Free Republic

Scouts among us The California Supreme Court is considering a measure to prohibit state judges from being members of the Boy Scouts of America because the Boy Scouts discriminate against homosexuals. This sorry saga began in July, when San Francisco Superior Court judges voted unanimously to bar judges from being Scout members. The vote had no force, however, because only the state Supreme Court can change the Code of Judicial Ethics. Later, the Santa Clara Bar Association climbed aboard, and the Los Angeles Bar asked the California Supreme Court to support the S.F. rule. The Scout-bashers have one leg to...

10/06/02 - Posted 11:15:27 PM from the Daily Record newsroom Ex-Delbarton monk accused of sex abuse By Abbott Koloff, Daily Record By all appearances, Bob Sheridan had everything going for him. He was a former lacrosse and soccer star at the Delbarton School and worked part time as coach of the varsity indoor lacrosse team. He had a good job as a salesman for a large insurance company. He was active raising money for his alma mater. His résumé includes an induction into the prestigious Delbarton Hall of Honor. He also had a secret. In 1992, at a Delbarton football...

PHILADELPHIA -- Abortion rights advocates are urging courts to immediately overturn a judge's unusual decision to temporarily bar a woman from ending her pregnancy. The order came in a lawsuit filed by a man who is seeking to force former girlfriend Tanya Meyers to carry her pregnancy to term. John Stachokus says he is willing to take full or partial custody of the child and claims in his suit that Meyers is being pressured by her mother to have the procedure. Lawyers representing Meyers called the order "a miscarriage of justice," while abortion opponents and father's rights groups praised it,...

A new law is expected to unleash a flood of litigation against the L.A. Archdiocese by victims of priestly sex abuse. By Ron Russell More storm clouds are gathering for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony. Police are investigating at least 72 of his current and former priests for child molestation. New accusers surface almost daily. Despite fierce resistance, a grand jury has forced him to turn over records related to three accused clerics. More subpoenas appear inevitable. L.A. County district attorney Steve Cooley says he will pursue the sex-abuse scandal afflicting the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese wherever it leads, even...

Sam and Bethany Torode oppose contraception. They say it interferes with the "one flesh" nature of marriage declared in the Bible. No one can accuse the Torodes of failing to practice what they preach. Their son Gideon was born almost exactly nine months after their November 2000 wedding. "We don't waste any time," says Mr. Torode, 26, of South Wayne, Wis. He and his 21-year-old wife are expecting their second child in February. The Catholic Church condemns contraception as "intrinsically evil," but the Torodes are not Catholic. They are part of a new generation of young Protestants who disdain birth...

Losing the Ties That Bind Paul Craig Roberts July 13, 2002 Whatever became of marriage? Cultural conservatives blame the decline of marriage on the sexual revolution, which destroyed the chastity of women. Men don't marry, say the conservatives, because sex is available outside marriage. There is, of course, something to this view, but it is hardly the whole story. Sex has always been available outside marriage. Call girls are cheaper than wives, and a prostitute costs no more than a date. Men married for love, children and family. They would still do so, only the culture – and women –...

I have taken the proverbial path less chosen. Raised a conservative Baptist, yea, even by some lights a fundamentalist, I church-hopped my way through most all the flavors of evangelicalism before doing the unthinkable. I swam the Tiber at Easter of my 35th year. Why did this former Ryrie Bible-toting young man become a middle-aged Roman Catholic? I have often said "The Church Fathers made me do it." I have also stated, many times, that the moral leadership and firm reasoning of John Paul II made me do it. If you have ears to hear, even the Scriptures themselves made...