Free Republic

A report from the Pennsylvania Pastors' Network reveals that approximately 20 percent of evangelical pastors in the Keystone State are "not in sync" on significant moral and doctrinal issues. The report contains information compiled from a phone survey conducted by United in Purpose on behalf of PPN. The survey asked evangelical pastors from across the state to respond to 20 questions pertaining to topics such as abortion, same-sex marriage, the authority of the Bible, and how a person can be spiritually saved. The results of the survey are being released in several parts over time. When asked to respond to...

Over a year ago I wrote a post about the homosexual assault on businesses who refuse to provide services when doing so would violate their moral or religious beliefs. Lately I have been seeing many, many more instances of this. Determined to force their lifestyle on those who don't approve of it, lawsuits and official complaints seem to be the order of the day for the homosexuals. They can always count on judges and local officials who sit on human rights commissions to back them up in their quest to punish businesses who don't welcome their depravity. The latest I've...

Conservatives often like to divide themselves into economic conservatives who care about the economy, and social conservatives who care about moral issues. But the mother of the post-war conservative movement, Phyllis Schlafly, says that both issues are linked, and that a decline in moral values harms a nation: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/schlafly-gop-establishment-gave-us-losers-dole-mccain-and-romney Schlafly quoted from the article: (Schlafly said the establishment wants candidates that “will only talk about economic issues” and not social or moral issues or even national security issues". “And that’s such a terrible mistake, because those social issues are the cause of the fiscal issue, and they are the issues...

It seems people have misunderstood, as well as misrepresented, the church's role and influence in "secular society." The early Christians lived in the secular society of Rome, but by heralding the good news of salvation, what some might call "thumping," their words along with their deeds changed all of society of their day. In present-day America, however, secularists have taken over and changed the rules of the debate on so many key cultural issues. Religion, or more accurately, the Christian way of life, is being shoved out of not only politics but the American culture. We believers are being forced...

As Obama daily utilizes the federal government to destroy the fabric of American society. Here's the assault of the day... (video)

While most regular people don’t really know or care who he is, Rupert Murdoch is among a small handful of individuals who is most despised by the far left in this country. Unlike many others, he also has the great distinction of being loathed by exponents of socialism worldwide. After reading (or watching) the speech which he recently gave to an Australian think tank called the Institute of Public Affairs about the moral superiority of free markets, it’s not hard to see why those who would enslave markets because they believe them to be based on greed would despise Murdoch,...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The FCC is seeking comments from the public as they consider relaxing their obscenity standards for broadcast television and radio. If adopted the new, lower standards would allow brief “non-sexual” nudity and isolated expletives even during prime time, when most families are typically watching with their children. Currently, broadcasters face heavy fines for violations of the indecency policy, which bans strong curse words and most nudity. But as media culture grows coarser, the backlog of reported offenses has grown unmanageable for the FCC, leading Chairman Julius Genachowski to order the Enforcement Bureau to...

The former three-term congressman and two-term governor saw his political career sidelined four years ago when he disappeared from the state only to return and confess to an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman to whom he is now engaged.

For Sam Rohrer, the debate on same-sex marriage comes down to an unwavering Biblical outlook on the world. Sam Rohrer, president, Pennsylvania Pastors Network Patriot-News file photo, 2010 Rohrer, a former nine-term Republican state representative and now president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network, believes political leaders who support gay marriage are shirking a sworn duty to uphold “God’s moral and natural law.” “The concept of what is important and what is to be protected by government arises from the clear concept that those rights and standards and values emanate from God, not government,” Rohrer said. “Government’s responsibility is to protect...

“Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” So wrote Alexis de Tocqueville. Yet, judged by the standards of those old “pulpits aflame with righteousness,” is America still a good country?

On March 15 in The New York Times, liberal journalist and author Richard Reeves wrote an op-ed about the new plan in New York City to dramatize the many negative effects of teen pregnancy on girls who give birth before graduating high school and outside of a stable two-parent unit. Billboards and other advertisements around the city, for instance, point out that unwed teen mothers are twice as likely to not finish high school as girls who don't give birth before graduating.With many smart qualifications, Reeves makes a case for shaming regarding teen pregnancy and other behaviors, and he...

You hear a lot about the politicization of science, but the real problem is the moralization of science. The New York University psychologist Jonathan Haidt has made a compelling case that moral differences drive partisan debates over scientific issues. Dan Kahan and others at the Yale Cultural Cognition Project have identified cultural differences that bias how people assimilate information. Together, Haidt and Kahan’s research suggests that what you believe about a scientific debate signals to like-minded people that you are on their side and are therefore a good and trustworthy person. Unfortunately, this means that the factual accuracy of beliefs...

"Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued."

I may be a Reformed Protestant, but I still care a great deal about the new pope. He is, after all, only the world’s most prominent advocate for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and Christians everywhere should be grateful that the new pope is by all credible accounts a humble, devout man with a heart for the “least of these.� In fact, for millions of our more secular citizens, the Catholic Church is essentially a stand-in for all (orthodox) Christendom, and critiques of Catholics are often critiques of all Christianity.I was reminded of this fact when I read Frances...

On April 12, 1945, my grandfather approached me as I played outside and asked where my mother was. He looked stricken, and so I quickly followed him inside and heard him say words that made my mother burst into tears: President Roosevelt had died. My mother’s grief and panic were so palpable — her brother was fighting in the Pacific, her brother-in-law was fighting in Europe — that it scared me. In our house, FDR was not merely the President. He was a god. He is a god no more. His New Deal is no longer solely credited with ending...

...Argentina was fatally wounded almost ten years ago and Argentina as I knew it died yesterday, October 23, 2011, when Ms. Kirchner was re-elected with over 50% of the votes, gaining complete control of the country. She now controls the executive of course, but also the congress, unions and even the media through the Kirchner Media Law. The headlines of the world consider this something of a surprise, a small number of Argentines such as myself consider this the culmination of a decade long process that started with the destruction of opposing parties by any means, legal or not, the...

...Next Tuesday, Trojan, condom hawkers extraordinaire, will be passing out thousands of free vibrators to Miami Beach-goers. You heard right. THOUSANDS OF FREE VIBRATORS. Like your friendly neighborhood hot dog cart (only even more blatantly phallic), the Trojan Vibrations Pleasure Carts will be doling out titillating toys to passers-by...

Many liberals have come to believe the rules of morality, decency, and good behavior don't apply to them. You see, since they're liberal they think that no matter how racist, sexist, violent, dehumanizing, evil or disgusting their behavior may be, they're still good people just by virtue of the fact that they're liberals. Of course, not every progressive feels that way, but almost no one on the Left who disagrees has the courage to speak out against the horrific behavior of his fellow liberals. That's understandable if you think about it. Just as a member of the KKK would fear...

Ever wonder how a free society manages to deteriorate into a totalitarian police state? How do people willingly submit to tyranny after they have known freedom?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/07/17/boy-scouts-reaffirm-gay-ban-after-2-year-review/ NEW YORK (AP) — After a confidential two-year review, the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday emphatically reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays, ruling out any changes despite relentless protest campaigns by some critics. An 11-member special committee, formed discreetly by top Scout leaders in 2010, “came to the conclusion that this policy is absolutely the best policy for the Boy Scouts,” the organization’ national spokesman, Deron Smith, told The Associated Press. Smith said the committee, comprised of professional scout executives and adult volunteers, was unanimous in its conclusion – preserving a long-standing policy that was upheld by the...

American society’s schizophrenic attitudes about business could be the subject of a book. (Perhaps multiple volumes.) For example, in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, we heard constantly about the need to create jobs and bring down unemployment. And yet, media coverage and Hollywood depictions of business only reinforce the popular fiction that business owners are little more than greedy exploitative bloodsuckers (whose enterprises apparently exist for the sole purpose of being gouged for taxes to be spent by profligate lawmakers with no sense of their own fiscal responsibility). Regrettably, this is typical. But our culture’s conflict...

Same-sex couples will be a part of the proposal for addressing immigration reform that President Obama is scheduled to unveil Tuesday in Las Vegas, BuzzFeed has confirmed with multiple sources familiar with the White House plan. A Democratic source said: "Same-sex couples will be part of his proposal." A second source confirmed that, unlike the Senate framework released Monday, same-sex bi-national couples — those with one American and one foreign partner — will be included in the White House principles. The decision by Obama seeks to remedy what advocates for same-sex couples view as one of the most searing inequalities...

More than perhaps anyone else in America, David Blankenhorn personifies the struggle so many have experienced over same-sex marriage. First he was agnostic, then he was against it, now he’s for it. 306 Comments Weigh InCorrections? Personal Post Kathleen Parker Parker writes a twice-weekly column on politics and culture. Archive FacebookE-mailRSS You may also like... Michael Gerson Does Obama want an immigration deal? Jennifer Rubin One more like that and it's a 'recession' This is to say that Blankenhorn — a long-standing opponent of same-sex marriage — has shifted his energies to saving the institution of marriage, regardless of whom...

<p>The Boy Scouts of America is considering dropping a longtime ban on gay members, according to a spokesman.</p> <p>“The BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation,'' spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement obtained by FoxNews.com. "This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, but that the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs."</p>

Anyone on a faith walk will eventually ask the question, “How do I pray?” Except for the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, there is no easy answer, for prayer is a very personal and personalized pursuit. And, as with all pursuits, practice is the key to success and prayer is no different. You will soon discover the more you pray, the more you will find answers to difficult questions, along with mental or physical healing from various maladies, protection for you or your loved ones and comfort from any number of storms that happen to be raging in...

Sometimes it's the seemingly insignificant things that are revelatory of major problems. It's the tiny whine in the car engine and a flashing engine warning light that lets the driver know the car is in deep trouble. In a similar manner, it's the seemingly small stuff that can warn us that society is veering off the road and heading for a crash. Recently two small incidents indicate complete derailment of the U.S. educational system as well as the increasing insanity of the Left. According the USA News, a five-year-old girl was suspended from school for aiming a pink plastic "Hello...

When I attended primary and secondary school -- during the 1940s and '50s -- one didn't hear of the kind of shooting mayhem that's become routine today. Why? It surely wasn't because of strict firearm laws. My replica of the 1902 Sears mail-order catalog shows 35 pages of firearm advertisements. People just sent in their money, and a firearm was shipped. Dr. John Lott, author of "More Guns, Less Crime," reports that until the 1960s, some New York City public high schools had shooting clubs where students competed in citywide shooting contests for university scholarships. They carried their rifles to...

The release of the film Les Misérables is a remarkable achievement, not only for its ambitious cinematic scope but also for its inspired cast and stunning dramatic and musical performances. A key driver of the ongoing popularity of the musical play over the better part of the last three decades is the source material’s deep moral and spiritual seriousness. The narrative focuses in large part on the transformation of Jean Valjean, who after nineteen years of hard labor as a violent criminal is released on parole to see “what this new world” might bring. The dynamics of sin and salvation,...

Following the defeat of 2012, it seems as if everyone – yours truly included – has an opinion about where the conservative movement goes from here. But right now presents an excellent opportunity to rally the Right again. Following the fiscal cliff fiasco, the next big battle inside the beltway will be the debt ceiling in March. Some Republicans who caved on the fiscal cliff are already talking tough. Take Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, for example. After voting for the largest tax increase in 20 years, Toomey is one of several Republicans now saying the debt ceiling showdown may require...

Newt "evolves" on gay marriage

George Washington warned us in his Farewell Address about a time in America's future when we might be tempted to discard the pillars of civility: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them."Let me give a great example of what Washington's words look like...

From the moment Americans learned of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre last Friday, the entire left — editorialists, columnists, broadcasters, politicians — used the occasion to promote one idea: gun control. For the left, the primary reason for just about all American gun murders is the availability of guns. I have no interest in debating gun control here. I only wish to ask the left one question: We have a massive system of drug control laws. Yet, the left is the first to argue that the war on drugs has been a failure. And whether or not one deems...

The Pope has again condemned same-sex marriage and on Monday warned that it is a threat to humanity. Speaking directly to international diplomats at a New Year’s address, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged various economic and social factors that he says affect the world today. "Policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," The Pontiff said, according to Reuters. "The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and states," he said. "Pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a...

...as we close the book on the election, it bears noting that another less obvious bloc of key swing state voters helped the president win a second term. They're the "nones" — that's the Pew Research Center's shorthand for the growing number of American voters who don't have a specific religious affiliation. Some are agnostic, some atheist, but more than half define themselves as either "religious" or "spiritual but not religious," Pew found in a recent survey. They are typically younger, more socially liberal than their forebears, vote Democratic, and now make up nearly 20 percent of the country's population....

It has not been a good year for America’s armed forces. David Petraeus’s extramarital affair dominated headlines; 25 instructors are under investigation for systematic sexual abuse of cadets at Lackland Air Force Base; and a rash of senior officers—at the rank of colonel or higher—have been reprimanded for serious misconduct. Last month, Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote to all four-star generals and flag officers asking for institutional soul-searching. Has the military’s behavior, he seemed to be asking, threatened the “sacred trust” among top officers, the men and women they lead, and the American people? “I...

1) Working hard, being self-reliant and taking responsibility for your own life are good for you and will make you much happier than having too much leisure time, being overly dependent and giving others responsibility for your life. 2) The more a behavior is rewarded with attention, fame, sympathy or money, the more of it we'll see. We recognize this almost instinctively when it comes to good behaviors, but we also tend to almost habitually block it out when it comes to behaviors we don't want to encourage. 3) There's nothing shameful about being poor -- but, if you stay...

Many of my friends and readers are disheartened by recent cultural and political trends. Many blame our universities and wonder whether we can ever restore sanity in our nation, given that the enemy seems to control the modern university. They see no chance to win in the war of ideas as long as they are forced to support the public university and, therefore, forced to fund a war against their own cherished values. But I know something they don't know. The public university that has declined so steadily in recent years will cease to exist in just a few short...

Move over Charlie Sheen. Another “Two and a Half Men” controversy is exploding. Angus T. Jones, who has played the role of Jake Harper on the hit CBS show since 2003 and reportedly earns $350,000 an episode, is featured in a new video for the Forerunner Christian Church, in which he calls the sitcom “filth” that contradicts his devout Christian values. That’s not all. The 19-year-old actor even urges fans to stop watching.

There's an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. That certainly seems to be true for many breakthroughs in genetic engineering. Here are several particularly egregious examples.1. "Biopharming" --- a new way to make drugsDiarrhea is the number-two infectious killer of children under the age of five in developing countries, surpassed only by respiratory diseases. It accounts for roughly 2 million deaths a year. But thanks to a simple but ingenious innovation by an emerging biotech company, Ventria Bioscience, those numbers could become a relic of the past, like mortality from smallpox and bubonic plague.Since the 1960s, the...

...... (Rep. Tulsi) Gabbard’s (D.Hawaii) espoused Hinduism, like Obama’s espoused Christianity or Ellison’s espoused Islam or Harry Reid’s espoused Mormonism, entails a range of commitments to claims that are, prima facie, at odds with the empirical record. But there isn’t a cottage industry in interrogating Democrats on their faith the way there is with religious conservatives. One reason for this is that elected religious conservatives tend to be white, male Christians, and owing to those groups’ cultural and political position of power, we as a society are freer in challenging the pieties (in both the positive and negative senses of...

Gov. Mitt Romney’s devastating loss to President Barack Obama is producing all sorts of interesting discussion. The analysis shows, again, a clear preference that minorities had for Obama. For example, according to exit polling data at Fox News, President Obama received 93 percent of the black vote. Over the years, the GOP made honest attempts to attach racial weight to issues like abortion and gay marriage but to no avail. Those attempts failed for an important reason: For black voters, entitlement programs trump moral-social issues every time. Even if African Americans are more socially conservative on many issues black voters...

This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.

Next week voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington will vote on whether to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. Given that there are good people on both sides of this issue, how are we to explain their opposing views? The primary explanation is this: Proponents and opponents ask two different questions. Proponents of same-sex marriage ask: Is keeping the definition of marriage as man-woman fair to gays? Opponents of same-sex marriage ask: Is same-sex marriage good for society? Few on either side honestly address the question of the other side. Opponents of same-sex marriage rarely acknowledge how unfair the age-old...

Let's stipulate that people, and particularly politicians, can get into trouble by attempting to speak for God. But that's not the moral of the story regarding Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock. Responding to a question about abortion, Mourdock offered a grieved response -- his voice breaking a bit -- on the matter of which exceptions he favored. His Democratic opponent, Joe Donnelly, also pro-life, said that he would permit abortions in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. Mourdock said he had "struggled with it . . . for a long time," but had come...

The only legitimate purpose of government is to secure the rights that you already have as a free-willed creation of God. For over 200 years, we have forgotten what the Founders wrote about the purpose of government in the Declaration of Independence. Its purpose is not to control us and keep our elected officials in power, although that is exactly what it has become in practice. The purpose of government should always be to secure our rights! Government is not to be an agent of control over our lives. Instead, government is to be a defender of our rights- a...

A robust economy is not only an economic imperative; it is a moral and cultural imperative. A robust economy makes honorable work possible for all who wish to be responsible for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones. And work, according to Blessed John Paul II in the 1983 encyclical Laborem Exercens, is an expression of our participation in God’s sustaining “creation” of the world. A robust economy makes possible the empowerment of the underprivileged—the true “preferential option for the poor” in Catholic social doctrine, according to John Paul’s 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus—even as it helps conserve...

We knew liberals were different, but just how different is revealed in a new study of the human brain indicating that not only do liberals and conservatives share different moral sentiments, but that markedly differing brain structures underlie those sentiments. The study’s “findings demonstrate that variation in moral sentiment corresponds to individual differences in brain structure and suggest that moral values possess deep-rooted biological bases distributed across distinct brain regions,” say University of California, Santa Barbara, post-doctoral researcher Gary J. Lewis and three research collaborators in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (JCN). “People differ in...

Welcome to the teaser issue of Verily Magazine! The teaser is free online, but if you would like to read future copies, you’ll need to subscribe. An annual print subscription gets you 6 bi-monthly issues for only $5 each, 50% off the cover price! Order today!

Last week, I introduced a new series, titled: The Price of Liberty. In this series, I address the troubling changes occurring in our country, why they are happening, and what to do about them. America, in her generosity and kindness, has always opened her doors to immigrants like me. I am most thankful and appreciative for that. I also want to assure you that many modern-day immigrants want the America envisioned by her Founding Fathers. We want the America of which George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” We want...