Free Republic

A taboo is something that is vehemently “forbidden based on moral judgment and religious beliefs.” When confronted with a taboo, we do not consider breaking it. The line is drawn so clearly that we dare not cross it. Incest is a good example. It is condemned in every culture. The idea of sexual relations with a sibling or one’s child is abhorrent and rejected as a matter of course. We are horrified by it. We recoil from it. It is off the table. We totally close the door to it. This keeps us out of trouble. The power of taboos...

How Facebook Exploits Underage Girls in its Quest for Ad Revenue Sophie Bean, 14, of Sequim, Wash., said she was thought she was “liking” a Facebook ad related to fashion modeling. Instead, it promoted a Facebook page that recruited adult webcam models. “I just thought it was for modeling, and I’m interested in that, and I thought it would help me out,” Sophie said. Sophie wasn’t the only teen connecting with the page, which Facebook statistics show is most popular with users 13 to 17. Clicking on it didn’t pull the teens into nude webcam modeling, but did mean they...

As Planned Parenthood's political arm prepares its largest-ever campaign offensive, its sights are set on Wisconsin's gubernatorial race. Planned Parenthood's political entities expect to spend more than $18 million nationwide, putting women's health care and abortion rights front-and-center for the 2014 midterm elections, Politico reported Thursday. "That investment would make the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Votes — the national federation’s political entities — two of the heaviest outside spenders on the Democratic side, and certainly among the top independent expenditure campaigns focused on reaching women," Alexander Burns reported. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin announced in November that...

It's official! 251 communities across North America and around the world are ready to host the campaign this March 5 through April 13. Please check the locations page ... find the city that's closest to you ... click on the city name ... and sign up to get involved!

Less than 24 hours after Arizona’s governor vetoed a bill that had been criticized as anti-gay, similar legislation in Georgia and Mississippi are hitting new roadblocks. Georgia state senator Josh McKoon conceded on Thursday that support for his religious-freedom bill is evaporating, 11Alive Atlanta reports. He told the Huffington Post that a committee vote on his legislation, previously scheduled for next Monday, has been taken off the calendar. McKoon said his bill merely protects religious rights of Georgia residents, but critics argued it would allow business owners to refuse services to gays based on religious beliefs. In Mississippi, the state...

The Born “Gay” Hoax By 1985, the pro-sodomy movement The born “gay” hoax was invented in 1985 by Marshall Kirk and Dr. Hunter Madsen. Marshall Kirk graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1980 majoring in psychology and went on to become a writer and researcher in neuropsychiatry. Dr. Hunter Madsen earned a PhD in politics from Harvard University in 1985, then went on to become an expert on public persuasion tactics, social marketing, and has designed commercial marketing on Madison Avenue. He has also served as a consultant to pro-sodomy media campaigns across America. In 1985, Marshall Kirk...

Hey, gals, want to avoid being raped? Put away that Lady Smith 38. No need for pepper spray. Self-defense classes? Not necessary. The solution is simple. The best defense against rape is to just cast away your "deeply troubling" Christianity and become a secularist slut. So goes the advice of one Katie McDonough, Salon.com assistant editor, fertile fount of millennial wisdom and – well – and whatever else. In an article published at Salon Feb. 20 titled, "The right's warped 'purity' culture: 4 ways evangelical views of sex took over America," Ms. McDonough provides an unvarnished glimpse into the profligate...

An assistant softball coach at Billings Central Catholic School said she was dismissed Monday because of her work at Planned Parenthood. Tarn Duff, 26, was an unpaid volunteer during the Rams’ 2012 season and received about $1,500 for her work coaching hitters and outfielders during the 2013 season. Duff, of Billings, said head coach Coleman Rockwell delivered the news to her Monday morning. “The only reason they gave me was that I work at Planned Parenthood,” she said. The story follows in the wake of an unmarried Butte Elementary School teacher, Shaela Evenson, who was fired Jan. 10 after getting...

In 2012, black women in New York City aborted over 6,500 more children than they gave birth to. Data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that, among non-hispanic black women, there were 31,328 “induced terminations” to 24,758 live births, according to a CNS News report.

Abstract Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled. Previous SectionNext Section Introduction Severe abnormalities of the fetus...

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, February 21, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite a growing number of studies showing that pornography affects brains the same way as alcohol or drugs, a New Mexico-based sex researcher says porn use is not addictive and may be positive – a conclusion an expert told LifeSiteNews is “malarkey.” “The Emperor Has No Clothes” is the inflammatory title of an article written by clinical psychologist David Ley for the Current Sexual Health Report medical journal. In it, Ley notes that only 37 percent of current studies on compulsive pornography use the word “addiction” to describe the behavior, and that there...

BERKELEY, CA, February 21, 2014 (LifeSiteNews) – An unsuspecting group of elementary and middle school children witnessed vulgar and sexually-explicit sights when they visited the campus of the University of California at Berkeley this week. While walking through the campus, the children witnessed such sights as a man dressed in a giant penis costume and students playing “pin-the-tail on the anus” or throwing condoms through holes on poster boards meant to represent vaginas. Click "like" if you say NO to porn! Though these events were pre-planned and school-sponsored, student Claire Chiara said that “it was poor planning on the part...

Smartest Kid Ever Sells Girl Scout Cookies Outside a Medical Marijuana Clinic Danielle Lei of San Francisco is one smart kid. According to Mashable, the 13-year-old and her mom chose a diabolically brilliant spot to vend Girl Scout cookies: outside the green-painted walls of a medical marijuana clinic. Unsurprisingly, sales were, um, high—the resourceful Scout dispensed 117 cookie boxes in two hours, 37 more than she managed to sell outside a neighborhood Safeway grocery store the following day. The Green Cross signed on completely: "It's no secret that cannabis is a powerful appetite stimulant, so we knew this would be...

The raging, twenty-four-seven political debates that virtually consume social media, many news sites, and entire cable stations is mostly filled with cheap shots, one-liners, bumper sticker slogans, and the same tired, half-truth arguments. The endless, partisan maneuvering and jockeying for power among the political parties and branches of government often completely masks the fact that the culture and policy wars are not just clashes between squabbling political parties, but often are really basic conflicts between fundamentally different belief systems, world views, and ideological viewpoints. But that is increasingly lost in the world of thirty second sound bites, character assassination, talking...

Through our attorney, LifeNews has issued a response to Girl Scouts USA, which recently sent us an a letter attempting to intimidate LifeNews and pressure us to stop reporting on its links to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. During the last two weeks, LifeNews has brought international attention to the link between the Girl Scouts and the Planned Parenthood abortion business and the national boycott of Girl Scouts cookies sponsored by pro-life groups. As we reported, after a series of LifeNews articles on the boycott and the Girl Scouts-Planned Parenthood link, that featured the Girl Scouts logo to identify the...

Ben Johnson over at LifeSiteNews is reporting that: "President Barack Obama has elevated the right to have sex with a member of the same sex to the level of universal 'fundamental freedoms' in a new presidential statement criticizing Uganda. But critics say his promotion of homosexuality in a continent that overwhelmingly opposes that behavior amounts to a form of liberal 'cultural imperialism.' Obama wrote on Sunday that he opposed a proposed bill in Uganda that would criminalize same-sex 'marriages' and impose life imprisonment for repeated homosexual acts, among other provisions, because 'as a country and a people, the United States...

The Girl Scouts of the USA has sent threatening letters to at least two small pro-life groups that have been critical of Girl Scout collaborations with Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocacy groups. Since the beginning of the Girl Scout cookie boycott, exclusively announced at Breitbart News late last month, LifeNews has extensively reported on the connection between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts. LifeNews editor Steve Ertelt announced Monday that he had received a letter threatening legal action. In it, Girl Scout executive Brian Crawford complained about “articles that outline alleged ties to Planned Parenthood” and that “GSUSA has...

The question of why homosexuality is bad in itself is not easy to answer. I'm not suggesting that the Scripture doesn't give us insight. I think it does, and I'm going to offer that, but I'm not convinced the answer is going to be satisfying to a lot of people because most have lost the ability to recognize the significance of teleology. “Teleology” is a theological and philosophical term referring to the purpose things were made for. Things are made with a “telos,” or an end, in view. For example, thumbs are made for grasping, eyes are made for seeing,...

According to 2009 data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41 percent of all births were to unmarried women. The percentage has risen steadily since at least 1980... In 1980, it stood at 18.4 percent. By 1990, it was 28.0 percent. And by 2000 it was 33.2 percent. In 2009, 17 percent of births to Asian-Pacific Islanders were out of wedlock, with non-Hispanic whites at 29 percent, 53 percent for Hispanics, 65 percent for American Indians and Native Alaskans and 73 percent for non-Hispanic blacks. These stark numbers reveal far more about the rapid state of decay...

Even as we exercise our voice, we need a generation of Christians who are willing to do even more; willing to be courageous enough to minister with compassion and truth to the homosexual community. We need brothers and sisters in Christ, who know the depths of grace and are deliberate in ministering to others by that grace. We must raise an army of men and women, who are compelled, in all humility, to seek to understand the homosexual struggle and enter into relationships that will challenge, encourage, and hold friends and loved ones accountable. Even before the Grammy Awards showcased...