Free Republic

The smallest state in the country has the longest name, and it’s not sitting well with some. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced plans to sign an executive order Monday afternoon to remove the phrase “Providence Plantations” from all gubernatorial orders and citations, executive agency websites, official correspondence, and state employee pay stubs. “Our work to dismantle systemic racism in Rhode Island did not start today and it will not end today, but we can rise together and make meaningful progress toward racial equity now,” Raimondo said. Officially, Rhode Island was established as “The State of Rhode Island and Providence...

Russell Crowe, the Gladiator star, has sparked outrage after describing circumcision as barbaric in an angry four-letter outburst on the social networking site Twitter. The Oscar-winning actor laballed the practice “barbaric and stupid” during a row with his Twitter followers, telling them to “f--- off” if they disagreed with him. The 47-year-old engaged in an angry exchange with one follower, whom he branded a “moron”, before imploring Jewish people to “stop cutting your babies”. The debate followed a question by one of his fans called @picknic11 who asked him: “My son is due soon. Do you think I should get...

Liam Neeson has caused controversy by suggesting that Aslan, the Christlike character in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, could represent the prophet Mohammed or Buddha. The actor who voices the lion in the film adaptations of the books has angered some fans of the stories, who claim he is distorting Lewis’s intentions to be “politically correct”. Aslan the lion features in all seven Narnia books, guiding children away from evil and harm and encouraging them to do good. Lewis was clear that the Aslan was based on Christ, and once wrote of the character: “He is an invention giving an imaginary...

Extremism: Radical preachers offer a magical world for battered believers.The engine that drives the radical Christian right in the United States - the most dangerous mass movement in American history - is not religiosity, but despair. It is a movement built on the growing personal and economic despair of tens of millions of Americans, who watched helplessly as their communities were plunged into poverty by the flight of manufacturing jobs, their families and neighborhoods torn apart by neglect and indifference, and who eventually lost hope that America was a place where they had a future. This despair crosses economic boundaries,...