Free Republic

Majority Leader Eric Cantor offered a new explanation for why he supports granting amnesty to individuals brought into the country illegally as minors, often called “DREAMers” in reference to the “DREAM Act.” It's “Biblical,” he said in a local radio interview. “I’ve always said that there’s a Biblical root and a tradition in this country that says we don’t hold children liable for their parents’ acts and when you have kids who may have been brought here let’s say at 2 months old unbeknownst to them and they’ve been here all their lives and they want to serve in our...

President Obama warned Friday that storms like Hurricane Sandy will become more frequent as climate change intensifies. While being briefed by emergency response officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters, Obama urged the public to prepare now for this year's hurricane season. "The changes we’re seeing in our climate means that, unfortunately, storms like Sandy could end up being more common and more devastating," Obama said. "And that’s why we’re also going to be doing more to deal with the dangers of carbon pollution that help to cause this climate change and global warming. And that’s why we’re...

“Our journalism advantage is shrinking,” a committee led by the publisher’s son warned. A call to get rid of the metaphor of “Church and State.” A 96-page internal New York Times report, sent to top executives last month by a committee led by the publisher’s son and obtained by BuzzFeed, paints a dark picture of a newsroom struggling more dramatically than is immediately visible to adjust to the digital world, a newsroom that is hampered primarily by its own storied culture. The Times report was finalized March 24 by a committee of digitally oriented staffers led by reporter A.G. Sulzberger....

Faith is making a comeback among liberal Democrats, but they still have a way to go. First, some history. Hoping to attract some Evangelical Christian votes more than 20 years ago, former vice president Al Gore wrote that the biblical story of Noah and the Ark could be paraphrased in modern terms, "Thou shalt preserve biodiversity" ("Earth in the Balance" p. 245). Gore also claimed the first recorded instance of pollution was when Cain killed Abel and Abel's blood "falls on the ground, rendering it fallow" (p. 247). Gore seemed fluent in religious language and theology compared to a comment...

At the Brookings Institute, a center-left think tank, Washington Post contributor E.J. Dionne, theological professor Gary Dorrien, and Columbia University professor Dorian Warren discussed the future of religious progressives in American society and how it could influence community organizing. “The Romney coalition is actually made up, a religious make-up that is even more white and Christian of Americans over 65 years old” while the “Obama coalition [has] more religiously unaffiliated [voters] …[a] higher proportion of non-white Christians…much closer to the younger cohort.” He claimed, “The Obama coalition is much more diverse.” Yet, Dionne admitted, “Only 13% of Democrats are religious...

A good rule of thumb with Hillary Clinton is this: If it comes out of her mouth, it’s insincere. You will never lose money taking that bet 100 times out of 100. And a good corollary to that rule is this: When she tells you what something is supposed to mean, that’s not what it means at all. Especially when she’s talking about the Bible. Pay attention: When a liberal who “rarely mentions his or her faith” suddenly shows up in a church quoting Scripture to you, it’s a pretty good bet that liberal is trying to pervert the Scripture...

Jersey City received a lesson on the impermanence of life a bit earlier than planned today, when a toddler mistook a Buddhist sand mandala for a playground this morning, smudging the center and sides and almost destroying days of painstaking work.

Bart Ehrman, prolific author, New Testament scholar and former evangelical Christian, says it took him eight years to research and complete his new book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. Yet, a group of fellow scholars responded in their book, How God Became Jesus, by claiming that the Christian-turned-agnostic's "sloppy" scholarship on Jesus' divinity leaves much to be desired. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says his research reveals that Jesus, a first century Galilean, never claimed to be God, and that it...

The goal of First Amendment was to protect religious expression, not restrict it. In the last 50 years, though, “non-establishment” has been redefined as “separation,” effectively amending the Constitution and isolating Christians from the political process.“Will You Be a Casualty in Their Religious War?” read the headline of an advertisement that almost covered an entire page of the L.A. Times. Underneath were pictures of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Lou Sheldon, along with condemning quotes substantiating their apparent jihad against irreligious secularists.The text of the advertisement read: “The radical religious right has declared war on America. It is a...

In a move with major legal implications, The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing “invidious discrimination” against gays, which would end the group’s exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group. “The Committee’s invitation ignores the fact that the change also encompasses other youth organizations whose membership is limited on the basis of gender, e.g., the Girl Scouts, as well as the military, which continues to practice ‘discrimination’ on the basis of gender,” wrote Catherine Short, legal director of...

San Diego County parks have set four Easter egg hunts, but are keeping the affairs secular by renaming the featured hopper the “Spring Bunny.” Events over the next two weeks will feature different activities at each location. Some feature face painting and others pancake breakfasts. Eggs hunts are set at four county parks. Image courtesy of County News Center“But the constants at all of them will be a chance to meet the Spring Bunny and lots of eggs – thousands of them!” says the county, whose news release doesn’t use the word Easter. Last year’s release also avoided any religious...

<p>‘as time goes on, weirdly, I’m growing less liberal. I’m more like, ‘No, religion is ruining the world, you need to stop!’.</p>

It appears we have a peaceful resolution to the Easter egg crisis in Dearborn, Michigan we reported on earlier today. According to the Daily Caller, a display of impressive common humanity and even more impressive common sense broke out over the weekend in Dearborn, Mich. after Muslim parent Majed Moughni complained about flyers handed out at public schools advertising an Eggstravaganza Easter egg hunt to be held at a Presbyterian church. On Sunday morning, Muslim leaders in the Muslim community stood together in solidarity in front of the Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church in Dearborn. The Muslim leaders and Cherry Hill...

Details:   Having worked in Catholic church music ministry for nearly 40 years — basically his entire adult life — Mike McMahon thought he knew the landscape and his place in it. As a gay person, all was fine as long as he was “discreet.”And that worked for him even in the conservative Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., where he was employed for about 30 of those years as music director at several parishes. In that time, McMahon, who has three graduate degrees in theology, also served as president of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the national body for...

So it would seem the New York Times believes that if you want to make a living you must give up your constitutionally protected rights. I guess because money is dirty and so are those evil Christians...or something. Click image to enlarge it.

A New York appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s 2012 ruling that a lesbian chef is owed $1.6 million for being forced to attend weekly prayer meetings where her boss would regularly warn that "gay people" were "going to go to hell." Mirella Salemi sued Gloria's Tribeca Inc., Gloria's Tribecamex and principal owner Edward Globokar for violations of the New York City Human Rights Law after a string of incidents that occurred between 2004 and 2007. Gloria's Tribeca is a Mexican restaurant. Salemi was awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages in what her lawyer,...

Just this week Students for Life of America was on the University of Michigan campus with our “What Has Roe Done For Us?” display, educating and dialoging with students about how abortion exploits and harms women, only to find out that the university is apparently endorsing a different message to their students. The University is currently sponsoring a pro-abortion display,“4000 Years of Choice”, which declares “Abortion as a Blessing” and a “gift from God,” directly countering to the truth put forth in SFLA’s Roe display which tells the stories of women like Jennifer Morbelli, Karnamaya Mongar, Tonya Reaves, and Marla...

March 21, 2014, 11:47 am Biden: After healthcare rollout pains, Obama fit 'for sainthood' By Justin Sink Vice President Biden told healthcare workers that "patience and empathy" are required to deal with frustrated ObamaCare enrollees and that the president demonstrated saint-like levels of both during the rollout. Speaking to a conference of community health centers in New York, Biden conceded that enrolling in ObamaCare could be "tedious," and early problems with HealthCare.gov worsened the problem. "We didn't help you much at the front end here, man," Biden said, adding that he wanted to recommend President Obama "for sainthood" because he...

A national gay rights organization has taken issue with a Roman Catholic Archdiocese's recently implemented "morals clause" added to their private school teacher contracts. "As support for LGBT equality continues to grow, particularly among Catholics, the Cincinnati Archdiocese is enacting draconian restrictions on Catholic school employees," Paul Guequierre of the Human Rights Campaign wrote in an entry on the group's website Tuesday that calls for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to reconsider its new rule. "HRC is calling on Diocese leaders to model Christian values and not discriminate against LGBT teachers or straight allies in their employment practices." Guequierre argued that...

The Dalai Lama will lead the US Senate in prayer on Thursday as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader meets leaders of Congress, his office said.