Free Republic

Around the world, people are beginning to turn their backs on religion. For some time, researchers have observed this trend as it ripples through developed countries, with the United States standing out as the exception. Now, a new study reveals this is no longer the case; with each passing generation, Americans too are steadily becoming less religious. --snip-- Researchers found each generation is subsequently less religious than the one before. In one example, the team found that 41 percent of people aged 70 and older reported they attend church services at least once a month. For people just under that...

Are we be better off today with the thousands of U.S. factories that have shut down and millions of American jobs lost and the trillions in accumulated debt that we've run up in the last couple decades of free trade? And, of course, this is due to many factors including such things as: Big government Regulations High taxes Unions driving up costs Cheap labor overseas Fewer regulations overseas Lower taxes overseas Trade deficits etc., And doubly exasperated by poor trade deals? Or is this all a myth? Are we better off with cheaper foreign (cheap) goods, fewer U.S. factories, fewer...

In 1974, corporate behemoth GE moved its headquarters from Manhattan to the suburban Fairfield, Connecticut. Last week, it announced that it was leaving Fairfield for Boston's waterfront district. And as GE goes, it has people wondering whether the suburbs are going to lose their economic lifeblood. Mad Men reminded us that mid-century advertising executives worked in the heart of Manhattan, but slowly began their retreat to the burbs as crime exploded in New York City. The corporate offices followed them and their growing families in the 1970s and 1980s.

"The perception that the Christian faith is extreme," says Barna Group, "is now firmly entrenched among the nation's non-Christians."I'm in the final stretch of completing this book, which I should have finished weeks (or months!) ago. And I have a number of things I plan to post about as soon as possible. But this bit of news from the Barna Group grapt aholt of me (that's a German phrase, by way of Montana): Society is undergoing a change of mind about the way religion and people of faith intersect with public life. That is, there are intensifying perceptions that faith...

Moody’s put Chevron (CVX) on review for a downgrade on expected negative free cash flow and changed Exxon Mobil‘s (XOM) debt rating outlook to negative, as lower capital reinvestment will likely haunt the oil major for the rest of the decade. The ratings agency predicts negative free cash flow this year and next at Chevron, according to a note from Pete Speer, Moody’s senior vice president. He thinks negative free cash flow could even continue until 2018. Last month Chevron cut its capital spending for this year by 25% vs. 2015, but Moody’s sees negative free cash flow to exceeded...

Few things are as painless to prepare as cereal. Making it requires little more than pouring something (a cereal of your choice) into a bowl and then pouring something else (a milk of your choice) into the same bowl. Eating it requires little more than a spoon and your mouth. The food, which Americans still buy $10 billion of annually, has thrived over the decades, at least in part, because of this very quality: Its convenience. And yet, for today's youth, cereal isn't easy enough. On Monday, the New York Times published a story about the breakfast favorite, and the...

Rio de Janeiro, February 20, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has called on Orthodox Christians and Catholics to join efforts in the fight against the ousting of Christian values. "We still have some doctrinal disagreements, but no one is preventing us from fighting, hand in hand, to end the persecutions, the ousting of Christian values, to end the de-Christianization of the 21st century human civilization," the patriarch said, after conducting a prayer service near the Jesus Christ statue on Mount Corcovado, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the world's largest Catholic country, on Saturday. All travelers, especially...

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was more than a tragedy for his family and American jurisprudence. It was a calamity for religious liberty. The Court will soon hear Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell, which challenges the Obamacare contraception mandate. Because the loss of Scalia reduces the number of justices to eight, the spectre of a tie vote now looms over the case. If the remaining justices vote as they did in the Hobby Lobby case, the result will be a per curiam decision whereby a prior miscarriage of justice by the Tenth Circuit Court of...

Women are buying handguns in record numbers -- especially weapons that are small enough to conceal. But they are frustrated by the lack of firearm accessories catering to them. So some are starting companies of their own to tailor products to women. "I thought to myself, 'Where's all the women's stuff?'" said Lorelei Fay of Boise, Idaho. Fay couldn't find a suitable holster when she got her own concealed carry license. Her mother had taught her to sew, so she made her own: an elastic belly band with a holster for her Sig Sauer semiautomatic handgun. It also has pockets...

On February 12, the West Virginia legislature voted to override Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s veto of the right-to-work bill it had passed on February 4. The measure will take effect in May and the state will then be the 26th state to have such a law. Exactly what do “right-to-work” laws do? They provide that workers cannot be fired because they decline to pay union dues. Public opinion polls consistently show that a solid majority of Americans agree that no one should lose his or her job for deciding not to pay what the union demands. Public opinion isn’t always...

'People speak to machines differently than how they speak to people,' says language technology expert Alan Black. It was a simple enough question, at least in this part of the world. "How can we mosey on down to the rodeo?" my friend Ben Crook drawled, sat in a rocking chair on his front porch, a can of Lone Star beer in his left hand on a humid night in Houston. Only one thing jarred with this otherwise stereotypical Texas scene: Crook was asking Siri, the voice-activated digital personal assistant on his iPhone, rather than, say, a passing sheriff on horseback...

Also some of the top trending searches: Is Jeb short for anything? Where is Ben Carson today? What does Chris Christie want? Why does Ted Cruz wear two watches? Why was Carly Fiorina not in the debate? Who is Jim Gilmore? Is Kasich pro-life? What party is Marco Rubio? What did Trump call Cruz?

We are at the threshold of a society deeply impacted by industrialized robots and AI systems. In a few years, driverless cars may become quite common in America, cutting into the business of human drivers, as with Uber or any Check Cab. Long distance Truck Drivers may be replaced by driverless trucks that never get tired and rarely become confused. Many wealthy people are already obtaining financial planning advice from robotized systems. Our children may be taught by instructional robots that memorize the child's name, face and study habits. My question is where will all these people find work? Will...

(AP) - The Archdiocese of Chicago expects to close an undetermined number of parishes in coming years due largely to a shortage of priests. Archbishop Blase Cupich outlined a "multi-year planning process" in a column in this week's archdiocesan newsletter, Catholic New World. He says "demographics have shifted dramatically" in recent decades, buildings are in disrepair and fewer priests means resources are spread too thinly. Cupich says by the time the process is complete "we will mourn together the loss of some parishes."

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Confidence is at a low. The Davos man is, once again, less confident than he was a year ago. Only 27% of CEOs around the world think the global economy will improve in 2016, according to a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. That was down from 37% a year ago; confidence peaked 2014 at 44%. The accounting and consulting firm released the survey of more than 1,300 top executives on the first official night of the World Economic Forum, the global confab held each year in Switzerland.

Welcome To The New Normal: The Dow Crashes Another 390 Points And Wal-Mart Closes 269 Stores Did you know that 15 trillion dollars of global stock market wealth has been wiped out since last June? The worldwide financial crisis that began in the middle of last year is starting to spin wildly out of control. On Friday, the Dow plunged another 390 points, and it is now down a total of 1,437 points since the beginning of this calendar year. Never before in U.S. history have stocks ever started a year this badly. The same thing can be said...

The oil markets are on edge with oil sinking into the $20s per barrel. And last week we reported on one place where oil is already trading in the single-digits. Canada’s bitumen is selling for just $8 per barrel. But even that rock bottom price is higher than what one oil seller earned for a shipment recently. In a bizarre turn of events, Bloomberg reported that Flint Hill Resources, a refining unit owned by the Koch brothers, said that they would purchase sour crude from North Dakota for $-0.50 per barrel. That’s right: a negative price. Oil has become so...

New numbers from the Census Bureau on how many people move from state to state underscore another aspect of the right-to-work debate that does not often take center stage: Americans continue to move to right-to-work states. The Mackinac Center has long viewed changes in the number of people in a state as perhaps the single best tool for measuring the quality of life there. After all, there are reasons people pack up and move, and those reasons reflect an individual’s self-interest. Economic opportunities are a clear reason to move, as are amenities such as access to coastal waters or more...

Why aren't people saving? Millions of Americans are struggling with student loans, medical bills and other debts, says Andrew Meadows, a San Francisco-based producer of "Broken Eggs," a documentary about retirement. Central bankers hiked their short-term interest rate target last month to a range of 0.25% to 0.50% from near-zero, but that's still a small return for savings left in bank accounts. Indeed, personal savings rates as a percentage of disposable income dropped from 11% in December 2012 to 4.6% in August 2015, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis , and now hover at 5.5%. More money and education...