Free Republic

A top commander in southwest Asia reminded U.S military personnel stationed in Muslim countries in the Middle East of the restrictions placed on them during Ramadan. According to a report by the U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs, Brig. Gen. John Quintas, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing commander in Southwest Asia, said that the U.S. is "committed to the concepts of tolerance, freedom and diversity." But he added that soldiers should "become more informed and appreciative of the traditions and history of the people in this region of the world... [R]emember we are guests here and that the host nation...

Sometimes, religious accommodation is hard. Reasonable people will disagree. Is it an affront to secular society to allow a Muslim congregation to organize Friday prayers in a public school cafeteria? Or is it simply a practical way of minimizing disruption to the school day? Kirpans in schools? Public servants in niqabs? The Lord’s Prayer at city council? Hmm, well on the one hand, but on the other hand … Sometimes, though, religious accommodation is not complicated. Sometimes you don’t even need those two words. Sometimes it’s just a soccer team refusing to play another soccer team. That’s what CityNews reports...

At a reception at the State Department that marked the U.S. taking over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, Secretary of State John Kerry said that if Benjamin Franklin lived today and was nominated for office he would never be confirmed. […] “(T)here is, of course, a second connection between Franklin and this reception,” Kerry said. “And that is that he liked to have a really good time, folks. And he didn’t spare the booze, and while he was in Paris he led a life that clearly meant that had he lived today and been nominated, he would never have...

Paternal grandmother of U.S. President Barack Obama attended an exhibition detailing the life of the Prophet Mohammad at the end of a pilgrimage in the Saudi city of Makkah, local media reported Wednesday. Sara Omar, who is in her 90s, arrived in Makkah - considered in Islam to be the holiest city - with her son and grandson Saeed and Mousa Obama. Unlike the Hajj pilgrimage - a trip to the cities of Makkah and Madinah which every able-bodied Muslim is expected to undertake at least once in their lifetime - Umrah can be undertaken at any time of the...

According to tweet by participants in the recent White House Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Summit, Vice President Joe Biden spoke about violent extremism carried out “in the name of the Bible.”

The suburban Chicago mother of a 19-year-old American facing a terrorist charge for trying to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants accused the group on Tuesday of brainwashing youths into joining their ranks via social media. And she declared, "Leave our children alone!" Mohammed Hamzah Khan's mother cried softly as she read her statement....

A weekly call to prayer for Muslims will be heard at Duke University starting Friday, school officials said. Members of the Duke Muslim Students Association will chant the call, known as adhan or azan, from the Duke Chapel bell tower each Friday at 1 p.m. The call to prayer will last about three minutes and be “moderately amplified,” officials said in a statement Tuesday. “The adhan is the call to prayer that brings Muslims back to their purpose in life, which is to worship God, and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity,” said Imam...

If anyone’s to blame for the execution-style murder of a dozen people at a French satirical magazine, the Catholic League’s president says it’s the paper's slain publisher. In a stunning article titled ’Muslims Are Right to be Angry,” Bill Donohue blasted Charlie Hebdo’s “intolerance” for repeatedly depicting and insulting religious figures which he said provoked Wednesday's mass shooting at their Paris office. Donohue, whose New York City-based conservative organization is not part of the Catholic Church, said “it is too bad” that Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stephane Charbonnier, “didn't understand the role he played in his tragic death.” …

In July of 1870, King Wilhelm sent Foreign Minister Bismarck an account of his meeting with a French envoy who had demanded that the king renounce any Hohenzollern claim to the Spanish throne. Bismarck edited the report to make it appear the Frenchman had insulted the king, and that Wilhelm rudely dismissed him. The Ems Telegram precipitated the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck wanted. Words matter. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much greater impact can a motion picture have? We are finding out. Egypt has banned "Exodus: Gods and Kings," the $140 million 20th Century Fox biblical...

Bishop Theodosios Hanna of the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate reading the anti-Israel Kairos Declaration with Irish Bishop Noel Treanor. Photo: Twitter A new report from Israeli watchdog NGO Monitor has exposed disturbing levels of anti-Israel hatred in the Christmas messages and appeals promoted by radical Christian groups dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Come All Ye Haters: NGO Exploitation of Religious Themes to Demonize Israel” reveals that “at the height of the holiday season, NGOs, well-known charities, and church groups once again are exploiting Christmas to conduct political warfare against Israel.” According to NGO Monitor – which tracks both the statements and...

Moscow, December 15, Interfax - The Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS) has announced the creation of a White Book on crimes against Christians in the Middle East, which will be presented at the United Nations Human Rights Council in February 2015. "We are working to compile the so-called White Book, containing a sorrowful list of names of the slain and tortured Christians, instances of churches and shrines being destroyed, and eyewitness accounts. We would like to present this book at the UN HRC at its next session in late February - early March," IOPS Vice President Yelena Agapova told a...

Christmas and Easter have been stricken from next year’s school calendar in Montgomery County. So have Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. Montgomery’s Board of Education voted 7 to 1 Tuesday to eliminate references to all religious holidays on the published calendar for 2015-2016, a decision that followed a request from Muslim community leaders to give equal billing to the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha.

A Muslim filmmaker, Omar Albach, tried to produce a documentary on “islamophobia” as a jihad murder victim was about to be laid to rest, but his ruse got a punch in the nose — literally. The filmmaker was looking to capture a “gotcha” moment in the wake of not one but two bloody jihad attacks in as many days in Canada last week — but he was the one who got gotcha’ed. The Muslim filmmaker went to Hamilton, the hometown of Corporal Cirillo and the emotional scene of his funeral procession, led by his five-year-old son Marco. Yes, the hometown...

The father of a La Plata High School student has been barred from the school grounds after officials said he threatened to disrupt the school environment. Kevin Wood was issued a no-trespass order last week after a telephone call with La Plata High Vice Principal Shannon Morris on Thursday. Wood called to air complaints regarding his daughter’s world history assignment that asked students to examine elements of the Islamic religion. Morris and La Plata High Principal Evelyn Arnold reported to the Charles County Public Schools central office that Wood in his phone call had threatened to upset the school environment...

Denmark is a tiny country half the size of Maine. Why should we care about what happens there?Because it foreshadows our future. And without a major course correction, the picture is bleak. First and foremost, Denmark (like most European countries) has allowed Muslim immigration to swell as the nation has embraced multiculturalism and dhimmitude. The country is paying a heavy price for its shortsightedness. Muslims comprise just under 5% of the population of Denmark. Five percent may not sound like a lot, but it doesn’t take a lot to wreak havoc on a nation. Per a series of Gatestone Institute...

Last night at an immigration activist dinner in Washington DC Obama took his shameless pandering and tenuous hold on reality to new despicable depths. Speaking before the mostly Latino crowd, the President actually said his best definition of an American is someone who enters this country illegally and leaches off the hard work of others. Obama got the crowd warmed up by speaking a little Spanish and telling them he rode to the event with two illegal aliens in his limo. Amid the current Secret Service scandal, you have to wonder how illegal aliens get vetted so they can party...

Left-wing Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has acknowledged that one of its staffers called the Holocaust “a lie,” weeks after denying the charge and standing by the employee. The organization initially defended the staffer, research associate Atef Abu-Alrub, telling the Washington Free Beacon that he was simply translating the words of another Palestinian who questioned the Holocaust, not voicing his own personal views. But newly released video showed that Abu-Alrub did deny the Holocaust, B’Tselem acknowledged on Sunday.

In a segment that was tone-deaf, tasteless, disrespectful to the victims and their families, and inappropriate to the gravity of the situation, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry briefly discussed Muslim-related topics including the recent Moore, Oklahoma beheading with a pair of Muslim panelists on Saturday. As you might expect, their chief concern was not the implications of the crime itself, but the specter of anti-Muslim bigotry. “I would be remiss not to bring up the story out of Oklahoma,” Harris-Perry began, inadvertently revealing her reluctance to address a news item that might make Muslims look bad. “It is a story I...

In the Muslim faith, dogs are deemed to be spiritually ‘unclean’. So naturally, muslims are wanting to ban dogs from being a part of airport security, even though doing so would severely restrict their ability to do their job. This report was brought by the Transport Department and claimed that it would be more acceptable if the dogs would not touch the passengers’ luggage. The report also said that the use of full body scans are inappropriate and just an alternative to having people strip searched. Regardless of what you think about those methods of national security, keep in mind...

Prince Harry will soon celebrate his 30th birthday and rumours of the British royal's romantic link-ups keep surfacing after his high profile break-up with Cressida Bonas. The young royal, who will inherit millions of pounds left for him by his late mother Princess Diana when he turns 30, was spotted getting close to Enayat Younes, an Egyptian heiress, Cairoscene reported.