Free Republic

Rural white people, as a group, now pose four interconnected threats to the fate of the United States’ pluralist, constitutional democracy.Rural white voters have long enjoyed outsize power in American politics. They have inflated voting power in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Electoral College. Although there is no uniform definition of “rural,” and even federal agencies cannot agree on a single standard, roughly 20% of Americans live in rural communities, according to the Census Bureau’s definition. And three-quarters of them – or approximately 15% of the U.S. population – are white. Since the rise of Jacksonian democracy...

PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — MLB's new uniform reveal hasn't gone very well. Now some of the rampant criticism has moved below the belt. Major League Baseball Players Association deputy executive director Bruce Meyer confirmed on Thursday that the organization is relaying concerns from players to MLB about the new pants, which are somewhat see-through. The complaints — first reported by ESPN — are part of broader scorn for the new uniforms, which are designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics.

Leading Catholic prelates and a scandal-plagued Vatican cardinal took part in a conference on Freemasonry and the Catholic Church today, organized by the leading Freemasonic lodge of Italy. Announced some days ago by the Grand Orient of Italy, the nation’s leading Freemasonic lodge, a conference is taking place in Milan, February 16. Entitled “Catholic Church and Masonry,” the event is headlined by Stefano Bisi, who serves as the Grand Master of the Grand Orient, along with notable members of the Catholic hierarchy: The scandal-plagued Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, emeritus prefect of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. Milan’s Cardinal archbishop...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but America is not a Christian nation by any stretch of the imagination. As much as I would like to see this nation turn from her collective blasphemy, I simply do not see it happening. Collectively, America is nothing more than a modern-day version of Sodom and Gomorrah, replete with the exact same sins that sent judgment on those two cities and deserving of the same fate. I was recently pointed to a commercial for TurboTax. I use TurboTax to file my own taxes and have done so nearly my entire...

The casting director for Doctor Who responds to the recent backlash surrounding one casting decision in the show’s “Wild Blue Yonder” special. As Doctor Who awaits the release of season 14, the show is currently airing its 60th anniversary specials. The final anniversary special, titled “The Giggle” is set for release on December 9. After “Wild Blue Yonder” received backlash about its Isaac Newton casting, the Doctor Who casting director reacts to the online response. Speaking with Digital Spy, casting director Andy Pryor says that “it’s sad that we’re in a time where people villainise minorities.” Pryor went on to...

SALTILLO, Mexico – Gabby and Ana are in love. So are Marco Antonio and Juan Carlos. Under a sweeping new law allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions, they are planning to turn their love into a legal commitment. Legislators in the dusty northern border state of Coahuila have stunned Mexico by giving same-sex couples property and inheritance rights long reserved for married heterosexuals. It is a first for this predominantly Roman Catholic country, a measure so swift and so bold that it surprised even the gay community. All of a sudden, gay rights are on the national agenda. Since...

The Church of England’s Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, responded to pressure to answer whether homosexuality and same-sex marriage are sinful by saying the CofE's new stance on the issue is that it's OK, as long as couples are in "committed, stable, faithful relationships," adding that same-sex married couples will be "welcomed fully into the life of the Church, on their terms."This comes on the heels of the denomination’s recent decision not to officiate same-sex marriages but to offer blessings for same-sex couples in civil partnerships within its churches.BBC Radio Four’s William Crawley asked the archbishop whether the CofE’s recent...

Editor’s note: At the Friday 20 January 2023 press conference in London held to announce the House of Bishops recommendations on the Living in Love and Fellowship process, the Bishop of London, the Rt. Hon and Rt. Rev. Sarah Mullaly was asked by a reporter: “gay Christians have been asking: ‘if we can have a civil marriage, come to church and have that relationship blessed, are we still expected by the church to remain celibate?’ Or is it now understood if the marriage is blessed, and sex should take place within the marriage, then gay couples are allowed to express...

LONDON (AP) — The Church of England formally apologized Friday for its treatment of LGBTQ people, even as it said that same-sex couples still won’t be allowed to marry in its churches. The apology from the church’s bishops came in a report following five years of debate on the church’s position on sexuality. The report will be delivered to the church’s national assembly, the General Synod, which is meeting in London next month. “We want to apologize for the ways in which the Church of England has treated LGBTQI+ people – both those who worship in our churches and those...

Things just keep getting worse for Pete Buttigieg. After Southwest Airlines ruined many Americans’ holiday plans with mass cancelations, now a “glitch” is causing hundreds of flights to be canceled again.

The Congress of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas passed on Wednesday the legalization of equal marriage, becoming the last state to approve this norm, thus allowing civil unions between people of the same sex throughout the country. With 23 photos in favor, 12 against and one abstention, the Congress of the last Mexican state to legalize same-sex civil unions has modified article 112 of its Civil Code allowing homosexual couples to marry, as reported by 'El Universal'. The deputy of the Christian Democrat PAN organization Nancy Ruiz has presented the initiative in the Commission of Gender Equality, Human Rights and...

The Vatican has released a new working document for the Synod on Synodality, summarizing the results of national consultations and preparing for the “continental stage” of the continuing Synod process. In a 44-page document, entitled “Enlarge the space of your tent,” the document calls for “a Church capable of radical inclusion,” and stresses the need to reach out to those who feel alienated from, or marginalized by, the Church. In particular, the text calls for greater efforts to include women in decision-making roles, and to reach out to homosexuals, divorced and remarried couples, single parents, young people, and victims of...

We live in strange times for sure. The radical Sodomite Left says that if you are a straight man that refuses to date a transgender ‘woman’, it’s only because you hate them, and not because they’re not really a woman. They say that if you don’t support the burning and looting of minority and woman run businesses, then you hate Black Lives Matter and black people. Really? Billed as America’s first gay romantic comedy, ‘Bros’ features lots of hairy men kissing each other as well as a four-man orgy, and almost no one wanted to see that. Can you blame...

Somewhere over the rainbow, indeed! Kenya Barris tells me that LGBTQ representation will be featured in his “Wizard of Oz” remake. “The original was an allegory and a reflection of the way the world was at the time with things like the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl,” says Barris, who will write and direct the reimagining for Warner Bros. “Now we’re going to turn a mirror on where we’re at right now and take disparate characters from the LGBTQ community, from different cultural communities and socioeconomic communities, and tell a story that reflects the world. I think this is...

More than 400 prominent Republicans have signed on to a letter in support of “gay marriage” and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would protect such couplings in federal law and repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. News of the letter surfaced on Monday, Sept. 12, and the list of names was released today by Centerline Action, a new organization that describes itself as being “focused on forging consensus to advance centrist policy solutions capable of defending core constitutional freedoms and liberties, preserving a...

There needs to be awareness of the unique needs of the gender variant student,' read the policy, while also saying the 'popular rhetoric around gender variance' is different to the 'Christian understanding.'(LifeSiteNews) – Australia’s Catholic bishops have issued new guidance on transgender issues for Catholic schools, promoting a change of “gender,” and unisex toilets along with advice to use students’ “preferred name” and pronouns, while also noting that gender ideology is “inconsistent” with Christianity. Entitled “Created and Loved: A guide for Catholic schools on identity and gender,” the guidelines were drawn up in response “to the individual social and pastoral...

In this episode of Try to Control Your Shock and Amazement…Remember how the Democrat Party and left-wing media sock puppets did their damnedest to scare the bejesus out of us over COVID-19, including quadruple-vaxxed Joe Biden — who, along with “Dr.” Jill, has contracted COVID at least twice — hysterically warned the unvaxxed about their coming “winter of severe illness and death” that never came? And the draconian lockdowns? Me, too.Contrast all of the above with the relative lack of specific hysteria over the monkeypox virus. So, why the liberal media’s difference in reporting on monkeypox vs. COVID? We know...

It was always unsustainable. The only question was how long the LGBT political movement would bask in the glory of its inarguably successful obliteration of traditional societal norms and sexual mores before they took the time to notice. But with #LGBdroptheT trending on Twitter multiple times over the course of the last week or two, it seems apparent that at least in certain quarters, the revolutionaries are doing what revolutionaries always do: turn on each other. I've written on more than one occasion about what far more people than just I have been anticipating for quite some time. Namely, the...

CNA Newsroom, Jul 19, 2022 / 03:21 am (CNA). The German “Synodal Way” is aiming to change the Church’s teaching on homosexuality by proposing “a conscious statement against the current Catholic catechism”, according to a leading protagonist of the controversial process. Marc Frings, the secretary-general of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), said the “Synodal Way” –– sometimes referred to as “Synodal Path” –– was “a conscious statement against the current Catholic catechism, which has been critical and disparaging of homosexuality since the mid-1970s and still reproaches homosexual activity as sin.” His comments were published on July 17 in...

USCCB Drops Opposition to Catholic Agencies Serving Single LGBTQ Foster ParentsIn an unprecedented move, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has granted an exception for an unmarried lesbian applicant to serve as a foster parent through a program administered by a Catholic organization. After months of litigation, the Conference has stated that it no longer has a religious objection to housing foster children in single-parent lesbian or gay households, according to Baptist News Global.In March 2021, Kelly Easter, a Nashville-area realtor, applied to foster an unaccompanied child seeking asylum in the United States through the federal Department of Health...