Free Republic

In a game-changer for the legal fight over same-sex marriage that gives credence to opponents’ “slippery slope” arguments, a federal judge has now ruled that the legal reasoning for same-sex marriage means that laws against polygamy are likewise unconstitutional. In his 91-page opinion in Brown v. Buhman, on Dec. 13, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups struck down Utah’s law making polygamy a crime. In so doing, he may have opened Pandora’s Box. As a condition for becoming a state in 1896, Congress required Utah to outlaw polygamy, which is marriage between three or more persons. This case involved a family...

If you are a national reporter writing on the Girl Scouts and you call their national office in New York City, you will talk to a guy named Josh Ackley. If you are a Girl Scout wanting regular advice or information on the Girl Scouts and you turn to the Girl Scout blog, it’s Josh Ackley (pictured, center) you’ll be reading. If you are a Girl Scout mom concerned about the sometimes-troubling drift of the Girl Scouts in recent years, Josh Ackley may be the one you’ll meet with. To many key groups, Josh Ackley is the public face of...

The “American Dream”of a traditional nuclear family is getting harder and harder to come by, and the New York Times can hardly contain its glee. The Times’ entire Nov. 26 “Science Times” section was devoted to the “redefined” American family. In her featured articles, NYT reporter Natalie Angier identified traditional family as a thing of the past: “the old-fashioned family plan of stably married parents residing with their children remains a source of considerable power in American – but one that is increasingly seen as out of reach to all but the educated elite.” What’s taking its place? A lot...

I went to a lecture recently presented by the Smithsonian. The subject of the talk was Jack Kerouac’s Francophone roots, and I was expecting lots of intellectual wanna-be Beatniks. Instead I was surrounded by a roomful of typical old lib academics. It felt as though I were living inside of NPR. You know the type: the women are skeletal from not eating meat and from biking too much and have salt and pepper hair which they cut when they decided they hated men and also decided to look like one. They prefer the unkempt, “natural” look to actually bothering to...

*Authors note: This post has gotten quite a lot of traffic. Several people (mainly practicing pagans) have pointed out that I used the word "pagan" in a way that doesn't fit the official definition. For my purposes here, I used that word to broadly define someone who rejects a biblical world view, fails to place God at the highest place in their lives, and is depending on something other than the cross for salvation. In hindsight, I probably could have gone with a different word. If you are a practicing pagan, please accept my apologies. Every Imperfect and Normal Family...

Of all the nations on the entire planet, the United States is the most lonely place to be. We have the highest percentage of one person households on the entire globe, and the average size of our households has been steadily decreasing. Studies have shown that the number of close friends that Americans have is falling, and we have the highest divorce rate in the world by a wide margin. So why is this happening? Does this have anything to do with the fact that America is abandoning the traditional family structure? Back in the 1960s, the “sexual revolution” fundamentally...

A pro-life student group today released a new video showing young girls not legally old enough for sexual relations were unable to buy the sudafed cold medicine but could easily purchase the Plan B drug. Although sex with a girl 15-years-old or younger if statutory rape, the girls had no problems getting the drugs at nationally-known stores. Earlier this year, the Food & Drug Administration announced that “Plan B,” also known as the “morning after pill”, should be sold over the counter to anyone of any age. Before that it could only be sold to those 17 and older. Plan...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, November 1, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sexuality education for five-year olds is one of the topics being discussed at a NZ Family Planning Association Conference currently being held in New Zealand's capital city of Wellington. The New Zealand Family Planning Association is an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). One of the keynote speakers at the conference is Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood. “Positive sexual health” is the theme of the conference, a title that belies the association’s true agenda. Part of that agenda is the release on November 28 of a “sexuality” resource aimed...

An almost unfathomable gap divides public attitudes on basic issues involving gender, race, religion and politics in America, fueled by dramatic ideological and partisan divisions that offer the prospect of more of the bitter political battles that played out in Washington this month. A new ABC News/Fusion poll, marking the launch of the Fusion television network, finds vast differences among groups in trust in government, immigration policy and beyond, including basic views on issues such as the role of religion and the value of diversity in politics, treatment of women in the workplace and the opportunities afforded to minorities in...

This week's progressive playbook is as easy to predict as (abc.) Distract attention from the Obamacare debacle, by stirring up the illegal immigration debate. The Marxist Democratic Party of America will find willing, cowardly accomplices, in the persons of Elitist Progressive Republican Party of America. They will be counting on the distraction, and willful ignorance, of Americans, to put this final death nail in the heart of Liberty's last stronghold. Let's make sure they counted wrong. This link with the single caption, 'WE KNOW THE TRUTH,' is all you need to bombard your "representatives," with irrefutable evidence of the deceptive,...

Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention says it is time for evangelicals to tone down the rhetoric.For years, as the principal public voice for the Southern Baptist Convention, the country's biggest evangelical group, Richard Land warned of a "radical homosexual agenda" and pushed for a federal ban on same-sex marriage. His successor, Russell Moore, sounded a different note when the Supreme Court in June struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. "Love your gay and lesbian neighbors," Mr. Moore wrote in a flier, "How Should Your Church Respond," sent to the convention's estimated 45,000 churches. "They aren't part...

Fliers scattered around the University of Pennsylvania campus read that Bristol Palin was going to be this year’s fall speaker. Penn’s Special Events and Planning Committee had apparently made its highly anticipated announcement and decided to host the advertised Teen Pregnancy Prevention Spokesperson, leaving some students dazed and confused. Those posters turned out to be a hoax. Under the Button, UPenn’s “24/7 source for all things Penn,” apparently took the time to create the fake advertisements just to write this charming description on their web page, A proud teen mama, (and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Ambassador…huh,) Bristol Palin has travelled the...

Did you hear the big news? American retailers are carrying out a “war on the American family.” Seriously. That’ s how some media hosts and pundits are characterizing the fact that many American retailers are planning to keep stores open on Thanksgiving Day. And then there’s social media that all abuzz about the shocking, horrific developments. “Because I believe in family, I pledge to NOT shop on Thanksgiving” the much-shared Facebook “avatar” reads. “If I’m shopping, someone else is working and not spending time with their family. Everyone deserves a holiday.” Well, how about this: if I’m shopping in...

James Woods, the award-winning actor and outspoken conservative, has taken his unbridled bashing of President Obama on Twitter and elevated it to an art form. Woods’ latest post smacks Obama over the closure of national parks and memorial sites in Washington during the government shutdown.

Do you ever feel like the Universe/God/Whoever is trying to tell you something? A couple days ago I saw Miley’s new photos. Apparently she didn’t kill Hannah Montana hard enough at the VMA’s, so she let notoriously gross photographer/video artist Terry Richardson take photos of her topless and in various other compromised states. Richardson has been accused of inappropriately touching his teenage models and exploiting underage girls. He’s the brains – or some other body part – behind Miley’s disgusting “Wrecking Ball” video, in which she rides a wrecking ball like a stripper pole in a bizarre attempt to prove...

What are your kids studying in school today? Public schools from California to Florida are celebrating LGBT History Month, where they highlight a homosexual or lesbian each day. Today, America’s school children are learning about Edward-turned-Gwen Araujo, who was intimate with men who allegedly beat him when they discovered that he was not a woman. “If parents think our school children should be focused on science and math, not sex and murder, they need to talk to teachers, principals, and school boards to ensure that this program is stopped,” cautions Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The sexual...

Bishop Thomas Paprocki (CNS photo) Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois recently did an interview with the Washington Times in which he lamented what he calls the “rupture” in the relationship between Church and culture: “We [Christians] have to mentally adjust. I know it is an adjustment for me because – and I assume for many other people as well - because I grew up in this country at a time when the values in our secular world mirrored the values of the religious world,” Bishop Paprocki said. “And I think what’s happening now is that...

"I lived, 1951 to 1956, aged six to eleven, in the Arlington suburbs of Washington and, ´56 to´57, in smalltown Athens, Alabama, and eighth grade through high school in rural King George County, Virginia, graduating in 1964. Another country. Another world. What happened? The Arlington, peopled largely by men several years back from World War Two, enjoying the fantastic surge in prosperity following the war. The dominant culture, the only culture, was that of Reader´s Digest, clean cut, honest, and confident. We watched the Mousketeers, all soap and good manners. We joined the Boy Scouts, and were told to be...

I stopped watching MTV when I was about 20, which was around the time they were beginning the end of showing actual music videos on the channel (which was pretty much all I wanted to see).Last night at their Video Music Awards Miley Cyrus gave her biggest middle finger yet to her Disney past.I wish what these kids and a-holes who never grow up do at these events wouldn't matter, but it does matter. It needs to be commented on in not so adulatory light more often...

The much anticipated MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday night in Brooklyn and crowds of screaming fans were not left disappointed, with costumes and controversy offered up in equal measure. Setting the tone for the night, the show was opened by Lady Gaga who performed her new single “Applause” in a series of outfits ranging from a square nun’s habit to a bikini thong. Her appearance was a little tame by Gaga standards, with no meat-suits or gun-bras to be seen. Taking over the role of ‘most shocking act’ was Miley Cyrus (pictured above). The former Disney Channel...