Free Republic

I have argued before that, in their fullest, libertarianism and Catholicism are incompatible -- but to what degree are they so? Leaders of the libertarian movement have certainly said silly, anti-Catholic things. Ludwig von Mises, for example, compared Christ to the Bolshevists and also said, "..[I]t is the resistance which the Church has offered to the spread of liberal ideas which has prepared the soil for the destructive resentment of modern socialist thought" (Socialism, Chapter 29). Translation: opposition to liberalism of one stripe must be blamed for inspiring liberalism of another. Huh? Much of the conflict between libertarians and the...

Planned Parenthood abortion business officials in Ohio are looking for volunteers to pray at a pryer event. No, Planned Parenthood is not asking people to pray for an end to abortion in the way pro-life advocates pray at prayer events like 40 Days for Life. Instead the abortion giant is hoping Buckeye State residents will pray for more abortions. plannedparenthood118As this Planned Parenthood announcement indicates, the abortion corporation wants people to join an abortion activist who is calling for prayer in response to the state’s refusal to expand Obamacare, which funds abortion and sends taxapayer dollars to the abortion giant....

A recent story at Esquire chronicled the abortion practice of Willie Parker, an abortionist who commutes from Chicago to Mississippi to commit abortions at the state’s last abortion mill. Mississippi is devoid of any abortionists of its own who are capable of obtaining hospital admitting privileges, a requirement now mandated by law in several states. Consequently, Parker — who boasts an unusually clean record for an abortionist, and was able to obtain privileges nearby — travels to the South to fill in.Esquire calls Parker’s practice a “ministry,” playing off of the abortionist’s professed Christianity. The author chose to conclude the...

The Fox News analyst who made headlines last December for saying she personally met Jesus is now entering the battle over homosexual relationships, suggesting U.S. Christians could support the concept. “Could there be a future where most American Christians support same-sex relationships?” asks Kirsten Powers, a former atheist who went public with her conversion to Christianity last year. “If so, it will be due to the emergence of conservative Christians who say orthodox believers can support life-long, monogamous gay relationships without undermining their commitment to biblical authority.” In her column in USA Today, Powers mentions by name evangelical Matthew Vines,...

By now, we’ve all heard the refrain that U.S. churches need liberalize their teachings on sexuality and homosexuality or rapidly decline. The logic behind the argument is simple: more and more Americans are embracing homosexuality and same-sex marriage, including growing numbers of religious Millennials. So long as churches remain the face of opposition to gay marriage, those churches will shrink into irrelevancy when gay marriage (inevitably, we are told) becomes a settled political issue. These arguments often see church acceptance of homosexuality as a carrot as well as a stick. It isn’t so much that denouncing homosexuality will drive people...

The Bible condemns abortion with its admonitions against murder and encouragement to choose life and respect the life God created. But the wife of a prominent late-term abortion practitioner thinks the Bible justifies her husband’s profession.After a hearing late last week which saw a local judge issue an order closing down his abortion clinic if it failed to meet state health and safety laws, Martin Haskell and his wife left the courtroom and were greeted by pro-life advocates.Bryan Kemper of Stand True, Paula Westwood of Cincinnati Right to Life, and Mark Harington of Created Equal were present in the courtroom...

New survey research shows that Christians who support same-sex marriage are more likely to hold permissive views on other sexual morality issues, such as divorce and pornography, similar to the general population and far different from Christians who support traditional marriage.The "Relationships in America" survey, conducted by University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus, interviewed 15,738 Americans between the ages of 18 and 60. From that sample, Regnerus compared the average views on a range of sexual morality issues of churchgoing Christians who oppose same-sex marriage (2,659 in the sample) and churchgoing Christians who support same-sex marriage (990 in the sample)....

Perfectly bald, with a salt-and-pepper goatee, a small gold hoop gleaming in his left ear, and a warm smile on his dark brown face, Dr. Willie Parker enters the waiting room. Eleven young women and one tired forty-three-year-old mother sit in a circle of chairs, regarding him with somber expressions. Eight are black. Four are white. One has jittery legs that never stop moving. Another has giant false eyelashes in constant motion. The rest are absolutely still, sitting with straight backs, like good students or condemned prisoners. One has her hair in a tight bun, another wears a Nefertiti head...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)On Thursday’s “Outnumbered” on the Fox News Channel, panelists Tucker Carlson and Kirsten Powers had a heated exchange over the ongoing border crisis and whether or not it was this country’s so-called Christian duty to grant those unaccompanied minors entering the United States asylum. Carlson questioned Powers’ suggestion as it being the Christian obligation of the country to accept these minors into the United States. He argued that it wasn’t “Christian” to shirk those cost onto the American people through the use of their tax dollars and called out church groups encouraging those fleeing Central American countries to seek government...

I have a co-worker I've known for many years (10), and all this time, from how spoke out against abortion, homosexuality & gay marriage, common sense, drugs, and so many other progressive ideals, that I assumed she was a Republican, until today. We got onto the topic of class warfare and poverty. Well.. I was stunned to find that she supported the Democrats wholly on this, that was the only reason she did, that the fact they supported everything else she stood against, didn't matter. Republicans, Conservatives, and especially the Tea Party were liars and were rich and hated the...

During a hearing with House Democrats on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued that the bill proposed by Republicans did not have the adequate resources to help unattended minors crossing the border with the immigration court process. The bill, announced by Republicans on Tuesday, would spend $659 million in new spending in response to the crisis on the border. Citing a friend, Pelosi said that “we cannot have deportation without representation,” and she praised the groups that were working to help the detained children. The hearing featured unattended minors, now living in the United States, who complained about how...

When, in 2012, EPA official Al Almendariz likened his enforcement strategy for federal drilling policies to Romans’ peacekeeping tactics in the Mediterranean — “Crucify them,” he quipped — he was only exhibiting what many already knew: that the Environmental Protection Agency performs its work with an almost religious zeal. But the agency’s latest effort — a massive clampdown on the nation’s coal industry — is receiving actual religious imprimatur. This week 28 religious leaders, representing not only a number of Christian denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, and more) but other faiths (Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahāʾī), testified in...

Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s remarks last night at the White House honoring Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan: Last night the president said that Eid “reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” He would have done us a service had he enumerated them. “That is why we stand with people of all faiths,” he continued, “here at home and around the world, to protect and advance their rights to prosper, and we welcome their commitment to giving back to...

Making controversial statements is nothing new for me. Neither is the reaction that usually follows. But perhaps no other issue causes as much discussion, debate, and condemnation from others than when I present my position on the issue of homosexuality. As a known Christian, I have been told that I MUST think a certain way and that I MUST believe a certain way regarding not only people who are gay, but regarding their entire lifestyle as well.

Jesus certainly was not a “Bible believer,” as we use that term in the post Billy Graham era of American fundamentalist religiosity that’s used as a trade-marked product to sell religion. Jesus didn’t take the Jewish scriptures at face value. In fundamentalist terms, Jesus was a rule-breaking relativist who wasn’t even “saved,” according to evangelical standards. Evangelicals insist that you have to believe very specific interpretations of the Bible to be saved. Jesus didn’t. He undercut the scriptures. A leper came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” If Jesus had been a good...

Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) announced his support for gay marriage Monday, saying that he believes it is "fully appropriate" for a state to recognize both same-sex marriages and "traditional" ones, even though he, as a Christian, believes in the the latter. When asked by The Washington Post whether he supports gay marriage, in light of a Florida judge's decision last week to overturn the state's ban, Jolly said that his personal views on marriage are that it should be limited to one man and one woman. But, he added, states should not be defining the "sanctity" of marriage.

Lena Dunham isn’t exactly the first person you’d expect to see singing hymns in the pew behind you. Starring in the raunchy HBO show ‘Girls’ and bragging that voting for President Obama during the 2012 election for the “first time” was like losing her virginity are just a couple examples of Dunham’s racy behavior that would make any Christian blush. But, the controversial actress is embarking on a tour for her new book, “Not That Kind of Girl,” coming out in September, that will take place in some churches around the country. On her tour, Dunham will be reading excerpts...

It’s hard to tell if the near-constant stream of millennial-centric political think-pieces are perpetuating or reflecting growing curmudgeonly fears about the future of the country. Maybe it’s a little of both, and Fox is probably observing within its competency when it pegs more than a handful of us as “deluded narcissists” – but it appears there’s room for some political optimism among all the moral panic and the reign of the religious right. With millennial religious and political attitudes in flux compared to our predecessors, the upcoming years could be the Christian left’s big moment. Which isn’t to say the...

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2009 the median cost of a first-trimester abortion was just under $500. Add the bus travel or gas and up to three nights in a hotel, and the cost can jump by several hundred dollars. That’s the impetus behind Clinic Action Support Network, which was founded last summer in response to the new law, and aims to help Houston-area women clear the growing hurdles to abortion access. But regulations and requirements like those in HB2 are not limited to Texas. Twenty-seven states have passed abortion regulations…. The trend has given rise to networks like...

Everyone is exactly who he or she says on the internet – at least according to one Washington Post writer. That conclusion is her rationale to say Christians are awful people. Sally Quinn, Washington Post columnist and OnFaith founder, claimed that, “When it Comes to Hateful Internet Speech, Christians Are the Worst.” In her July 17 article, Quinn examined a white-supremacist site and comments on her articles to conclude that Christian “haters” “need a place to unleash their dark sides.” For her introduction, Quinn pointed at white-supremacist Stormfront to note how the site targeted others: 39 percent Jews, 33 percent...