Free Republic

On this date in 1711, a Janissary captain in Ottoman Egypt was beheaded in Cairo as the “Great Insurrection” gave way to the last gasp of Mamluk power in Egypt. Mamluks (or Mameluks) — enslaved soldiers who had evolved into a military caste — had ruled Egypt from 1250 until absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Now nominally under the power of the sultan, Mamluks remained as beys (district governors) and were drawn into a labyrinthine political environment that boiled down to a contest for rent collection from the lucrative country. The relative power in Egypt of the Ottoman...

ZAGREB, Croatia, October 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- It is “irreformable” dogma of the Catholic Church that only those who believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the consecrated bread and wine are able to receive Holy Communion, stated Cardinal Raymond Burke. The Vatican cardinal said that St. Paul makes it clear that unless the person receiving recognizes the body of Christ, he “eats condemnation to himself.” “This is a sacrilege. This is among the gravest of sins,” he said. The cardinal was responding to a question on intercommunion with other Christian denominations asked by LifeSiteNews’ John-Henry Westen during the...

If you want to hang out with this guy (below)- Don Juan of Austria (yes, THE Don Juan), hero of Christendom, then you need to listen to the Special Presentation of the Buck Sexton Show- "THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO"- this Tuesday, October 7th-- the anniversary of the battle in 1517 that changed the world.It will be unlike any radio show you have ever heard before.All you have to do is click theblaze.com/radio at 12 ET on Tuesday. TheBlaze is a news, information and opinion site brought to you by a dedicated team of writers, journalists & video producers. Our goal...

The population is equally divided between Christian (Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Orthodox, Roman catholic and Lutheran protestants) and Muslim religions. The population of the high plateau (Asmara) is predominantly Christian, whereas that of the lowlands and the coast are predominantly Muslim. Despite contrasts between the Muslim and Christian religions and the potential for conflict, both religious groups have managed to live together in harmony and in peace. There is also a small community of Kunamas (Gash-Setit), who practice their own traditional religion, centered around worship of Anna, the creator, and veneration of ancestral heroes. The conversion of Axum to Christianity dates...

It was 494 years today that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He wanted to debate the sale of indulgences with his fellow university professors. He wrote in Latin, but a nameless visionary translated the theses into German, carried them to the printing press, and enabled their dispersion far and wide. Luther ended up with more than he bargained for, but he proved to be no coward in defending the discoveries he was making in Scripture. When the Roman church wouldn’t serve him the treat of sufficiently addressing his concerns, he was consigned to...