam’s requirements regarding prayer and the role of the sexes. Accepting invitations to Ramadan meals, these women, “very often”...

Many commentators tried to implicate Christians in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando. But might it not be true that Western secularists have more in common with Isis than Christians?The two realities of Islamic extremism and Western consumerism are like shadowy doppelgangers showing up each otherÂ’s bankruptcy. Consider:I. ISIS and secularists have both created aggressive sexual playgrounds for men.At first glance, the two foesÂ’ attitudes toward sex look utterly different. In the West, the Sexual Revolution strains against any restriction on sexual expression. That loose attitude toward sexuality is one of the signs of decadence in the...

Jesus Christ, the Man Jesus Christ may be the most famous man who ever lived. But how do we know he did? Most theological historians, Christian and non-Christian alike, believe that Jesus really did walk the Earth. They draw that conclusion from textual evidence in the Bible, however, rather than from the odd assortment of relics parading as physical evidence in churches all over Europe.That's because, from fragments of text written on bits of parchment to overly abundant chips of wood allegedly salvaged from his crucifix, none of the physical evidence of Jesus' life and death hold up to scientific...

This weekend on the Mall in Washington, a bunch of atheists — tens of thousands, including me -- will get together just to be counted as not having a personal god. Why? Whether the pollsters bemoan it or celebrate it, the percentage of Americans who are losing their religion is rising. And in a presidential election year, candidates need to take note. Two of those remaining, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, still give lip service to being religious -- even if many on either side of religion don't believe them or want to claim them. (Why would this be the...

On Wednesday night, former House Speaker John Boehner bluntly called GOP candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh.” When asked for his opinion about the Texas senator, Boehner said, “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.” It turns out that the Satanic Temple agrees with Boehner’s sentiments — but they said there’s no way Cruz is the living incarnate of Satan. When asked by the Friendly Atheist, Satanic Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves bashed Cruz.

In a twist that would have been unthinkable five decades ago, a man in Russia could go to jail for blogging that God does not exist.Ironically, Viktor Krasnov’s day in court was to be Tuesday, which was the 55th anniversary of the historic space flight of Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev later said in a speech that Gargarin found no evidence of God while orbiting Earth.Much has changed since 1961, but the change that concerns religious freedom advocates was prompted by a protest the feminist punk rock band known as Pussy Riot staged in a Russian Orthodox church four years ago. The group went...