Free Republic

I'm trying to find the picture of Clinton laughing like a jackass during the press conference with Boris Yeltsin.

Fearfully & Wonderfully MadeThomas S. Buchanan on God & Science For several years I taught a course to fresh-men on basic mechanics. In this course a teacher will begin by assuming that the universe is a very simple place where all ropes are massless, all pulleys are frictionless, and everything has only two dimensions. It is amazing how many problems you can solve when assuming that we live in such a strange universe.As the students progress and master simple mechanics, the teacher must introduce a third dimension, gravitational forces, and friction. The problems can no longer be solved so...

What follows is an email exchange between Deacon Father John and a few Calvinist  Protestants. The latter's remarks are in Arial font... It has been asserted that foreknowledge of a choice, necessarily determines that choice, and eliminates other possibilities as possibilities. Let's take the godless world of Star Trek, just to test whether this logic holds up. At the most, the Trek universe has some sort of personless force behind it... certainly no being who governs the affairs of men. Now suppose that a person in this godless universe discovers a way to go back into the past, but can...

DALLAS -- Parked just outside the youth center of the Cathedral of Hope, the nation's largest gay church, is a white RV emblazoned with the legend "Jesus is Lord of all." For gay and lesbian Roman Catholics, that simple statement is at the heart of the sexual abuse crisis in the church. Many are convinced that a witch hunt is underway -- that gays are being blamed for the continuing avalanche of pedophilia complaints against Catholic priests. The head of the national bishops' group, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has said there is an "ongoing struggle" to make sure...

<p>Your coverage of the investiture of the Rev. John B. Chane as bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Washington ("Episcopalians consecrate bishop with call to mix religion, politics," June 2, and "New Episcopal bishop voices liberal views," June 3), made me regret that I already had quit the Episcopal Church after 50 years. For after reading the predictably liberal sentiments voiced in his inaugural sermon, I wished that I could quit all over again.</p>

LOS ALTOS HILLS, CA., May 10, 2002 (AP) -- While conflicts between Jews and Arabs rage halfway around the world, Jewish sixth graders made a gesture of peace Friday. The students presented a $1,300 check to the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer, which an arsonist burned last month. The church is attended by many Arab-Americans, including Palestinian-Americans. When they discovered the fire was deliberately set, students in Anat Harrel's sixth grade class at the nearby Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School decided it was time to act. "The kids decided they can't sit around anymore, they needed to do something,"...

<p>Even as the nation's largest religious denomination is rocked by the scandal of pedophile priests, Judith Levine, in her book "Harmful to Minors," is making excuses for pedophilia. This is hardly a coincidence. Academic Judith Reisman, author of "Kinsey: Crimes & Consequences," says pro-pedophile "sexperts" such as those lionized in Miss Levine's book have counseled the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations for at least two decades about the harmlessness of pedophilia.</p>

<p>The director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State is being sued in federal court in Alexandria for not allowing distribution of a tape in which he discusses homosexuality's compatibility with Christianity.</p> <p>In a suit filed April 16, the Phoenix-based Alpha and Omega Ministries says Barry Lynn, a free-speech advocate and director for Americans United, does not want a debate in which he took part televised.</p>

<p>A new book that says child molesters are not a major peril to children is part of a larger movement within academia to promote "free sexual expression of children."</p> <p>The movement to legitimize sex between adults and children is "gathering steam," warns Stephanie Dallam, researcher for the Leadership Council for Mental Health, Justice and the Media in Philadelphia, an organization that deals with prevention and treatment of child abuse.</p>

<p>Must first cousins be forbidden to marry? In the Bible, and in many parts of the world, the answer is no. But the answer is yes in much of church law and in half of the 50 United States.</p> <p>This issue became news when the April issue of the Journal of Genetic Counseling said risks had been exaggerated for serious birth defects, retardation or genetic diseases among children of first-cousin marriages.</p>

<p>Unlike other Catholic priests convicted of sexual abuse, John J. Geoghan, Boston's defrocked priest linked to 136 molestations, targeted both pre-pubescent and sexually mature teen-age boys.</p> <p>"He knew no bounds. His victims ranged in age from 6 to 15," said Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, attorney for many of Geoghan's victims.</p>

Back in 1981, an astute writer at Time magazine (that would be me) noticed that pro-pedophilia arguments were catching on among some sex researchers and counselors. Larry Constantine, a Massachusetts family therapist and sex-book writer, said children "have the right to express themselves sexually, which means that they may or may not have contact with people older than themselves." Wardell Pomeroy, coauthor of the original Kinsey reports, said incest "can sometimes be beneficial." A Minnesota sociologist included pedophile sex among "intimate human relations [that] are important and precious." There were more. My article caused some commotion, so budding apologists for...

Joe T. Milloy, 88, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who had been an analyst and translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s, died of cancer April 2 at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Washington. He had lived in Fort Washington since 1962. Col. Milloy, who was born Zivko Miloykovich in Yugoslavia, was a graduate of the Royal Yugoslav Military Academy. He was a bomber pilot in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. As the country was overrun by Germans, his unit fled to the Soviet Union and later regrouped...

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] -- On Tuesday, April 2, 2002, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, shared with members of the Holy Synod of Bishops his desire to retire from the office of Metropolitan of All America and Canada in July 2002. The announcement came on the second day of the spring session of the Holy Synod of Bishops, held at the OCA Chancery. "You are intimately aware that these past two years have been particularly difficult for me as I have faced increasing health problems," Metropolitan Theodosius told the members of the Holy Synod...

<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) Children born to couples who are first or second cousins have a lower risk of birth defects than is commonly believed, but it can still be nearly twice as high as usual, according to a study released yesterday.</p>

"[S]urveys have estimated that 4 to 5 percent of men and 2 to 3 percent of women have had same-sex sexual relations after age 18. Studies that count only people who identify themselves as gay or lesbian, however, come up with much smaller numbers: about 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 percent of women." -- The New York Times The friend who forwarded this to me noted that though homosexualists made up only 2 percent of the population, they were nevertheless a very powerful 2 percent. A group representing only one out of every 50 Americans has such social power, ...

Mad About Religion Norman Lear Launches New Religious Partnership by Mark Tooley Television producer Norman Lear's People for the American Way has created a new political lobby for left-wing religious activists. Called the Progressive Religious Partnership, and headed by renowned liberal organizer Ralph Neas, the new coalition is supposedly going to be a liberal version of the once vibrant Christian Coalition. "I can't fight all of these Christian preachers on TV with all the Jewish money. So you must raise some gentile money," Norman Lear supposedly told Episcopal priest George Regas, a co-founder of the Partnership. Regas shared the remarks ...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- A federal judge has ordered school officials to let a kindergartner say grace out loud before eating lunch.Kayla Broadus, 5, had been stopped from praying with friends on Jan. 15 at her elementary school in Wilton, 36 miles north of Albany.But U.S. District Judge David Hurd issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, saying the school may not interfere with the girl's praying. He set a hearing for Feb. 15.

MOSCOW, January 15, 2002 (Zenit) -- More accustomed to Communist-era religious repression, militant atheists are mobilizing against the "new clericalism" in Russia. Moscow's Union of Atheists today criticized President Vladimir Putin's participation in the Orthodox Christmas celebrations. In statements to the press, Lev Levinson, a group leader, accused the president of violating the Constitution, but offered no relevant juridical arguments. Stating that their objective was to defend the achievements of the French Revolution, Levinson and Alexandre Chtchev, another leader of the atheists' group, also expressed their opposition to the presence of the Orthodox Church in schools. The Moscow Patriarchate signed ...

<p>The Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo, an expert on Islamic history and politics, directs the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity in London and the Barnabas Fund, a charity. Of Pakistani descent, he grew up as a Muslim in Guyana, then converted to Christianity, eventually becoming an Anglican priest. In November, he was awarded the Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation. The following are excerpts from a talk he gave Sunday in Fairfax County.</p>