Free Republic

Most little girls play with dolls when they're young, miming the age-old role for women: marrying and building a family. And, for some, there is a stigma around women who don't want to have children. Old stories and fairy tales paint single women without children poorly -- as spinsters or witches. It seems odd that these stereotypes would continue to live today, suggests Madelyn Cain, author of "The Childless Revolution: What It Means To Be Childless Today." Making The Decision Despite the potential negative reaction from friends and families, many women, such as teacher Samantha Henderson, make the decision to...

Manchester, NH (LifeNews.com) -- Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is strongly pro-life and, as a result, opposes the killing of unborn children from abortion. But he told the audience at a New Hampshire campaign stop that he strongly supports protecting children after birth as well. Pro-life advocates are frequently criticized by those who back abortion as caring for children only before birth but not afterwards. Seeking to respond to that criticism in a state that's not known for its pro-life views, Brownback told a luncheon audience that he's "pro-life, whole life" and that candidates who say they are pro-life can't...

This is the account of a minister, Howard Storm, from Ohio, who "died" in 1985 from a perforation in his intestines and returned with an account of hell. While he's a minister now (at Zion United Church of Christ in Norwood), at the time he was an atheistic professor, chairman of the art department at North Kentucky University. Storm describes himself as a selfish man who not only didn't believe but detested those who did. Then came the crisis on June 1, 1985, while he was leading students on a trip to museums in Paris. "I needed surgery immediately but...

A Most Solemn Call Christine Darg Dear friends, The following call is a very serious one and right on, I want to add again the call to pray for New York as this City represents by my understanding the main target of the next attack in the US, also as until recently it had the largest concentration of Jewish People in the world. They call it the "Big Apple" and the Jewish people are the "Apple of God's Eye". I really felt that was a lot of the reason that it became already the target on 9/11, and it will...

 A Passion for Pain There is a peculiar aspect of all religions that glorifies and embraces pain, suffering, and torment as virtues. The glorification of suffering is certainly not missing from the Christian religion, recently and wonderfully illustrated by Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.In my criticism [Passion Prattle] of Rebecca Hagelin's praise for the film as an, "artistic achievement beyond any scale you could imagine," I compared the brutality of Gibson's created images to the real thing depicting the atrocities of Sadam Hussein and the Taliban to point out how the religious, revolted at images of today's sadistic...

16th of June DEFEATING DEPRESSION PART 1 “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” Proverbs 12:25 Depression- from Webster’s New Unabridged Dictionary Low spirits, gloominess, dejection, sadness, a decrease in force, or activity, or amount, a decrease in functional activity. An emotional condition either normal or pathological characterized by discouragement, a feeling of inadequacy, the act of humbling abasement as a depression of pride. Abasement, reduction, sinking, fall, humiliation, dejection, melancholy. Major Depression Facts Major depression is the No.1 psychological disorder in the western world.(1) It is growing in all age groups,...

WASHINGTON — What if we fail to prevent an attack?Assume every line of defense against nuclear terrorism is breached: the efforts to lock up nuclear material abroad, to spy out hidden weapons programs, to deter rogue states and capture terrorists, to detect smuggled bombs at the border or downtown — every preventive measure discussed in the previous five installments of this series. Assume someone, somehow, gets all the way through. It only has to happen once. Assume that this someone puts together a crude atomic bomb, of the “Little Boy” type dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, a heavy and awkward device...

Growing up Bi-racial Joshua Brown (Joshua Brown is a cadet at Millersburg Military Institute in Kentucky. He is studying Journalism and Creative Writing.) Their hair may be black or golden brown. Their eyes may vary from cat green to bark brown. Skin tone may be light with freckles or a Hawaiian sun tan brown. These are some of the physical features of bi-racial persons. Bi-racial persons are faced with tough decisions when it comes to their families. White parents-in-law may not accept white daughters-in-law, or vice versa. The children of bi-racial marriages are often caught in the middle, having to...

There are three valid reasons for divorce and they apply to Christians and non-Christians alike: 1. adultery 2. abuse 3. chronic and complusive selfishness For seventeen years, from age 19 until age 36, I endured this at the hands of my now-Ex-husband. He beat me, he cheated on me, and he was utterly selfish. I had heard that it brought shame to the Lord Jesus when Christians divorced, that God said divorce was necessary because people were hard hearted and too stubborn, and that as long as I kept "forgiving" my husband & continued being meek / quiet, I would...

<p>The Free Republic keyword feature serves a valuable purpose, it alerts posters to topics that they are interested in and supplements those topics which aren't already listed as available topics.</p> <p>1. Please do not add words like "and" and "the" to the keywords. And PLEASE do not add every word from your title to the keywords, that's just plain annoying.</p>

If you can believe it or not, Planned Parenthood teaches the sex education classes at my middle school. (Yes, the school board actually allows an activist organization to teach sex ed.) It was amazing some of the things they said. They actually let us know that sex before 18 was illegal. However, then they told us not to worry about breaking it because the police will never catch you. As the week went on it actually seemed like they were promoting juvinile sex. The instructor gleefully talked about how to put a condom on. She explained how flavored condoms could...

Certain first names make people more attractive to the opposite sex while others are a turn-off, say linguists. In an experiment, they found that pictures of men were rated as more appealing if they were called Ed, Matt or Mike than if their names were given as Paul, Sean or Roger. The authors of the study claim the explanation lies in vowel sounds. Women prefer names with short vowels, such as e and i, produced at the front of the mouth. However, the opposite is true for men. They prefer women's names with longer vowel sounds such as Laura, Moira...

Folks, I'm taking on a contract position in Pennsylvania as of this coming week and need a quick overview of firearms laws. I've got a North Carolina Concealed Handgun permit, so I can legally carry in Pennsylvania (or so it seems from a cursory websearch). What about AR-15 style weapons? Any problem there? The thought of carrying firearms, even unloaded and in locked containers through Maryland and especially DC, scares the you-know out of me.

Three months after the RCMP began arresting 18 suspects accused of plotting terror attacks in Canada, an investigation by the National Post has uncovered a web of links to Pakistan. Today, in the first of four parts, the role of a Pakistani training camp is revealed.- - - BALAKOT, Pakistan - A worn footpath climbs from the Kaghan Valley highway into the lush mountains above the River Kunar, on Kashmir's western frontier. The locals all know where it leads. An hour's walk up the steep trail there is a training camp built by Islamic militants called Madrassa Syed Ahmed Shaheed...

More signs of Syria turn up in Iraq The Iraqi ambassador to Syria tells the Monitor that photos of high-ranking Syrian officials were found in Fallujah. By Nicholas Blanford | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor DAMASCUS, SYRIA - When US troops stormed the rebel-held city of Fallujah last month, they uncovered photos of senior Syrian officials that have further strained the already tense relations between Syria and Iraq, according to the Iraqi ambassador to Syria.Several captured insurgents were found in possession of the photographs, confirmation, according to Iraqi officials, that some elements in the Syrian regime - perhaps...