Free Republic

...A primary arena for the conservative-liberal wars has been the arts. While leading conservative voices defend the traditional Anglo-American literary canon, which has been under challenge and in flux for forty years, American conservatives on the whole, outside of the New Criterion magazine, have shown little interest in the arts, except to promulgate a didactic theory of art as moral improvement that was discarded with the Victorian era at the birth of modernism. Liberals, on the other hand, have been too content with the high visibility of the arts in metropolitan centers, which comprise only a fraction of America. Furthermore,...

When the great Easter Bunny hullabaloo hit Walnut Creek, it took nearly everyone by surprise. Surely, city officials thought, this couldn't last. It would all blow over once people realized that they hadn't banned Easter, just renamed their annual kids' event a "Spring Egg Hunt'' rather than an "Easter Egg Hunt.'' "Honestly,'' Walnut Creek spokesman Brad Rovanpera said this week, "with all the things in the world to worry about, people are coming unglued over this?'' They are. And the reaction speaks less to the controversy about religion in the community -- it's just a rabbit, after all -- than...

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Murtha votes against protecting the Pledge of Allegiance The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to protect the phrase "one nation, under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. But the vote was not unanimous. A final tally showed 260 'ayes' to 167 'nays.' Included in the 'nay' group: Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha. [Roll Call final vote results: click] [EXCERPT:] The U.S. House voted to bar most federal courts from hearing cases challenging the constitutionality of the pledge of allegiance, a measure supporters said was needed to prevent judges from scrapping the pledge's reference to God. The chamber voted 260...

The Pacific Legal Foundation announced Tuesday that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the California Supreme Court that affirmed the city of Berkeley's right to deny the Berkeley Sea Scouts free berthing privileges at its marina. The city revoked the scouts' berthing privileges in 1998 because the group is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, which bans atheists and gays. The city said the ban violates Berkeley's anti-discrimination ordinance. The scouts, who had berthed for free for more than 60 years, appealed to the courts, calling the city's policy a violation of the...

Separation of Church and State? Multiple Choice question for all you out there- "Separation of Church and State" does NOT appear in which of the following Constitutions? A. Pol Pot's Cambodia B. Nazi Germany C. USSR D. United States If you answered "D" you got the only correct answer. In "B", Nazi Germany, Hitler, a New Age Neo-Pagan, did his best to de-Christianize his Third Reich. Hitler hated Jews, you see, and Jesus, being a Jew, was hated by the Nazi Party. The SS, who were the political troops of the regime, used pagan symbology and desecrated Christian wayside shrines...

Earlier this year, Britain’s Channel Four aired a two-part special entitled “The Root of All Evil.” No, it wasn’t about money, greed or materialism. Nor was it about racism and other forms of hatred. The “root” was religion, specifically Christianity. The special featured Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, arguably the most famous apologist for the Darwinian worldview. While Dawkins may be an expert on Darwin, it’s clear that he knows little about history, especially the history of Christianity. Besides the old saw that religion causes violence—as opposed to peaceful atheism, as practiced by Stalin and Mao—Darwinists charge Christianity with promoting superstition...

BRIGHTON -- An Adams County judge sentenced a convicted murderer this morning to life in prison without parole after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled his death sentence was unconstitutional. Robert Harlan was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering 25-year-old Rhonda Maloney and paralyzing a Good Samaritan who tried to come to her aid, Jacquie Creazzo, 11 years ago. In March, the Colorado Supreme Court overturned the 41-year-old’s death sentence because jurors consulted the Bible during sentencing. The U.S. Supreme Court sided with that decision, preventing prosecutors from seeking the death penalty again. Kerri Gemeinhardt, Maloney's sister, said she is unhappy...