Free Republic

Righteousness is the only ingredient that makes the soup of government sweet and satisfying to the people, but unfortunately, this ingredient is lacking in most government/political arenas in the world.I will try to define the term righteousness, its relationship with politics and its importance in any (capitalist and socialist) government and again, the word religion and righteousness, will be used interchangeably for the purpose of clarity.Definition of RighteousnessRighteousness is a quality that can be possessed by any man/woman who desires it. It is the quality of being morally right or justifiable. It is the quality of being fair and...

A music director at a Chicago Catholic parish was fired Monday after the pastor learned he had become "engaged" to his male partner. Colin Collette says his partner asked him to "marry" him in front of St. Peter's Basilica on a trip to Rome last week. On Sunday, after Collette directed the music at Holy Family Catholic Church, Father Terry Keehan asked Collette to resign. He refused, and was subsequently fired on Monday morning. Collete told the Chicago Sun-Times that he believes Keehan was pressured by Cardinal Francis George. The 23-year employee says Keehan was aware of Collette's sexuality,...

It was, of course inevitable, having ordained women to its “priesthood” that the Church of England, mother Church of the Anglican Communion, would in the end ordain women to its “episcopate” (I place the key-words in inverted commas, not to be insulting but to indicate simply that most Anglicans use the words to describe something very different indeed from our notions of priesthood and episcopacy).The General Synod has now decided on women bishops. All the obstacles are down. The mystery was why it took them so long: in the Catholic understanding, if a person is a priest, he is,...

Some Catholic bishops have recently suggested that granting amnesty to illegal immigrant children from Central America is consistent with “pro-life” Catholic teachings. As reported in National Catholic Register, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh said that providing for the needs of the young illegal immigrants is one facet of a truly pro-life philosophy. “The Catholic Church responds to humanitarian crises here at home and all across the world because we are pro-life,” Zubik said in a statement on July 19th. “Being pro-life requires we protect and care for vulnerable persons from conception to natural death.” “Whether they are traveling because of...

JOHANNESBURG - A German Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse of children in his native country and in South Africa has been extradited to Germany, police said Wednesday. Georg Kerkhoff, who is in his 50s, was put on a plane to Germany on Tuesday night, South African police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini told AFP. "We took him to the airport and handed him over to the German police. He will face trial in Germany," he said.

Today is the 1st of the Month. I can think of no better day than today to take me up on my Proverb a day challenge? Yes, today could be the 1st day of the rest of your life. A day where you begin to absorb the Wisdom God blessed Solomon with. A day where you can begin to understand what it's like to have Godly wisdom imparted to you by the One who created you, and everything around you. You can be educated by the best university on the planet, and even have the highest of degree on...

When, in 2012, EPA official Al Almendariz likened his enforcement strategy for federal drilling policies to Romans’ peacekeeping tactics in the Mediterranean — “Crucify them,” he quipped — he was only exhibiting what many already knew: that the Environmental Protection Agency performs its work with an almost religious zeal. But the agency’s latest effort — a massive clampdown on the nation’s coal industry — is receiving actual religious imprimatur. This week 28 religious leaders, representing not only a number of Christian denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, and more) but other faiths (Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahāʾī), testified in...

The following comes from a July 28 posting by Randy Thomasson on Save California.com.This is not a family you see. These are two very confused men who were likely sexually abused as children. And now they have a boy that one or both have adopted. And this boy is now being indoctrinated with big lies about family and sex….When Associated Press was preparing a widely-published July 27 article saluting another homosexual-agenda bill redefining family, the reporter pitted three liberal voices against me. But despite misspelling my name, and putting a qualifier before me and a subtle put-down after me, I...

“Abortion cannot be stopped.” That is what a man said to me as I was coming out of Mass with the Stand True Mission Team and the walkers from Crossroads Pro-life Walks Across America. You may be kind of surprised that I would hear this from someone coming out of church but it is not that uncommon. Pessimism coupled with apathy permeates in our churches and people who claim to follow Christ. bryankemper18I told him that many people said that slavery would never be made illegal back in the 1800s. He just ignored that and continued to argue that abortion...

Many of us know of couples that have divorced. Some may be Catholic couples that divorced, remarried, and are able to receive the Sacraments with no problems because they received an annulment. Other Catholic couples we may know divorced but were told they could not remarry as they were not given an annulment. This may seem confusing and harsh of the Church, especially if the reason for separation is the infidelity of only one spouse. One of my students put the situation this way: it is as if the Church condemns some people to a lifetime of loneliness because...

For a Christians, it seems, immigration is—or should be—a complicated issue. On the one hand, charity compels those of us who are comfortable to help those who are in need, including those who seek to escape from poverty, crime, or persecution. On the other hand, a legitimate concern for preserving our own law and culture require us to set some restrictions on immigration, lest it become a virtual invasion. Recently I came across a statement that puts the matter nicely in perspective. It would be nice to see the same balance in statements that issue from Catholic leaders both in...

The Archbishop of Lyon has travelled to Iraq to show the country’s Christians his solidarity. “I will say the Our Father in Aramaic until you are finally able to return home. French visas are not the solution” BARBARIN ON HIS VISIT TO IRAQ (PHOTO BY: LYON.CATHOLIQUE.FR) Rome On Saturday he was out in the streets of Mosul demonstrating, in an act of solidarity towards the city’s Christians who are forced to flee their homes. On Monday he flew to Erbil in person to go and meet Christians. The Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, one of the French Catholic Church’s most...

Police in Mississippi have engaged in a pattern of harassment and false arrests designed to chill pro-life speech outside that state's last abortion facility, even confiscating and refusing to return a pro-life counselor's Bible, a new legal complaint states. Lawyers with the Life Legal Defense Fund (LLDF) say the Jackson Police Department has “systematically infringed, and continues to infringe, upon the free speech rights of citizens by unlawfully arresting, citing, and threatening to arrest” sidewalk counselors “for conduct that is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.” All of the alleged harassment took place outside Jackson Women's Health Organization (JHWO),...

Proverb 31 (NKJV) The Words of King Lemuel's Mother 01 The words of King Lemuel, 00 the utterance which his mother taught him: 02 What, my son? 00 And what, son of my womb? 00 And what, son of my vows? 03 Do not give your strength to women, 00 Nor your ways to that which destroys kings. 04 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, 00 It is not for kings to drink wine, 00 Nor for princes intoxicating drink; 05 Lest they drink and forget the law, 00 And pervert the justice of all the afflicted. 06...

Proverb 30 (NKJV) The Wisdom of Agur 01 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, his utterance. 00 This man declared to Ithiel--to Ithiel and Ucal: 02 Surely I am more stupid than any man, 00 And do not have the understanding of a man. 03 I neither learned wisdom 00 Nor have knowledge of the Holy One. 04 Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? 00 Who has gathered the wind in His fists? 00 Who has bound the waters in a garment? 00 Who has established all the ends of the earth? 00 What is His...

A family at the Khazair checkpoint after fleeing from Mosul, Iraq on June 11, 2014. Credit: R. Nuri UNHCR-ACNUR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 04:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have urged the U.S. government to assist Iraqi Christian victims of persecution, while France has offered asylum to Iraqi Christians who have fled Mosul. “The Islamic State has taken control of large swaths of territory in northern Iraq, leaving a trail of destruction, burning and looting ancient churches and mosques, homes and businesses,” Bishop Richard E. Pates, the U.S. bishops’ chairman of International...

You will find this guy VERY good. Talking about topics that many Christians talk about...but in the privacy of their home. These are things that we ALL NEED to talk about.

How much do I love this video? Let me count the ways... 1. She's a mom who takes stereotypes and kicks 'em to the curb. 2. The story she tells is R-E-A-L, REAL. No apologies. She's serving up realness, people. 3. "I'm a conservative Southern Baptist from Alabama." 'Nuff said. 4. I just really love it.

Concerned Women for America (CWA) was founded in 1979 by Beverly LaHaye, wife of conservative activist—and later Left Behind co-author—Tim LaHaye. Irritated by the ascendance of Betty Friedan’s National Organization for Women (NOW), LaHaye founded CWA to represent traditionalist women who balked at feminist “liberation.” Since its inception, the group has worked to bring “biblical values” to bear on the American political process, with special attention to issues of sex and gender. Over the past three decades, CWA has become a powerful political force, claiming over half a million members. Leslie Dorrough Smith is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at...

Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests. In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing. Lead researcher Doctor Simon Crouch said children raised by same-sex partners scored an average of 6 per cent higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion. . . . Ms Phillips also questioned the the objectivity of the study's lead researcher....