Free Republic

If the Left is truly interested in cleansing religion from the public square — in separating church and state — it should positively loathe John Kasich. After all, Kasich is no less religious than Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, two "anti-intellectual wingnuts" the Left loves to hate. And he's no less ashamed to bring faith into the political arena. In an interview with Morning Joe earlier today, Kasich credited his Saturday debate performance to a walk with God: Want me to tell you what I did? Before I went to the debate -- we didn't do a lot of preparation....

“If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism…The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.” – Ronald Reagan We’re entering an unusual time in politics. It used to be conservatism versus liberalism; that was the standard by which everything was judged. There was little to no nuance within the two groups. I’m not saying that was incorrect. For the time, it was perfectly appropriate. Now, however, we’ve become a less...

Rick Santorum has been called a latter-day Savonarola. That’s far too grand. He’s more like a small-town mullah. “Satan has his sights on the United States of America,” the conservative presidential candidate warned in 2008. “Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition.” When, in heaven’s name, did sensuality become a vice? Next he’ll be banning Barry White. Santorum is not merely engaged in a culture war, but “a spiritual war,” as...

I rarely find myself disagreeing with Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, but I think he's obscuring his own point in the column he wrote for the New York Post over the weekend. In his article, entitled, “Misconception,” he argues that “Republicans should stop fighting against birth control and start battling government control instead.” I don't know whether he's not listening to the same people I am, or he's just not listening. Every Republican I have heard speak - and I mean every single one - has made it perfectly clear they don't give a damn whether anyone uses contraception....

TULSA, Okla.—Rick Santorum stirs his ever-growing crowds when he promises to right a country awash in "immoral debt" and to replace an administration he argues has "callousness toward life and family and faith." Of the GOP presidential hopefuls, Santorum is the most public and emphatic about his faith, drawing on his Catholicism and deeply held views on social issues as the foundation of his message. It serves to solidify his standing among religiously motivated voters -- and subtly remind them of lingering reservations of opponent Mitt Romney's spiritual background. The former Pennsylvania senator found a receptive audience Friday in Washington,...

Bachmann signs "values" pledge to oppose same-sex marriage, Sharia law, pornography By Stephanie Condon Social conservative presidential candidate Michele Bachmann ups the ante in Iowa by signing a "values" pledge that other Republican presidential candidates may not support Socially-conservative GOP presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has become the first candidate to sign a conservative Christian group's pledge to oppose same-sex marriage and uphold "core values." Bachmann's commitment to the pledge ups the ante in Iowa, where the other Republican candidates may now be pressed harder to prove their social conservative credentials. The support of groups like Family Leader,...

". . .Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Luke 12:56)      In last week's commentary I wrote about the recent onslaught of accusations being leveled in print against evangelical and charismatic Christians to the effect that we are really trying to turn America into a theocracy---that tyrannical right-wing Christians want to systematically dismantle democratic institutions and usher in an American facism.  As laughable as this may seem to most of us, these authors are deadly in earnest in pressing their attacks.  Unfortunately, just as some folks took seriously the absurd fictions of the Da Vinci Code, people are reading these books.  I...

MONTGOMERY, Ala.--Most politicians would kill for--or spend millions of dollars to acquire--the name recognition Roy Moore has in Alabama. Not necessarily the kind of name recognition, mind you. Just the level. That's because here, and across the country, he's known not just as Roy Moore, but as "Roy Moore, Ten Commandments Judge"--the Southern Baptist-cum-chief justice of Alabama who defied a federal court order to remove his 2 1/2-ton monument to the Commandments from the state courthouse, and lost his job as a result. It's a moniker that wins him automatic support in some quarters, and deafens ears before he even...

estern Area Republican Club of Jefferson County, Alabama ******Judge Roy Moore to be our next speaker ****** Candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, the Honorable Roy Moore, will be our speaker at our January 16th, 2006 meeting at 11:30 A.M., at the Home Plate Diner, 2780 Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive in Hueytown. Visitors are welcome, and no reservations are needed. This is an opportunity to meet and hear Judge Moore, and to buy the book "So Help Me God" and have it autographed for you. There will be no other form of fund-raising at this meeting.We will have an...

WASHINGTON -- As Republican strategists weigh the party's prospects for 2006 and 2008, they are increasingly worried about a political confrontation with Roy S. Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who became a hero to religious conservatives when he refused to follow a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state's judicial building.

To reach the state of Kentucky's placement of the 10 Commandment in a state courthouse, the Court has to first hold that the 14th Amendment made the First Amendment applicable to the states (remember that it says "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion") Did the 14th Amendment make the 1st Amendment applicable against the states? Well, that's what the Supreme Court has said since 1947...but its a lie We know its a lie because, in 1875 (only 7 years after it passed the 14th Amendment), the Congress debated adding another amendment (known as the Blaine...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Some people see nothing wrong with it, while others say it's immoral. But the question in North Carolina is: Should shacking up be illegal? The ACLU is suing to overturn a North Carolina ban on cohabitation. In all, seven states have such laws. The case centers on a woman who says she was forced to quit her job as a sheriff's dispatcher for refusing to marry her live-in boyfriend. The ACLU points to a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down an anti-sodomy law. The organization says that ruling protects consensual sex between adults. Supporters of the...