Free Republic

1890: Man riding a goat Man riding a goat, 1890 (Initiation into fraternal group). Photographer: Chas.v. Hamer, Columbus O, USA

LAKEWOOD — A teenager was arrested and charged Tuesday night with bias crimes after he was reported luring or harassing females on the street, police said. Police say the teenager intended to touch and knock down a woman from the Orthodox Jewish community as part of an MS-13 gang initiation. Rafael Laurano-Flores, 18, was charged with obstruction, resisting arrest, three counts of bias intimidation and three counts of bias harassment, said Sgt. Greg Staffordsmith. Police were called initially at 7:30 p.m. to the area of 5th Street and Princeton Avenue about an attempted abduction of a 16-year-old girl, Staffordsmith said....

This is a grim time of year for a hospital in the rolling hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, where mattresses are laid on floors to cope with the stream of young men with severe injuries from botched circumcisions at initiation ceremonies. Some patients with amputations, a doctor says, were told by their handlers that their genitals would grow back, reflecting a fog of misinformation that makes it hard to stop what has become an annual health crisis. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The traditional ritual, which goes back centuries, is meant to usher youths into manhood,...

On March 22, William and Cynthia Bennett left their Potomac Station home for an early morning walk and never returned. Shortly after 5:30 a.m., police found William, 57 lying dead, they found Cynthia, 55 badly beaten but still alive a short distance away. Around 5:30 a.m., less than a mile from the Bennett home, a resident on Rocky Creek Drive called police to report the presence of a suspicious vehicle ( a white panel work van), and three men outside the van causing a disturbance. By the time a Loudoun County Sheriff’s deputy arrived, the van was gone. However, the...

CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978 Professor David Halperin 734-647-5884 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, brings back “How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality & Initiation” family group renews criticism of tax-funded college class “How to be Gay” U-M catalogue calls class “an experiment in the very process of initiation it hopes to understand.” ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A statewide family values group Monday renewed its criticism of a controversial University of Michigan class — offered this fall for the first time since 2003 — again calling on state lawmakers to pressure university officials to drop the course altogether. The American Family Association...

Last Updated: Thursday, 28 April, 2005, 17:34 GMT 18:34 UK In pictures: Shaman initiation   1 of 9For the first time a public initiation has been held for a shaman (spiritual chief) in Russia's Far East. Vasily Dunkai is one of about 1,000 Udege people living in the Primorye region. 2 of 9A highlight of the ritual was Vasily Dunkai's dousing in water from three different springs. 3 of 9The water was heated over stones brought from five hills. First the stones were placed in a fire. 4 of 9During the initiation, the villagers left food at their place...

A lot of organizations put new members through some sort of initiation ceremony. Fraternities are typical; candidates are forced through some sort of ritual, and it's quite common for it to include at least one episode which is either uncomfortable or unpleasant or deeply embarrassing, or potentially so if you screw up while doing it. There have been studies about this kind of thing, and what was learned was that members of such groups tend to be more loyal and more dedicated when there is that kind of ritual than they will be without it, and are more likely to...

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...