Free Republic

A common criticism of the Catholic Church’s teachings on sexual morality has to do with the largely unmarried clergy who are charged with preaching the message.  The accepted wisdom is that celibate males have no business telling married couples how to live their lives: “What do they know about the subject?”   I remember a particularly egregious example. In 1974, Earl Butz, then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, ridiculed Pope Paul VI’s opposition to contraception, “He no playa the game, he no maka the rules.” He later apologized, but in reality he was only saying publicly what many, including many Catholics, were saying...

In an interview with KABC radio last week, Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA) offered the liberal world view of globalism before nationalism last week during an interview about the on-going crisis in Iraq. Hahn said she was "kind of uncomfortable" with the concept that the United States could claim any moral authority in using military action. "I'm kind of uncomfortable with, you know, with the United States feeling that we do have some moral authority to go into these other countries and use military power to solve problems," the California lawmaker said. Hahn also invoked the United Nations as a basis...

Calvin, Aquinas and a Whopper with Cheese "Be Your Way!" The new slogan sums up the philosophy that drives our public debate on morality “Have It Your Way!” You’ve heard it thousands of times. That’s because Burger King has been drumming it into our heads for forty years. But you’re not going to hear it any more. Burger King no longer wants you to “Have It Your Way!” That’s not good enough for you. From now on, “Be Your Way!” According to Associated Press, Burger King wants to communicate that customers, “can and should live how they want anytime. It’s...

The American public has become more tolerant on a number of moral issues, including premarital sex, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia. On a list of 19 major moral issues of the day, Americans express levels of moral acceptance that are as high or higher than in the past on 12 of them, a group that also encompasses social mores such as polygamy, having a child out of wedlock, and divorce.

More Americans continue to identify themselves as conservatives than as liberals on economic and social matters. However, the conservative advantage on each dimension is shrinking from higher points in recent years, down to 21 points on economic policy and four points on social policy.

Can you tell the difference? The original reason many supported abortion, was because of rape or incest. Forty years later less than 1 percent of the more than 1 million abortions in the US, occur because of rape or incest. Please tell me what the child did to deserve death in those two circumstances, because as far as God is concerned, to support abortion under any circumstance is still murder. Around the world there has been more than 1.5 BILLION babies have been aborted worldwide in the past 50 years. An estimated 50 million abortions are carried out throughout...

...and killed by jealous love rival who accused him of having affair with his partner * Dominque Leboucher, 55, was attacked with a knife inside his home * Alleged killer then ran outside and committed suicide in a nearby field * Police are investigating claims newly-elected mayor was having affair * They believe he may have been sleeping with the wife of a constituent

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis’ city leaders were already gathered last night for an LGBT equality fundraiser, which turned suddenly into a celebration of the hometown Rams’ decision to draft the out gay defensive star Michael Sam in Saturday night’s NFL draft. Sam will be “received with open arms by the city of St. Louis, no question about it,” Mayor Francis Slay, among those gathered for the fundraiser, told BuzzFeed.

What is wrong with you people? Seriously. A Black Mass was to be celebrated at Harvard. “The event, organized by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club and the New York-based Satanic Temple,” writes FoxNews, “is to take place at an on-campus bar and is being billed as part of a ‘larger effort to explore the religious facets’ that influence contemporary culture, organizers from the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club say. The ceremony has traditionally been performed by satanic cults to parody the Catholic Church, and officials at the Archdiocese of Boston are furious that such an event could be held...

Wednesday, May 07, 2014 Kicking Cats and Killing Kids Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog We live in a highly moral society. And we know this is true because our guardians of public morality, our politicians, professors and professional entertainers remind us of this at every possible occasion. Just like the guardians of public morality in Iran, China and Pakistan assure their people that they are the very best and most moral people in the world. Once upon a time we used to have benchmarks for that sort of thing. We were the best people in the...

I n a recent column, I explored some obstacles to the embrace of religious faith among young people today, paying special attention to the gulf between the often simplistic way that traditional churches talk about God and the pluralistic complexity of modern life. Here's another obstacle: The overly literalistic character of so much of American piety. My favorite example is the way that many American Christians think and talk about hell. Jumping off from a handful of Gospel passages in which Jesus Christ speaks about "eternal punishment" for sinners in the afterlife, these believers conjure visions of a cosmic torture...

I feel sorry for homosexuals because they are afflicted with a birth defect they seem unable to understand. However, I'm tired of them and their supporters harassing those who don't accept their peculiar social views. A growing body of scientific research indicates that homosexuals are born with the brain of one sex and the body of the other. A homosexual male's brain is similar to a heterosexual female's brain. A homosexual female's brain is similar to a heterosexual male's brain. In other words the people who think they are homosexuals are really transsexuals. Thus, homosexuality might be treatable with a...

The Christian organization Focus on the Family is releasing a movie in theaters May 6 called “Irreplaceable” about the value of traditional families, the importance of fathers being engaged in their children’s lives and the healing power of forgiveness. But apparently to some advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, community, that’s a cardinal sin. LGBT advocates have launched an effort to disparage the movie online, petition against it and work to make sure “Irreplaceable” isn’t seen in your local theater. Focus President Jim Daly reports in a blog post that some of the more than 700...

In regard to widespread disdain for the Middle Ages, C. S. Lewis felt that many modern people suffer from a kind of “chronological snobbery” and that “the modern conception of Progress ... is simply a myth, supported by no evidence whatever.” Certainly many minds smugly assume our world’s moral superiority to that of people in the past. That assumption merits some close critical scrutiny. This claim probably does not rest on an improvement in the numbers of deaths in war and genocide. Many millions died in past atrocities such as the Mongol invasions of Asia and Europe and the Muslim...

Regular readers of my column know that I usually don’t use the words “conservative” and “liberal.” Why is that? Because those words in today’s lingo—like the words “love” and “democracy”—can mean almost anything you want. Unlike past times when precision in meanings was important, we have now produced a generation that no longer understands the historic or political meaning of those words. Within the population of the confused, however, my greatest disappointment is held for those who describe themselves as economically conservative, but socially liberal. But do they even know what that means? On the economics side, this is what...

I don't have to explain to anyone how television is much more risque, with some programs being downright lewd, than it was decades ago. But I want to tell you about something that can change the course of values in television and movies. Once upon a time, about as edgy as it got was Barbara Eden's "I Dream of Jeannie" character, who showed her trim tummy, and Elvis swinging his pelvis on "The Ed Sullivan Show" -- though the broadcast screen only captured the upper half of his body as he did. Today, of course, we've got everything from Miley...

The game of chess is never going to rival soccer or the NFL for popularity. Five hours of watching two players sitting in chairs thinking deep thoughts doesn’t seem like much widespread viewing potential. It is remarkable, then, that this month chess is enjoying global enthusiasm and popularity like it hasn’t since Garry Kasparov played IBM’s computer “Deep Blue” in the 1990s or, even further back, the electrifying performance of Bobby Fischer against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, 1972. If you’re an average American, you probably don’t know anything about any of it, so I want to take the opportunity to...

Jenelle Evans, 22, had an abortion this year. Originally featured on MTV four years ago as a pregnant teenager, Evans, who loves to party, had a son, gave the son to her mother to raise, got into heroin, got married and went to jail; her husband ended up in jail as well on drug charges. They got divorced. He didn't know that Evans was pregnant. She got an abortion. He found out about it on the commercials for "Teen Mom 2." Now she's pregnant again. With a third guy. Who may or may not be seeing another woman on the...

Now it all makes sense. This week I heard Glenn Beck on his radio show, talking about his pro-gay stance. I could never figure out why Glenn Beck and his organization, his Mike Opelka, and his Donelly of the 9`12-ers, had been cold to me, in some cases downright mean. It’s the gay thing!! So many divisions in the conservative movement! He said Donelly ran a gay parade! No wonder why she never returned my call. I publicly said there should not be homosexual themes on primetime TV shows like Glee where innocent children are watching and thus being indoctrinated...

Yes and no. As I have argued here, there are some fine reasons why Christians should be a constant presence at their local abortion mill. It is true that different believers, even different churches have different callings. Trouble is, too often we “feel called” to that which is most comfortable, most respectable. If there are ten churches within a five mile radius of the local mill, and everyone of them supports Bible study programs for successful businessmen something is wrong. Just remember that both the priest and the Levite had some thriving ministries to get to back in Jerusalem...