Free Republic

Among the howls of opponents who insist that religious freedom ordinances limit LGBT civil rights, conservative lawmakers in Indiana and other states have found unlikely allies: Wiccans, who claim that any laws that give greater religious freedom are manna from the earth mother. “I think these bills are horrible,” said Dusty Dionne, High Priest and High Summoner of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Washington State. “But if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.” Reverend Dionne, reached at his church in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains,...

HBO caused a major stir on social media with Sunday night’s broadcast of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” a blistering documentary about the Church of Scientology and its celebrity devotees. People Magazine published a teaser for the film Sunday, which was first screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Sensational in content but not in tone, Going Clear has been making headlines since its first screening at Sundance in January. It has also upset that secretive, combative and often embattled Church, which in a lengthy statement attacked the film as “insidious religious persecution by bullies toting...

I like to refer to Islam as equivalent to the Manson Family on a global scale. Just how accurate is that? Let’s take a look. Ali Sina is a renowned ex-Muslim author, and founder of FaithFreedom.org. He writes, “I see Muhammed as a psychopath and Allah was nothing but his own alter-ego. He invented this bugaboo deity to fool people and ride them. Allah is no god and even if he was, Muhammed did not receive any revelations from him. Muhammed was a deranged man. He concocted this whole lie to fool people. He was no different than Jim Jones,...

MIAMI, - Authorities in Florida said they are investigating the alleged illegal importing of giant African snails for use in a religious healing ritual. A search warrant filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court said state and federal investigators raided the home of Charles Stewart, 48, in January after receiving information that he was keeping a large box full of the snails, which are only allowed in the United States with special permits for scientific research, the Miami Herald reported Thursday. Federal authorities said they began investigating Stewart in November after receiving complaints that he was feeding the juices from the snails...

Privilege is a new Cargo Cult The concept of "Privilege" has been bouncing around in the back of my mind since I first heard of it. The concept is so ridiculous on the surface that I simply passed it off as race hustlers looking for a new revenue stream. However, it finally came to me: Privilege is a religion, a resurgence of the Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. During WWII, primitive Melanesian tribesmen saw (mostly) white men bringing enormous quantities of manufactured materials, "Cargo," through their home areas. Lacking in any grounding in technology they imagined that the Cargo...

  Are you in a cult?  Nobody ever answers that question “yes”. Yes, I am a follower of Zorg who tells me what to think, and instructs me on life from the time I awake each day, until he summons me to bed each night.  I live to do what Zorg desires because Zorg loves me and knows best.  Zorg is from the planet Org, and he hears their psychic transmissions.  The Orgians are coming to get us soon, and we’ll all have one cosmic Orgy.Dude, you’re in a cult.No!  Zorg told us you’d say that!  When the Orgians come...

A beheading video of French hostage Hervé Gourdel was released on September 24, 2014 by the Algerian group Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate). The video is significantly different than the three previous high production Islamic State beheading videos of Americans James Foley and Steve Sotloff and British hostage David Haines. The Algerian jihadist group kidnapped Gourdel, a 55-year-old mountaineering guide, while he was hiking in the Djurdjura National Park in Algeria. They released a video two days prior to the beheading giving France an ultimatum, either stop the aggression against the Islamic State or Gourdel would die within 24-hours....

A grand jury in Tennessee has exonerated Pastor Andrew Hamblin, the star of the National Geographic reality show "Snake Salvation," but wildlife officials say that doesn't mean he will get back the 53 snakes they seized from his church last November.

It’s been 35 years since 918 people, including 257 children, died on Nov. 18, 1978, at the Peoples Temple massacre in Jonestown. The mass murder inside the South American jungle commune in Guyana was engineered by Jim Jones, a murderous cult leader, and was the only time in American history a member of Congress, Leo Ryan, D-Calif., was killed in the line of official duty. Most of the victims were forced to commit suicide by drinking a fatal cocktail of poisoned punch spiked with a Valium tranquilizer. In the days that followed the slaughter of the innocents, Jonestown became a...

Michelle Pfeiffer was in her 20s when she became involved in a cult that encouraged its followers to live without food or water.Tabloids are full of stories of Hollywood actresses on crazy fad diets, but Michelle Pfeiffer once belonged to a cult that believed human beings could learn to live on nothing but air. In a recent interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the 55-year-old actress said she was 20 when she moved to Los Angeles and met a couple who acted like "personal trainers." “They worked with weights and put people on diets. Their thing was vegetarianism,” she said. “They...

Or are you one of their mindless bots who believes you are somehow special? At Liberty's Torch, Weetabix asked me a question whose answer is too long to put into a small comment. Pascal - I must admit up front that a surfeit of current projects has undermined my normal willingness to research - have you any links to further explain the "Malthusian Sustainability nuts?"  The answer is even too long for a single post, but I need try at least this once. For my recent thoughts, the Sustainability label at my blog will provide you many examples of news...

Will Smith has never spoken openly of his connections to the Church of Scientology, but they are well documented. Whether or not Smith is a devout member or simply curious about this Hollywood faith, he has visible ties to the group. In 2007, he donated $122,500 to several Scientology rehabilitation organizations. Two years later, he and wife Jada Pinkett Smith opened California's New Village Leadership Academy, a private school founded on the teachings of Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard. Yet to this day, when asked about his own involvement, Smith suggests close friend Tom Cruise introduced him to the practices...

As Easter approaches, think of this question: Does it make a difference which Jesus you believe in? The "Jesus" of the Marharishi of Transcendental Meditation is a Jesus who never suffered -- at odds with the cross. The "Jesus" of Guru Maharaj Ji supposedly merged with Krishna, Ram and Buddha -- at odds with the uniqueness of Jesus. The only difference between the Moonie "jesus" and the rest of us, said, Sun Myung Moon, is that Jesus had no original sin nature. The "Jesus" of Christian Science think of themselves as "Christian," yet they don't believe Jesus is God. The...

Everything in the Old Testament history leads up to the crossing of the Jordan, and yet the way the story is told in Joshua 3 and 4 has major inconsistencies and problems. Is there another way to read it? Can the Bible be taken literally?

Many people read the Bible literally and feel very strongly that there's nothing more to it than that, and yet Jesus Himself says the whole Old Testament is about Him. How could that be?!? We ponder this through a bizarre story in which Caleb pleads with Joshua to be given a mountain inhabited by enemy giants in fortified cities (Joshua 14). Also see: Spirit And Life Bible Study on Facebook

Now celebrating 52 years of helping people on the radio! For over half a century Roy Masters has been helping people overcome their most difficult problems. As the nation’s first and longest running radio counselor, Roy Masters has advised callers with a unique ability to hear inner problems, heal fears and sexual stresses, and help people take charge of their own lives. Great show and exactly what the world needs! Here is a radio show stations page... http://www.fhu.com/radiostations.html

It is Scientology's higher order where members pledge their allegiance for one billion years - and may have cost Tom Cruise his marriage. Sending six-year-old Suri to the Sea Organisation, or Sea Org as it is known, is what is said to have been the final straw for Katie Holmes before she filed for divorce. The group is run like a military clique from the Scientology Gold Base in California which has sniper-style nest bunker that overlooks the entire property. Members are paid just $50 a week and banned from leaving their base or they are tracked down by a...

Sen. Orrin Hatch is speaking Mormon code again to conservatives in Southern Utah. Rolly reports that Hatch told a breakfast gathering in St. George on Saturday that “I would be letting down my Father in Heaven if I didn’t run again.” I understand. The Ayatollah Khomeini felt exactly the same way.

That's probably a better question to ask than the one posed by George Handlery over at the Brussels Journal:"Would a Mormon President Subvert American Democracy?"Handlery writes the following:["What follows below is not a Romney-fan’s propaganda. Actually, my favorite used to be another aspirant. The LDS affiliation of Mitt Romney exposes us again to the temptation to make religion into a criterion for picking a candidate.""Now then, the theological validity of Mormonism’s version of Christianity is beyond my competence and my interest. To many, the implications of a President embracing that creed are of concern.""However, American public life and her high-level...

For most people, an extended stay aboard a luxury cruise liner sounds like a dream vacation. But Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the Scientology cruise ship "Freewinds" for more than a decade. During her stay on the vessel, she alleges, she was forced into hard labor and never allowed to leave the ship without an escort. In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC News) Lateline program, Paris claims that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship when she was 18 in order to prevent her family from pulling her...