Free Republic

NEW YORK - In an innovative move, a biotech company has found a new way of making stem cells without destroying embryos, touting it as a way to defuse one of the country's fiercest political and ethical debates. Some opponents of the research said the method still doesn't satisfy their objections and many stem cell scientists and their supporters called it inefficient and politically wrong-headed. But a spokeswoman for President Bush, who vetoed legislation last month that would have allowed federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, called it a step in the right direction. And Dr. Robert Lanza, an...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Residents of Benton County, in the northwest corner of Arkansas, are proud citizens of the Bible Belt. At last count, they filled 39 Baptist, 27 United Methodist and 20 Assembly of God churches. For decades, a local hospital has begun meetings with a reading from the New Testament and the library has featured an elaborate Christmas display. Then the Wal-Mart Jews arrived. Recruited from around the country as workers for Wal-Mart or one of its suppliers, hundreds of which have opened offices near the retailer's headquarters here, a growing number of Jewish families have become increasingly vocal...

NEW DELHI (march 28) - Village elders ordered a Muslim man in eastern India to leave his wife after he accidentally divorced her in his sleep, a news report said Tuesday. Aftab Ansari uttered the Urdu word for divorce, "talaq," three times in his sleep, prompting his worried wife to discuss the matter with her friends, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Under Islamic law, a husband need only say "I divorce you" three times to secure a permanent end to his marriage. Muslim leaders in the couple's village in West Bengal state found out and decreed...

was always amazed at how composed Marla remained amid the violence and confusion of Iraq. One of my favorite memories of her was when I was sitting in the middle of the Palestine Hotel lobby in Baghdad, surrounded by a confusing swirl of soldiers, officials, and reporters. Fear swept over me. What was I doing here? I had come as a freelancer, with no experience covering a war. Just as I was quietly freaking out, Marla appeared in the dusty, harried scene. She was the picture of calm in a perfect French braid and long blue dress. She was like...

Gay activists in South Africa have vowed to "flood" the country's blood services with blood donated by gay men. This follows an announcement by the South African National Blood Services that it would not accept donations from men who have sex with men. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance says its members would lie when asked the question: "Have you had male-to-male sex in the past five years?" The Alliance claims members have already donated 120 units of blood. It aims to flood the blood services with 70,000 units. 'Offensive' Alliance spokesman Juan Uys describes the question as "humiliating, offensive and...

ERRE HAUTE, Ind. (Jan. 5) - Two NBC affiliates in Arkansas and Indiana are turning the page on upcoming series "The Book of Daniel," which has been drawing criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. The series depicts an Episcopalian minister, played by Aidan Quinn, struggling with an addiction to Vicodin, among other problems in his diocese. Jesus is actually a character on the series, depicted in imagined conversations with the minister. Last month, the conservative American Family Assn. began calling on affiliates and advertisers to bail out of "Daniel." Many stations have been flooded with e-mails and calls from viewers...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Officials on Wednesday blamed Taliban militants for beheading a teacher in a central Afghan town, the latest in a string of attacks against educators at schools where girls study. Armed men decapitated Malim Abdul Habib in his home in the town of Qalat late Tuesday and forced his wife and children to watch, said Ali Khail, a provincial government spokesman. The assailant did not harm the other relatives, he said. The attackers then fled and the wife called the police, Khail said. Police are questioning three people who were guests in the victim's home at the time....

NEW YORK (Dec. 23) - Osama bin Laden's niece, in an interview with GQ magazine in which she appears scantily clad, says she has nothing in common with the al-Qaida leader and simply wants acceptance by Americans.

We are reading Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" in my sociology class. I’m smart enough to know the book isn’t objective. And so far, I’ve sought out independent information about him, including that he is big government, but against national testing. And that he is against vouchers. And that he thinks the solution to the problem is more $$$ in the schools. And from reading the book it’s so so clear that he is a race monger. I understand why there is very little work and money in terms of economics but is there anything else? I’m hesitant to blame the...

The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose 10-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village...

Guess who is coming to speak at my college?! None other than Cindy Sheehan!

I'm taking a course in Biblical Literature, so I’ll probably be posting a few questions in the next few weeks if you don’t mind. And I've found that the people here (in the religious section) have always been able to provide the most fascinating answers. So what is your opinion on the Gnostic Gospels? 2- Why do Catholics recognize 46 Old Testament books and Protestants only recognize 39?

APPLE VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - Scout Taylor-Compton, star of the recent teen comedy Sleepover, has been missing from her California home for nearly two weeks, officials and her publicist said Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Sheriff said the young actress was likely a runaway. The 16-year-old was last seen at home on Aug. 12, according to a statement released by her family.

Susan Torres, who lost consciousness last May due to a severe stroke, gave birth to a baby girl Susan Torres, who lost consciousness last May due to a severe stroke, gave birth to a baby girl Tuesday by Caesarean Section after being placed on life-support for three months in order to save the life of her baby. The baby, Susan Anne Catherine Torres, weighs 1 pound, 13 ounces and is 13 ½ inches long. She is being monitored in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia. In a letter to the Associated Press by...

On right now. Please someone else watch it besides me and tell me your reaction. People not on a Nanny State welfare check trying to make it by.

What does your religion say about our beloved pets in the afterlife? Dogs? Cats? Does your pet have a soul? Do you believe they go to heaven, or simply out of existance? And what do you tell your six year old when Fluffy the formerly lost hamster turns up dead in the hallway closet? "Fluffy doesn't exist anymore?" Is a dog different from a hamster? What's your religion and what does it say?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister asked the United Nations on Tuesday to extend its authorization for U.S. forces to stay in the country, underscoring the fragile hold of the newly elected government at a time of rising insurgent violence. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said his government would decide the role of American and other foreign troops, a particularly sensitive issue as the new government tries to establish its legitimacy among the Iraqi people and secure the country against an entrenched insurgency while depending heavily on the U.S. military. Al-Jaafari said he'd like the U.N. Security Council to extend Resolution...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister asked the United Nations on Tuesday to extend its authorization for U.S. forces to stay in the country, underscoring the fragile hold of the newly elected government at a time of rising insurgent violence. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said his government would decide the role of American and other foreign troops, a particularly sensitive issue as the new government tries to establish its legitimacy among the Iraqi people and secure the country against an entrenched insurgency while depending heavily on the U.S. military. Al-Jaafari said he'd like the U.N. Security Council to extend Resolution...

http://www.aetv.com/faithofmyfathers/ =

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Tuesday refused to rule out a pre-emptive attack, even amid signs it may be willing to return to the nuclear bargaining table. The North poured out anti-American rhetoric - a tactic it has used in the past before entering negotiations - by claiming that Washington's "hostile policies" led it to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent and warning against any attack to dislodge its leadership. "The United States should be aware that the choice of a pre-emptive attack is not only theirs," the North's official news agency quoted the state-run newspaper Minju Joson...