Free Republic

FULL TITLE: Outrage at friar's claims that it is often the teenage boys who seduce priests in religious sex abuse cases... and he calls Sandusky 'a poor guy' A friar has sparked outrage after claiming it is often the boys who seduce priests in religious sexual abuse cases. In an interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Benedict Groeschel of the conservative Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said he did not believe a priest found guilty of sexual absuse should go to jail if it was his first offence. He even went on to describe disgraced Penn State football coach...

The University of Texas at Austin announced Wednesday that a sociologist who has been excoriated by some in the media over a study showing that parents’ homosexual relationships can have negative effects on children is innocent of academic misconduct Dr. Mark Regnerus made headlines in June, when his study was published in the widely respected journal Social Science Research. According to his findings, children raised by homosexual parents are more likely than those raised by married heterosexual parents to suffer from poor impulse control, depression and suicidal thoughts, require mental health therapy; identify themselves as homosexual; choose cohabitation; be unfaithful...

On Tuesday night in Ybor City, the Republican group GOProud — a national organization of gay and straight Americans seeking to promote freedom by supporting free markets, limited government and a respect for individual rights — held a well-attended party at a nightclub. . . If the Republican Party gets trapped into talking about what I call the "I-GAG" issues of immigration, guns, abortion or gays, the Romney-Ryan ticket will lose in November. . . Nominees and party leaders frequently give a wink and a nod to acknowledge the platform is nothing but a tool to appease the far-right from...

Larry Elder flays 'Obama-embracing/Republican-hating left-wing 'journalists'' Abortion, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, fails to make the cut among the top 10 issues important to voters. Yet, because of the GOP opposition to abortion, the mainscream media insist that Republicans suffer from a voter “gender gap,” with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney down 8 percentage points among women. Fifty percent of men support Romney, but only 42 percent of women do so. Funny, just two years ago in the 2010 off-year elections, Republicans took the female vote for the first time in nearly 30 years. There are big differences in...

A bill prohibiting the use of controversial therapy aimed at 'curing' homosexuality on gay teenagers has been approved by California's Assembly, bringing the state a step closer to becoming the first in the U.S. to outlaw the practice. The vote in the Democratic-controlled Assembly on Tuesday represented a major victory for gay rights advocates who insist that so-called conversion therapy has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder. Democrat Richardo Lara, one of several openly gay legislators to champion the bill during the debate, urged Assembly members to stand with 'sissy boys'.

Controversy has been sparked as the first civil union between three separate partners was registered in Tupã, in the Northwestern region of Sao Paulo state, Brazil last week. The three-person union has shocked religious groups in the country, and sparked further concerns that the traditional family unit is being further eroded by the current day society. The actual declaration of the union between the man and two women was in fact made three months ago, but it finally became public this week. Notary officer, Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, has explained that the three partners lived together and wanted to publicly...

Exclusive: Jane M. Orient, M.D., says political demagoguery is replacing science “From what I understand from doctors, that’s (conception as a result of rape) really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.” – Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. All decent people, including U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, agree that forcible rape is a heinous crime. Almost all would...

A notary in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has sparked controversy by accepting a civil union between three people. Public Notary Claudia do Nascimento Domingues has said the man and two women should be entitled to family rights. She says there is nothing in law to prevent such an arrangement. But the move has angered some religious groups, while one lawyer described it as "absurd and totally illegal". The three individuals, who have declined to speak to the press, have lived in Rio de Janeiro together for three years and share bills and other expenses. Ms Domingues says they...

27 August, 12 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The fuzzy grayscale ultrasound images of the two unborn babies are practically identical. But the jarring question above the images makes everyone take a second look: “Which of these two human beings was conceived in rape?” The viewer is compelled to say: “I can’t tell, they both look the same.” And that’s exactly the point. Whether a baby is conceived in the terrible circumstance of rape or in the happy circumstance of a loving spousal embrace, the fact remains that both are human beings. Both, if given a chance, will flourish by being loved,...

The Republican Party’s platform committee declared war on pornography ahead of this week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. In a Monday morning press release, advocacy group Morality in Media revealed that “new language replaces previous platform wording, which only opposed child pornography.” According to MIM, the new wording will read, “Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced.” The party platform was drafted by a 112-member committee and will be unveiled early this week. Existing obscenity laws “not only prohibit distribution of hardcore pornography on the Internet but also on hotel/motel TV, on...

<p>The Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday, Aug. 27, rejected a legal challenge to a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to show photo ID at the polls.</p> <p>The high court tossed out a lawsuit from left-leaning groups who argued that lawmakers had failed to give voters the full scope of the changes that would result from the amendment.</p>

The biggest abortion business in the nation is prepared to spend heavily to ensure the hundreds of millions it receives in federal funding continues, by launching an aggressive attack on presidential candidate Mitt Romney.The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political arm of the company that does more than 300,000 abortions annually and has endorsed Obama, plans to spend more than $3 million to target voters in the battleground states of Ohio and Virginia with ads bashing Romney for wanting to cut its taxpayer funding. The $3.2 million campaign will feature everything from online ads to old-fashioned door to door politics.“We...

A university study shows that girls as young as six are being conditioned by the media to think of themselves as sex objects. While past studies have found that teens and young women increasingly see themselves in such terms, the study, published last month in the journal Sex Roles, is the first to identify self-sexualization in early elementary-school-aged girls. The study was conducted by psychologists at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, who used paper dolls to determine the level of “self-sexualization” in girls ages six to nine. A total of 60 girls were shown two dolls, one dressed in tight...

Iran has experienced a dramatic growth in under-age marriages that has seen the number of girls being wed before the age of 10 double in the space of a year, officially-compiled figures have revealed. The trend has prompted child protection experts to warn of a surge in mental illness, suicides, teenage runaways and girls turning to prostitution as the nuptials frequently end in divorce. While both genders are affected, statistics from the state-run civil registration organisation show the phenomenon to be more prevalent among girls. Some families are said to be marrying off their daughters to older men to pay...

Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund plans to spend more than $3 million in Ohio and Virginia against Mitt Romney in the wake of his pledge to “get rid” of the women’s health advocacy group. The group is one of several liberal-leaning women’s organizations planning to spend millions of dollars in crucial election states to swing undecided female voters toward President Obama. Joining them are NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List, two abortion-rights groups who are also planning aggressive campaigns. Their message is in line with Obama’s increased courtship of female voters. Several women will address the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte....

A brand new CNN survey shows a supermajority of Americans want abortions proscribed in all or most circumstances (via LifeNews): The survey asked: “Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under only certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?” Some 62 percent want abortions illegal in all cases or legal only in certain instances while just 35% want abortions legal for any reason. Breaking down the question further, CNN asked, “Do you think abortion should be legal in most circumstances or only a few circumstances?” Here, 52 percent took a pro-life view saying abortion should be...

WASHINGTON, D.C., AUG. 22, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Primum non nocere. First do no harm. This edict has been part of medical ethics since the time of the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, in the fifth century B.C.  It is found in the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of medical writing attributed to Hippocrates. The original Hippocratic oath includes: I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. For millennia the physician has been charged with being an advocate for the patient. Part of the impetus for the...

Embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin just told reporters in Chesterfield that he is staying in the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. Akin repeated the kinds of statements he'd made previously to national media, asserting that he's never had the support of the Republican party establishment anyway. [...]

Did Obama vote in favor infanticide? Pro-life activists have long made the argument that he did, and that a conspiracy of silence from the mainstream media is the only thing that has prevented Americans from knowing the full extent of Obama’s extreme views on the abortion issue. Now, newly unearthed audio from 2002 shows Barack Obama, then a state senator in Illinois, discussing the bill that has elicited charges that he voted to allow “infanticide”: the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA). The bill was introduced after pro-life nurse Jill Stanek witnessed babies being born alive after failed abortions, then...

Rebecca Julius sent me the following letter and gave me permission to share it with you. Rebecca is a student at an ELCA college. I praise God for Rebecca and pray God will raise up faithful men and women to stand up with her. In first Corinthians 5, Paul writes to God's people concerning sexual immorality, and chastises them for their pride and boasting over something evil. He talks about judgement - not hating or being hypocritical, but keeping those who profess Christ's name accountable to their faith and fellowship. Too often today, Christians that oppose homosexuality and same-sex marriage...