Free Republic

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe itself is naturally rich in fossil fuels. It likely has more reserves of shale gas than the United States, currently the world’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas. Yet in most European countries, horizontal drilling and fracking to extract gas and oil are...

The Hidden Truth About Halloween: Behind the Mask Does the Bible have anything to say about the strange customs surrounding Halloween? In fact, it does—and none of it is good.While God's Holy Days in the Bible celebrate the role of Jesus Christ in bringing mankind to salvation in the eternal family of God (as explained in the following article and our free booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind), Halloween is a celebration of the opposite—of demonism, witchcraft, death and evil spirits.God's Word makes it clear that no one should dare entertain witchcraft or act...

The devil, so the saying goes, is the ape of God. And so one of his standard methods for deceiving is to create parodies of good things and send them into the world in pairs.Why parodies? Because he cannot make, he can only mock. So instead of love, he offers lust. Instead of justice he offers merciless vengeance. Instead of dignity, he offers pride. Instead of contentment with the world’s goods he offers greed.Why does he send errors into the world in pairs? So that, in fleeing one lie, you will embrace the opposite lie. And so, for instance, he...

Halloween: Behind the Mask Every year, on the evening of Oct. 31, millions of families celebrate a distinctly odd holiday known as Halloween. For your own good, you need to know what lurks behind the mask of Halloween. by Jerold Aust Halloween is undoubtedly one of the strangest holidays people celebrate, with its symbolism of witches, devils, skeletons, bats and black cats. Is it not a little bizarre that children are taught to dress up as ghosts and monsters to go from house to house demanding "trick or treat!" (with the threat of a trick or prank constituting a playful...

I have heard the over exaggerated claims from liberals that they fear the Religious Right turning America into a Christian theocracy. They are devout disciples of the concept of “separation of church and state”. They are thankful for the ACLU keeping America from sliding down a slippery slope into the dreaded state of a Christian theocracy. Of course these fears are not based in reality. While most Christians want to share their faith with others and hope to convert people, the modern practice of Christianity does not seek to force their religion on anyone. Inviting someone to church, or expressing...

Think about it a minute. Compare the concept of democracy – where individuals may speak and act and express their faith according to their own understandings – with theocracy, where an elite few dictate what all individuals can and cannot say, do or express concerning their beliefs. Think Iran. Think Ahmadinejad and his coterie of Islamist extremists, exercising total control over the oil giant nation, funding and arming Hezbollah, orchestrating much of the inhuman violence in Iraq, promoting and supporting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and terrorist murder around the world, actively and defiantly preparing nuclear capability while at the...

Social Conservatism Posted 8/1/06 (By Travis)Social Conservatism8/1/06 Neoperspectives.com In principle, Conservatives and Libertarians see eye to eye in regards to economic freedom. They believe that individual Americans will collectively spend their own money much more efficiently and benefit society more than government spending. They believe burdensome regulations limit prosperity and harms business. They understand the harmfulness of socialized health care and retirement schemes.      However, there seem to be differences in scope between the two ideologies. Conservatives don't seem to have the same degree of, for lack of a better word, anti-governmentism. They don't seem to realize the degree which government...

In case you're still not sure just how destructive the Bush administration has become to this country, you need to read Michael Specter's piece in the March 13 issue of the New Yorker magazine. It's enough to give you the willies. Specter documents how the Bush people have stacked the Food and Drug Administration with fanatics who regularly trump science to advance their own religious beliefs. It reads like a modern-day Galileo being persecuted by the Catholic Church because he maintained Earth was round. Although Specter cites several examples of religious beliefs thwarting scientific advances by key appointees to the...

Finding inspiration from God, The Last of the Mohicans and The Lord of Rings, Katherine Harris told hundreds of conservative Christians Saturday that she is "a work in progress." Harris, who told a national television audience Wednesday that she would be spending $10 million to win Florida's U.S. Senate race, said she never would have entered politics if she did not believe that God wanted her to make public service part of her life. The Sarasota-area congresswoman's campaign for the senate has been in a free fall. She has struggled to raise money, and nearly all her top campaign advisers...

2-day event running in Lauderdale By James D. Davis Religion Editor Posted March 18 2006 Hundreds gave a rousing ovation Friday night to the Rev. D. James Kennedy's proclamation that the nation can be won for Jesus. "I'm telling you, America is going to be changed," Kennedy boomed on the first day of the Reclaiming America for Christ conference in Fort Lauderdale. His listeners needed little persuasion. Hailing from 38 states, the 796 conferees had come to the 10th annual conference to learn how to be conservative Christian activists in their hometowns. "It was inspirational," said Paul K. Blair, a...

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri high school drama teacher whose spring play was canceled after complaints about tawdry content in one of her previous productions will resign rather than face a possible firing. "It became too much to not be able to speak my mind or defend my students without fear or retribution," said Fulton High School teacher Wendy DeVore. DeVore's students were to perform Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a drama set during the 17th Century Salem witch trials. But after a handful of Callaway Christian Church members complained about scenes in the fall musical "Grease" that showed...

Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. Their message to Congress, controlled by Republicans, is "must do better". Support from about a quarter of Americans who describe themselves as evangelicals was a factor in President George W Bush's two election victories. The Republicans will need to keep them onboard if they are to retain control of Congress in November. At a news conference in Washington, some of America's most influential conservative leaders said the current perception among evangelical Christians was that the Republican majority...

Recently the Internal Revenue Service released a report showing that nearly three quarters of 82 tax-exempt groups investigated during the 2004 elections took part in prohibited political activity. But now, churches and nonprofit organizations have a new resource to help keep them out of trouble with the IRS. The IRS says several of the organizations and churches will probably lose their tax-exempt status, a fact that will very likely affect future contributions to these groups. In an effort to help churches, ministries, and other faith-based institutions avoid such errors, The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, has issued guidelines...

JAKARTA: The 200-plus demonstrators from the student group Concerned Muslims who had gathered in light drizzle at one of Central Jakarta's main roundabouts had a simple message for passing motorists. "Reject Playboy! Reject Playboy!" they shouted. "Don't publish that filth here. Keep the Indonesian nation clean." "We don't need that sort of porno here," said Muhammad Salim. "There's enough vice here already." Yesterday about 500 protesters - all members of a conservative Muslim political party - demanded the parliament quickly pass tough laws now under debate to crack down on existing girlie magazines and pornographic DVDs, which are widely available...

People who celebrated Judge John Jones's recent ruling that Intelligent Design is a "religious view" and "not science," so that it is "unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution," are satisfied because religion and science have been kept strictly apart, which suits their worldview. It amounts, though, to begging the question that is at stake, and "winning" the argument by sheer force. Before explaining why, it's worth noting that science is being defined flexibly. If someone says -- "The fossil record does not actually indicate that species evolved into other species, and evidence of the necessary transitional species...

The debate over homosexual "marriage" often becomes focused on whether homosexuality is a learned behavior or a genetic trait. Many homosexual activists insist that "science" has shown that homosexuality is inborn, cannot be changed, and that therefore they should have the "right to marry" each other. Beginning in the early 1990s, activists began arguing that scientific research has proven that homosexuality has a genetic or hormonal cause. A handful of studies, none of them replicated and all exposed as methodologically unsound or misrepresented, have linked sexual orientation to everything from differences in portions of the brain,1,2 to genes,3 finger length,4...

OTTAWA - Group sex among consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday as it lifted a ban on so-called “swingers” clubs. In a ruling that radically changes the way courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the top court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.

Several years ago (1996-97), I was thinking about the term “religious right.” It seemed that there should be some contrasting term, but none came immediately to mind. So I had to make some up: agnostic right, atheist right, atheist left, etc. I had the benefit of a university’s library services at the time, so I asked for a count of the term “religious right” in American periodicals. The annual count was in the hundreds per year. Contrasting terms had a combined count of under twenty. I’d only heard the term religious right as an attack term back then. This seemed...

Fewer than 100 people gathered in the Upstate this weekend to learn about a group that wants to create a government in South Carolina based on the Bible. "Christian Exodus" organizers say they want to have 70,000 people relocated to the state by 2016. With those numbers, like-minded people could take over the government. Movement founder Cory Burnell said at Saturday's meeting that such a new state government could require people to own property before they could vote and could determine whether the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were "ratified properly, and if not, put them...

A scheduled appearance by vulgar rock-rapper Kid Rock at a Bush inauguration concert hosted by Bush daughters Jenna and Barbara has shocked conservative supporters. The rapper’s lyrics often focus on the recreational nature of sex and send a message of female sexual exploitation. In 2000 he appeared in a porn film with well-known porn stars, and he was named the Sluttiest Male Celebrity by MTV. According to Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association, the White House has sent a shocking statement to the millions of families who supported his re-election. "Kid Rock is an inexcusable choice,” Wildmon...