Free Republic

ISLAM'S DOCTRINES OF DECEPTION by Raymond Ibrahim Jane's Islamic Affairs Analyst October 2008 To better understand Islam, one must appreciate the thoroughly legalistic nature of the religion. According to sharia (Islamic law) every conceivable human act is categorised as being either forbidden, discouraged, permissible, recommended, or obligatory. "Common sense" or "universal opinion" has little to do with Islam's notions of right and wrong. Only what Allah (through the Quran) and his prophet Muhammad (through the Hadith) have to say about any given issue matters; and how Islam's greatest theologians and jurists – collectively known as the ulema, literally, "they who...

Only What You Do For Christ Will Last – A Meditation on the Poverty of this World’s Riches Msgr. Charles Pope • September 10, 2015 • In fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel we find the following saying of the Lord:To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away (Mk 4:25).The rich get richer? To one who reads this text from a worldly perspective, it might seem that the Lord is saying, in some fatalistic sense, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But...

What Does Remnant Theology Have to Teach us About the Church Today? Msgr. Charles Pope • September 9, 2015 • Recently on the blog we examined a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center that reported a decrease in the number of Catholics in America. The good news is that as many as 45% of Americans indicated some affiliation with Catholicism. That does not mean that they are all Catholics. Sometimes it means that they have a Catholic spouse or were once Catholic themselves but have fallen away, etc. What does remain sadly and soberly true is that only 20-25%...

Five Qualities Necessary for an Evangelizer – from St. Paul Msgr. Charles Pope • September 8, 2015 • St. Paul describes a kind of modus vivendi (a way of living) for himself and for us; the passage was read at Mass on Monday. It has a dynamic urgency about it that we ought not to overlook.It is Christ whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me (Col 1:28-29).As with many biblical texts,...

Rosh Hashana is coming up. "Head of the year" But what makes it the head, the "first" day of the year. Especially perplexing since in Jewish tradition, it is celebrated on the 6th day of creation, the day Adam was formed, gained knowledge of himself and his Creator-- and "coronated" Him as his King. This was Rosh Hashana. ...It follows then, that now, today, 5 days prior to Rosh Hashana, would be the first day of creation. Therefore: Happy Let There Be Light day!

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. TS Eliot, The Hollow Men To any thinking person, the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of “refugees” from Africa, and the horrors of the Syrian civil war, spilling out onto the shores of Italy, and forcing themselves over the barriers erected in Hungary is both heartbreaking and ominous. Who wouldn’t be moved at the plight of frightened women and children packed into rust ships, desperate to get away from the wanton slaughter...

For quite some time now I have stated that the same arguments that have been used in support of consensual gay marriage can also be used in support of consensual polygamy. With that in mind, I am also one of the few who has argued for some time now (long before Kim Davis appeared on the scene) against the dangers of religious sectarianism (i.e. pre-Cromwell RC times in Europe and also Cromwell using God's authority to close down the theaters, etcetera) and that the citing of scriptures in opposition to gay marriage can lead to or at least open the...

Titles and Descriptions of Satan from the Rite of Exorcism and What They Have to Teach Us Msgr. Charles Pope • September 7, 2015 • In the realm of demonology there is a cautious balance to maintain. Sadly, an exorcist must usually inflict pain upon demons in order to drive them out. This is done through the prayers of the Rite of Exorcism and through other things recommended by the rite such as the use of holy water, the use of relics, the touch of a stole, and the use of the Holy Cross.And yet the exorcist must be careful...

“Vast majority of U.S. Catholics who left the church can’t imagine returning, study says.” Hmm … Not So Fast – A Reflection on a Recent Survey Msgr. Charles Pope • September 6, 2015 • A recent article in the Washington Post (by Abby Ohlheiser) analyzes a 2015 Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Catholics and family life, which was conducted this spring among a national sample of more than 5,000 adults. As with all polls and their interpretation, there is a time for reflection but also critique. For indeed, even the title of the article indicates a rather bold, and...

Archbishop Charles J Scicluna and Imam Mohamed El Sadi this evening jointly took part in a wreath laying ceremony to mark the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege in Valletta. They addressed the distinguished guests at the foot of the Great Siege Monument in Republic Street and laid flowers along with, among others, the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Imam, who was the first to deliver his speech, underscored that in any religion, there is no war that is 'holy' and the only outcome of war is destruction and death. Mgr Scicluna said the...

Archdiocese of Washington The Lord Hath Given a Well-Trained Tongue – A Homily for the 23rd Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • September 5, 2015 • The gospels do not simply tell us stories of people who lived thousands of years ago. No, the gospels tell us our story, and today’s gospel is no different. We encounter a deaf man with a speech impediment living in a pagan land; this man represents each of us. His story is our story. And, if you are prepared to accept it, you are also Jesus, for His story and His work...

Catholics are generally unaware that they have millions of coreligionists who are not themselves part of the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, even the term "Roman Catholic" isn't quite right it was actually a derogatory label assigned to us by Anglican Protestants, trying to legitimize their own use of the term "Catholic" over and against that foreign Church loyal to the pope of Rome. In point of fact, the Catholic Church directly under the jurisdiction of Rome is properly and canonically termed the Latin Church. All official Church documents simply use the term, "Catholic Church." And contrary to popular belief,...

Necessity of the pope Those outside the communion of the Church lack the authority Christ gave Peter and his successors Msgr. Charles Pope OSV Newsweekly, September 13, 2015 9/2/2015 Question: A Protestant co-worker said to me recently, “Who needs a pope? We have Jesus and the Bible and don’t need some man to tell us what to do.” How do I respond? — Name withheld, location withheldAnswer: At the heart of the office of the papacy is the uniting of the faithful around a visible vicar (or representative) of Christ. Denominations and groups that left the Church and severed their...

What is at the Core of Original Sin? Msgr. Charles Pope • September 3, 2015 • Sometimes Original Sin gets simplified into the eating of an apple. But the core of the apple is not the “core” I speak of in the title. Actually an apple is not mentioned. It is fruit surely but what fruit we do not know. But what’s the big deal about eating an apple or piece of fruit? OK, maybe they shouldn’t have eaten it. But really, did an apple lead to all the pain and grief we experience today?As you may have guessed, No,...

The Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, has criticized in Regensburg on Tuesday a "climate of the German claim to leadership for the whole universal Church". At a book presentation, he pointed out the high number of people leaving the church, the deserted confessionals and empty seminars and religious houses in Germany. Often he has been asked from where the establishment of the so-called "German Church" derives the claim to be pacemaker for the universal Church with all the symptoms of a dramatic decline precisely on questions of sexual morality and the Catholic teaching on marriage.

From Catholic News Agency: A media firestorm arose in Spain after a transsexual woman, who considers herself a man, asked to be the godfather of her nephew – leading a diocese’s bishop to turn to the Vatican for an answer. After writing to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the issue earlier this month, Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz and Ceuta was told that since transsexual persons are not consistently living Church teaching, its “impossible” for them to fulfill their duties as a godparent. The bishop wrote the letter after Alex Salinas, 21 years-old and...

A Man with One Watch Knows What Time It Is; a Man with Two Watches Is Never Quite Sure – A Meditation on Following Only One Shepherd Msgr. Charles Pope • September 2, 2015 • As a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s post on testing everything based on the truth of the Gospel, we might do well to consider that Jesus says, To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, “We played the flute for you, but you did not...

Jim Bryan III, 75, of Longboat Key, FL, died Sep. 1, 2015 at Arkansas Hospice from complications of pancreatic cancer. He was born in Harrison, AR in 1940 to the late J.W. and Jane Bryan of Bellefonte, AR. He was preceded in death by his son Joey (who died of a brain tumor in 1981 at age ten) and grandparents Witt and Zula Burns Bryan and Noah and Myrtle Eoff Dearing. He is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years, Ann, son Jim, IV and his wife Ann, son Chris and his wife Jennifer, grandchildren Laura and her newlywed...

Secular historians may snicker at early Christians who insisted Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue was a vision of the Messiah, but the case for interpreting Black Elk’s vision that way is not so easy to dismiss. Raymond DeMallie, founder and director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute, has delved into the transcripts of what Black Elk originally divulged to Neihardt. DeMallie’s definitive study shows the association with Jesus in this culminating passage to be unavoidable. Black Elk also said that the transfiguring figure he saw had “holes in the palms of his hands.” In addition, Black Elk flatly asserted to Neihardt,...

Damascus, Aleteia (aleteia.org/ar) – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant posted a collection of pictures yesterday that portrays the destruction of a portion of a temple in Palmyra, which is a Greco-Roman archeological site that it had captured in March.The jihadist group posted five pictures on the internet showing its fighters placing explosives within the Temple of Ba’al and on the surrounding walls. The other pictures depict powerful explosions and a pile of debris where the temple had once stood. The temple was once the most important building in Palmyra. UNOSAT satellite analysis confirms Temple of #Bel...