Free Republic

Saarland’s minister-president stirred anger on Wednesday by comparing the prospect of gay marriage to incest and polygamy. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), told the Saarbrücker Zeitung that she was worried about the consequences of changing the definition of marriage—currently narrowly defined as being between a man and a woman in the German Constitution. “If we open up this definition to become a long-term responsible partnership between two adults, then other demands can’t be ruled out, such as a marriage between close relatives or between more than two people,” she opined. …

Colleagues found him hanging in his room A 30-year-old Sudanese worker committed suicide by hanging himself just after finishing prayers at a mosque in Saudi Arabia. Newspapers said colleagues of the worker at a rest house in the Western town of Kharma were shocked when they found the man hanging in his room a few minutes after prayers. Police said they were investigating the case.

Catholic and Protestant pastors are still reacting with horror to Ireland’s recent vote in favor of same sex marriage. Fr. George W. Rutler of the Church of Saint Michael on West 34th Street in Manhattan released a strongly worded letter at the weekend claiming that Irish voters have effectively defied their patron St. Patrick and welcomed druidism back to Ireland. “The landslide vote in Eire for legalizing the fictitious form of marriage between persons of the same sex, in contradiction of all laws natural and divine, unearths the pulsating Druidism that Saint Patrick and his fellow saints defied,” Rutler wrote...

The French government is expecting the Vatican to decide within days whether to approve the nomination of a respected diplomat who is said to be gay as French ambassador to the Holy See. Paris is hoping that Laurent Stefanini wins approval five months after the French presidential palace submitted his nomination. […] Gay rights groups have accused the Vatican of delaying a decision because of Stefanini’s sexual orientation. Such decisions normally take just a few weeks. …

Rushed my wife to the hospital yesterday AM. She was experiencing excruciating abdominal pain which quickly escalated to severe chest pain as we entered the ER. After some blood work, they performed a cardiac catheterization which, to my great relief, showed no heart problems. On the other hand, other tests and CAT scans are showing an inflammation of the kidney but no stones show up. More tests today. Meanwhile the abdominal pain continues which they are treating with pain meds. Would appreciate Prayers for my wife. Thanks.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still is asking for prayers for his daughter, Leah, who’s had a setback in her fight against cancer. The 5-year-old girl went into a hospital on May 5 to start the process of getting a stem cell transplant. The 4-to-6-week process involves high doses of chemotherapy at the outset. Still posted on social media late Friday that Leah “hit a pretty serious complication,” with her liver affected by the chemotherapy. “They caught it early so hopefully it gives the doctors a better chance of stopping it from getting aggressive,” Still posted. “As you can imagine our...

Harlan Ellison is still an angry young man, except he'll be 81 on May 27. He has used this anger, fueled by childhood anti-Semitism, throughout his extraordinary career as a writer of speculative fiction. This year saw the publication of his 116th and 117th (so far) books: The Top of the Volcano, a collection of his awardwinning short stories, and a graphic novelization of his original script for "The City on the Edge of Forever," widely considered the best Star Trek episode ever written. Although Ellison's hundreds of published stories contain a wealth of Jewish characters, his most complex creation...

A head teacher at a state school in Munich is attempting to introduce a strict Christian regime by hanging crosses in the classroom and holding daily prayers. He’s within the law, but parents and pupils are beginning to resist. According to Spiegel, the headteacher of Geretsried comprehensive was covering a lesson for a class of 14-15 year-olds when a debate broke out after the class refused to say a prayer. At the end of the debate, he said atheists were stupid, sparking outrage among teachers, parents and students alike. Not all pupils are baptized, and some teachers—including the biology teacher—don’t...

Josh Duggar, Executive Director of the Family Research Council Action in Ames, Iowa August 9, 2014. Hunter Frederick, a Christian public relations expert once rumored to have been hired to help manage the fallout from the sexual abuse allegations surrounding Josh Duggar, star of "19 Kids and Counting," by the Duggar family, says the recent apology from the embattled Christian figure and his parents is not enough to sate the effects of the scandal that has engulfed the family. "I have no reason to think their apology wasn't sincere, but an apology is one small thing that needs to happen...

While America continues to face an expanding national security threat, President Obama has great difficulty in identifying the enemy that has been at war with the United States for over 35 years. Using terms such as “violent extremism” and “workplace violence” does an enormous injustice to our military forces, as well as to all law enforcement agencies that must be prepared to confront the Islamic jihadis on a daily basis. For example, the Obama administration directed all of our training manuals, that accurately portrayed the Islamic threat, to be purged by removing anything that didn’t portray Islam as a religion...

A 2006 police report detailing Josh Duggar’s molestation of his sisters has caused a media firestorm, yet the document has also revealed another detail that the Duggar family has yet to address: namely, the assertion by one of their children that Jim Bob and Michelle use a rod to spank them. The allegations surfaced in the police report, which was released in a redacted form last week by In Touch Weekly. The report includes a summary of a conversation which occurred between an investigator and one of the Duggar children, who remains unnamed. “Inv. Taylor asked [redacted] about getting spanked....

Hulu has pulled "19 Kids and Counting" from its lineup, following reports of sexual misconduct allegations against one of the stars, Josh Duggar, stemming from when he was a teenager. Although the streaming-video service didn't confirm removal of the TLC series, episodes weren't found Thursday on the Hulu site, where they had been available as recently as Wednesday.

For some eating bacon is a religious experience. But in Las Vegas, there’s a group dedicated to the worship of the cured pork.Founded in 2010, the United Church of Bacon now claims nearly 10,000 members worldwide and is based on beliefs that include its followers must love the smell of bacon. "...we say bacon is real therefore it’s our god." “Bacon is a way to bring people together, even if you are religious, there’s no discrimination. You can have a god before bacon,” said church founder and ex-Marine John Whiteside. “I like pigs in a blanket, that’s great, I like...

The number of American babies who have been aborted in the years since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has already exceeded the entire population of the United States as recorded in the 1880 Census. This is according to numbers published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Guttmacher Institute. In 1880, according to the Census Bureau, there were 50,189,209 people in the United States. These included, the Census Bureau notes, Mark Twain, who had not yet written The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Thomas Edison, who would start his electrical company two years later; and Booker T. Washington,...

FULL TITLE: Update: 19 Kids and Counting Loses 8 More Advertisers, Including David's Bridal, Pure Leaf, ConAgra, and Others UPDATE: Eight more companies have pulled their ads from TLC's 19 Kids and Counting on Wednesday, May 27. David's Bridal, Pure Leaf Iced Tea, Ace Hardware, ConAgra, Party City, Crayola, and Behr all made their announcements on social media. "We share your concerns and it is our understanding that TLC has pulled the show from their lineup," David's Bridal wrote on its Facebook page. "Should TLC reinstate the show, we will take steps to have our ads removed from future episodes."...

After last week’s shocking admission that he’d molested his sisters as a teenager, former “19 Kids and Counting” star Josh Duggar has put his parents in quite a pickle. While Josh has (deservedly) received plenty of backlash from his admission, his parents have also come under heavy scrutiny for how they have handled the situation. ..... However, it’s worth noting where Jim Bob, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002, actually stands on the issue of incest and rape — or at least what he told the public while he was running for office. According to Gawker, who...

In a case of religious discrimination, a young MBA graduate was rejected for a job in a diamond export company for being a Muslim, prompting the National Commission for Minorities to seek an explanation from the business house. The incident also drew criticism from the central government, which said religious discrimination cannot be allowed. Management graduate Zeshan Ali Khan had applied for an opening in the company on May 19 and, according to him, he received a response within 15 minutes, which said they hired only non-Muslim candidates. “Thanks for your application. We regret to inform you that we hire...

Someone ripped off a bronze statue of Jesus from a cross outside the Church of the Transfiguration in Castro Valley, and the pastor thinks the thief may be trying to hawk the holy figure for scrap metal. Parishoner Mel Speed said he was stunned to get the call about it from his pastor on Wednesday morning. VIDEOSan Mateo Bridge Re-Opens on Memorial Day "I'm angry and frustrated," he said. "I don't understand what would bring a person to stoop to that level." Father Terry O'Malley believes the theft occurred some time before the 7:30 a.m. Mass from the church at...

Pope Francis has claimed that he hasn’t watched TV since 1990 after making a promise to the Virgin Mary. The Pope said that he didn’t even watch the matches of his football team San Lorenzo de Almagro back in Buenos Aires, but got a Swiss Guard to update him regularly on match results and league table positions. In an interview with an Argentinian newspaper, he said there was no particular reason for his vow—he simply decided: “It’s not for me.” […] The Pope said that he doesn’t surf the internet either, and reads only one newspaper for ten minutes in...

Eight years ago, Alice gave a thorough and detailed account of events that are nearly identical to those outlined in the police report that became public this week: "In January, the whole family went to Chicago and taped Oprah Winfrey show... As you may have noticed, that show never aired and it never will," Alice posted before delivering the bombshell that The Oprah Winfrey Show staffers had been told that Josh had molested five minor girls. Alice then wrote, "Yes, this is the truth ... They have been investigated to some length..." On the subject of Josh's parents Jim Bob,...