Free Republic

President Barack Obama addressed Americans Wednesday night increasingly concerned about the threat Islamic State militants are posing in the Middle East and about their commander in chief's ability to face it. In his prime time address, the president reminded people of the uniquely brutal character of ISIS. "They execute captured prisoners," he said. "They kill children. They enslave, rape and force women into marriage. They threaten a religious minority with genocide." Despite the militant's name, the president told Americans, "ISIL is not 'Islamic.' No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim."...

The Harvard Law professor who mentored President Obama and the first lady during their time in Cambridge has compared the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Speaking with MSNBC’s Alex Wagner, Charles Ogletree also compared the police shooting of 18-year-old Brown to the 1955 killing of Emmett Till. “Looking at what’s happened, this is just like the assassination of Dr. King in 1968, when everybody was very upset trying to figure out what was going to happen,” he said. “It’s like the killing of Trayvon Martin two years ago. “This is...

FERGUSON, Mo. — It was 1 a.m. and Michael Brown Jr. called his father, his voice trembling. He had seen something overpowering. In the thick gray clouds that lingered from a passing storm this past June, he made out an angel. And he saw Satan chasing the angel and the angel running into the face of God. Mr. Brown was a prankster, so his father and stepmother chuckled at first. “No, no, Dad! No!” the elder Mr. Brown remembered his son protesting. “I’m serious.” And the black teenager from this suburb of St. Louis, who had just graduated from high...

Christians have fled en masse from Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, abandoning communities that date back to the first centuries of Christianity. Islamic extremists who now control the city gave Christians until midday Saturday to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. According to MidEast Christian News, the IS rulers ordered hospitals to dismiss Christian doctors and female employees. The report says extremists also marked the houses of Christians as "Property of the Islamic State". By the time the deadline imposed by the Islamic State expired, most Christians were gone. Mosul, where Christianity has existed for nearly 2,000 years,...

Pregnant woman to be flogged, hanged for marrying Christian By Post Wire Report May 15, 2014 | 9:19am KHARTOUM, Sudan — A Sudanese woman doctor who married a Christian man and who was convicted earlier this week on charges of “apostasy” was sentenced to death on Thursday, judicial officials said. According to the Sudanese officials, 26-year-old Meriam Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim, was convicted on Sunday and given four days to repent and escape death. She was sentenced after that grace period expired, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

From an account of the martyrdom of Saint Paul Miki and his companions, by a contemporary writer The crosses were set in place. Father Pasio and Father Rodriguez took turns encouraging the victims. Their steadfast behaviour was wonderful to see. The Father Bursar stood motionless, his eyes turned heavenward. Brother Martin gave thanks to God’s goodness by singing psalms. Again and again he repeated: “Into your hands, Lord, I entrust my life.” Brother Francis Branco also thanked God in a loud voice. Brother Gonsalvo in a very loud voice kept saying the Our Father and Hail Mary. Our brother, Paul...

From a treatise On Virgins by Saint Ambrose, bishop Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. It is the birthday of Saint Agnes, who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve. The cruelty that did not spare her youth shows all the more clearly the power of faith in finding one so young to bear it witness. There was little or no room in that small body for a wound. Though she could scarcely receive the blow, she...

Details: The Syrian Greek-Catholic Church has three “true martyrs”. They are the “three men from Maaloula who refused to repudiate their faith,” and were killed for this reason, said Patriarch Gregory III Laham during his meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday, this according to a press release issued by the Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem of the Melkites.The events that led to the three men’s death occurred during fighting on 3 -7 September in the town of Maaloula.According to eyewitness accounts, men from the Syrian Free Army and the Jabhat al-Nusra Islamic Front...

More and more people join the crowd as they push me towards the home of the village headman. I recognize the house — it’s the only one that has a garden with grass growing in it. They throw me to the ground. The village imam speaks to me: “I’ve been told you’ve insulted our Prophet. You know what happens to anyone who attacks the holy Prophet Mohammed. You can redeem yourself only by conversion or death.” “I haven’t done anything! Please! I beg you! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Syrian terrorists have beheaded a Catholic priest who they accused of collaborating with the Assad regime. Those accusations have not yet been verified. Father Francois was summarily executed and the Vatican has confirmed the martyrdom.VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23. Below is the news release from the Vatican, via news.va. On Sunday, June 23 the Syrian priest François Murad was killed in Gassanieh, in northern Syria, in the convent of the Custody of the Holy Land where he had...

June 9, 2013 Ours has become a neo-pagan culture, and that can be even worse than a simple pagan culture By Father George Rutler Last week the Church celebrated the feast of the Martyrs of Uganda. In the late nineteenth century, French and English missionaries were welcomed by King Mutesa I of Buganda in the southern part of modern Uganda. His successor, Mwanga II, however, was a youth who became a persecutor of Christians and all foreigners. He especially opposed Christian morality, as it contradicted his affinity for unnatural vice which was abhorred by the local Buganda culture, but...

Dear FReepers, We're not dealing with terribly smart people committing atrocities. They might contain animal cunning, but they are not conducting very well thought out campaigns. The existence of islamic terror cells across the USA is not mere conjecture. What's stunning, is why hasn't our FBI hasn't gone over to the websites that act as official mouthpieces of the Chechen terrorists to obtain clues linking Boston to Breslan.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naccW6NJKE0&feature=player_embedded Here I found the Boston bomber hidden behind the Russian alphabet. How hard can counter-intellegence work actually be?

NOTE The following text is a quote: Brooklyn Resident from Albania Sentenced to 15 YearsÂ’ Imprisonment for Attempting to Support Terrorism U.S. AttorneyÂ’s Office January 08, 2013 Eastern District of New York Earlier today, at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, New York, Agron Hasbajrami, an Albanian citizen and Brooklyn resident, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Hasbajrami will be removed from the United States at the conclusion of his sentence. The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for...

A Palestinian woman named Umm Osama, the wife of Hamas Member of Parliament Khalil Al-Hayya, says in a television interview that a woman’s role is to instill a love of jihad and martyrdom in her children. In an interview that was originally broadcast last month, which the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has now translated, Umm Osama said: Women in Palestine play a great role in raising their children and in encouraging them to wage Jihad for the sake of Allah. This is absolutely the most glorious thing a woman can do. Women play their role and are not...

The New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia: Their Significance for People in the West Sophia Moshura   Feb 24th, 2012 // Why do Orthodox Americans, French, Swedes, and those outside Russia need to revere the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia? It is clear what they did for Russia, but why are the Russian New Martyrs so significant for people in the West? Why should we pray to them? “PravMir” asked several people to respond to these questions.Father Andrew Phillips, Rector of St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church in Colchester, England:First of all, the New Martyrs and Confessors are multinational,...

For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada unveils a time when Mexican Christians, in the pursuit of religious freedom, had to choose between their faith and their lives. A new major motion picture, For Greater Glory, tells the epic, untold story of the Cristero War and a nation’s quest for religious liberty Gen. Enrique Gorostieta Velarde (Andy Garcia) leads the Cristeros into battle in the new film For Greater Glory, which opens June 1 and tells the true story of the Cristero War in Mexico in the 1920s. Actor Andy Garcia sits astride a black horse amid acres of...

Russia has seized a consignment of the radioactive isotope Sodium-22 at a Moscow airport from a passenger who was to travel on a flight to Tehran, the customs service said on Friday. "Tests showed that the Sodium-22 could only have been obtained as the result of the work of a nuclear reactor," it said in a statement. "A criminal enquiry has been opened and the materials transferred to prosecutors."

Long before Osama bin Laden's death, al Qaeda had adapted itself to survive and operate without him, ensuring the threat his terror network poses will live well beyond his demise. Bin Laden spent the last decade on the run following the al Qaeda-mounted terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. But his fugitive status didn't render the network impotent. Instead, it forced an evolution: The original group splintered, popping up in new places with new leaders who, in addition to attempting high-profile attacks, encouraged their radicalized followers to strike on their own if the opportunity presented itself. Strong...

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were,...

In 202, Christians who refused to sacrifice to Roman gods were considered traitors. Emperor Septimus Severus was cracking down on anti-state elements. As he saw it, the sacrifice was simply a patriotic gesture, not much more than our salute of the flag. But the Christians saw it as a denial of Christ. Among those swept into the emperor's dragnet in Carthage were two young women, Perpetua and Felicitas. The choice before them was clear: sacrifice or die. For both women, the situation was complicated by motherhood. Felicitas was pregnant and Perpetua had a newborn son.