Free Republic

Christendom Is the Solution for the Emptiness of our Nihilistic Society Grave moral problems are tearing the country apart. For many, this is apparent in the form of broken homes, procured abortion, shattered communities and lost Faith. Many people get it right when pointing out the problems. However, they get it wrong when looking for solutions. Some get it wrong because they look for solutions that address symptoms, not causes. Others search for a way out that involves the least possible effort. In these politically correct times, people are told not to offend anyone by their proposals. Thus, they automatically...

You know that American culture has hit an all-time low when it takes a drag queen to tell “woke” parents to keep their kids out of drag bars. Who would have thought?I just did a search for “drag queen lectures parents,” looking for articles related to the subject of this article.The results of the search were telling, yielding headlines like this on a wide variety of drag-related stories:“School Board Scolds Parents for Opposing Drag Queen’s Makeup Lesson.”“Some Parents Outraged After Drag Queen Speaks At School Career Day.”“Viral Video Shows Drag Queen Teaching Children To ‘Twerk’ As Parents Look On.”“Drag Queen...

Alec Baldwin, a longtime critic of President Trump whose impression of him on "Saturday Night Live" has won him an Emmy, lashed out at the president's supporters this week, accusing them of causing the "near moral collapse of this country." In a series of tweets posted from the Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation's Twitter account, Baldwin directed a tirade against Trump voters for a supposed "desecration" of American ideals. "American democracy has always been a struggle between the misaligned protections of specific freedoms and a raging, at times intoxicating, 12 cylinder economy. It demanded vigilant/consistent regulation, compassion for the disenfranchised,...

America has lost a voice that strongly and consistently provided the road map to steer us away from the political and cultural abyss we currently face. That voice belonged to historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, who died Dec. 30 at age 97. Gertrude spoke passionately about how our most important institutions—families, communities, churches, and private enterprise—must be “remoralized,” as it is only through a strong civil society that we can have a strong nation. In her words, people learn to function as “free, responsible, moral adults” in these institutions and apply that responsibility and morality as citizens of a nation. But she...

A brutal business climate and societal breakdown have brought major changes to America. In response, many Americans, especially conservatives, are soul searching for something more compassionate for those left behind. Unfortunately, they are looking in the most unlikely places: business and government. They will likely be searching for a long time. The controversy over this shift in mentality erupted with the publication of a Wall Street Journal advertisement in which major firms pledge a commitment to “stakeholder” capitalism, which holds businesses should be run having all society, not just shareholders, in mind. Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) stirred the pot with...

Did you ever stop to wonder who granted moral authority to famous actors and actresses? Did you ever ask yourself why their opinions should carry extra weight? After all, it’s one thing to be a certain person, such as a political leader or an athlete or a cancer survivor and to speak from your experience. It’s another thing to make believe you were that person. How does making believe qualify you to speak? At the moment, Ricky Gervais’ scathing takedown of woke Hollywood at the Golden Globes Sunday night is getting all the attention it deserves. And, according to the...

Last week, U.S. Attorney General William Barr told a University of Notre Dame Law School audience that attacks on religious liberty have contributed to a moral decline that's in part manifested by increases in suicides, mental illness and drug addiction. Barr said that our moral decline is not random but "organized destruction." Namely that "Secularists and their allies have marshaled all the forces of mass communication, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values." The attorney general is absolutely correct. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not,...

"Theocracy" is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, and most of the people using it these days don't appear to have the foggiest idea what it means.Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines theocracy as "government of a state by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided." A Google search provides a similar definition: "A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god." (Bill Murray, call your office.)In contemporary American parlance, "theocracy" is inevitably used in the context of a threat -- as in "So-and-so wants us to...

Attorney General William Barr in a speech Friday bemoaned the "moral upheaval" of religious values in the United States, saying it has brought "suffering and misery." Barr made the comments during an address at the University of Notre Dame Law School. He said the deterioration of religion in the country is an "organized destruction" by secularists in an "unremitting assault on religion and traditional values," according to CNN. "Among the militant secularists are many so-called progressives. But where is the progress?" Barr asked. This "upheaval" has led to growing illegitimacy rates, drug use and "angry, alienated young males," CNN reported...

Woke critics worry about the film’s sympathetic depiction of a mass murderer, but their real beef is with its indictment of moral relativism. What does woke media have against “Joker”?When it premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month, Time magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek slammed the film for a supposedly sympathetic portrayal of its protagonist, who could “easily be adopted as the patron saint of incels.” A flood of similar comments followed from critics who worried its morally ambiguous depiction of a psychotic mass murderer would incite real-world violence—that lonely and alienated young men would, like the riotous mobs in the...

Fort Collins, Colorado, decided not to continue its challenge to a federal court’s decision that a ban on going topless in the city amounts to unconstitutional discrimination, NBC News reported. The city had argued that a repeal of the ban would lead to women “parading in front of elementary schools or swimming topless in the public pool,” according to the report. The city decided not to appeal the decision this month after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the legal battle already, NBC reported. The decision to not move forward with the appeal effectively legalizes the practice in the...

Minneapolis once had the reputation of being a nice city. That seems, now, like a long time ago in a galaxy far away. These days, the reality is different. This sickening video of a gang of youths viciously brutalizing a man just outside Target Field, where the Twins play baseball, has gone national. It is visual proof of how feral downtown Minneapolis has become: Or, to take another example, on the last night of the Minnesota State Fair, generally thought of as one of the more wholesome events a family can attend, there was a gang rumble just outside the...

GREAT WALL OF CHINA By 220AD, the Later Eastern Han Dynasty had extended sections of the Great Wall of China along its Mongolian border. This resulted in the Northern Huns attacking west instead of east. This caused a domino effect of displaced tribes migrating west across Central Asia, and overrunning the Western Roman Empire. OPEN BORDERS Illegal immigrants poured across the Roman borders: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Alemanni, Thuringians, Rugians, Jutes, Picts, Burgundians, Lombards, Alans, Vandals, as well as African Berbers and Arab raiders. Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization (Vol. 3-Caesar and Christ, Simon...

Is Democrat on Democrat shade is going mainstream? Probably not, but the Bill Maher/Rashida Tlaib feud is just the latest high-profile example of division within the ranks of the left, with potential ramifications involving the long-term loyalties of Jewish voters. Have Jewish liberals, who count among their rank’s notable Americans including Sarah Silverman, Bette Midler, Seth Rogan, Jon Stewart and so many other outwardly anti-Trump individuals, allowed the blind hatred they feel over the president, who has been a great ally to Israel and American Jews, to take precedence over their religious values? The issue inflaming tensions between Maher and...

Recent shootings serve to highlight how we live in times that are violent and lonely. Young shooters are breaking the precarious rhythms of our daily lives with tragedy. We know little about them. However, one thing they all have in common is loneliness. The Loner as Ideal Revolutionary In times past, subversives would seek strength in organization and numbers. They would conspire with others to carry out their nefarious deeds. Intelligence services could trace links and patterns to uncover vast conspiracies. The loner finds his strength in loneliness. He does not need or seek others. There is no organization or...

My brother sent me this yesterday. I guess it is floating around the internet. It’s sort of funny. Check it out. IRRESISTIBLE (... but maybe the President may have to watch over the evangelical vote.) ******* When one tries to reason with a lefty Democrat, remember you're dealing with a person who believes that a man can be a woman and a woman can be a man, and that such a delusion should be encouraged not discouraged. Discouragement of the delusion is considered immoral and bigoted. Thus, our society has unnecessary dilemmas concerning bathrooms, athletic competition at all levels, and...

The “Nordic Paradise” that was Sweden until a few decades ago, has become a virtual nightmare with the influx of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, most of them unwilling to assimilate. The homogeneous society that was once Sweden, with low crime, and strong work ethics, has turned into a multicultural society, replete with crime, social instability, and declining productivity. For the many believers in the workability of social democracy, Sweden was a model of success and admiration. While personal taxes were high, the state provided its citizens with a lavish social welfare system and cradle-to-grave social services....

[Catholic Caucus] The Vandals sack RomeÂ….again An exercise in raw intellectual vandalism has been underway in Rome since July 23: what was originally known as the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family has been peremptorily but systematically stripped of its most distinguished faculty, and its core courses in fundamental moral theology have been cancelled. Concurrently, academics known to be opposed to the teaching of Humanae Vitae on the appropriate means of regulating fertility and the teaching of Veritatis Splendor on intrinsically evil acts are being appointed to teach at the reconfigured Institute, which is housed at...

[Catholic Caucus] John Paul II Institute Responds to Student and Faculty Criticisms Jul. 30, 2019 The statement aimed to respond to concerns raised by students, alumni, and faculty members of the Institute following the recent approval of its new statutes, or governing documents. VATICAN CITY — The Pontifical John Paul II Institute issued a statement Monday, defending recent changes at the school. But some students and faculty members say that explanations do not address the full picture of issues at the theological institute.

[Catholic Caucus] Students Rebell Against Pope Francis The students of the Roman John Paul II Institute rebel against Pope Francis’ attempt to destroy their college.More than 150 of them signed a July 24 letter saying that the newly approved statutes will undermine the institute’s Catholic mission and identity.The letter was sent to Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the Institute’s grand chancellor, and Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, its president. Both of them are hardcore modernists.The students also expressed their sadness about the expulsion of two professors, Monsignor Livio Melina and Father José Noriega who taught at the Institute for decades and are world-renowned representatives...