Free Republic

With media coverage slanted in favor of gay marriage by a five-to-one ratio, it’s unlikely that the legal documents being filed before the Supreme Court in favor of a traditional one man and one woman marriage will ever be covered in an objective fashion. Yet, some of the legal briefs carry ominous warnings about what could happen to the American system of democratic self-government and its Christian heritage if the Supreme Court unilaterally decides to impose same-sex marriage on the states. They also warn about freedom of the press and religion being threatened by a powerful pro-homosexual movement that requires...

A New York Times columnist and a corporate leader have agreed that Christian churches “must” be convinced, or coerced, to change their teachings on sexual morality and abandon an “ossified” doctrinal teaching that sex outside heterosexual marriage is immoral. Frank Bruni wrote that traditional Christianity – whether among evangelicals, Catholics, or Orthodox – provides the greatest resistance to normalizing homosexuality in the United States in a recent column in the New York Times. “Homosexuality and Christianity don’t have to be in conflict in any church anywhere,” Bruni insisted. “The continued view of gays, lesbians and bisexuals as sinners is a...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The lawyer arguing in favor of Michigan's same-sex marriage ban before the Supreme Court later this month defended the state's pursuit of the case, despite the fact that it runs contrary to a wide swing in public opinion since a 2004 voter-approved definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. "It's the attorney general's job to defend the (Michigan) Constitution whether he thinks it's a good idea or a bad idea," said John Bursch, the special assistant attorney general who will argue the case before the high court. In a March 31 meeting with...

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, speaks at the March for Marriage near the Capitol in Washington, D.C., last June. CNS photo Same-sex marriage currently is legal in 36 states — or 37, depending on the outcome of a dispute between state and federal courts in Alabama. But in only 11 of those states was it legalized by referendums or legislation. In the others, it was imposed by courts.It is generally expected, though not certain, that the Supreme Court soon will follow this pattern and impose same-sex marriage nationwide. The court on April 28 will devote two...

FULL TITLE: Rev. Cruz: If Gay Marriage is ‘Civil Right,’ Gov’t Will Force Pastors to Obey ‘Unjust’ Law or ‘Obey God and Face Prison’ If gay marriage is legally viewed as a “civil rights issue,” as may happen with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the subject in June, then it becomes a broader religious liberty concern, not just a marriage issue, said Reverend Rafael Cruz, adding that then pastors will have to choose between obeying an “unjust” law and obeying God and potentially going to prison. Pastor Cruz, who is the father of Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), made his remarks...

April 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dozens of Christian leaders have vowed they will not remain silent, as they did following the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, promising to take nonviolent direct action if the High Court votes to redefine marriage.The Supreme Court is deciding two separate issues: Whether the 14th Amendment guarantees same-sex “marriage” as a constitutional right, and whether states must honor same-sex “marriages” contracted in states that have voted – or, more likely, where an unelected judge has forcibly determined – to redefine marriage.“We believe that the majority of the Court will rule in favor of elevating...

There is a “Back to the Future” quality to the current culture clash going on in Indiana, in the country at large, and throughout the Western democracies over marriage and over the gay lobby’s insatiable demands. End-of-Marriage activist Chai Feldblum famously told an audience at Family Research Council, my organization, that in any conflict between religious freedom and gay rights, she could notimagine an instance where the religious freedom side could win. Or should win. It was not despite that oft-expressed radical belief that President Obama named her to the powerful Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) but because of it.Is...

Barry Manilow has secretly married his longtime partner.The “Copacabana” crooner said “I do” to Garry Kief, his manager and the president of Barry Manilow Productions, an insider has revealed. Around 50 guests attended the intimate ceremony after they were led to believe they were invited to lunch at the couple’s multi-million dollar Palm Springs mansion. “It was a total surprise. When they arrived they were told it was a wedding!” a source close to the 71-year-old said. “Barry has lived a very secretive life and the wedding was no different. Barry and Garry did not tell friends or family that...

Of course I don’t think Native Americans are bigots. I agree with them! But if liberals aren’t just out to get Christianity, I’m sure they’ll begin attacking Native Americans any day now, showing up at their bakeries and calling them bigots: CBN NEWS – Months before the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the issue of gay marriage, Native American tribes have taken steps to defend traditional marriage. Eleven tribes with a total membership approaching a million people will not recognize same-sex marriages. Just weeks after North Carolina began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, the state’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians...

A Presbyterian Church (USA) regional body located in California has been accused of putting a Korean congregation's effort to leave the mainline denomination to a standstill. Last year, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church of Rowland Heights voted overwhelmingly to seek dismissal from PCUSA over the denomination's growing acceptance of homosexuality. Out of 817 votes casted in the March 2014 vote, 738 voted to leave, 74 voted to stay, and 5 votes were dismissed. Despite that, the PCUSA Presbytery of San Gabriel has not apparently finalized the dismissal as of this month, according to the Korean-American Christian publication Christianity Daily. Rachael Lee...

You know, the Ten Commandments, it says you can’t commit adultery; it says you need to honor your father and mother. If someone didn’t honor their parents or commit adultery, would you serve them?” This question was posed by CNN reporter Gary Tuchman to Georgia florist Melissa Jeffcoat, who had previously said she’d refuse to service a homosexual commitment ceremony. When she answered affirmatively and was pressed on why (supposedly) she’d serve adulterers and those dishonoring their parents but not homosexuals, she replied, “It’s just a different kind of sin to me. I just don’t believe in it.” Tuchman surely...

In a stunningly blunt brief, a team of lawyers acting on behalf of a number of Christian and liberty-focused organizations has told the U.S. Supreme Court that to mandate same-sex marriage is to invite God’s judgment. And that’s probably not going to turn out well. The brief was filed by the William J. Olson law firm and the U.S. Justice Foundation on behalf of Public Advocate of the U.S., Joyce Meyer Ministries, the Lincoln Institute, the Abraham Lincoln Foundation, Institute on the Constitution, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund and pastor Chuck Baldwin. The Supreme Court is to hear arguments...

Even if a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this spring makes same-sex marriage the law, it would leave pockets of the country where it isn't likely to be recognized any time soon: the reservations of a handful of sovereign Native American tribes, including the nation's two largest. Since 2011, as the number of states recognizing such unions spiked to 37, at least six smaller tribes have revisited and let stand laws that define marriage as being between a man and a woman, according to an Associated Press review of tribal records. In all, tribes with a total membership approaching 1 million...

If you get your news primarily from entertainment shows or social media, you might think that same-sex marriage has already been recognized as a constitutional right. In fact, the Supreme Court held just the opposite in 1972 and has since refused several opportunities to revisit that ruling. A new hearing will be held on April 28, and defenders of the traditional definition of marriage are just now having their say. On Friday, dozens of briefs were filed in the Supreme Court, urging the Court not to take the step that liberals have declared to be inevitable. The first of those...

My liberal friends, all three of them, are up in arms over the Indiana RFRA controversy. As usual, their views on the issue are driven by emotion, not reason. That is because liberalism is not really a political philosophy. It is a stage of arrested emotional development. Since the Indiana RFRA controversy revolves around their core religion, which is the so-called gay rights movement, their emotionally laden “political” observations are not likely to subside in the near future. Until then, it helps to understand what the current crisis in Indiana is really all about. Hint: It’s the same thing we...

Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and co-author of What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense, recently made a spirited call to action for all those willing to refuse to be bullied into submission. Here’s what he wrote on Facebook: The lynch mob came for the brilliant mild-mannered techie Brendan Eich. The lynch mob came for the elderly florist Baronelle Stutzman. The lynch mob came for Eastern Michigan University counseling student Julea Ward. The lynch mob came for the African-American Fire Chief of once segregated Atlanta Kelvin Cochran. The lynch mob came for the owners of...

The vast high-velocity moral revolution that is reshaping modern cultures at warp speed is leaving almost no aspect of the culture untouched and untransformed. The advocates of same-sex marriage and the more comprehensive goals of the LGBT movement assured the nation that nothing would be fundamentally changed if people of the same gender were allowed to marry one another. We knew that could not be true, and now the entire nation knows. The latest Ground Zero for the moral revolution is the state of Indiana, where legislators passed a state version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Gov. Mike...

What Effect Will Pressure to Accept Same Sex Acts or “Marriage” Have on Church Teaching? None! By: Msgr. Charles PopeLast week was Holy Week, so sure enough there were many critical issues in the news that needed attention but we in the Church were off doing more important things like worshipping God and pondering our need for salvation. Permit a brief summary and some predictions from me based on the latest unpleasantness in Indiana last week.I am not a lawyer and neither know nor understand all the legal implications of the law signed by the Indiana governor and then later...

[Scene: A bakery store somewhere in the U.S.A.]Customer: “Good morning!” Store clerk: “Hello. How may I help you?” Customer: “Do you do wedding cakes?” Clerk: “Yes, we do.” Customer: “Great. My partner and I are getting married. We need a cake for the reception.” Clerk: “OK, but I have to ask: Are you and your partner the same sex?” Customer: “You mean ‘gender’? Yes, same gender.” Clerk: “Then I’m sorry, we can’t do it. We belong to a religious group that teaches it’s wrong to promote homosexuality.” Customer: “Oh. Is there another baker nearby I could try?” Clerk: “Sure. Foster’s...

A few years ago, while visiting family in Maryland, I attended church with my brother. It was a very hip contemporary church. The pastor, who looked in his early forties, wore a shirt and jeans. I saw a parishioner with a Mohawk haircut and others with tattoos. This is not a judgment, merely an observation that the congregation was very racially diverse, as well as in their attire. The topic of the pastor's sermon was homosexuality. He disclosed that his sister is a homosexual. Folks, filled with national statistics and documented facts, the pastor delivered the most loving and compassionate...