Free Republic

Tens of thousands took to the streets in Paris and Bordeaux Sunday to demonstrate for what protesters called “traditional family values” and against assisted pregnancies and surrogacy. The demonstrations were organized by the «Manif pour Tous» (“Protest for Everyone”) group that waged an ultimately unsuccessful grassroots movement against the adoption of same-sex marriage in France last year. Their target this time is medically assisted procreation techniques for lesbian couples and surrogacy, which must be “fought at all costs,” according to the group’s president Ludovine de la Rochère. …

Throughout our nation’s history, the Church has been a force for good in America and abroad. But over the last 50 years, government has systematically eroded our free speech and religious expression. The Bible and the Gospel have been banished from our public schools and our public squares. With more than 75% of Americans calling themselves Christians, it’s time for the Church to rise up and take action to turn the tide in our nation! We have the numbers and we have a voice. If we are silent, we have no one to blame but ourselves for a Godless America.

Did God embed hidden messages in Scripture. Code Searcher Jonathan Wright says he is finding lots of Bible Coded references to Barack Obama, the Antichrist, and End Time Prophicies.

If we as a nation follow God, we will live in peace and good health. If not, the opposite will happen: Deuteronomy 7:15New American Standard Bible (NASB) 15 The Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.

The clash between Islam and the Western world is as old as Islam itself, but perhaps as misunderstood as any great historical conflict. In what is sure to shed light on this timely topic, worldwide Catholic satellite network EWTN will air special television episodes this coming week. As the Islamist radical group ISIS rampages through Christian and other minority religious communities from Syria to Iraq--killing, raping, driving out inhabitants, and wantonly destroying holy sites--the West seems paralyzed and reluctant to retaliate against Muslim aggressors.

The war against Islamist terrorism has been going in the wrong direction, and the cancer has metastasized under the present administration. As we get rid of one Islamist tumor, more pop up. But the most dangerous of all Islamists are ruling Iran and are determined to make themselves untouchable by possessing their own nuclear bomb. We have wrongly chosen to ignore the majority moderate and secular Moslems in the Middle East and here at home. Those advising the White House and the State Department are lobbyists for the Islamist dictators, not secular Moderate Moslem Americans. For reasons unknown, the Obama...

Author Sam Harris and HBO’s “Real Time” anchor Bill Maher debated actor Ben Affleck and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on Maher’s earlier comments on radical Islam on Friday. Harris argued, “liberals have really failed on the topic of theocracy, they’ll criticize white theocracy, they’ll criticize Christians, they’ll still get agitated over the abortion clinic bombing that happen in 1984, but when you want to talk about the treatment of women and homosexuals and free thinkers and public intellectuals in the Muslim world, I would argue that liberals have failed us.” He added “the crucial point of confusion is...

Have you ever thought about joining the jihad? No? Neither have I, at least not in the sense that I might be the one doing the joining. I’ve thought about others joining, though. I’ve thought about privileged American white kids who convert to Islam and join the fight to reestablish the Caliphate.

On the field, Sandy Koufax wasn't just any baseball player. Off the field, he wasn't viewed that way either. The Hall of Fame pitcher isn't just remembered by baseball fans as "the man with the golden arm," but is revered by his Jewish admirers as "the left arm of God" for his talent as well as the public observance of his faith, most notably during the 1965 World Series. A legendary left-handed pitcher who spent his entire career with the Dodgers, Koufax dominated batters like few ever have, atop mounds in Brooklyn and Los Angeles -- as well as just...

Peter Kassig, the latest hostage to be threatened with murder by Islamist extremists, is an American veteran who served in Iraq and whose decision to convert to Islam in captivity has so far failed to save his life. His parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, remained silent for the past year in the hope their son's life would be spared but issued a statement after the video was released. They said their son had become a Muslim during his time in captivity, changing his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig, and that they had learned from other hostages that his faith had brought...

A recent announcement from the Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) / Masjid Al-Rahmah advised that it will be receiving a grant from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program administered through the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA): ISB will be receiving $74,675.00 which will go towards upgrading, enhancing and adding to our security infrastructure. Over the next several months you will see contractors on-site conducting these security enhancements. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) is nationwide and overseen by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Part of DHS’s Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), it has been in effect since 2005. To...

I blogged about the controversy over this resolution a couple of weeks ago; Rabbi Elli Fischer, drafter of the resolution, was kind enough to send this response — my apologies for the delay posting it: In light of the response of a dozen rabbis to a Rabbinical Council of America resolution on gun violence in America in several media, including the Volokh Conspiracy, I would like to clarify a few things about that resolution. 1) In the interests of full disclosure: I was chairman of the RCA Resolutions Committee that drafted the resolution in question. I do not speak for...

Noted Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has a new book out, “Terror Tunnels: The Case for Israel’s Just War Against Hamas,” a collection of essays that forcefully defend Israel’s actions against Hamas, both from before the most recent fighting (Part I) and since (Part II). The book also includes a long debate (about 15 percent of the book) between Dershowitz and John Dugard, a sharp critic of Israel. Here’s an excerpt from Dershowitz’s conclusion to the book, which I think captures his argument well:

Islam is violent and repressive, and its sacred texts are the heart of darkness at the center of the Islamic State's inspiration and motivation, despite Barack Obama's assertions in September 10th's address to the nation that the Islamic State "is not Islamic" and that "no religion condones the killing of innocents." Violence is an integral part of Islamic doctrine, following the example set by its Prophet Mohammed, and in the name of Islam and Allah, Muslims have been murdering innocents, since 656 AD. Six hundred years after Mohammed, one of Islam's most respected scholars, Ibn Khuldan wrote 'Muqaddimah' (Introduction to...

(U.S. Coast Guard photo) WWII veteran given Viking funeral; Coast Guard agreed to Norse send-off World War II veteran Andrew Haines decided years ago that he wanted a Norse-inspired funeral upon his death, and the U.S. Coast Guard obliged. Mr. Haines, who emigrated from Norway in 1927, scaled down blueprints for a 100-foot ship to a few feet in the years before he died. It was then up to the Coast Guard to decide whether it would ignite the boat and send-off Mr. Haines‘ cremated remains in accordance with his wishes. “Oh, I was thrilled,” Mr. Haines’ son Andy...

(click image to enlarge) If you've read the Bible, then you've probably come across the phrase "gird up your loins." I've always thought it was a funny turn of phrase. Loins….heh. Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics.

A study has claimed that religious Jewish teens exhibit less suicide-risk behaviour than their secular Jewish peers. The research suggests that observing Judaism helps to protect adolescents against suicide - despite still being depressed. The conclusion was drawn by surveying hundreds of adolescents and their mothers in Israel. The study by the Israeli Health Ministry was published in the journal European Psychiatry. Home interviews of 620 Jewish adolescents aged 14 to 17 and their mothers were carried out in the survey. It assessed sociodemographic characteristics and mental health, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Participants were asked to define their degree...

Such is the perfect perversity of the nomination of Harriet Miers that it discredits, and even degrades, all who toil at justifying it. Many of their justifications cannot be dignified as arguments. Of those that can be, some reveal a deficit of constitutional understanding commensurate with that which it is, unfortunately, reasonable to impute to Miers. Other arguments betray a gross misunderstanding of conservatism on the part of persons masquerading as its defenders. Miers's advocates, sensing the poverty of other possibilities, began by cynically calling her critics sexist snobs who disdain women with less than Ivy League degrees. Her advocates...

Freeper Gefn is in the ER with possibly failing kidneys. She contacted me to ask for your prayers. She'd also appreciate it if you'd post any favorite LOLcritters you might have - she's alone and scared and in a lot of pain, and she really loves them.

A statement from the U.S. Navy says two crewmen bailed out of a Marine Corps aircraft on Wednesday when it lost power on takeoff from the USS Makin Island. The pilot of the MV-22 Osprey was able to regain control and land safely aboard the ship. The Navy says the other crewman who bailed out was rescued and is in stable condition.