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The word family had a wider meaning both Aramaic and Hebrew than it does in our English word today. The Hebrew, ah and the Aramaic aha could be used to refer to those who were brothers and sisters, half brothers, cousins and even other near relations. Extended family networks were both insisted upon, and essential for survival. To have these ties and be dependent upon them, was every Jewish person’s duty, and an absolute necessity for survival.Marriage – Of course marriage is the heart of family. The very first order that God gave Adam and Eve, was that a man...

I was in a spiritually-oriented meeting a week ago, and there were about fifty people in the room.  Halfway through, a guy in the center of the room chimed in and announced that he was going to open his speaking time by sharing with us his personal, painful example of the worst kind of betrayal.  We all leaned a bit closer to listen as he described, with tongue secretly hidden in cheek, a time when he bit into what he’d thought was a chocolate chip cookie–only to realize with shock and dismay that it was actually a raisin cookie. He was making a wry...

When the fight for gay marriage began to gain traction back in the early years of the last decade, social conservative critics usually went beyond denying that marriage could be redefined to include same-sex couples. Many of them argued that homosexuals were much less inclined than heterosexuals to valorize the ideal of monogamy. Allowing gays and lesbians to marry would therefore introduce a polyamorous option into the institution, and adultery would come to be viewed as an acceptable option for all marriages.A spate of recent articles explicitly making the case for polyamory would seem to vindicate those conservative predictions and...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a close contest against potential GOP rival, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul in a 2016 general election matchup in New Hampshire. Clinton has single-digit leads against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. She has a wider lead over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. But, only against Cruz is Clinton supported by more than 50% of New Hampshire voters. Clinton does better than each of her potential opponents among independent voters. The gender gap in all of these matchups is wide....

Mitt Romney loyalists are trying to gin up the narrative that Republicans just can't get enough of Romney.“Democrats don’t want to be associated with Barack Obama right now, but Republicans are dying to be associated with Mitt Romney,” Spencer Zwick, "a longtime Romney confidant who chaired his national finance council," claimed to the Washington Post. The Chamber of Commerce, which has vowed to wage war on the Tea Party and push through amnesty legislation, glowingly praised Romney, alleging he would be in a "commanding position" if he entered the 2016 race. Romney is reportedly set to make trips to West...

President Obama thumped Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, but now their political standings seem reversed. During a summer in which Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from an unpopular president, Romney is emerging as one of the Republican Party’s most in-demand campaign surrogates. Over three days in mid-August, Romney will campaign for GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates in West Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, aides said. In September, he is planning visits to the presidential swing states of Colorado and Virginia. Romney is filling up his October schedule, as well. “Democrats don’t want to be associated with Barack Obama...

Nobody has ever rooted for that scrappy Romney kid to overcome the odds. Until, maybe, now. Perhaps it says something about us that our most interesting presidential candidates swear they won't run for president. This is true of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and it's increasingly true of Mitt Romney. As regular readers of this column know, I've never been much of a Romney booster. I've also expressed skepticism about the notion he would run again. But let's not let "a foolish consistency" cloud our judgment. There is reason to believe that a third try wouldn't be an absurd venture. First, in...

Yesterday's majority opinion in the Virginia same-sex marriage case obviously is getting all the press, but Judge Paul Niemeyer raised an interesting issue in his dissent. "The plaintiffs also largely ignore the problem with their position that if the fundamental right to marriage is based on 'the constitutional liberty to select the partner of one’s choice,' as they contend, then that liberty would also extend to individuals seeking state recognition of other types of relationships that States currently restrict, such as polygamous or incestuous relationships," he wrote. Ridiculous? Yes, it's easy to dismiss this reasoning as preposterous. But, of course,...

Republican lobbyists are working to persuade GOP lawmakers to change their position on same-sex marriage and revise the party's official position that "traditional marriage" is between a man and a woman. Gay marriage advocates say their efforts are paying off as an increasing number of members of the congressional delegation are diverging from the party line, The Hill reported. "The issue is losing its toxicity, from a Republican perspective," Kathryn Lehman, a top GOP lobbyist and partner at Holland & Knight, who helped write the Defense of Marriage Act, told The Hill. She has been visiting dozens of Republican offices...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday said Utah is not required to recognize the marriages of roughly 1,000 same-sex couples there while state officials pursue appeals. The court’s order was two sentences long and said only that a lower court’s ruling “is stayed pending the final disposition of the appeal” by the federal appeals court in Denver. Friday’s order came in a different case, one concerning the status of what the state calls “interim marriages,” meaning those entered into during that period in December and January when same-sex marriage was briefly allowed. The case seeking recognition of the 1,000...

Deep in the Bible Belt, new signs emerged this weekend of evolving views among Republican governors on gay marriage. While the Republican Party's religious conservatives continue to fight against same-sex marriage, its governors appear to be backing off their opposition – in their rhetoric, at least. For some, the shift may be more a matter of tone than substance as the GOP tries to attract new voters ahead of the midterm elections. Nonetheless, it is a dramatic turn for a party that has long been defined by social conservative values. "I don't think the Republican Party is fighting it," Wisconsin's...

The Jerusalem District Court has ordered Moshav Yad Hashmonah, a community of Messianic Jews and Evangelical Christians, to pay compensation to two lesbians after it refused to host a same-sex wedding reception. "We knew we were breaking the law. Somebody needed to do it." says Ayelet Ronen, general secretary for the village. Judge Moshe Yoad Cohen upheld a lower court ruling that the Moshav violated a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. During the trial, representatives of the Moshav quoted from both Old and New Testaments. "We do not hate homosexuals or lesbians. We love them. We simply told...

<p>A U.S. Supreme Court justice has rejected a county official's bid to suspend a ruling that overturned Pennsylvania's gay marriage ban.</p> <p>Justice Samuel Alito rejected an appeal by Schuylkill County Orphans' Court Clerk Theresa Santai-Gaffney's appeal without comment Wednesday. Santai-Gaffney can appeal to another justice.</p>

On Wednesday, the state of Utah appealed a June 25 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling which invalidated that state’s ban on gay marriage to the United States Supreme Court. If the court accepts the case, some legal experts say, it could lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage across all 50 states.“Last month’s decision by the 10th Circuit was the first time a regional appeals court has made such a ruling in the year since the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to extend benefits to legally married same-sex couples,” a Reuters report read. “Legal experts say the Supreme...

A coalition of religious activists in Finland using MassResistance materials has blocked a “gay marriage” move in the Finnish Parliament, overcoming a well-funded and well-organized push by the homosexual lobby. On June 25 the Finnish Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted 10-6 to reject the "gay marriage" bill. The vote followed lobbying by coalition members and the distribution of MassResistance materials to all members of Parliament. In addition, the MassResistance video “What 'gay marriage' did to Massachusetts” was broadcast on national TV in May. This represents a serious setback for efforts to bring “gay marriage” to Finland any time soon. The...

A look at the frontrunners currently making waves.Mitt Romney hasn’t disappeared from the political scene the way many people thought he would after coming up on the losing end in the 2012 presidential race. But that doesn’t mean he’s running for president — or even thinking about running for president — in 2016. Talk of a possible third presidential bid for Romney has surfaced of late, with poll numbers showing that he is well regarded by Republican voters and a growing sense within the GOP smart set that no candidate has really emerged from the pack as yet. Romney has,...

A federal appeals court's gay marriage ruling contained two historic firsts: It was the first appellate decision for gay marriage since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act one year ago, and it also marked the first time since then a federal judge has argued for keeping a state ban on same-sex marriages... Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. was in the minority in his opinion....[said] creating a national mandate for gay marriage, even in states where it is unpopular, "turns the notion of a limited national government on its head," he wrote, adding later: "We should...

Seeking to mobilize a global front against anti-gay violence and discrimination, Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that protecting gay rights is a defining mark of a civilized nation and must trump national cultures and social traditions. Biden told a gathering of U.S. and international gay rights advocates that President Barack Obama has directed that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women around the world "I don't care what your culture is," Biden told about 100 guests at the Naval Observatory's vice presidential mansion. "Inhumanity is inhumanity is inhumanity. Prejudice...

Here is the dirty little secret of the GOP donor class, i.e. the rich establishment bundlers who funded the recent presidential campaigns of the Bushes, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.): They are actively trying to recruit Romney to run again in 2016 — and Mitt is indeed interested. Their first choice coming out of the 2012 election debacle was Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.), but his candidacy has virtually crashed and burned — despite his desperate self-denial. Other than his uber-patron, Ken Langone, the donors have moved on. Many of these professional donors have hopes that...

As the battle for marriage equality rages on, a different, more obscure kind of sexual immorality is slowly rearing its ugly head: polygamy. Polygamy is defined as the "the custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time," a practice which directly violates the Biblical commandment instructing marriage to be between a single man and wife (1 Timothy 3:2, 12 and Titus 1:6). However, the secular media is increasingly attempting to normalize, and even glamorize this kind of perverted lifestyle. Showtime is airing an original series called Polyamory: Married & Dating, which follows two polyamorous families...