Free Republic

One of the most common assumptions is that religiosity is linked to economic and technological underdevelopment. As a society gets more technologically and economically advanced, the thinking goes, religiosity naturally fades away and is replaced by a more secular worldview. Exhibit A is usually Western Europe, which grew more secular as it grew richer (and much, much more violent) across the 19th and 20th centuries. Exhibit B is the world's most religious continent — Africa — which happens to be its poorest. Under this view, the 21st century will be the century in which secularization spreads even further as the...

In this interview, Dr. R.C. Sproul and Abdul Saleeb discuss the differences between Islam and Christianity. Saleeb, a former Muslim from the Middle East, is the co-author of Answering Islam and is a Christian missionary to Muslims in the United States. As Saleeb exposes the true teachings of Islam, he explains why fundamentalist Muslims are so aggressive in their attempt to wipe out all other religions. This interview is especially helpful for those who are witnessing to Muslims in their communities.

Who created ISIS? Was it Jeb Bush's brother? (Shout out to Rob Lowe- Thank you!). Can it be traced back to CIA overthrow in 1953 of Mossadeq? Jimmy Carter's lack of leadership support for the Shah in 1979? Is it due to our support of the Saudi royals and other secular Muslim dictators? Or our abandonment of them in wake of the Arab Spring? Did it all start with Reagan and the CIA (war in Afghanistan and CIA support for the Mujahadeen against the Soviets)? Was OBL a CIA creation? Did the U.S. create Saddam? After all, there's that famous...

The 41-year-old recently completed a master's degree at Seattle University's School of Theology and Ministry, where he was the first Muslim to ever enroll. "I was looking for a place to be accepted as myself and to be the true face of Islam, though I am not the best follower," Polovina said. . . . . Studying the Bible with the other students, almost all Christians, was a little uncomfortable at first, he said. But he quickly settled into sharing his own perspective and appreciating the overlaps. There are many similarities between Islam and Christianity, he said, from moral values...

ANAHEIM, California — During a closed session with the press corps at the California Democrats Convention on Saturday, Attorney General Kamala Harris fielded questions from Breitbart News and several other news outlets about her bid for outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) Senate seat.

America and Iran on Monday took another step towards direct military co-operation in Iraq as pro-government forces prepared a counter-attack to retake the key western city of Ramadi. Iran’s defence minister, Hossein Dehghan, flew into Baghdad for talks with the government after the Iraqi army fled from a concerted attack by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Ramadi, the capital of the majority-Sunni Anbar province.

Detroit, a once great city, has become an urban vacuum. Its population has fallen to around 700,000 from nearly 1.9 million in 1950. The city is estimated to have more than 70,000 abandoned buildings and 90,000 vacant lots. Meanwhile, desperate Syrians, victims of an unfathomable civil war, are fleeing to neighboring countries, with some 1.8 million in Turkey and 600,000 in Jordan. Suppose these two social and humanitarian disasters were conjoined to produce something positive. Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, a Republican, has already laid the groundwork. [Snip] Grants from the federal government and from philanthropic foundations would be needed...

The relatively stable Muslim nations of Indonesia and Malaysia do not want Muslim refugees in their countries. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/18/indonesia-sends-three-warships-and-a-plane-to-turn-away-migrant-boats Thailand and Singapore do not want Muslim refugees either. Finally, there is one thing that Muslim nations, Buddhist nations, and the one Jewish nation can agree on. None of them want Muslim refugees in their countries.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush was recently asked about the “Draw Muhammad” contest in Garland, TX that was attacked by two jihadists, and what Mr. Bush thought of event organizer and ardent counterjihadist Pamela Geller. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was not, but a new book gives insight into how she might think about the issue given her support as Secretary of State of a policy put forth by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the UN that comes into direct conflict with the First Amendment. As Maj. Stephen Coughlin (Ret.) writes in his “Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in...

SANLIURFA, Turkey — When Abu Hamza, a former Syrian rebel, agreed to join the Islamic State, he did so assuming he would become a part of the group’s promised Islamist utopia, which has lured foreign jihadists from around the globe. Instead, he found himself being supervised by an Iraqi emir and receiving orders from shadowy Iraqis... All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein... His account, and those of others who have lived with or fought against the Islamic State over the past two years, underscore the pervasive role played by members of...

the US ran guns from Benghazi to Syria before the attack on the US consulate on September 11, 2012. The US Ambassador to Libya and three others were killed in the terrorist attack. FOX News reported Monday that the US was sending guns to Banias and Borj Islam, Syria before the Benghazi terrorist attack. ... Senator Rand Paul questioned Hillary Clinton about this gun running program back in January 2013 during her testimony on the Benghazi terrorist attack. Hillary Clinton said she did not know about the program while testifying under oath.

On 19 may, Hellenism commemorates the extermination of 353,000 Pontian Greeks killed during a genocide. During the years 1914-1923, in the 1st World War, the Greek minority of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey's predecessor, were removed from Western Anatolia. An estimated 350 thousands Greeks were killed between 1913-1922, ending thousands of years of Hellenic civilization in Asia Minor. Pontian and Anatolian Greeks were victims of broader Turkish genocide project at all Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire. More than 3.5 million Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians were killed under the regimes of the Young Turks and of Mustafa Kemal....

Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been accused of hypocrisy after it suspended a journalist who has received death threats for her articles attacking Islamic extremism. Zineb El Rhazoui, 33, was called to a preliminary dismissal hearing to remind her of her “obligations” towards the French weekly following “numerous incidents”. The French-Moroccan columnist accused her employers of trying to “punish her” for speaking out about the direction of the magazine four months after the jihadist attack which left 12 dead. “I am shocked and appalled that a management that has received so much support after the January attacks could show so...

Musa, a Jew, was only 15 years of age when he developed interest in religion. He describes what he saw in Islam in relation to Judaism, which caught his interest and led him to accept it. He narrated his story sometime in 2007. Prior to my conversion to Islam, I lived my life as a Jew. Although my family was not traditional, I learned Judaism from traditional Jews. I went to an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, and an Orthodox Jewish school. I lived, and continue to live, in a Jewish community in the United States where there is little diversity. And...

As debate rages over the radicalisation of young British Muslims, are we overlooking a different crisis of faith? Ex-Muslims who dare to speak out are often cut off by their families and fear for their lives. A brave few tell us their stories. Sulaiman Vali is a softly spoken 32-year-old computer engineer. A natural introvert not drawn to controversy or given to making bold statements, he’s the kind of person who is happiest in the background. He lives alone in a modest house on a quiet street in a small town in East Northamptonshire. He doesn’t want to be any...

Thank you, jury! In case you had any lingering doubts about the wisdom of these 12 good men and women, consider the scurvy crew that’s frothing at the mouth over the fate of the tousle-haired All-American boy on the cover of Rolling Stone. Moonbats, NPR, The Boston Globe, terrorists — but I repeat myself. A crackpot nun was flown up here from New Orleans five times on the taxpayers’ dime to gaze into Tousle Hair’s dreamy brown eyes and attest to his EBT card-carrying Third World hunkiness. The Joker gives the courthouse camera the finger, and now the jury gives...

The United States says it is "deeply concerned" about the death sentences handed down to former President Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 other defendants for a 2011 mass prison break. "We have consistently spoken out against the practice of mass trials and sentences, which are conducted in a manner that is inconsistent with Egypt's international obligations and the rule of law," a State Department official said Sunday. The sentences were handed down Saturday in a Cairo court. The Grand Mufti, Egypt's top religious authority, will make the final decision on the sentences on June 2. The former president is...

Reports on the death of the fourth circulated in North Sinai, says resident Three judges were killed in an attack on the Al-Arish-Rafah international road Saturday morning as they were heading to a North Sinai court. A North Sinai resident told Daily News Egypt that of the four judges travelling together, four people were killed, including a driver and one judge was severely injured. He added that reports circulated that the fourth died after sustaining injuries as well. The incident comes after ousted former president Mohamed Morsi was handed a preliminarily death sentence Saturday morning, and his papers referred to...

Since a federal jury on Friday sentenced the convicted bomber to death, the [Boston Marathon] finish line suddenly seems to be a place of ambivalence. Fresh flowers are accumulating. A sense of sorrow lingers in the air. Sightseers who come to snap a photo feel a little self-conscious. Residents train their gaze on the line, and the conversations turn to death — and disappointment. “I was shocked,” said Scott Larson, 47, a records manager who works near the finish line. “The death penalty — for Boston.” To many, the death sentence almost feels like a blot on the city’s collective...

London (AFP) - Two Libyan soldiers who were in Britain on a training course were sentenced to 12 years in jail on Friday after being found guilty of raping a drunken man after a night out. A jury in Cambridge in eastern England found Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, guilty of rape, and aiding and abetting each other in raping the man in October last year. The court was told that the pair had acted like "hunting dogs" in tracking down their victim, aged in his twenties. "This was a truly horrendous crime and I hope...