Free Republic

Over the years, Israelis have had to defend themselves from foreign armies, suicide bombers and missiles. Over recent weeks, they’ve been confronting a new threat: young Palestinians wielding butcher knives. Unlike the cutthroats of the Islamic State and al Qaeda, these fanatics aren’t able to bind their victims and behead them. But videos on social media teach would-be assassins how to use sharp instruments to inflict maximum damage on unsuspecting Israelis. An imam in Gaza has been recorded on the pulpit brandishing a six-inch knife, urging his “brothers” to go out in the streets, find a Jew and “Stab!” Attacks...

Pope Francis’ unexpected and unscheduled visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor, a convent of elderly nuns fighting ObamaCare’s contraception mandate in the courts, is a clear message shot across the Obama administration’s bow that such religious persecution is not acceptable, backing up the American Catholic Church’s mantra: we will not comply While the lamestream media focuses on the Pope’s seeming alignment on issues such as climate change and immigration reform, the chattering class ignores this ongoing battle over religious liberty.

President Barack Obama says freedom of religion isn't a reason to deny Americans their constitutional rights. Obama appeared to be referring to Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Davis said such unions violated her religious beliefs.

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- According to a recent poll, most Americans say same-sex "marriage" is more important than religious freedom. ABC News, in conjunction with The Washington Post, has conducted a poll to determine Americans' opinion on religious freedom, in light of the Supreme Court's decision to  constitutionalize same-sex "marriage." Pitting "Equality Under The Law" against "Religious Beliefs," the poll asked, "What's more important if they conflict?"  Seventy-four percent of respondents said "equality" was more important, compared to only 19 percent saying religious freedom was top priority. Critics note that the wording of polls is always significant,...

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday has found that the majority of Americans believe that Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should be required by law to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, and said that equality under the law trumps a person's religious beliefs when the two come in conflict. Davis, who was jailed for six days for being in contempt of federal court after refusing to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples, will be honored by conservative groups with the Family Research Council's "Cost of Discipleship Award" for her stance. Davis has since returned to work, and said...

Oh, no! You Christians are Just Being Paranoid!

Overriding Gov. Steve Beshear’s veto by overwhelming margins, the Kentucky house and senate have passed religious-freedom legislation. The Catholic Conference of Kentucky supported the measure. The short law reads: Government shall not substantially burden a person's freedom of religion. The right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief may not be substantially burdened unless the government proves by clear and convincing evidence that it has a compelling governmental interest in infringing the specific act or refusal to act and has used the least restrictive means to further that interest. A "burden"...

MARION COUNTY, Oregon, September 8, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- An ethics investigation has been launched against an Oregon judge who ordered his staff to recommend same-sex "marriage" requests to other judges, even though he isn't required to perform the ceremonies. On Thursday, Judge Vance Day’s spokesperson, Patrick Korten, confirmed that Day was being investigated by the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness because of his opposition to redefining marriage. While Day has never performed a same-sex "marriage" in his four years on the bench, it was only this past spring that he told his staff to recommend other judges to same-sex couples...

We live in a fundamentally transformed America where Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis is thrown in jail for refusing to issue a lesbian couple a marriage license in violation of her religious beliefs but San Francisco officials who violated the law, created a sanctuary city, and harbored an illegal criminal alien charged with the murder of Kate Steinle, are not? Kim Davis, we are told, is obligated as a public official under the law, as determined by the Supreme Court, which was not established to write laws to issue such licenses. But then are we saying Christians can’t be...

Kim Davis is getting a lot of support from conservative Christians, but Madonna‘s openly gay brother has come out defending her.Christopher Ciccone posted about Davis on Facebook this weekend, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, said she deserves as much support as a Muslim woman “who insisted on covering her face and refused not only gay marriages licenses, but divorce, accusations of rape and driving a car without your man’s approval.”He said that the feds pick and choose which laws to follow, citing marijuana in two states and “the abstract notion of sanctuary cities” before making this point: Once again,...

Grayson, KY – Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, will join supporters at a rally outside the Carter County Detention Center on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. ET.  The “I’m with Kim” Rally is organized by Gov. Mike Huckabee. Liberty Counsel is willing to join any group that stands in support of Kim Davis. “Not long ago 75 percent of Kentuckians passed the state’s marriage amendment. Today a Christian is imprisoned for believing what the voters affirmed, that marriage is between a man and a woman,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “Five people on the...

Full Title: No GoFundMe for Kim Davis: Crowdfunding puts the brakes on the disturbing bigots-get-rich-quick trend Subtitle: If the plan was to fundraise, more platforms aren't going to play along It’s a narrative so familiar by now that we can all recite the script. As Sarah Thyre laid it out Thursday: “1. Jail 2. Book deal/Fox News guest 3. jillion dollar @gofundme page w/donations from fellow bigots.” And with the developments this week in the case of Kim Davis, who was indeed jailed not for being a Christian but being in contempt of court, many presumed that this was the...

Press Release Grayson, KY –Mat Staver told press outside the Carter County Detention Center that he spoke with Kim Davis, and she is in good spirits. Kim is very touched by all the support she feels from people literally around the world. Her last words before leaving were, “All is well.” “Despite being held as a prisoner for her religious beliefs, her conscience remains unshackled. We discussed her options going forward. We will challenge Judge Bunning’s contempt order and her unlawful confinement,” Staver said. “Kim is resolute in her decision to challenge the issuance of any marriage certificate bearing her...

Kim Davis released the following statement a few days ago: I have worked in the Rowan County Clerk’s office for 27 years as a Deputy Clerk and was honored to be elected as the Clerk in November 2014, and took office in January 2015. I love my job and the people of Rowan County. I have never lived any place other than Rowan County. Some people have said I should resign, but I have done my job well. This year we are on track to generate a surplus for the county of 1.5 million dollars. In addition to my desire...

ROWAN COUNTY, KY, September 4, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will hold a rally to protest the arrest and imprisonment of a Christian county clerk who refused to issue gay "marriage" licenses to homosexuals, saying the arrest shows that Christian persecution has come to America. The rally, which he dubbed #ImWithKim, will be held in Kentucky on Tuesday, his campaign announced today. Further details will be forthcoming, as the event is still being planned. "Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country," Gov. Huckabee said following the arrest for...

For those of you who want to know how each GOP Presidential candidate publicly stands on the Kim Davis/Gay Marriage issue, here is a guide. BOBBY JINDAL Bobby Jindal Defends Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis QUOTE: "In America, You should be able to keep your job and follow your conscience." MIKE HUCKABEE Mike Huckabee offers support to Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue gay marriage licenses TED CRUZ Ted Cruz: 'I Stand With Kim Davis' JEB BUSH "[Davis] is sworn to uphold the law and it seems to me there ought to be common ground, there ought to be big enough...

By the time you read this, Kim Davis will be sitting in a federal jail cell. Buzzfeed is already gloating over Davis’s perp photo. Kim Davis’s crime? Refusing to affix her name to a same-sex marriage license, despite a direct court order to do so. I have said before that religious-liberty protections cannot act as a bar to gay couples: If the law permits a U.S. citizen to get a license, there must be a way for the gay couple to access it, with their dignity intact. But here’s the thing: “The law must be obeyed” is not the final...

I must confess to harboring a sneaking admiration for Kim Davis. Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for contempt of court after defying a judge’s order to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples, is in the wrong, inarguably: The proper course of action for a government official who has a moral objection to carrying out his public duties isn’t obstruction but resignation. Jonathan Adler, writing in the Washington Post, reminded us of Antonin Scalia’s argument about the death penalty: If the justice believed that his official participation in the legal machinery of death was immoral, then he...

Bottom line, host Joe Scarborough said, is that if Supreme Court makes a decision, that’s the law of land, right? “You have to go with it,” Mr. Trump said. “The decision’s been made, and that is the law of the land.” “She can take a pass and let somebody else in the office do it in terms of religious, so you know, it’s a very … tough situation, but we are a nation, as I said yesterday, we’re a nation of laws,” he said. “And I was talking about borders and I was talking about other things, but you know,...

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker called for a “reasonable accommodation” that would allow a Kentucky county clerk — ordered to jail Thursday in contempt of court — to freely practice her religion. A federal judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis jailed until she complies with a court’s ruling to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Davis has refused, saying that would violate her Christian beliefs. “The bottom line in America is we are a nation of laws,” the Wisconsin governor told TheBlaze. “But part of those laws — in fact, the most important of those laws — is the...