Free Republic

The staff of a newspaper can run any images they want, or refuse to run any images they want. They’re paid to make those decisions. And when the rationalizations they give for their editorial judgments are a bunch of crap, we can point out that they’re a bunch of crap.Back in January, here’s what New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet told his public editor, Margaret Sullivan, about his decision not to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons after their staff was slaughtered by Muslim terrorists: He said he had spent “about half of my day” on the question, seeking out...

An Air Force general who recently spoke about how God has guided his career should be court-martialed, a civil liberties group is saying. In a speech at a National Day of Prayer Task Force event on May 7, Maj. Gen. Craig Olson credits God for his accomplishments in the military, and refers to himself as a “redeemed believer in Christ.” The Air Force Times reports that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has taken issue with Olson’s remarks, is calling for the two-star general to be court-martialed and "aggressively and very visibly brought to justice for his unforgivable crimes and transgressions."...

It’s an Obama world. While we were preoccupied with other disastrous Obama policies, military bureaucrats under Barack Obama passed a new rule that barred loved ones from bringing Bibles to wounded soldiers. The US Military says they are rescinding the order but only after a Republican lawmaker denounced the policy on the House floor. Todd Starnes reported: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said they are rescinding a policy that prohibits family members of wounded military troops from bringing Bibles or any religious reading materials to their loved ones. The decision to rescind the ban on Bibles came exactly one...

One conservative attorney says he has no sympathy for the atheists who have launched a holiday advertising campaign to promote their stance and attack Christians. The billboard and newspaper ads that read "Bias Against Atheists is Naughty, Not Nice" are being placed in towns where atheists have made an effort to push religion out of the public arena. "I have very little sympathy for atheists, the ones who are perpetrating anti-Christian bias," admits Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action. "And when they receive a little push-back and people point out the reality that we are a Christian nation, they get...

RONNELLE ADAMS came out to his mother twice, first about his homosexuality, then about his atheism. “My mother is very devout,” said Mr. Adams, 30, a Washington resident who has published an atheist children’s book, “Aching and Praying,” but who in high school considered becoming a Baptist preacher. “She started telling me her issues with homosexuality, which were, of course, Biblical,” he said. “ ‘I just don’t care what the Bible says about that,’ I told her, and she asked why. ‘I don’t believe that stuff anymore.’ It got silent. She was distraught. She told me she was more bothered...

The young man in the video pulls in close to his computer camera with the trappings of a typical college dorm room—a loft bed and the clutter of cast-off clothes—piled behind him. Alex Fiorentini isn’t talking about girls, beer or football. Instead, it’s a coming-out moment of sorts. “Is it acceptable to the majority of the population to be an atheist?” he asks the camera. “Nope. Are all of your friends going to accept you as an atheist? Probably not all of them. And yeah, those things are gonna suck. But the real question is, ‘Is it OK to be...

Darwin Quotes: 1. “The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic.” 2. “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist. 3. “I hardly see how religion & science can be kept as distinct as [Edward Pusey] desires… But I most wholly agree… that there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness.” 4. “In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of...

Sept 10, 2008 — Astrobiologist David Deamer believes that life can spontaneously emerge without design, but he thinks lay people are too uneducated to understand how this is possible, so he gives them the watered-down version of Darwin’s natural selection instead, which he knows is inadequate to explain the complexity of life. That’s what he seemed to be telling reporter Susan Mazur in an interview for the Scoop (New Zealand). Is the lay public really too dense for the deeper knowledge of how evolution works?...

Where you stand on the Resurrection tends to mirror how you interpret the Bible, said Stephen T. Davis, a professor of philosophy at California's Claremont McKenna College. Davis believes in the bodily resurrection, though he acknowledges some seemingly contradictory New Testament accounts. "Some are easy and some I don't know how to reconcile," said Davis, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). "They were different stories that got talked about and talked about, so its not surprising there would have been some discrepancies. But there's tremendous agreement on the basic facts." Any discrepancies can be "eliminated by a straight-up reading...

John E. Jones III is using the intelligent-design debate to answer his critics and talk about judicial independence. U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III could have taken the safe route and retreated to the privacy of the courthouse after issuing his landmark ruling in December against intelligent design. Most judges are loath to go public about their cases at all, let alone respond to their critics. But Jones - angered by accusations that he had betrayed the conservative cause with his ruling, and disturbed by the growing number of politically motivated attacks on judges in general - came out...

San Francisco,CA; March 09, 2006: The California Supreme Court today ruled against the Berkeley Sea Scouts in Evans v. Berkeley, and upheld the City of Berkeley’s discriminatory campaign to force the local nonprofit youth group to end its lifelong affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America. "The California Supreme Court’s decision today unfortunately has given the green light to activist city officials to discriminate against groups they disagree with politically," said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Harold Johnson, co-counsel in the case. Johnson also represents Sea Scout Tonatiuh Alvarez, one of the plaintiffs and petitioners before the state Supreme Court. "The...

Judge Jones in his ruling yesterday took the route of upholding precedent. He's the latest in a long string of judges who have made reference to the 20th Century flat earth concept of "separation of church and state." The modern perversion of the U.S. Constitution began with Supreme Court Justice Hugo 'KKK' Black's ruling against public support of Catholic schools in 1947. I guess one can say this is what makes a Republican appointed judge like Jones different from the Democrat ones. Liberal judges defy the law and try to change it in our face like ruling the Pledge of...

A sign promoting the separation of church and state now accompanies the many holiday decorations at the State Capitol as of Friday. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation posted their annual “Winter Solstice” sign in the first-floor rotunda area, which has been gracing the building for the past 10 years despite mixed reactions from those who visit the state’s seat of government. The sign declares: “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that...

Atheists Sue Over Road Crosses For Troopers Killed In Line Of Duty   POSTED: 10:07 am EST December 2, 2005 UPDATED: 10:14 am EST December 2, 2005   A group of atheists in Salt Lake City is taking on the State of Utah and the Utah Highway Patrol over the law enforcement agency's use of crosses on roadways to memorialize troopers killed in the line of duty. The lawsuit has triggered a debate about whether a cross is an appropriate way of honoring troopers killed in the line of duty. The American atheists filing the lawsuit said they respect...

There are signs of faith and prayer everywhere you look in sports these days. The huddle of players kneeling in prayer on the field after every NFL game. Basketball players making the sign of the cross before shooting a free throw. Fingers pointed toward the sky after home runs and touchdowns. Signs for chapel services in baseball clubhouses. Bible study and Christian fellowship groups at high school and college campuses across the country. "I don't think a relationship with the Lord only occurs in church or only in your own private lives," says Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar. "Every moment...

A lawsuit filed by the American Atheists in U.S. District Court on Thursday seeks to remove steel crosses that dot roadways throughout Utah and memorialize Utah Highway Patrol troopers who have died in the line of duty. The suit has drawn harsh reaction from family members of the fallen troopers and promises to be the source of an emotional battle. The crosses, which stand about 12 feet high and bear the trooper's name and the UHP insignia, were erected starting in 1998 and serve as a memorial for 14 troopers who have died since 1931. About nine of the crosses...

"People who think they are being politically correct and inoffensive are actually offending a lot of people," said Beddows, as he sized up a handsome balsam fir. "Saying 'Happy Holidays' demeans Christmas." But down the road at the Baltimore Resettlement Center in Highlandtown, which helps refugees from places such as Russia and Somalia adapt to American society, staff members said they prefer not to mention the holidays at all. If they must, they say "holiday season." "These people came here for their religious freedom, and they don't want to celebrate other people's Christmas," said Anna Schraga, who teaches English at...

A lawsuit against memorial crosses is set to be filed Thursday by a group that feels they violate the separation of church and state. Three Utah atheists, backed by a national organization based in Texas, are filing suit against the state for allowing crosses to be erected in honor of highway patrol troopers, who have died in the line of duty. Richard Andrews said, "I feel the same way a Jew might feel if you put a state symbol on a swastika" According to the UHP Association, a support group for troopers and their families, many fallen troopers' relatives consider...

INDIANAPOLIS — Prayers that typically open sessions of the Indiana House of Representatives can no longer mention Jesus Christ or advance a religious faith, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge David Hamilton issued a permanent injunction on Nov. 30 barring House Speaker Brian Bosma from permitting sectarian prayer as part of the official business of the House.

I have a weekly custom. On most Saturdays, I travel from my house just outside of Alexandria, board a Metro train, and ride to the Catholic University of America stop for daily Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Today, I was running a bit late, due to the fact that I got out of bed late, so I skipped taking a shower, got dressed, and made my way to the train station. It takes about an hour to get the Brookland/CUA Metro stop from where I live. I stood up and walked to the door of the...