Free Republic

Sure, Atheism Is a Religion, to which Neil deGrasse Tyson and Cosmos Seek Converts David Klinghoffer October 28, 2014 1:46 PM | Permalink Some Twitter correspondents objected to my comment, in connection with our new book The Unofficial Guide to Cosmos, that "Cosmos is not appropriate for public schools, where you're not supposed to advocate any religion, including atheism." But of course Tyson-style atheism counts as a religion. As I'm hardly the first to say, it has almost all the trimmings that religions commonly do: An account of origins (panspermia and Darwinian evolution), a philosophical commitment to a certain way...

4000-Year-Old Phaistos Disk Decoded October 28, 2014 Scientists have been trying to decipher the mysterious “Phaistos Disk” markings ever since the clay disk from the Second Millenium B.C. was first discovered in 1908 on the Greek island of Crete. And it seems like they’ve finally cracked the code. At 4,000 years old, the relic dates back to the Minoan civilization and features an inscription that boasts a mysterious language, with symbols on both sides in a spiral configuration, which can be read inward from the outside rim. Researchers have been studying the puzzling artifact since its discovery, and now Dr....

The Mormon church has admitted that its founder was a polygamist who married a 14-year-old girl, breaking a lengthy silence about its history. Joseph Smith, who wrote the Book of Mormon and established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is thought to have married as many as 50 women, but for years the senior church officials did not address the subject. But this week the organization acknowledged that the practice took place, and named Helen Mar Kimball, 'who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.' Estimates have placed the total number of Smith's wives between...

A break-in and burglary at the South Side church of Pastor Corey Brooks, who also says he has been receiving death threats as a result of his support for the Republican Bruce Rauner in Illinois' race for governor. Pastor Brooks has taken on gangs in his Woodlawn neighborhood, camping on the roof of an abandoned motel across the street from his church for nearly three months until he could raise money to tear it down. But he says he has never faced death threats until now, when he's publicly supporting Governor Pat Quinn's Republican opponent. Pastor Brooks says first came...

FULL TITLE: Woman: “If there was a pro-life counselor outside of Planned Parenthood that day, I would not have had an abortion” Misti was raised a devout Christian. The daughter of a pastor and the granddaughter of missionaries, she grew up going to church. “In high school, I was really involved in church,” she said. “Right from there, I went to bible college in Canada for two years.” But after returning home from bible college, she realized that things weren’t the same. “I started feeling like a visitor in my own church,” Misti explained. She was working at Disneyland, and...

New Book Discusses Scientific and Theological Problems with Darwinian Evolution Casey Luskin October 22, 2014 4:22 PM | Permalink A new book, More Than Myth?, features contributions from various pro-ID authors discussing the scientific and theological problems with Darwinian evolution. The editors include Paul Brown, a professor of chemistry, biology, and environmental studies at the evangelical university Trinity Western, and Robert Stackpole, a Catholic theologian. Their vision for the book was to show that both Catholics and Protestants can agree that there is scientific and theological evidence showing that intelligent design -- rather than Darwinian evolution -- is the best...

Although we have become accustomed to the agenda-driven narrative from Aslan, we were blown away by how his undeniably appealing but patently misleading arguments were cheered on by many, with the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple going so far as to advise show producers not to put a show-host against Aslan “unless your people are schooled in religion, politics and geopolitics of the Muslim world.” ... Nearly everything Aslan stated during his segment was either wrong, or technically-correct-but-actually-wrong. We will explain by going through each of his statements in the hopes that Aslan was just misinformed (although it’s hard for us...

Why Advocates of Intelligent Design Owe Atheist Neil deGrasse Tyson a "Thank You" David Klinghoffer October 23, 2014 3:10 PM | Permalink Why Advocates of Intelligent Design Owe Atheist Neil deGrasse Tyson a "Thank You" David Klinghoffer October 23, 2014 3:10 PM | Permalink From living in Manhattan as I once did, I remember many taxi rides listening to the popular news station 1010 WINS with its slogan, "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world." And they did. The producers offered a picture in miniature not only of whatever they regarded as the top stories around the...

A video of a pair of dueling, dancing American priests studying in Rome has gone viral, following in the footsteps of a now-famous Italian nun whose Alicia Keyes-esque voice won her a singing contest and a record contract. The Rev. David Rider, 29, of Hyde Park, New York, and the Rev. John Gibson, 28, of Milwaukee, first shot to Internet fame when they were filmed in April during a fundraiser at the North American College, the elite American seminary up the hill from the Vatican. Rider warmed up the crowd with a lively tap-dance routine, only to be pushed aside...

Loyola University Chicago recently christened a new pagan student club, with its student organizer saying the group aims to help pupils at the private Catholic college find the God they seek, not just the one featured in the Bible. “Loyola’s mission states that ‘seeking God in all things’ is one of the main tenants of the university,” said the group’s student president, Jill Kreider, in an email to The College Fix. “While the mission primarily focuses on the Abrahamic God, there is no reason a Pagan student (or a Hindu, Baha’i or Sikh student) cannot seek using his or her...

According to the Latino American Dawah Organization (LADO), more Hispanics are turning towards Islam and interestingly, more than half of Miami’s 3,000 Hispanic Muslims are female. Florida, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, is the US’s fourth most populous state and is highly distinguished by its thriving Hispanic community. In 2010, Hispanics and Latinos made up 22.5 percent of Florida’s population.

The Mormon church is addressing the mystery that has long surrounded undergarments worn by its faithful with a new video explaining the practice in-depth while admonishing ridicule from outsiders about what it considers a symbol of Latter-day Saints' devotion to God. The four-minute video on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website compares the white, two-piece cotton "temple garments" to holy vestments worn in other religious faiths such as a Catholic nun's habit or a Muslim skullcap.

Image: The Ebola Virus More people hospitalized in Turkey, suspected having Ebola. (Taz). Three people suspected Ebola were hospitalized in the Turkish provinces of Izmir, Kahraman Marash and Konya, the Anadolu Turkish news agency said Oct.22. One of the hospitalized is a Turkish student who studies in Somalia and returned to his homeland, and the rest returned from the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Thus, the number of hospitalized suspected Ebola in Turkey reached five people, four of whom are persons returned from the Hajj. Earlier it was reported that 45 special hospitals were allocated in 36 provinces of Turkey in...

I live in a quiet subdivision in rural Ontario. I mean very quiet—all summer long, I rarely saw any kids outside biking or playing street hockey or running flimsy lemonade stands or just roughhousing around outside. Then, the day school started, I was shocked when I left my house in the morning and I saw kids everywhere, backpacks in tow, heading to bus stops and walking to the nearby school. This many kids live in my neighborhood? I thought to myself. Where were they all summer? There are a number of possible answers, of course. Some were probably on vacation....

Please pray for me. I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow and I'm scared to death he will find something terribly wrong with me. I've been sick for a while with alarming symptoms but have been afraid to go to the doctor.

Revolutionary Biology Jonathan Wells October 20, 2014 11:36 AM | Permalink It is not surprising that for thousands of years people thought the Sun and stars revolve around the Earth. We see it with our own eyes every day and night. In 1543, however, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed that the Earth revolves around the Sun and thereby revolutionized our conception of the solar system and the universe. A century and a half later, Isaac Newton proposed laws of motion and gravitation to explain the behavior of all material bodies -- not only on the Earth but also in outer space --...

President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court’s recent gay marriage orders may have the biggest impact of any ruling of his presidency. Obama told The New Yorker that the court’s Oct. 6 rejection of appeals from states seeking to preserve gay marriage bans is the best of his tenure. …

People say America is one of the most religious countries in the world. But is it religious in the way that you think it is? You’re bound to learn something new in this list:

I have three children. Each prayed for, desired, loved, cherished. For years, I have watched pro-abortion friends and family dote on them and shower them with love. They treat my children as precious and special, as valuable members of society—but only because I wanted them. Had I desired an abortion, these same people who rave about my son’s wit or marvel at my daughters’ smiles would have been the first to drop everything and drive me to the nearest Planned Parenthood to have them “taken care of.” My children’s worth, in the eyes of the pro-abortion community and of our...

Support for legalizing same-sex marriage dropped from 54 percent to 49 percent since February, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Analysts said they had no idea why or if it was just a random blip. I joked on Twitter that my April article “Rise of the Same-Sex Marriage Dissidents” probably was the cause. But in all seriousness, perhaps seeing the totalitarianism of extremist wings of the gay rights movement has soured some people on efforts to change marriage law — or at least given people pause about the tradeoffs involved with redefining marriage or enacting broad legislation around sexual...