Free Republic

This holographic concept could explain a mystery about black holes, but the math may not represent reality.As theoretical physics delves deeper into the fundamental nature of reality, we’re left to grapple with the questions it leaves us. For example, some physicists claim that our universe is merely an illusion, a product of quantum machinations happening in a lower-dimensional setting—in other words, a hologram. Black Holes May Be Evidence The trouble began with those bothersome boogeymen of the cosmos, black holes. On the surface (and careful readers will be rewarded later with the realization that this is a pun), black holes...

'There’s just as much truth in what I remember and how I remember it as there is in so-called objective facts.” So says Prince Harry, who may be as credible a philosopher as I am a weightlifter. But his words summed up the big question of our postmodern age. What is truth anyway? The prince across the water is now the world’s most famous truth bender, but he is far from alone. Last Friday, Trevor Noah, the South African comedian and US television presenter, defended the notorious skit in which he asserted there had been a “racist backlash” in Britain...

+1,289 DEAD +76,976 NEW CASES ***561,142** TOTAL DEAD

The source & nature of Church authority is one of the major issues that beginning Catholics have to examine and come to terms with. The Catholic Church makes an amazing claim: it teaches, governs, and sanctifies with the authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that this gift of Church authority is one of the jewels that Christ has given to us as an aid to our salvation. Keep three things in mind: There is a large amount of evidence in Scripture to support the Catholic Church’s claim to authority, as well as from early Church history. The nature and scope...

SOLIPSISM [sol-ip-siz-uhm] (noun): 1) Philosophy: the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist. 2) Extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one’s feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption. 3) Barack Obama. President Obama is undoubtedly many things to many people. Liberals see him as a genius, conservatives see him as a meddlesome dilettante. Liberals fawn over rhetorical skills, conservatives say the credit goes to his teleprompter. Liberals think he knows it all, conservatives think he’s a know-it-all. Fine. But if there’s an attribute central to Barack Hussein Obama which all objective, reasonable people should be able to...

The culture war might be likened to fighting a war against a coalition of powers. Imagine WWI-style trench warfare on a long front. In the center of the enemy lines are the forces of moral relativism. These forces oppose the idea that there is a universal moral law. On one flank are the forces of the sexual revolution, including gays, feminists, adulterers, the promiscuous, and the pro-abortion folks. On the other flank are the cultural relativists, and multiculturalists. This camp opposes the ideas of truth, beauty, and intrinsic quality. It seeks to suppress the literary, philosophical, and artistic heritage of...

The United States, as you know, was founded as a republic, not simply as a democracy. The distinction has been lost over the past few decades, but it is an important one. The believers in a democracy have unlimited faith in the character and judgment of the people and believe that political institutions should be responsive to their desires. The believers in a republic have large but limited faith in the character and judgment of the people and erect institutions and barriers to improve that character and guide that judgment. America’s founders were republicans. This was not simply elitism, a...

If you can't find a religion that moves you, why not invent one? America has a long history of do-it-yourself spirituality going back at least far as Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists. And that desire to "roll your own religion" shows no sign of fading away. A September 2005 Newsweek poll found eight in 10 Americans do not believe any one faith is the sole path to salvation. So it's no surprise that some are weaving together strands from a variety of faiths to create their own personal religions. Wendi Moore-Buysee, a 36-year-old motivational speaker and life coach, is...