Free Republic

Four young men were convicted of gay sex and whipped publicly as punishment Thursday in an Islamic court in northern Nigeria, a human rights activist said. The four were among dozens caught in a wave of arrests after Nigeria strengthened its criminal penalties for homosexuality with the new Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act in January. The men could face further violence in prison if human rights organizations do not come up with an additional fine of 20,000 naira ($120) each meted out Thursday by a judge in Bauchi city, Dorothy Aken’Ova, convenor of the Coalition for the Defense of Sexual...

On the 32nd anniversary of her death, Pastor John Piper discusses the life and influence of Ayn Rand (~11 min interview). https://dwynrhh6bluza.cloudfront.net/website_uploads/audio_files/interviews/292_Ayn_Rand_s_Tragic_Trajectory.mp3

The Dalai Lama will lead the US Senate in prayer on Thursday as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader meets leaders of Congress, his office said.

In Somali culture, women don’t strive to become police officers, Kadra Mohamed said. On Saturday morning, Mohamed was recognized as the first Somali-American woman to join the St. Paul Police Department, a move made possible by the department’s announcement that it has approved an option for employees to wear a police-issued hijab. “It’s nerve-wracking in a way,” Mohamed, 21, said of being the first woman of Somali descent in the department. “I want to be a good role model for others, especially Somali women.” Mohamed was recognized at the police’s Western District building during a graduation ceremony for youth who...

It is being reported that the Manufacturer of all human beings is in the process of recalling all active units. The Maker of this product has determined that regardless of make or year, the product needs to have it's main energy source retrofitted, due to a serious defect in the unit's primary component. When asked exactly what the problem with the primary component was, the Manufacturer informed us that the heart of the problem is the heart, and that He has sent out representatives to help with the recall. The Manufacturer is also informing us that the defect which...

'More beautiful than women, horses and all other animals': Welcome to the Arab beauty contest where million-dollar CAMELS with false eyelashes and lip filler compete for huge prizes • Visitors trek across desert for lavish event in Liwa, United Arab Emirates • Men happily declare they prefer camels to their wives - and all other women • Prize camels can change hands for as much as £1.8million at all-male event • Festival also features camel races and milking competitions Thousands of men leer on, playboys skid around outside in expensive cars, and top models command fees reaching into the millions...

The Mt. Soledad Memorial Association has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and "bring an end" to a decades-long legal dispute in San Diego. “Only this Court can bring an end to this litigation,” the group writes in its petition to have the case heard by the justices. At issue is a 43-foot- tall cross that has been on a hillside looking over La Jolla and Mission Bay since 1954. In December, a federal judge ordered the cross must come down because it violates the Establishment Cause of the Constitution, unlawfully endorsing one religion over others. In their...

NAIROBI, Kenya (CBSDC/AP) - A local pastor has ordered all women who attend service at Lord’s Propeller Redemption Church to refrain from wearing undergarments while attending so that they can more easily receive the spirit of Jesus Christ. The Kenyan Daily Post is reporting that a pastor identified only as “Reverend Njohi” claimed bras and underwear are not godly. Additionally, the paper says Njohi wants women who attend service at the church to be “free,” and that there would be consequences for those who do not comply. According to the UK Metro, most women did, in fact, show up at...

Right wing think tanks have taken a principled stand against the CCSSI on the grounds that it violates the constitution and laws of the United States[6]. Folks at Schoolsmatter and Susan Ohanian are almost lone wolfs on the left in vigorously targeting the CCSSI as “authoritarian”, and exposing the role venture philanthropy (especially Bill Gates) plays in imposing the CCSSI.

CNN co-host Van Jones, in a roundtable discussion on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous” on Sunday, compared Arizona’s SB 1062—which has been vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer—to the civil rights movement, saying, “We don’t want to see ‘no gays’ signs.” “The one great achievement of the last century, we took out of American lexicon six words, ‘we don’t serve your kind here.’ We took those words out. It took the civil rights movement to do it. Dr. King got killed trying to do it. ‘We don’t serve your kind here’ is not acceptable anymore. Those ‘no blacks allowed’ signs...

"The bikers were beating Alexian Lien with their helmets. They were pulling his wife out of the Range Rover to beat her, too. One man, Sergio Consuegra stepped in and stopped the beating...Sergio Consuegra was coming home from church when he saw Alexian Lien's Range Rover come to a stop on West 178th street. He also saw when a huge mass of bikers swarmed the SUV, bashed in the driver's side window, pulled Lien from the vehicle, and started beating him in the street... .....;

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who plans to skip the nation’s largest St. Patrick's Day parade because participants are banned from carrying signs or banners identifying themselves as gay, joined the gay-friendly St. Pat’s For All Parade Sunday, saying it honors the traditions of the city by celebrating inclusion. “This is a parade that celebrates inclusion. … That is what the city is about. That is what has made this city strong,” De Blasio said after arriving at the parade, an annual tradition in Queens that attracts a few thousand participants. In a nod to those who started...

I have run into an unusual situation. I have struck up a friendship with a philipina woman. However she is "employed" as a nanny by a couple from the UAE and is in Baltimore at the moment. The employers have confiscated her passport, work her 7 days a week with no days off or vacations. And pay her a nominal $9.00 per hour except they "hold" the money for her which amounts to $400.00 per week. (I haven't figured out the math on that one yet, since she is technically "on the job" 24 hours a day). What are her...

I never want to see Jesus again. Not in a movie, at least. Not after sitting through two hours and 18 minutes of Son of God, the latest tragedy about the life of Jesus and the acting career of Roma Downey, the onetime Touched By An Angel star who, in addition to playing Mary, produced the film with her husband, Mark Burnett. Having watched some of History Channel’s The Bible, the 10-hour mini series from which most of Son of God was pieced together, I already knew Jesus Starring Roma Downey wasn’t going to be great. (Nothing starring Roma Downey...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was right to veto SB1062, which would have amended the Arizona Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill, per most interpretations I’ve read, would have given broad discretion to business owners, because of their religious convictions, to refuse to do business with anyone associated with homosexual lifestyles. Religious freedom is about protection of your right to practice your religion and not being forced to violate it. However, the right to religious freedom does not mean the right to write-off and marginalize into non-existence a whole class of citizens whom you don’t like or agree with. Under Jim...

The BBC drama controller has said there are not enough gay characters on TV. Ben Stephenson, who is himself gay, called on writers to come forward with more stories which focus on homosexuality. The comments were made during the BBC’s Reflect and Represent talk at New Broadcasting House on Monday which aims to discuss the Corporation’s future vision. …

‘Their empire, his kingdom” is the tagline for Son of God, the new movie depicting Jesus’ life from his birth to his ascension. It captures the film’s central dramatic action: Jesus and the kingdom he preaches present a threat to Caiaphas, the high priest struggling to ensure the continued existence of the Jewish people under Roman rule, and to Pontius Pilate, the jaded and casually cruel prefect who can guarantee his own preservation only by ruthlessly oppressing the restive provincials of Judea. Roma Downey, herself a Christian, produced Son of God with her husband, reality-TV producer Mark Burnett. It grew...

**SPOILER ALERT** Most of the suspense and therefore enjoyment of Liam Neeson's new action thriller "Non Stop" comes from trying to figure out who the villain is and why this person is doing what he or she is doing. If you read the rest of this article, it will spoil the entire movie for you. Period. You have been warned. There is no question that "Non-Stop" is a well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thriller that delivers plenty of suspense and endears Liam Neeson further into the heart of those of us who love well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thrillers. "Non-Stop" is a good movie....

HOLMES COUNTY, MS - (CNN) – A story is spreading like wildfire out of Mississippi where a man declared dead woke up in a body bag at a funeral home. According to CNN affiliate WAPT, the coroner in Holmes County, which is just north of Jackson, says he checked Walter Williams' pulse Wednesday night and pronounced him dead at his home. Williams was then moved to the funeral home where he was about to be embalmed. That's when he started kicking to get out of the body bag, missing certain death by just minutes.

Catholic actress and star of the upcoming movie, "Mom's Night Out," Patricia Heaton has said that the media often falls victim to pejoratively stereotyping Christians, rather than portraying them as real people. "You know, my older sister is a Dominican nun, and nuns are always portrayed as weird, sexually repressed, old maids who are bitter. Listen, I went to Catholic school, there are a few of those, but the Dominican sisters that I know are lovely, lovely ladies," Heaton told The Blaze. "So I think there has been this idea out there and the media kind of runs with it,...

Ukranian model Valeria Lukyanova, who lives her life as a 'human Barbie' has revealed she doesn't consume food or water anymore. Some have said she uses plastic surgery and Photoshop to create her doll-like image, but her impossibly thin waist could actually be down to not eating for weeks. The model, 23, has said she is now converting to 'Breatharianism' - training herself to live off only light and air. 'In recent weeks I have not been hungry at all; I'm hoping it's the final stage before I can subsist on air and light alone,' she has said. The model...

A federal judge on Thursday signed an order directing officials in Kentucky to immediately recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II issued a final order throwing out part of the state’s ban on gay marriages. It makes official his Feb. 12 ruling that Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriages treated “gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them.” Same-sex couples may change their names on official identifications and documents and obtain any other benefits of a married couple in Kentucky. The order doesn’t affect a related lawsuit seeking to...

NEW YORK, A Harlem pastor is upset with President Obama about what he has “released” upon the world -- and it isn’t drone strikes. According to a sign outside the ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem: “Obama Has Released The Homo Demons On The Black Man; Look Out Black Woman; A White Homo May Take Your Man.” Pastor James David Manning told the New York Daily News that he erected the sign because more gays have come into the neighborhood due to gentrification. “It’s an attempt to save the black family,” Manning said. “There is a major problem in the...

While "Noah" may or may not be having a hard time winning over Christian audiences, "Son of God," in theaters this weekend, appears to be enjoying the favor of the faithful nationwide. But can the new PG-13 Jesus film unseat 2004's "The Passion of the Christ" as the top-grossing Christian film of all time? Christian producers Mark Burnett ("Survivor," "The Voice") and Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel") have rallied the same network of powerful and influential Christian leaders that in 2013 got behind their History Channel miniseries, "The Bible," for a "Theater Take-Over" campaign in anticipation of the nationwide...

member of his political group Organizing for Action that they are “Doing God’s Work.” “The work you are doing is God’s work,” Obama told supporters, according to reporters who attended the event. Obama to OFA people working to back his agenda: “The work you are doing is god’s work.” — Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) February 25, 2014 The comment reminds of the time when Obama, during a speech to the Planned Parenthood abortion business, said he wanted God to bless it. During his speech to the Planned Parenthood abortion business, Obama asked God to bless the number one abortion performer...

I have been quite appalled at how so very lost the supposed leaders of most of the churches of today are. They purport to represent Jesus' teachings, yet their is outright denial of the very powerful message that satan's grip on us to cause us to sin, is indeed broken. No, rather the ministers of today all over teach a watered down and lying ministry that Jesus merely has saved us from the aweful results of going to hell. Yet, in one simple sentence and act with Mary, when he told her to go and sin no more, he proved...

Christian Scientists have won their long, twilight struggle against brutalism -- so says a wrecking ball at the corner of 16th and I streets in Washington, D.C. For what seemed like an eternity, members of the Third Church of Christ, Scientist fought with architecture historians and city bureaucrats over the right to tear down their own church. Churchgoers never liked their 1971 classic brutalist structure -- an architectural style that is well, brutal -- and have even suggested it has something to do with their dwindling numbers.

Psychological studies show that swearing and name-calling in Internet discussions shut down our ability to think. 2 professors of science communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison - Dominique Brossard and Dietram A. Scheufele - wrote in the New York Times last year: In a study published online last month in The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, we and three colleagues report on an experiment designed to measure what one might call “the nasty effect.” The results were both surprising and disturbing. Uncivil comments not only polarized readers, but they often changed a participant’s interpretation of the news story itself. In...

The lead singer of a Grammy-nominated Christian metal band pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to hire someone to kill his estranged wife. Timothy Lambesis, 32, remains free on $2 million bond until he is sentenced May 2 on one count of solicitation of murder in Vista Superior Court, north of San Diego. He could get nine years in prison. Lambesis, of the band As I Lay Dying, was recorded telling an undercover agent that he wanted his wife killed, according to prosecutors. The investigation began last April after Lambesis allegedly told a personal trainer at his gym that he wanted...

Singer Katy Perry has upset members of the Muslim community by featuring "blasphemous" imagery in the music video for her new hit Dark Horse. In the promo, the Roar hitmaker plays an Egyptian queen who has the power to zap her subjects with lightning and turn them into sand, and she has offended Muslims by killing one male subject, wearing a pendant reading God (Allah) in Arabic. The jewellery item is also zapped. Members of the Muslim community have criticized the video, calling it blasphemous and demanding for it be removed from YouTube.com. One of those offended by the imagery...

Former San Diego State running back Adam Muema left the NFL Scouting Combine on Sunday without working out, citing religious reasons. Running backs competed in afternoon drills at Lucas Oil Stadium. Muema, the fourth leading rusher in Aztecs history, did not participate. He said he was "following God," who told him if he missed workouts, he'd play for the Seattle Seahawks. Playing for Seattle is his "dream," Muema said. NFL teams are aware of the decision. "Can't go wrong with God," Muema said. Muema spoke Sunday in a phone interview from the Indianapolis International Airport. He was set to return...

DAMATURU, NIGERIA – Suspected Islamic militants killed dozens of students in a pre-dawn attack Tuesday on a northeast Nigerian college, survivors said, setting ablaze a locked hostel and shooting and slitting the throats of those who escaped through windows. Some were burned alive. Adamu Garba said he and other teachers who ran away through the bush estimate 40 students died in the assault that began around 2 a.m. Tuesday at the Federal Government College at Buni Yadi. It is a co-ed school about 45 miles south of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, and difficult to communicate with because extremists...

Less than two weeks after a federal judge declared Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, a new effort has been launched in the South seeking to build wider acceptance of gay and lesbian couples in the hope of overturning similar bans across the region. The $1 million effort will be focused on field organizing and sharing the stories of gay couples through local community and business events as well as social media in 14 Southern states. The key, supporters say, will be to share stories like those of Linda Ellis and her partner, Lesley Brogan, who appeared at Monday’s event....

Lawyers who are appealing a federal judge’s ruling that overturned Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage said in a court filing Monday that legalizing gay marriage would harm children, undermine society and make traditional marriages unstable. The Alliance Defending Freedom cited courts and anthropologists, saying children are better off in a home with a mother and a father. It said traditional couples would be less likely to marry, or stay together, if marriage became a genderless institution not focused on procreation. U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled last month against Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith, whose office refused to...

A synagogue in eastern Ukraine was firebombed over the weekend amid the mass protests that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych, the International Business Times (IBT) reports. The Giymat Rosa Synagogue in Zaporizhia, located 250 miles southeast of Kiev, was attacked by unknown individuals, the report said, citing the Russian-language Timenews.in.ua news site. No one was injured, local authorities said. Minor damages were caused to the building. Photos published by the website showed traces of a fire on the facade a balcony. …

Education departments in a number of regions in Saudi Arabia have banned female employees and visitors who do not wear a face veil from entering girls’ schools, the Saudi Gazette reported on Monday. The report cited a pamphlet sent by education departments to school principals, in which male and female school guards are instructed to abide by Islamic rules, regulations and directives and moral principles. …

Fire, brimstone, eternal suffering — hell is not a pleasant concept. But research has pointed to the societal benefits of a belief in supernatural punishment, including higher economic growth in developing countries and less crime. But there are also drawbacks, even in this life. A new study links believing in hell, and perhaps even thinking about it, with lower levels of happiness and satisfaction in life. "It seems there is this trade-off," said Azim Shariff, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. In research published in January in PLOS ONE, Shariff and a colleague looked at international...

Uganda’s president is expected to sign a controversial anti-gay bill that allows harsh penalties for homosexual offenses. […] U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Museveni not to sign the bill, saying doing so would “complicate” the east African country’s relationship with Washington. …

South Africa’s retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Sunday made an impassioned plea to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni not to sign into law a harsh Anti-Homosexuality Bill that calls for a life sentence for some same-sex relations. Tutu, a Nobel peace prize winner, said in a statement that Museveni a month ago had pledged not to allow the anti-gay legislation to become law in Uganda. But last week Museveni said he had reconsidered and would consult scientists on whether homosexuality is determined by genetics or by a person’s choice. Tutu said he is “disheartened” by Museveni’s new position because there is...

Bulldozers are set to demolish a building in Mecca situated right above the site believed by scholars to be the birthplace of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The Saudi Binladin Group, which is charged with redeveloping the historical area, plans to raze a small library on the site in order to build a modern complex which would include a presidential palace and imam’s residence. The demolition would take place just steps away from Mecca’s Masjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque, which surrounds the Ka’aba, one of Islam’s holiest sites. …

As couples the world over celebrated Valentine’s Day last week, many no doubt recalled the great Muslim love stories: Romeo and Juliet and Fatima and Dalia and Naima; A Midsummer Night’s Stoning; the movies Veiled Woman and When Harry Beat Sally – so many.Right-thinking people today would find such quips “Islamophobic” and distasteful; far more distasteful, however, is the grim reality they represent. When Valentine’s Day rolled around last week, Muslim leaders rose to oppose it with a fervor they have seldom mustered against the jihad terrorists who have supposedly twisted and hijacked their peaceful religion.The Malaysian Islamic Development...

On this pre-recorded broadcast of Mic'd Up, Michael Voris is joined by Dr. Christopher Blum to discuss "Meditations for Lent", a short book compiled from the spiritual writings of Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704). Christopher Blum is the Academic Dean at the Augustine Institute. In the bulk of the show, Michael will be joined by former congressman Bob Dornan to discuss the financial influence of homosexual groups on American political policy. Also, following the broadcast will be our 15 minute in-depth report "Dispatch: Pink Money".

New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, just announced that “right-to-life” advocates have “no place in the state of New York.” The Radiance Foundation and its civil rights allies defy Governor Cuomo’s intolerance and have launched the “DREAM IS DEAD” ad campaign (www.toomanyaborted.com/ny) in New York on Martin Luther King Day. ryanbomberger26The bold ad campaign declares: “The Dream Is Dead For 56 Million: TooManyAborted.com” reminding the public of Dr. Martin Luther King’s fight to ensure justice for all. Bus transit ads will be seen throughout the state’s capital, Albany, as well as Troy and Schenectady. In 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr....

The growing use of fetal ultrasound for nonmedical purposes has prompted two Canadian medical societies to issue a statement against the scans, which have been linked to gender-specific abortion in the country.

Because marriage between one man and one woman was established by nature itself, neither the government, the courts, nor the Democratic attorney general of Virginia have the “right or legitimate authority to alter the original design of marriage,” said the two Catholic bishops for Virginia, who added that the Catholic Church cannot violate its own teachings and “will continue to defend marriage as a union between a man and a woman.” Bishop Paul S. Loverde, head of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, for northern Virginia, and Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo, head of the Diocese of Richmond, made their statement on...

Clear your calendars: Viking apocalypse scheduled for Saturday Thor, Odin, Loki all scheduled to attend epic battle hastening world's end Now's the time to cash out your life insurance policy and have a little fun, because, according to Norse mythology, the world is ending this Saturday. Sorry to be a bummer, but you should know we're about 100 days into an epic battle that will culminate with the earth falling into the sea, NPR explains. On the bright side, at least you'll have an excuse for not going to your nephew's Chuck E. Cheese's party on Sunday. For those whose...

Fatwa reportedly issued warning Muslims not to make 'hazardous trip' to live on Mars Muslims have been warned in a Fatwa not to go and live on Mars because it would pose "a real risk to life", according to a Dubai news organization. The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the United Arab Emirates said that anyone making such a "hazardous trip" is likely to die for "no righteous reason". They would therefore be liable to a "punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter", the Khaleej Times reported. The Fatwa was apparently issued in response...

A Fatwa has been issued against living on Mars by clerics who say that trying to set up home there would be un-Islamic. The fatwa—or ruling—was issued by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the UAE after the Mars One organization announced that it would try and establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. The committee argued that an attempt to dwell on the planet would be so hazardous as to be suicidal and killing oneself is not permitted by Islam. …

In a new video of the 12 Christian nuns kidnapped by rebels in Syria (see below), the nuns sit in a room while being questioned by an unseen man, presumably one of the captors. He asks them how they are, if they’ve been mistreated, etc. They respond that they are being treated fine, that they very much look forward to returning to their convent, that they heartily thank the world for its concern, and that they continually pray that God grant peace to all nations. Their words say one thing, their expressions and demeanor another. Put differently, as female captives...

We’ve survived the Mayan apocalypse and Y2K, but be afraid—the end of the world is coming…again. This time it’s the Viking apocalypse that is allegedly set to destroy Earth, with Norse mythology claiming the planet will split open and unleash the inhabitants of Hel on February 22. According to the Vikings, Ragnarök is a series of events including the final predicted battle that results in the death of a number of major gods, the occurrence of various natural disasters and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. …