Free Republic

The country would face an economic hellscape if the government shutdown lasts "months or even years," as the president has suggested it might, experts tell NBC News. The doomsday scenario might be unlikely — the longest the federal government has ever shut down is 21 days, a record that will fall if the current closure lasts until Saturday — but it is chilling. "We'll be in no man's land," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told NBC News. If the worst were to happen, experts say the devastating impact would be widespread: 38 million low-income Americans lose food stamps...

My fellow Americans: From the early days of the colonies, prayer in school was practiced and revered as an important tradition. Indeed, for nearly 200 years of our nation's history, it was considered a natural expression of our religious freedom. But in 1962 the Supreme Court handed down a controversial decision prohibiting prayer in public schools. Sometimes I can't help but feel the first amendment is being turned on its head. Because ask yourselves: Can it really be true that the first amendment can permit Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen to march on public property, advocate the extermination of people...

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."...

Three Los Angeles City Council members want city, state and federal groups to look into whether hydraulic fracturing and other forms of oil and gas “well stimulation” played any role in the earthquake that rattled the city early Monday morning. The motion, presented Tuesday by Councilmen Paul Koretz and Mike Bonin and seconded by Councilman Bernard Parks, asks for city departments to team up with the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to report back on the likelihood that such activities contributed to the 4.4-magnitude quake....

As Alan Keyes wrote the other day, you cannot fight evil with evil. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor: A Choice Between Satan and Beelzebub (FR thread) Brief excerpt: I grieve deeply as I contemplate the fact that millions of Americans are letting themselves be caught in this diabolical snare. As I tried to point out in 2008, the lesser of evils is still evil. No matter how such an election turns out, people content to choose between Satan and Beelzebub have made clear their willingness to let things go to hell. Moreover, the nature of their...

Wolf and Mellett in their Talk origins paper, The Role of ‘Nebraska man’ in the creation-evolution debate,[1] claim Nebraska man was a careless mistake by an honest scientist. However, the evidence suggests that Osborn deliberately overstated the find because the theory of evolution was centre stage in a struggle for control of education policy in America...

Nearly half of Americans are not sure God exists, according to a poll that also found divisions among the public on whether God is male or female or whether God has a human form and has control over events. The survey conducted by Harris Poll found that 42 percent of US adults are not "absolutely certain" there is a God compared to 34 percent who felt that way when asked the same question three years ago. Among the various religious groups, 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics and 30 percent of Jews said they are "absolutely certain" there...

Two major newspapers are blasting conservatives for holding up passage of a defense appropriations bill by attaching a "mischievous," "pro-evangelical" amendment to it, as the New York Times described it. According to an editorial in Thursday's New York Times, "hard-right Republicans have held up passage of the defense bill in an attempt to license zealot chaplains to violate policies of religious tolerance at secular ceremonies." The amendment -- contained in the House bill but not in the Senate bill -- says military chaplains may "pray according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience" (i.e., pray in the name of...

BOSTON, June 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of clergy including members from a number of mainline Christian denominations and other religious organizations, including a number of Catholics, is calling on the Catholic hierarchy to end its opposition to homosexual “marriage,” claiming that it is in violation of “religious freedom”.   The group, calling itself the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, will release an open letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley and Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts asking the Catholic hierarchy “to respect religious freedom and stop lobbying for a constitutional amendment that would deny civil marriage rights to...

Foothill valedictorian criticizes decision to censor her proclamation of faith She knew her speech as valedictorian of Foothill High School would be cut short, but Brittany McComb was determined to tell her fellow graduates what was on her mind and in her heart. But before she could get to the word in her speech that meant the most to her -- Christ -- her microphone went dead. The decision to cut short McComb's commencement speech Thursday at The Orleans drew jeers from the nearly 400 graduates and their families that went on for several minutes. However, Clark County School District...

The title and theme of a book which received one the largest advance paid to a conservative author can now be revealed: Ann Coulter's GODLESS is set for release on 6/6/06. The book -- which condemns what Coulter calls "The Church of Liberalism" -- will have a startling first printing of 500,000 copies, a publishing source tells the DRUDGE REPORT. With chapter titles such as ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD RESTED AND LIBERALS SCHEMED, and THE HOLIEST SACRAMENT: ABORTION, controversialist Coulter ups the ante in her fourth book for CROWN FORUM.