Free Republic

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called out the progressive left at this years CPAC after he was welcomed to CPAC with a standing ovation. Speaking at the event on Thursday, Orban accused progressive liberals of trying to silence him and attempting to keep him away from the event. “They did not want me to be here, and they made every effort to drive a wedge between us,” said Orban. “They hate me and slander me and my country as they hate you and slander you and the America you stand for. We all know how this works. Progressive liberals didn’t...

The most profound thinkers in America are conservative. There are, of course, bright liberal and leftist thinkers, but I can't think of one who approaches the depth and wisdom of the best conservative writers and thinkers. What liberal historian, for example, approaches the understanding of life and history that author Paul Johnson has exhibited in his many works of history? Who on the left matches psychiatrist/writer Theodore Dalrymple's insight into the underclass? What left-wing columnists understand human nature, the state of mankind, or contemporary America as do George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Sowell, or many of the leading columnists...

Dear Governor McCrory, With all due respect to your office and your many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I must say that I read your response to the congressional override of your veto to Senate Bill 2 with real disappointment. Are you the same man who stood so strongly against gay activism when you were the mayor of Charlotte? I remember, sir, sitting next to you at a luncheon at First Baptist Church in Charlotte in 2006 when Pastor Mark Harris commended to you my statement to the local gay and lesbian community, one in which...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States doubled down on the newly popular perspective that same-sex marriage opponents are motivated by hate and nastiness. Making little pretense at legal reasoning, the Court declared that the Defense of Marriage Act was just a government attempt to "degrade or demean" homosexuals. While the Court ultimately declined to make same-sex marriage the law of the land, it paved the groundwork for such a decision. Meanwhile, public opinion polls now suggest that a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage. Make no mistake: Same-sex marriage will be the law of the land within...

It was interesting to watch the state of Texas recently pass a law that allows anyone to say the greeting "Merry Christmas" in the state's public schools and buildings. Gov. Rick Perry signed the law saying he wished it wasn't necessary, but, in his opinion, protecting the words "Merry Christmas" has to be done because they are under fire from the freedom-from-religion crew. America has been heading down the secular road for decades, and a new Gallup poll reinforces that. When asked whether religion is losing its influence on American life, 77 percent said yes. Just 20 percent disagreed. But...

As a traditional Jew, I'm deeply concerned over the plight of the Roman Catholic Church, which I consider to be the largest and most influential repository of conservative Judeo-Christian values in America today. I believe that those of us who care about the furtherance of a moral society have a stake in the future of the church as a moral force. The American church is under siege today, not only from the usual external forces but also from the weight of its own internal contradictions. The scandal of corrupt homosexual priests violating the innocence of minors in their care is,...

A question I pose to atheists and others who argue that religion is irrelevant to moral behavior has been cited by Christopher Hitchens in his national best seller, "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." And Hitchens's citation has been widely quoted -- from the New Yorker to the website of the Oxford evolutionist and best-selling atheist author Richard Dawkins. This is how the story appears in Hitchens's book: "A week before the events of September 11, 2001, I was on a panel with Dennis Prager, who is one of America's better-known religious broadcasters. He challenged me in public...

It is almost impossible to overstate how radically different Old Testament thought was from the thought of the rest of its contemporary world. And it continues to be, given how few societies affirm Judeo-Christian values and how much opposition to them exists in American society, the society that has most incorporated these values. Among the most radical of these differences was the incredible declaration that God is outside of nature and is its creator. In every society on earth, people venerated nature and worshipped nature gods. There were gods of thunder and gods of rain. Mountains were worshipped, as were...

Ask believing Christians -- probably from as young as 8 years of age -- what their mission as Christians is, and it is overwhelmingly likely they will answer, "to bring people to Christ" or "spread the Gospel." Ask any non-Christian what the Christian mission is, and you will get the same answer. Just about everyone, Christian or non-Christian, knows the Christian mission. Now ask any Jew, religious or secular, "What is the Jewish mission?" and the most likely response will be: "What do you mean?" Most religious Jews rarely talk about a Jewish mission. Rather, they are preoccupied with survival:...