Free Republic

Islam is not the only religion that, when practiced in its orthodoxy, encourages and sometimes requires extreme modesty of its women. Hello, nun habits? Parents force their children to wear Catholic school uniforms. Conservative Christians wear long skirts and even higher necklines. Orthodox Jewish women don't show any skin aside from the ankles, wrists and neck, no matter the weather. Not all Muslim women wear a full burqa; they wear variations of head coverings dictated by their particular sect of Islam and their regional and cultural heritage. So we can point them out and decry the practice as barbaric, but...

The Boston Archdiocese has admitted for the first time that Irish sex abuse priests worked in its diocese. The priests, named as Brendan Smyth, Dennis Murphy and Joseph Maguire, were transferred from Ireland to the U.S. in what critics say was little more than an attempt to insulate the priests from scrutiny and possible prosecution

The giant Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is offering 250 to 21 odds that President Barack Obama will says that "Life is like a box of chocolates" in his first State of the Union address tonight. The first topic, unsurprisingly, is expected to be "heath care reform" at 4-1 while "the war on terror" is just 14-1.

The Kennedy family has come out swinging against failed Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley, who lost the race to succeed Ted Kennedy. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, niece of Ted Kennedy, said bluntly that Coakley did not campaign enough. "You’ve got to fight," Townsend said. "That’s why Ted Kennedy was so great on jobs and health care and taking on the special interests. . . Coakley was a candidate who apparently said she didn’t want to be cold," Townsend says.

Gerry Adams is set to find Jesus in a new documentary. The Sinn Fein leader will present one episode of a seven part documentary called "The Bible: A History." The documentary will be aired on the popular British TV station Channel 4. The documentary will analyze the "contradiction between Jesus' teachings and the involvement of Christians, followers of other faiths, in conflict the world over." The documentary will also look at Adams' unique perspective on faith, as he is a "former supporter of political violence."

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has apparently issued an ultimatum to four bishops embroiled in the Irish Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal — to either quit or be fired by the Vatican.

Will Bill O'Reilly be one of the "founding fathers" of the latest American political party, the Tea Party, which is being taken very seriously by many Americans? It may well be.

A new dissent Republican group may be forming in Northern Ireland. The organization would include dissidents that have defected from the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. The group will not have a name, with the deliberate aim of confusing members of the security forces.

The Saudi Arabian government has announced that it plans to open an Islamic school in Dublin. However, overseas Saudi high schools have come under heavy criticism in recent times. Schools in London, Bonn and the US have come under fire for providing text books that could be interpreted as advocating violence against other religions.

IrishCentral editors received an email last night from Irish singer Sinead O'Connor — who once infamously ripped a photo of Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live" in a bizarre protest against the Catholic Church — in which she rips into the Church again, and with seething rage. "On behalf of all Irish artists... Though most have kept their mouth shut.. I demand the Irish government expel the Papal Nuncio and recall the Irish ambassador from Vatican City in order to respect the people of Ireland who are outraged by the contempt displayed by the Vatican for the suffering...

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts refused to appear at the Clover Club, an Irish American group of businessmen and community leaders in Boston over the weekend because it is a men-only club. Deval was dead wrong. I hope he will similarly cancel visits to the National Organization of Women for the same reason.

A massive row has broken out in New after former BBC host Paul Henry called Susan Boyle "retarded." Talking on his TV show this week Henry laughed as he described how the global superstar was "starved of oxygen" at birth and suffered an intellectual disability.

One of Ireland's best-loved priests, Father Brian D'Arcy, has called for the resignation of clergy who knowingly covered up for child sex-abuse priests. "This is not just in the Diocese, this goes right to the top in Rome," he said.

Congressman Patrick Kennedy has been barred from receiving Communion by his Bishop in Rhode Island. Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred Patrick, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, because of his position on abortion rights.