Free Republic

Tiger Woods' wife Elin will separate from the golfing superstar after Christmas, a UK tabloid has claimed. Quoting an unnamed close friend of Elin, the News of the World newspaper said the 29-year-old former Swedish model plans to return to Sweden and was in talks with divorce lawyers. But she would spend Christmas with her golfing husband for the sake of their two children, it was reported. "In the short-term they'll act like any other loving couple," the newspaper quoted the friend as saying. "Elin won't break it all up right away. But she does need some time alone to...

Vanity, Many of you have some good comments and different perspectives. I would like to get a few of you, if you have time, to leave a comment or two on our blog about Separation of Church and State. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This is the 1st Amendment from our Constitution and the section of this I wish to...

A few months ago, I wrote “The Danish Civil War”, a fictional scenario which served to structure a consideration of various issues relating to the rise of Islam in Europe and the likely consequences thereof. The essay finished with the conclusion that Islam constituted an existential threat to the survival of European civilization, and that Islam’s influence on Europe therefore needed to be eliminated. It further concluded that, logically speaking, the various ways of achieving this goal could be broadly subdivided into three categories: 1) inducing Muslims to leave of their own free will, 2) mass deportations, and 3) genocide....

Years ago, a family therapist was asked, “What are the top three causes of divorce?” to which he replied, “Selfishness, selfishness, selfishness!” Of course this is an oversimplification of the varied and many contributing factors to divorce but there is an element of truth in this statement that permeates each. At the core of all that ails the human race is selfishness: this innate love of self-self-worship-or pride. We alienate ourselves from one another when we elevate our desires, our opinions, and our feelings above others. We cheat and steal because we want, we lie and deceive because we give...

On March 13, 2008, we had this to say when then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, resigned after getting caught patronizing high-priced prostitutes: His fall "reminds voters that politicians comprise the last class of people worthy of the deification they are afforded. ... Mr. Spitzer's downfall underscores how politicians care less about public service than getting elected and re-elected, and amassing power with all its corrupting influences. It shows how the incessant flattery of journalists and regal treatment of subordinates creates egomaniacs who believe themselves entitled to special treatment and exempt from everyday laws. Most of all, it emphasizes...

In writing about Obama's pietism I pointed out that "The self-worshiping American power elite that Obama represents has promoted a false understanding of the proper relationship between piety and politics based on the shibboleth of separation." Why do I call the assertion that the U.S. Constitution requires separation of Church and state false? The phrase "separation of church and state" occurs nowhere in the Constitution of the United States. The false understanding promoted under the idea of separation distracts from the more accurate concept of religious freedom actually set forth in the Constitution. The first amendment simply makes it clear...

Today I received a message from WBTA V.P. Daniel Doherty which should put the issue to rest. Doherty confirmed that the WBTA has received correspondence from Johnston in which he officially resigned his position.

Back then, the issues were the usual suspects: the flawed multi-cultural policy that has exposed gaps in our national security, forced English/French bilingualism, the national attitudes towards the West (Lesson One: stereotyping an Albertan on the CBC is comedy, stereotyping a French Quebecer is racism. Test to follow).....

Once thought of as a fringe movement populated mostly by the far rightwing and the over 50 crowd, those Albertans who now publicly support the idea of independence in the face of yet another Eastern hijacking of national power – and an unmistakable rejection of Albertan and Western Canadian values – are from every background, race, religion, and financial spectrum.

As the partisan Legislative branch seeks to invade the inner offices of the Executive, a review of the separation of powers issue is timely: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Were the federal Constitution, therefore, really chargeable with the accumulation of power, or with a mixture of powers, having a dangerous tendency to such an accumulation, no further arguments would be necessary to inspire a universal reprobation of the system. I...

The City of North Lauderdale is taking a tough stance on home rule, and because of this they are spearheading an effort to split Florida into two states. They have passed a resolution, asking that a boundary line to split South Florida from the rest of the state be drawn at the Palm Beach County line. They're taking it so seriously that they want counties in South Florida, such as Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe to join in supporting them. CBS4 viewers responded enthusiastically, and often humorously, when asked to submit a motto for the new state of South Florida.

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI presided over a Mass celebrated in 10 languages Thursday, calling the United States a land of opportunity and hope but decrying that the nation's promise has been left unfulfilled for some. At the first public Mass of his U.S. pilgrimage, Benedict mixed praise for the American experience with an effort to touch consciences, something he has been doing since the start of his trip on Tuesday. More than 45,000 people filled Nationals Park on a clear spring day, as the pope, wearing scarlet vestments, led the service from an altar erected in centerfield of the...

The famous 6 degrees of separation theory fades under scrutiny. It’s rare for a sociological study to wind up a part of pop culture, but that’s what has happened to Stanley Milgram’s “small world” study, which posits that all of the people on the planet are connected to one another through an average of six acquaintances—or through six degrees of separation. The first popular use of Milgram’s study was the John Guare play Six Degrees of Separation, which was later made into a movie. Then came the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, created by college students, in which players...

There is NO separation of Church and State, for by the very signatures upon the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, worded to affirm the guidance, blessings and protection of our God/Creator upon our nation, the founders and early state acknowledged recognition of church [religion] for all the people and the state. If the signers were for "separation" they would have re-wrote both documents to eliminate all references to God/Creator. Affixing their signatures without prejudice and bias to God/Creator upon the very foundational documents of this country, the collaborative influence of church upon the state was sanctified. Also, references to God/Creator...

The fact-pattern: Christianity Today publishes an article entitled "When to Separate What God has Joined: A Closer Reading on the Bible on Divorce" which attempted to revise the biblical teaching on these questions so that it could be reconciled to the modern prevalence of divorce in secular societies well as Evangelical circles. David Van Biema covers the story for Time magazine, and it has become one of the most popular articles being read on the Internet. My take: A false assumption plagues this piece from the outset (all underlining mine): Last month, the cover story of the monthly Christianity...

The history of Christianity has been replete with examples of various theological disagreements and contrary schools of thought, even within the pale of orthodoxy. Modern times have provided us no relieve from this syndrome, which speaks to the inherent imperfections of human discourse and understanding. There is one concept, more than any other, which can account for the great religious polarization within the Christian community, as well as the blue/red divide so evident in the political realm. As a teenage youth and a fresh convert to Christianity from a nominal belief in God, I never perceived distinctions such as "liberal...

North Dakota Is Sued in Church-State Case By NEELA BANERJEE Published: June 21, 2007 A group that advocates strict separation of church and state has sued North Dakota to bar public financing of an association that provides therapeutic and rehabilitative services for troubled youth by steeping them in Christian teachings, Bible readings, religious services and rituals. The complaint was brought Tuesday in a federal court in North Dakota by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, acting on behalf of three of the state’s taxpayers. It is the most recent in a spate of legal challenges to public financing of religion-based programs.

On Sunday, Christian baseball fans will stream into Dodger Stadium for what is becoming more common fare at professional ballparks across the country -- "faith day." Following the Dodgers vs. Rockies game, fans with special tickets will gather in a corner of the parking lot for a concert by the Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, an appearance by characters from the "Veggie Tales" Christian television program and testimonials by several devout Dodgers. The purpose, according to event organizer Brent High, is to promote the Gospel of Jesus. ...Critics of the Christianizing of pro sports -- including interfaith groups, Jewish leaders...

This post is a follow up to the previous post, the lowdown about church & state separation. The following essay goes into more detail about the Supreme Court's scandalous interpretation of the religious aspects of the 14th Amendment. I will start this discussion of the folly of politically correct interpretations of the 14th A. by reluctantly agreeing with the main reason that I believe that atheists and secularists cheerlead the Supreme Court's perverted, 10th A.-ignoring interpretations of the establishment clause and the religious aspects of the 14th Amendment. The problem is that it's hard to find judges that interpret religion-related...

One in three American children live in fatherless homes. One out of three. This is a national disaster. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Census Bureau: 63 percent of all youth suicides; 71 percent of pregnant teenagers; 85 percent of all youth in prisons; 90 percent of all homeless and runaway children; and 71 percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. Those sobering numbers represent the "what" of fatherless homes. Perhaps you have heard some of these numbers before. But what you...

ALLENTOWN, Pa.- A couple who grew apart and had agreed to split up were reunited by a life-threatening crisis. After more than 10 years of marriage, Chip and Cindy Altemos agreed about 5 years ago to separate, see other people, and begin divorce proceedings. But when 48-year-old Chip was hospitalized with kidney failure in September, Cindy, 49, offered him one of hers.

[...] Everyone wants a patron saint. "It's like a wave we are witnessing," he said. He pulled out a recent letter from the church's patriarch, Alexy II, approving a request from Rus, a special forces police unit long involved in controversial counterterrorism operations in Chechnya, that the legendary 13th-century military commander and saint Alexander Nevsky be named its patron. [...] Moribund during the Soviet era, the Orthodox Church has been reborn as a powerful force in Russian life, building congregations across the country. The church has also become increasingly identified with a strand of patriotism that celebrates a strong centralized...

The first public college in the nation has now earnestly begun the Islamization of its campus. We presume this is only the first of many other colleges and universities that will now follow suit. Minneapolis Community & Technical College announced in March that it will renovate its bathrooms, in order to install ritual foot-washing basins for Muslims’ who are preparing for their prayers. Although the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten reports that the college’s Director of Legal Affairs Dianna Cusick stated that it is unconstitutional to promote any religion and “the Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form”, it...

On a recent warm spring day, four T.C. Williams High School students sat sweating inside a Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot of a Baptist church scarfing slices of pizza. Scores of their classmates streamed into the church in search of the same pizza. Jesus Pizza. Jesus Pizza, as the students call it, is warm. It's good. It's free. And it's available to T.C. students for lunch every Wednesday at the First Baptist Church of Alexandria. Some weeks, as many as 150 or more students trek the half-mile down King Street from the school to lounge on old couches, thumb...

Cultural clashes involving Islam have recently made headlines in Minnesota. At the airport, some Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport passengers carrying alcohol; at Target stores, some Muslim cashiers won't scan pork products. Now there's a new point of friction: Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Its officials say the college, a public institution, has a strict policy of not promoting religion or favoring one religion over another. "The Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form," says Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs. But that seems to depend on your religion. Where Christianity is concerned, the college goes to...

A local paper reports that a drill at Burlington Township High School in New Jersey involved police portraying mock gunmen, described as "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in the separation of church and state." The fake gunmen were said to have been "seeking justice because the daughter of one [member] had been expelled for praying before class." Historian and constitutional expert David Barton is president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that distributes historical, legal, and statistical information and helps citizens become

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured Jerusalem holy sites Saturday alongside a congressional delegation that included the first Muslim elected to Congress. The tour was part of the congressional delegation's first full day in Jerusalem, the first stop on their fact-finding trip to the Middle East. The group arrived here Friday. Flanked by security guards, Pelosi, D-Calif., and the delegation toured the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Jesus' body was buried, in Jerusalem's Old City. They also visited the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, where Jews have gathered for centuries to pray. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison...

Ground zero for today's social unrest concerning c&s separation issues, in my opinion, is Justice Black. Justice Black made a career, it seems, out of rewriting history in order to misrepresent the intentions of constitutional lawmakers, both the ratifiers of the Bill of Rights and the post Civil War 14th Amendment lawmakers. He misrepresented their intentions concerning religious related statutes, particularly ignoring the 10th A. power of the states to address religious issues. More specifically, he misrepresented their intentions in order to sell his treasonous interpretations of both the establishment clause and the religious aspects of the 14th Amendment. The...

Disenchantment and growing irritation with the U.S. South could lead northern American states to seek a union with Canadian provinces, writes Stéphane Kelly In 1891, the intellectual Goldwin Smith caused a furor when he published Canada and the Canadian Question. He suggested that if Canadians believed in the democratic ideal, they must accept the inevitable: Annexation of Canada by the American republic. The writer noted that the divide created by the English Civil War, which pitted Puritans against Cavaliers, had replicated itself in North America. Canadians embraced the aristocratic ideal of the Cavaliers while Americans held dear the democratic ideal...

EDITORIAL & COMMENTS PAGE Editor: Raymond Solomon NOVEMBER, 2006 Get Your JESUS Out Of My Politics! Here's a challenge to USA Today: "Just say it." No need for a calendar to know that it is an election season. The vast-mega-liberal-press is sprinkled, once again, with stories about how truly unfashionable it must be to include God in your political decisions. USA Today felt it necessary to hire a cartoonist to conjure up an image of the Cross of Christ for the occasion. The G.O.P. Elephant, graces the top of it. Squinting with narrow eyes, the little evangelical man holding the...

The Tennessean is a Gannett newspaper and does not allow copying or excerpting of articles. Click on this link to read the article: ACLU sues Wilson County over alleged religious practices In my own words - the plantiffs are alledging a Christmas play, praying parents, national prayer day and teacher-led prayer in a public school have traumatized their child and they need attorneys’ fees and compensatory or nominal damages to get over it. The plantiffs are not named in the suit for fear they will be attacked and ostracized.

Wondering about that muffled howl you’ve been hearing the last couple weeks? It’s the sound and fury of feminists reacting to Michael Noer’s latest exegesis, Don’t Marry a Career Woman. Noer’s column, which ran at Forbes.com, surveyed marriages in which the wives doggedly pursue a high-powered career, all the while neglecting family and home. The research shows these women are more likely to be unhappy if she earns more than the guy, or if she quits her job and stays home. Either way, she’s going to be a grump. Her husband is more prone to be discontented if she is...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Vashti McCollum, the plaintiff in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on religion in public schools, has died at 93 Champaign, Ill. McCollum challenged the religious education classes in the Champaign public schools. Her son, James, then in fifth grade, was required to attend a class against his will. In her lawsuit, McCollum argued that the classes were discriminatory because those for Protestants were held at the schools while classes for Catholics and Jews were held elsewhere. She lost in the state courts but won an 8-1 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. "The...

"3. Resolved that it is true as a general principle and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the constitution that ‘the powers not delegated to the US. by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people’: and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the US. by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, & were reserved, to the states or...

James Kennedy's Christian Crusade TV Evangelist's ministerial and media empire claim US a 'Christian nation', don't believe in the separation of church and state, and aims to extend political reach Although not nearly as well-known or flamboyant as the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson, or Pat Robertson, Dr. D. James Kennedy, who was recently inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB - website) Hall of Fame, has created a media and ministerial empire that is packing a powerful political punch.Kennedy...has created a media and ministerial empire that is packing a powerful political punchAs Senior Minister...

'China-level' Christian persecution coming: Pastors say court's ruling in Houston Bible case 'breath-taking' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: August 17, 2006 5:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com Houston's Bible monument A few more court decisions like this week's over a display of a Bible in Houston and the United States will be approaching the "China-level" for Christian persecution, according to a leader in the midst of that battle. The ruling from the Fifth Court of Appeals said the display of a Bible on public ground in Houston to honor the founder of a mission has to go, not because it was unconstitutional itself,...

SHELL BEACH, LA, United States (UPI) -- A planned New Orleans-area Hurricane Katrina memorial showing Jesus` face and a cross is religious and unconstitutional, a civil liberties group says. The 13-foot memorial to 129 Katrina victims in St. Bernard Parish has government support and is set to be located at a public waterway, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana says, the Times-Picayune reports, and should therefore be religiously neutral. The newspaper says parish President Henry 'Junior' Rodriguez had a simple reply to the assertion: 'They can kiss my ass.' Rodriguez said the memorial will be erected on private land...

What’s wrong with the Democrats? In the May issue of The American Prospect, Michael Tomasky argued that his fellow Democrats need to develop “a politics of the common good,” the sort of majoritarian thinking that “made liberalism so successful from 1933 to 1966.” Today, Tomasky observed, Democrats lack “a big idea that unites their proposals and converts them from a hodgepodge of narrow and specific fixes into a vision for society.” Ouch. But Tomasky aimed still more rhetorical punches at his own team: Dems “don’t even think in philosophical terms and haven’t for quite some time. … They’ve all been...

I read much on the internet about the desire for the separation of church and state but do the liberals really want the results. One need to go to the New Testament to learn what is a time where there was this divide. So let's suppose suddenly any link there is, is severed. First of all, you will get a pure church. People who are scared of persecution will not come. The church will view the world system as something to totally avoid. Members will be willing to go to jail and even die for their beliefs. There will be...

Persecution and martyrdom of Christians under 20th century totalitarianism - mainly of Russian Orthodox Christians under Bolshevism - is by far the greatest crime in all of recorded history. It is several times greater than the Holocaust in terms of innocent lives brutally destroyed. It has killed more Christians in a few decades than all other causes put together in all ages, with Islam a distant second as the cause of their death and suffering. And yet it still remains a largely unknown, often minimized, or scandalously glossed over crime. According to the respected and reliable OUP World Christian...

Dean said that "one of the misconceptions about the Democratic Party is that we're godless and that we don't have any values." The Vermont liberal is trying to change that. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean told CBN News that his party has a lot in common with the evangelical community. Dean wants evangelicals and other conservative Christians to know that Democrats have something to offer them. "The truth is, we have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community, and particularly with the evangelical Christian community,” Dean said. But the Democrats’ record on hot political issues such as abortion,...

The current use of the “wall of separation” between church and state as a legal defense for the removal of the expression of American religious culture from governmental institutions and the prohibition of the free exercise of individuals working within them goes contrary not only to the original intent of the Founders and the Framers but also to the religious, political, and legal history and traditions of the United States of America. Courts, county school boards, teachers, and individuals, unwittingly devoid of the knowledge of the substantial role religion (primarily Protestant Christianity) played in the birth and formation of the...

Women working full-time are 29 per cent more likely to get divorced than those who stay at home and raise children. Research to be published this week in the European Sociological Review finds that the probability of divorce is in direct correlation to the number of hours a woman worked. Marilyn Stowe, a female divorce lawyer, suggested that working women had the economic freedom to consider life beyond marriage. She added that they had greater confidence in their ability to make new friends and find new partners. "You suggest going out to work to a woman who has been at...

Mar. 6, 2006 20:32 | Updated Mar. 6, 2006 20:36 Analysis: 'Short and tight defensible borders' By YAAKOV KATZIsrael's security fence. Photo: Ariel JerozolimskiAvi Dichter's announcement this week that Israel would unilaterally disengage from large sections of the West Bank if Kadima won the upcoming elections, brought to surface one of the most current crucial arguments within the IDF General Staff over the security importance of settlements in Judea and Samaria. While anticipating a second disengagement under the next government, some in the IDF were taken by surprise with Dichter's announcement that the disengagement would be a strictly "civilian affair"...

Separation of Church and State is meant to protect religion from government......

Tory campaign worker resigns after blog posting Updated Fri. Dec. 30 2005 9:12 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff The campaign manager for Conservative Party member Peter Goldring stepped down Friday, after writing a blog posting that called for Alberta's independence. Gordon Stamp, who posts under the pseudonym "Psycho," wrote on Free Dominion: "I honestly see no benefit for Alberta to remain part of Canada. Seriously, there is absolutely nothing that Canada as a nation offers me." He goes on to compare Alberta to "a battered wife who has not yet realized that being divorced is better than staying married." While...

It’s 2006 and the Sky is Falling ……………………NOT ! The Media has been all-a-twitter over the following “breathtaking” news items: 1. The NSA (National Security Agency) actually keeps track of who tries to access its website, and, if its doesn’t like the looks of a “visitor”, it brazenly takes a closer look ! Egad ! , the Privacy People cry . They’re going to peer into all those dark and nasty websites we frequent ! Well, maybe so. If NSA thinks you might be a foreign agent, or a terrorist – foreign or domestic – out to hack into their...

Informing Christians and confronting the culture on the important moral issues of the day Federal Court Rejects “Separation of Church and State”Conservative group leaders hail unanimous decision Tuesday News Contacts: Gary Glenn, President - AFA of Michigan: (989) 835-7978 Joe Glover, President - Family Policy Network: (202) 470-5095, extension 456 Ron Shank, Director - FPN of Tennessee: (615) 866-5242, extension 2 Mat Staver, President and General Counsel - Liberty Counsel: (407) 875-2100 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals: “The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.” (CINCINNATI - 12/20/05) — In an astounding...

Subject: Laus Deo Laus Deo I thought that you and others may like to see this. One detail that is not mentioned in Washington, DC, is that there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument. With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc... This is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this historical information. On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington DC, are displayed two words: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally...

Values group hails unanimous decision Tuesday CINCINNATI -- In an astounding return to judicial interpretation of the actual text of the United States Constitution, a unanimous panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday issued an historic decision declaring that "the First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." In upholding a Kentucky county's right to display the Ten Commandments, the panel called the American Civil Liberties Union's repeated claims to the contrary "extra-constitutional" and "tiresome." See Cincinnat Enquirer at: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051221/NEWS01/512210356/1056 See U.S. Court of Appeals decision, page 13: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf "Patriotic Americans should...