Free Republic

May 28, 2015 (BreakPoint.org) -- For five years, Dr. Abigail Rine has been teaching a course on gender theory at George Fox University, an evangelical school in the Quaker tradition.At the beginning of the semester, she tells her students that “they are guaranteed to read something they will find disagreeable, probably even offensive.”Writing at FirstThings.com recently, she related how five years ago it was easy to find readings that challenged and even offended the evangelical college students “considering the secular bent of contemporary gender studies.”But today, things are different. “Students now,” she says, “arrive in my class thoroughly versed in the...

The words of the former New York Governor and Democrat icon Mario Cuomo rang out loud and clear some 30 years ago. "I am personally opposed to abortion but" would pretty much sum up Cuomo's message. Yesterday that message was echoed on the issue of gay marriage by the Republican governor of North Carolina in a statement entitled "Governor McCrory defends Constitution". Governor Pat McCrory noted his own 'sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman'. But then we got this: "Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no...

WASHINGTON DC, May 28, 2015 (C-Fam.org) -- A source within the federal government has informed the Friday Fax that the White House is quietly moving forward with a policy change that will require charitable humanitarian groups to accept LGBT applicants in order to qualify for government funding, even those religious groups that might have religious objections.The policy change is linked to an executive order President Obama issued last July that prohibits federal contractors from discriminatory hiring practices based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Faith-based groups were already wrestling with that order.Things are about to get exponentially worse for faith-based groups who...

May 27, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Imagine if same-sex marriage were prohibited nationwide, and legal protections for homosexuals consistently struck down or defeated—while sodomy laws were re-imposed and enforced, with billions of dollars in funding from Congress. How effective would you consider the gay rights movement?If the Second Amendment were reduced to a hollow, meaningless shell, and Americans’ guns—even hunting and target rifles—were all confiscated by the feds, what would we think of the gun lobby?If the U.S. abandoned Israel to its fate, and starting sending aid and arms to Hezbollah and Hamas, what would we say of the Israel lobby?Fix...

Most Americans hold either liberal or conservative positions on most matters. In many instances, however, they would be hard pressed to explain their position or the position they oppose. But if you can’t explain both sides, how do you know you’re right? At the very least, you need to understand both the liberal and conservative positions in order to effectively understand your own. I grew up in a liberal world — New York, Jewish and Ivy League graduate school. I was an 8-year-old when President Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson. I knew nothing about...

Some of our deepest challenges as believers involve dealing with the sins of others, particularly those whom we love. Whether it is a relative struggling with addiction, a best friend unfaithful to his spouse, or a loved one embracing sexual perversion we often feel caught between our genuine love for the sinner and our genuine revulsion at the sin. The bromide “Hate the sin, love the sinner,” while at least infused with a touch of wisdom, doesn’t typically answer all the hard questions. When confronted with tough moral calls it’s often wise to slow down and define our terms. First,...

"This is a Christian nation," said the Supreme Court in 1892. "America was born a Christian nation," echoed Woodrow Wilson. Harry Truman affirmed it: "This is a Christian nation." But in 2009, Barack Hussein Obama begged to differ: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation." Comes now a Pew Research Center survey that reveals the United States is de-Christianizing at an accelerated rate. Whereas 86 percent of Americans in 1990 identified as Christians, by 2007, that was down to 78 percent. Today only 7 in 10 say they are Christians. But the percentage of those describing themselves as atheists,...

Those pint-sized radical feminists also known as the Girl Scouts are in trouble again — this time for their transgender-inclusion policy — and they’ve wasted no time in shutting down the haters. Though the national organization has formally accepted transgender girls into its ranks since 2012, it seems one conservative organization has either just heard the news or has been stewing about it ever since. “A new Girl Scouts of America (GSA) policy states it will extend membership to boys who identify as girls,” notes the website of the American Family Association, a Christian-morals organization that’s been labeled an anti-LGBT hate...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 21, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) --The Obama administration says it is doing pro-life taxpayers a favor by requiring private citizens to pay for abortions in Obamacare's state exchanges.However, a leading attorney says the claim doesn't match the health care law's practical realities.In a brief filed on March 16 in the state of Vermont, the Obama administration said the reason for its controversial abortion insurance coverage surcharge in the state -- which a government watchdog found was illegally funding abortions -- is an "interest...in following long-standing statutory restrictions prohibiting use of federal funds for abortion except where the pregnancy results...

May 21, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- A December 2014 study alleged that homosexual activists, in a twenty-minute conversation, can change the minds of those who oppose redefining marriage.  Six months later, the data to support the study has been revealed as fraudulent, and the study itself has been retracted.Titled "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality," the study claimed that homosexual activists canvassing door-to-door in favor of redefining marriage could convert the people they spoke with – and that the interlocutors' epiphanies would not only last for a year, but also inspire members of their...

PRINCETON, NJ, May 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- For the first time, a majority of Americans say that homosexuals are "born that way."According to the latest Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans say that people are born gay or lesbian, while only 30 percent say outside factors such as upbringing and environment determine sexual orientation.However, science would not bear that out. No fewer than eight major studies from around the world have found homosexuality is not a genetic condition.Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says that these numerous, rigorous studies of identical twins have now made it impossible to argue that...

“The most effective way to destroy people,” George Orwell once noted, “is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” In today’s culture, knowledge of history is, itself, fast becoming history. Late-night hosts sometimes make comedic hay of this growing cultural Alzheimer’s by asking people in the street mundane questions such as “Who were our allies in World War II?” to hilariously cringe-worthy responses. But there is a distinctly unfunny side to our forgetfulness. We are very much at risk, as the old saying goes, not just of repeating history because we have forgotten it, but of repeating...

PHILADELPHIA, PA, May 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Rand Paul wants to be president – but abortion is less of an issue for him than the national debt, the senator said yesterday.Paul had completed a campaign stop at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, where he attacked both Bill and Hillary Clinton with relish, when a local media personality asked him about abortion.“I will answer the question as honestly as I can,” he said. “I didn’t run for office because of this issue. It wasn’t what got me to leave my practice” to enter politics.Instead, it was the nation's ballooning debt that made...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the Republican presidential candidate who believes that the gay “jihad” may soon lead to the imprisonment of pastors and the end of free speech, told a right-wing radio host yesterday that the legalization of same-sex marriage represents the greatest threat to religious liberty in the history of the United States. “We are seeing today profound threats to religious liberty in America, I think the greatest threats we’ve ever seen,” Cruz told conservative author and talk radio host Eric Metaxas.Cruz said that the fights over “religious freedom” laws in Indiana and Arkansas were “heartbreaking” examples of...

There are a few things that I do not like about being a woman. One of them is being lectured by people like Frank Bruni at The New York Times about how I am oppressed by my Catholic faith. Funny, I never realized it. Bruni’s article, “Catholicism Undervalues Women,” has many of the “standing up to the patriarchy” tropes anyone would expect, with some surprises and glaring factual errors along the way. He begins by wryly mentioning Pope Francis’ statement about equal pay for women wherein, Bruni says, the pope “fashioned himself a feminist.” Bruni laughs at this, assuring his...

Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) invested time Friday at the Georgia Republican State Convention in Athens as he met delegates and delivered two speeches. Cruz was surrounded by admirers late Saturday afternoon once delegates discovered his staff room on the second floor of the Classic Center in Athens, where the state’s GOP convention was being held. A line formed and a crowd gathered to shake his hand, ask him about issues and pose with him for a photo. Cruz is one of a half-dozen declared Republican candidates for president in what is expected to be a crowded...

Among the many painful ironies in the current racial turmoil is that communities scattered across the country were disrupted by riots and looting because of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri — but there was not nearly as much turmoil created by the demonstrable fact that a fleeing black man was shot dead by a white policeman in South Carolina. Totally ignored was the fact that a black policeman in Alabama fatally shot an unarmed white teenager, and was cleared of any charges, at about the same time that...

A study has been published claiming that lower life expectancy among African-Americans has led to one million fewer voters in elections from 1974-2004. From The Atlantic story on the study: A new paper, “Black lives matter: Differential mortality and the racial composition of the U.S. electorate, 1970-2004,” argues that the racial gap in mortality rates could have a major impact on national politics.The premise of the paper, by researchers at Mathematica Policy Research, the University of Michigan, Stanford, and Oxford, is simple: Unless you live in Chicago, you can’t vote when you’re dead.Since overall black health outcomes are worse than...

May 14, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - The nation’s largest association for internal medicine doctors this week officially endorsed homosexual “marriage” and blamed marriage protection laws for damaging the physical and mental health of people who identify as LGBT.The American College of Physicians (ACP) also officially opposed reparative therapy for individuals suffering from unwanted same-sex tendencies, and called for all-inclusive “transgender healthcare services” in its policy paper published May 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine."It’s based upon our longstanding policy in regard to eliminating healthcare disparities," said Dr. Wayne Riley, president of the ACP and a clinical professor of medicine at...

Gotnews.com has independently identified the engineer at the center of the Amtrak crash that has killed at least seven. Brandon Bostian is the 32-year-old gay man who lawyered up after a deadly derailment in Philadelphia. The train was reportedly going twice the speed limit. ABC 6 previously reported that “Brandon Boshan,” not Brandon Bostian, was to blame for the deadly crash. (They have since taken down the link.) Bostian is a gay activist who previously worked at Target as a cashier before joining Amtrak, according to his LinkedIn.