Free Republic

“Membership of the species Homo sapiens is not enough to confer a right to life.” To the ears of us ordinary people, it sounds like the ravings of some fringe group of European neo-fascists or Communists, but the man who made that statement in a Scottish newspaper today is perhaps the most acclaimed and respected ethical philosopher alive, toasted by liberal academic and political elites around the world. Philosopher and Bioethicist Peter Singer defended abortion in an op-ed in the Scotsman today. “Opponents will respond that abortion is, by its very nature, unsafe – for the fetus,” he wrote. “They...

Nine Days that Changed the World is a book about Pope John Paul II’s nine-day trip to Poland in 1979. The Pope’s pilgrimage laid the groundwork for the revolution of conscience that eventually brought down the Communist regimes throughout Eastern Europe. Thus those nine days really did change the world. Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day could very well be the One Day that changes our world this year. During Pope John Paul’s first trip to his homeland after being elected Pope, he did not assemble an army. He did not set up a network of spies. He did not give rabble-rousing speeches....

ATLANTA, August 15, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - The full story of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood will be told next month, when former employee Karen Handel releases her new book for Simon & Schuster. Planned Bullyhood, The Truth Behind the Headlines about the Planned Parenthood Funding Battle with Susan G. Komen for the Cure will be available on September 11. Earlier this year Komen announced it was cutting off funding from Planned Parenthood because of a new policy not to fund organizations under investigation by the government, and because Planned Parenthood does not...

(LifeSiteNews.com) – You are born with an XY or an XX chromosome, primary characteristics that will objectively develop one genotype: male or female. But now you can choose whether to be male, female, or something else—and when the American Psychiatric Association releases their new manual, it will be perfectly normal. In May 2013, the APA will publish the DSM-5, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A significant change will be the reclassification of Gender Identity Disorder to “Gender Dysphoria.” “Dysphoria” is a word meaning “emotional distress.” Proponents of the change believe it is a...

An experiment five years ago suggested that babies are equipped with an innate moral compass, which drives them to choose good individuals over the bad in a wooden puppet show. But new research casts doubt on those findings, demonstrating that a baby's apparent preference for what's right might just reflect a fondness for bouncy things. The researchers who conducted the original study stand by their results and interpretations, pointing to some discrepancies in the new study. In the original study, conducted by Yale researchers in 2007, groups of 6-month-olds and 10-month-olds watched a puppet show with neutral wooden figures, where...

Which do teens do first: oralsex or sexual intercourse? Do teens use oral sex to delay first intercourse? New CDC data put numbers onhow manyyoungAmericans in their teens and early 20s have oral sex with opposite-sex partners -- and when they do it. The numbers come from 6,346 in-depth, computer-assisted interviews with 15- to 24-year-olds conducted from July 2007 to June 2010 as part of the National Survey of Family Growth.

MINNEAPOLIS — Human Life Alliance (HLA) recently released “Street Magazine,” a publication that is “designed to engage mothers right outside abortion facilities.” “We designed it to be easily tucked into a purse or pocket, helping young women hide it from Planned Parenthood deathscorts,” said Jo Tolck, executive director of HLA, in a recent issue of the group’s “Action News” publication. “Our hope is this new tool will help sidewalk counselors engage more young women considering abortion.” Some 100,000 copies of the mag- azine were printed for this first edition. HLA plans to publish again in the fall or early in...

“Grace is not your average Lutheran church,” so says the ELCA’s Grace Lutheran Church in a Houston, TX. I say that isn't necessarily so. I believe Grace Lutheran gives us a picture of what many ELCA churches ARE like and what most ELCA churches will be. And it’s time that all the Midwest ELCA churches, rural ELCA churches, head-in-the-sand churches and members everywhere understand what the ELCA has become. Let me tell you about Grace Lutheran. Their church website recommends giving kids a children’s book about homosexual marriage. The book is called Donovan’s Big Day. One of Grace Lutheran's church...

The suspected shooter in the Family Research Council office earlier today is reported as having been a volunteer at a Washington, D.C. based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered center, according to a report by Fox News online. Early Fox News reported on Special Report that the suspected gunman was stopped and had his gun taken away from him, after injuring one person, by a security guard at the office. The report said he shot one person in the arm and after the security guard took his gun away, he plead to the guard, saying “Don't shoot me, it was not...

If there is one thing that anti-choice activists do that makes me see red, it is when they parade out their poster children: men, women and children who were "targeted for abortion". They tell us "these people would not be alive today if abortion had been legal or if their mothers had made a different choice". [....] The narrative that anti-choice crusaders are telling is powerful, moving, and best of all it has a happy ending. It makes the woman who carries to term a hero, and for narrative purposes it hides her maternal failing. We cannot argue against heroic,...

Two people, including one security guard, were shot at the office of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., this morning. “The police are investigating this incident,” said FRC President Tony Perkins in a statement on the shooting. “Our first concern is with our colleague who was shot today. Our concern is for him and his family.” The shooter was also reportedly shot, according to a local news report, which notes that the FBI is at the scene. The Family Research Council is a socially-conservative non-profit that participates in cultural debates about abortion, traditional marriage, and religious liberty.

Chick-fil-A reported record sales last Wednesday as thousands showed support for owner Dan Cathy and his stance on Biblical marriage. However, while individual believers stood in long lines to publicly endorse God’s plan for the family and vent their frustration at the media’s criticism of Dan Cathy’s Biblical stance, a number of churches seemed to opt out of the conflict. While the mayors of three large cities and a few University administrators were publicly threatening to ban Chick-fil-A, and while the discussion was the hot news topic of the week, there were many ministers who said little or nothing at...

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - The ELCA vote of 2009 divided Lutherans forever. The decision to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to be ordained into ministry caused a ripple effect of defections. On Tuesday many of those ripples gathered for a Lutheran conference at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley. Some of them reflecting on who they have become as a faith community since then. "The positive part about it is its helped people to I think discern who they are and what they believe and what is important in life and ministry," Pastor Steve Dornbusch of Calvary...

This week ELCA Bishop of the North Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area, Kevin S. Kanouse wrote a blog (see here) calling those who support Chick-fil-A bullies and he blamed “preachers (?)” for people going to show their support for Chick-fil-A. This after the widespread temper tantrum and bullying from liberals and homosexuals against Chick-fil-A’s president for stating he believes in the Biblical view of one man, one woman marriage. Notice, too, that the ELCA bishop disparages the preachers by placing a question mark after referencing them, apparently implying that he questions whether they are true Christian preachers. ELCA Bishop Kanouse mockingly...

In the first 24 hours after his selection to be Mitt Romney’s vice presidential candidate, LGBT (Lesbian, “Gay,” Bisexual, and Transgender) advocacy groups have declared war on Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, targeting him as a villain. But by doing so, LGBT activists risk putting a spotlight on controversial issues high on the cultural agenda of the political left, including same-sex marriage and open LGBT behavior in the military, issues that might not fly as high in some less-liberal regions of the nation, including some swing states. The Human Rights Coalition produced one of the most graphic attacks (above), summarizing...

With the exception of one column previously penned, I pray this becomes my most widely read to date. The secular left has mastered use of the Internet to further its extremist goals. To that end, I have a strange request. I’m asking each God-fearing, freedom-loving American who reads this column to forward it, post it, tweet it, print it out and give it to every pastor, priest or cleric you know. If you don’t know any, give it to someone who does. One need only look to the HHS mandate forcing Christian groups – both Catholic and Protestant – to...

Since when does serving up junk food give someone a license to preach? Politics and all things fried, fatty and fast are becoming intertwined to the point of absurdity. We’ve got the Papa John’s pizza guys weighing in on the health-care debate, while the burger slingers out west at In-N-Out can’t serve up a cheeseburger without a Bible verse. The craziness of fast-food commentary on social issues became obvious to me when I stumbled into a totally earnest discussion at a party last week by a bunch of Washingtonians who personally support the right to same-sex marriage, but are also...

Northridge, Calif., Aug 12, 2012 / 03:15 pm (CNA).- A professor raised by two women has defended sociologist Mark Regnerus, who is under investigation for academic “misconduct” following an activist's complaint about his work on same-sex parenting. “The children of same-sex couples have a tough road ahead of them – I know, because I have been there,” wrote Robert Oscar Lopez, who teaches English at California State University--Northridge, in his Aug. 6 Public Discourse essay “Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children’s View.” The essay was published by the Witherspoon Institute, which was involved in funding the Regnerus study....

August 13, 2012 (KellyClinger.com) - Wednesday is late term abortion day at Orlando Women’s Center (the clinic where I had my abortions 12 years ago). When I first started visiting the sidewalks of abortion clinics to pray and minister, I had no idea that late term abortions were even legal. I remember hearing about the Partial Birth Abortion Ban in 2007 and assumed (like most) that this stopped abortions late in a woman’s pregnancy. Shock can’t even begin to describe my feeling when I first counseled on late term day. “These girls are so pregnant,” I kept thinking to myself....

A judge has ordered that doctors can switch off a young boy’s life-support system even though his devout Christian parents pleaded for him to be kept alive in case of a miracle. Mr Justice Ryder said there was no hope of the eight-year-old recovering from lung failure after a “tragic decline in health” and it would be wrong to keep him alive and possibly in pain on a machine. He paid tribute to the boy’s parents and teenage sister, who told the High Court that they believed he was still conscious and that there was still a chance of divine...