Free Republic

Unusual witness presses medical-marijuana cause in Pa. During the last 32 years, stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld has smoked 130,000 marijuana cigarettes - with the federal government's blessing. As jaws dropped in a Harrisburg legislative chamber filled with state senators, Rosenfeld made the remark Tuesday and then held up a silver canister containing 300 pre-rolled joints, a month's supply. He continues to receive the canisters from a government-authorized farm in Mississippi to help treat a rare bone-tumor disorder. This despite the drug's classification by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a top-tier hazardous substance with no medicinal value. "I'm living proof of the...

Challenging the Culture as We Celebrate Independence Day By Sister Constance Veit, l.s.p. When we observed the Fortnight for Freedom in 2012, I naively thought it would be a one-time event. I assumed that the HHS Contraceptive Mandate would soon be overturned and our congregation of Little Sisters of the Poor would quickly fall out of the public eye. But this month marks our third Fortnight, and our lawsuit against the federal government over the HHS Mandate is still pending as I write this. In May, a group of Little Sisters attended the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s annual...

Whenever the American people try to curtail abortion or maintain marriage laws, the followers of Satan will be there to fight back, promises the national spokesman for the Satanic Temple. “Lucien Greaves” told Detroit's Metro Times that he would like to help women avoid complying with pro-life laws by saying abortion restrictions violate their Satanic religious beliefs. He added that gay “marriage” is a Satanic “sacrament.” He said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican from the party's moderate business wing, “has been trying to make it untenable for women to terminate a pregnancy.” A bill that Snyder signed – which...

The Washington National Cathedral is welcoming the first openly transgendered Episcopal priest to its altar this month. The Rev. Cameron Partridge, a transgendered man, is set to give the June 22 sermon at the cathedral, a fixture in the D.C. skyline and one of the nation’s most well-known houses of worship. “We at Washington National Cathedral are striving to send a message of love and affirmation, especially to LGBT youth who suffer daily because of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” Mr. Hall said. “We want to proclaim to them as proudly and unequivocally as we can: Your gender identity...

A pro-family group in Florida wants to know why Disney doesn't hold its homosexual pride event after hours – the same as an annual Christian music concert. Why does Disney continue to allow the annual observance of 'Gay Day' at the Magic Kingdom? Families are being warned to consider staying away from the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, especially Saturday, when Orlando's annual "Gay Days" includes a visit to the Disney theme park by thousands of homosexuals. David Caton of the Florida Family Association tells OneNewsNow that homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people will be in the park for "Gay Day."...

At a ceremony commemorating some of the bravest Americans of World War II, President Barack Obama reminded the "greatest generation" how the U.S. military has changed under his command, by slipping in references to immigrants and women. "Rock, I want you to know that Staff Sgt. Melvin Sabillo Martin, who is here today, is following in your footsteps. He just had to become an American first. Because Melvin was born in Honduras, moved to the United States, joined the Army. After tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was reassigned to the 82nd Airborne. And Sunday, he'll parachute into Normandy. "Wilson,...

The president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Wednesday disowned the statement of a Catholic priest, who called for a ban on the band One Direction after two of its members were caught on video allegedly smoking marijuana. CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said One Direction wasn't condemnable even if some of its members were seen smoking pot. "In the first place that some members smoked marijuana or contraband does not make its group itself condemnable," Villegas said. "One Direction has so many young followers. We condemn a group they idolize you condemn them…there has...

Stella Creasy, the Labour & Co-operative MP for Walthamstow, said that Britain either needs immigration or a massive baby boom in order to support the growing number of pensioners, or else "our ability to sustain our economy" will collapse. She added that this would leave the NHS in crisis.She said that this made UKIP leader Nigel Farage "deeply unpatriotic" as his party has campaigned for an end to mass immigration. UKIP are "basically talking about managing the decline of Britain" she said.

Maureen Dowd travelled to Colorado in January, ate a bit too much of a marijuana-laced chocolate bar and proceeded to have a Valley-of-the-Dolls-style meltdown in her hotel room. Here's how she describes the experience in her Wednesday New York Times column: "I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the...

The father of one of the girls accused of brutally stabbing a school friend to pay homage to an eerie horror story character, apparently encouraged his daughter's sick obsession by proudly posting a sketch the 12-year-old drew of the scary figure on Instagram. Morgan Geyser, 12, drew the sinister stickman, inspired by an online ghost story about a ghoulish child killer called Slender Man, on a napkin and left it in the family home while she was out with her parents were out for dinner. But far from being alarmed by the disturbing sketch, Morgan's father Matt seemed to find...

Does the Bible really teach that premarital sex is wrong? (Of course it does! But with Sola Scriptura, that might be unclear!) http://youtube.com/watch?v=PsHMNPyI7iI(Alternate link, via Vimeo.) “Follow” me on Twitter, “Like” Answering Protestants and Catholic Analysis on Facebook, Add Answering Protestants and Catholic Analysis to your Circles on Google+, and “Subscribe” to my YouTube videos. TRANSCRIPT ———————- Does the Bible really teach that premarital sex is wrong? Well, as a Catholic, I know that it does. So, I suppose the real question should be: can a Protestant reasonably think that premarital sex is okay? I think that they can. And...

Gallup is out with its latest “moral acceptability” survey. On 19 issues, Americans were asked, “In general, do you find the following morally acceptable[?]” The responses were ranked on a scale from “highly acceptable” to “highly unacceptable.” There was one issue – birth control, with 90% approval – that rated “highly acceptable” and nine, with approvals from 57% to 69%, that rated “largely acceptable.”Of those 10 issues, the response to seven of them is Exhibit A in the case of the collapse of the family in America. On two of the other three issues – wearing animal fur and medical...

Actor Jonah Hill has been filmed hitting out at a photographer with a highly offensive homophobic slur. The 30-year-old can be heard insulting a man who comments on his shorts in a video obtained by TMZ. Jonah, who is currently starring in 22 Jump Street, appears to become frustrated after being mocked for his floral board shorts and retorts: ‘Suck my d***, you f*****!’ ...when one photographer tells him ‘I like the shorts though, bro. They are pretty sexy’, it appears to become too much for him and after roughly another 40 seconds he turns and uses the highly offensive...

This “pastoral letter” was sent by Planned Parenthood and it reads: Many people wrongly assume that all religious leaders disapprove of abortion. The truth is that abortion is not even mentioned in the Scriptures—Jewish or Christian—and there are clergy and people of faith from all denominations who support women making this complex decision. The letter text: The decision to have an abortion is personal. Though your reasons may be complicated and private, you’re not alone. As religious leaders from a number of religious traditions, we’re here to support you in your decision. Many people wrongly assume that all religious leaders...

Gawker published a piece on the neurological problems which might result in pedophilia, and naturally a lot of shock and disgust was triggered. The piece is titled Born This Way: Sympathy and Science for Those Who Want to Have Sex with Children. This isn’t something you want to click through to lightly. So fair warning. The neurobiological material did pique my interest: “There was nothing significant in the frontal lobes or temporal lobes,” says Cantor. “It turned out the differences weren’t in the grey matter. The differences were in the white matter.”“The white matter” is the shorthand term for groupings...

If you want to teach at a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, regardless of your religion, you must be willing to sign a detailed morality clause that critics say focuses on "pelvic issues." The revised contracts forbid teachers from -- among other things -- living together or having sex outside of marriage, using in-vitro fertilization, a gay "lifestyle," or publicly supporting any of those things. The system's 2,200 current teachers must sign the agreement to stay on the job. "It is an embarrassment and a scandal, and will drive even more Catholics away from an institution so out...

Rep. Jared Polis will gladly visit a marijuana dispensary in his home state of Colorado. He’ll stand in a fluorescent-lit room with hundreds of skunky plants, discuss the different types of high someone gets from Willie’s Wonder versus Super Lemon Haze (one’s a “creative upper,” the other “uplifting and euphoric”) and ruminate on the local ban on edibles. Just don’t try to take his picture in the grow room. “It’s like, that could go viral,” Polis says, leaving Choice Organics in Fort Collins. “I don’t shy away from the issue; we talk about it, whatever. But the problem is, we...

Storme DeLarverie, a lesbian activist who took part in the New York Stonewall riots in 1969 that started the gay rights movement in the United States, has died. She was 93. DeLarverie died Saturday at a Brooklyn nursing home, said Lisa Cannistraci, a longtime friend and one of her legal guardians. …

WaterBrook Multnomah, which has published numerous evangelical bestsellers, has resigned from the National Religious Broadcasters over Matthew Vines' controversial book God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships. The move comes after it was learned that Christian staff of WaterBrook Multnomah worked on Vines' book, which was published by its imprint, Convergent Books. A number of conservative commentators have spoken out strongly against Convergent Books' decision to publish the book. It "is the first step in a larger effort to fundamentally recast long-held, universally acknowledged norms pertaining to sexual ethics," Andrew Walker, director of Policy...

The number of careers and professions available to practicing Christians is shrinking by the day. You can add a career in public health to that list. Dr. Brendan Bain, one of the leading AIDS experts in the Caribbean, has been unceremoniously cashiered from his post for having the temerity to tell the truth about the cause of AIDS. A long-time and highly respected professor at the University of West Indies until his retirement in 2012, Dr. Bain was praised by all as a "pioneer” in the effort to combat HIV/AIDS, which is at epidemic proportions in Caribbean nations. Since his...