Free Republic

David Quammen, an author of multiple books on science and diseases, including “Ebola,” and "Spillover," argued against a ban on flights to Liberia by stating the US has a “responsibility” to the nation “given the fact that this is a country that was founded in the 1820s, 1830s because of American slavery” on Thursday’s “AC360” on CNN. Quammen first argued that such a ban would not be feasible because “it’s impossible to track them [people flying from Liberia],” and “you can't isolate neighborhoods, you can’t isolate nations. It doesn't work.” He then said, “people talk about ‘well, we should not...

Back in 2011, before giving the traditional Christmas blessing to the City of Rome and the world ("urbi et orbi"), Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the Child of Bethlehem as Savior. His Holiness said (in part): "He was sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil deeply rooted in man and in history: the evil of separation from God, the prideful presumption of being self-sufficient, of trying to compete with God and to take his place, to decide what is good and evil, to be the master of life and death.." The Holy Father said...

Shoe thief sends SR500, asks victim for forgivenessA thief with a guilty conscience has asked for forgiveness from a Saudi man whose shoes he had stolen eight years ago. The guilt-ridden thief sent SR500 in an envelope alongside the apology note. The victim, Abu Abdul Rahman,said that his shoes were stolen as he was having dinner at a wedding reception hosted by a relative, local news site Sabq reported on Thursday. In keeping with the local tradition, food is served on in a majlis and guests and hosts leave their shoes at the door. Abu Abdul Rahman said that he...

Political hysteria has reached a crescendo over a very defined and limited ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby with this week’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision. As many commentators have noted, including the editors at National Review, “That this increase in freedom makes some people so very upset tells us more about them than about the Court’s ruling.”

In Making Gay Okay, Robert Reilly says the ascendancy of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) started with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s victory over Aristotle and that once philosophy fell the triumphant march through the institutions was quick and maybe even inevitable.Reilly explains that the debate centers on the question of what is natural and not, and how to distinguish between right and wrong. He describes how the Greeks fell in love with reality when they discovered nature and that the purpose of things was knowable and unchangeable even by the whim of gods.The author writes, “A dog wagged his tail because that was the...

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24 – ERV)   But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
 You’re gonna have to serve somebody
 Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
 But you’re gonna have to serve somebody --Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody” (1979)   Reading the transcript of Tuesday’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga cases, I...

and activist Jane Fonda has revealed that at 76 she’s become increasingly aware of her own mortality – and admits that she constantly finds herself crying over "the smallest things." In an emotional and sometimes eccentric blog entry titled "Crying" on her website, JaneFonda.com, the actress says, "How come pretty things, kind deeds, sad stories, acts of courage, good news, someone’s flax of insight, all get me crying or, at least, tearing up?" Editor’s Note: Rogue Investor Exposes Secret ‘250% Calendar’. See The Trades In the blog entry, Fonda didn't reference her political activism, including protesting the Vietnam War. She...

Many of you have heard about the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of nuns providing care for the elderly, who  are now taking on the Obama Administration over the Affordable Care Act's (ObamaCare) contraception mandate. Religious exemptions from the ObamaCare contraception mandate are often made for government-approved entities, but the Obama Administration has deemed the nuns, who work exclusively with the elderly, unworthy of an exception. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently granted the Little Sisters of the Poor a temporary injunction, so they do not have to violate their religious beliefs by offering health insurance that...

Is this some kind of record? On the last day of 2013 four different federal appeals courts issued temporary injunctions against enforcement of the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals acted on two different cases, Michigan Catholic Conference v. Sebelius and The Catholic Diocese of Nashville et al v. Sebelius, while the DC Circuit Court of Appeals acted in The Catholic Archbishop of Washington et al v Sebelius. Meanwhile, no less than Obama-appointee Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction in the case of The Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, Denver, v Sebelius. All in...

In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences. Responding to a list of questions published in the paper by Mr Scalfari, who is not a Roman Catholic, Francis wrote: “You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go...

One of the greatest gifts of the Human person is the capacity to speak. It is also one of our greatest weaknesses. The Book of James says,We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect!, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, and thus we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever...

A former Air Force drone operator who participated in missions that killed more than 1,600 people remembers watching one of the first victims bleed to death. [snip] Yet he recalls watching helplessly as insurgents buried an IED in a road and a U.S. Humvee drove over it. “We had no way to warn the troops,” he said. He later learned that three soldiers died. [snip] Bryant said that most of the time he was an operator, he and his team and his commanding officers made a concerted effort to avoid civilian casualties. But he began to wonder who the...

The Boston Bomb Massacre has become a cultural watermark for terrorism, self-defense and freedom of speech. Americans are now openly doubting and debating the doctrines and efficacy of the leftist cultural movement called Political Correctness (PC).

A federal judge has struck down a Missouri law exempting moral objectors from mandatory birth control coverage because it conflicts with an insurance requirement under [Obamacare].

President Barack Obama said if he had a son, he would have to think "long and hard" before he let him play football and suggested he--along with other football fans--watches football against his conscience. "I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football," Obama said. In an interview with the left-of-center New Republic, Obama said football will "probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence" and that may allow fans to not have to "examine our consciences...

Even though he signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), President Obama says he will not abide by its provision protecting military chaplains from being compelled to perform services which violate their moral or religious beliefs. “I am the Commander-in-Chief,” Obama explained. “It is every soldier’s duty to carry out my orders without hesitation or mental reservation. No religious dogma can be permitted to interfere with this duty.” The genesis of the so-called “right of conscience” clause in the legislation was the desire to allow chaplains to be excused from performing gay marriages if their religious beliefs are opposed...

It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    --Alexander Solzhenitsyn A big thanks...

May 29, 2012 http://www.holylove.org/ NOVENA FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA St. Michael says: "Praise be to Jesus." "You recognize me, don't you? I am Michael, the Archangel. Jesus sends me to you once again as the need arises. As I am the Defender of the Truth, I must point out the paradox of what has become law in your country. On one hand, you are told you have the right to choose between life in the womb or abortion. On the other hand, you are told you do NOT have the right to deny anyone birth control or abortion...

The headline read "3 in 4 say religious rights trump law." The article went on to explain that "In the Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll, nearly three in four Americans, 74 percent, said freedom of religion should be protected 'even if it conflicts with other laws.'" The juxtaposition of the headline and the explanation provide a perfect illustration of the way in which rights and freedoms are carelessly conflated these days, in a way that could have very damaging unintended consequences. For example, if religious freedom per se trumps other laws, what about the so-called "honor killing" permitted by Islamic law...

LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that actor Martin Sheen is defending his position in favor of redefining marriage despite his Catholic faith, saying that "my religion's highest standard is conscience." Apparently the long-time actor hasn't spent as much time studying Catholic teaching as he has with his other endeavors. If he had taken the time to actually read Pope John Paul II's Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, for example, he would have read that: "Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is not exempt from the possibility of error. As the Council [Vatican II, which, sadly, Sheen is also not familar with] puts...