Free Republic

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...

There is a growing body of hard evidence that bureaucrats of many agencies of the U.S. Government have been using their authority for several years to harass, intimidate, and persecute citizens because of their political beliefs. This is not new because we have seen over and again how fascists, communists, and Islamists have used their governments in like manner. People who are being persecuted for their political beliefs have a name - POLITICAL DISSIDENTS!

Christians are targeted—by independent groups or governments—in some 131 countries world-wide. At the height of the Nazi Holocaust, the wretched human cargo spilling out of cattle cars onto the platforms of Auschwitz was immediately subject to a brutal selektion by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele, whose flick of a finger to the left meant immediate death in a gas chamber; to the right, slave labor and slow death from starvation or disease. Fast forward to 2012 Nigeria, where a latter-day incarnation of selektion has been used—this time not against Jews, but against Christians. Nigeria is the most populous black nation...

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Muslim political candidate suspected of murdering a Christian has instigated calls from mosque loudspeakers for attacks on Christians, whom he blames for his May 11 election loss. Tensions were high in Punjab Province’s Okara district after provincial assembly seat candidate Mehr Abdul Sattar, sought by police in connection with a 2008 murder, on May 13 arranged for mosque calls for violence against Christian villages.

Raymond Maxwell is one of the four State Department officials who was disciplined due to security lapses leading to the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya, last year But after he was placed on paid administrative leave last Dec. 18, CBS News says that rather than sulk in silence and shame, Maxwell has been publishing poetry about his ordeal–often scathing verse–that can’t be making officials in Washington, D.C. applaud (or snap their fingers, whatever the case may be). CBS News calls attention to his “Trapped in a purgatory of their own deceit.” Here Maxwell writes in part: “The web of...

The fateful question came from a tax lawyer, in a room filled with dozens of them. It came at the end of a Friday morning panel, on the second day of the American Bar Association tax section’s big annual meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington D.C. The moderator had announced that it would be the panel’s last question. “Lois, a few months ago there were some concerns about the IRS’s review of 501(c)(4) organizations, of applications from tea party organizations,” Celia Roady, a veteran tax lawyer, asked Lois Lerner, head of the IRS’ tax-exempt organizations division, a few...

The IRS abused its power in targeting conservatives for harassment and probably leaking information to liberal groups during the presidential election cycle. But the IRS’s actions crossed a line from merely corrupt into sinister when it grilled an Iowa pro-life group about its religious views. During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Friday, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., asked outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about it. “Their question,” Schock said, “specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa: ‘Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers.’ Would that be an inappropriate question...

The court must be wary of “manufactured” government arguments masking its own “impropriety,” as well as mindful of attempts to “drive a wedge” between defendants and “impos[e] unnecessary financial burdens,” lawyers for the Reese family of gun dealers cautioned in a joint response in opposition to the government’s opposed motion for ruling on joint representation filed Tuesday in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Jailed for allegedly knowingly selling guns to cartel members, all family members were found not guilty on the most serious charges of conspiracy, and money laundering charges against them were dismissed. Husband...

A Defendant’s Motion for Partial Release of Assets was filed Monday by attorneys in the District Court of the United States for the District Of New Mexico on behalf of the Reese family of gun dealers to substantiate reasons why doing so is not only critical to the family’s defense, but also why legal precedent requires it. “Defendants, Rick Reese and Terri Reese … move this Court to enter an order authorizing the release of a portion of their seized assets to pay for upcoming legal expenses as well as to provide life subsistence,” the motion begins. Assets listed which...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family. The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 when they were subjected to criminal prosecution for homeschooling. They were granted asylum in 2010 by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, but that grant was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2012. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit heard the Romeikes’ appeal on April 23 in Cincinnati, and issued today’s unanimous decision against the family.

Raymond Ibrahim’s fundamental new book Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (Amazon USA), (Amazon UK ), has been widely reported, covered and praised and does not require an introduction, but it prompts a reflection. The problem of Christian discrimination and persecution by Muslims is in fact two problems. Like unpunished crimes’ victims who suffer twice, for the crime and for the injustice of the criminal’s going scot-free, while the atrocities committed against Christians are unbearable enough on their own, the total indifference of the rest of the world adds to the pain. Floods, earthquakes, natural calamities and...

According to an article published at Breitbart.com., entitled "Pentagon May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith, Christians in the military, including chaplains, could be court martialed and charged with treason for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't pretend to be an expert on constitutional law, but I would think that this would be unconstitutional for many reasons. Of course, I felt that way about Obama Care until Chief Justice John Roberts weighed in, much to my utter surprise and disappointment. (I may never get over that) But if I can be allowed to reason in my common...

Yes, it would be peachy if everyone could “just get along.” As the product of a mixed-race marriage who was raised to discern character rather than appearance or creed, I consider myself to be quite tolerant, despite recent accusations to the contrary. The reality of coexistence, however, remains the same as it has been since human beings lived in caves. It’s a coin toss as to whether that tribe on the other side of the river – no different than their neighbors on this side – will determine to coexist, or to attempt to dominate, enslave, or even kill the...

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”.  The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. 

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”. The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. (From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military...

The American pastor jailed in Iran for his faith has been placed in solitary confinement and may now be suffering organ failure, according to family members in Iran who are increasingly alarmed at his deteriorating health. Saeed Abedini, the 32-year-old Christian and American citizen who is serving an eight-year prison term in Iran, was put in solitary confinement following a “peaceful, silent protest” in an outside courtyard at Iran’s notoriously brutal Evin prison, according to family members. Conditions at the prison prompted Abedini and other prisoners to sign a petition decrying the lack of medical care and the threats and...

When it comes to the persecution of Christians, President Obama appears to have a tin ear. The question is: why? Why would a president who claims to be a Christian seem to deliberately help install and collaborate with an Islamist government in Egypt? Many highly-placed Egyptian leaders have revealed that his collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood began long before President Mubarak’s fall. Why would Mr. Obama remain silent after being informed again and again of the atrocities committed against Christians in Egypt—atrocities committed by the very government he helped bring to power? The answer to the question of “why” can...

Mirroring what is happening in the world, there is an Islamic revival in the Caucasus and Central Asia, with all that it means for local Christians. The predominantly Muslim Central Asian Republics, after the collapse of the Soviet Union of which they were part, have seen an increase in the persecution of Christians. The fall of dictatorship, in a pattern similar to that of post-war Iraq and the “Arab Spring” in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, seems to have “liberated” the radical elements within Muslim communities. The now independent countries of Central Asia are the following five, in order of population...

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood’s governing majority, is not actually crucifying the nation’s Christians. But they are nonetheless actively persecuting Coptic Christians who are said to be one-tenth of the population of the largest Arab country. A photograph of two young men set afire during recent demonstrations is pretty striking. … Police used tear gas against the Copts. It is tear gas sold to Egypt by American firms. In addition to foreign aid—most recently a $250 million increase offered by Sec. of State John Kerry—our State Department has approved sale of this “non-lethal” crowd control agent to the Muslim Brotherhood governing party....

Christians are being persecuted all over the world. Churches are being burned and destroyed, girls are being raped and ancient Christian communities reaching back 2,000 years are being obliterated. And the world yawns. Most shockingly, many Christians in the West, worse than yawning, look away and in some cases embrace the perpetrators and blame our allies. This begs the obvious question: Why do so many Christians in America and Europe seem to not care about what is happening around the world to their fellow disciples of Jesus? Why are we looking the other way while the brutal murder, persecution, rape...

In an order granting a motion "supported by good cause" to amend conditions of release filed yesterday, Judge Robert C. Brack of the District Court of the United States for the District of New Mexico in Las Cruces ordered that “ankle monitoring devices worn by Rick Reese and Ryin Reese are to be removed.” “It is further ordered,” the judge mandated, “that the Defendants … shall be allowed to travel freely within the boundaries of the State of New Mexico [and] that the curfew imposed upon the Defendants … shall be modified to be from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m....

Is it possible that more Christians are persecuted (or that Christians are more persecuted) today than in the ancient world or than at any other time in history? This sounds like a trick question or like the introduction to a paradoxical argument. In fact, it is a perfectly straightforward inquiry aroused by the crisscross of two arguments that have just landed on my desk. The first is a new book, The Myth of Persecution, by Candida Moss, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at Notre Dame, and — full disclosure — my goddaughter. She argues in her book that...

This is the politically manipulative and ridiculous nonsense that has replaced truthful information about Islam and jihad. And the implications of it are quite ominous. Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism and "Islamophobia" are forms of "Religion Extremism" on par with al-Qaeda and Hamas? Then how long will it be before the Obama Administration goes to war against them, as it has repeatedly declared that it is at war with al-Qaeda? Note also: Obama has repeated many, many times that we are not at war with Islam, and the mainstream media line is that to suggest otherwise would be evidence of "hatred" and...

US Wants to Deport Christian Family By Julio Severo The US government is contesting a court decision that had granted asylum to a homeschooling family from Germany. US officials argue that the German Christian family, who were suffering religious persecution from German officials, should be deported back to Germany. The Romeike family Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled Germany in 2008 after authorities fined them thousands in euros and forcibly took their children because they homeschool. In 2010, a U.S. immigration judge granted the Romeikes political asylum — the first time this status was granted based on compulsory schooling laws. The...

An Egyptian Christian suspected of trying to convert Muslims in Libya was tortured to death while in police custody, an Egyptian human rights lawyer said. Ezzat Hakim Attallah "died after being tortured with other detainees" in Libya’s second largest city Benghazi, Naguib Guebrayel, a Coptic Christian lawyer who heads the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, told AFP. Guebrayel’s claim contradicts an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official who said on Sunday that Attallah, who suffered from diabetes and heart ailments, had likely died of natural causes. Attallah was among five Evangelical Christian Egyptians detained in Libya ...

Much has been made – and rightly so – of recent news reports that President Obama somehow managed to find a spare $250 million to send to Egypt while warning American taxpayers about “immediate, painful, arbitrary budget cuts” to come as a result of the so-called sequester. The president’s dishonesty offends. But what particularly outrages is that he gifted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi with U.S. foreign aid even as his Islamist regime continues to persecute the country’s Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s population. CNN recently reported, “Threats by Muslim extremists against Coptic Christians in the past...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Hatred of Christians Unleashed in LibyaPosted By Raymond Ibrahim On March 6, 2013 @ 12:20 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments Last Thursday, a Coptic Christian church located in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked by armed Muslim militants.  Initial reports indicate that at least one priest, Fr. Paul Isaac, was injured, as well as his assistant.  It is the second church to be attacked in two months.  Earlier, on Sunday, December 30, an explosion rocked a Coptic Christian church near the western city of Misrata, where a group of U.S. backed rebels hold a major checkpoint....

N. Korea's 'hatred of Christians' puts 70,000 believers in prison SANTA ANA, Calif. (BP) -- Persecution of Christians in North Korea shows no sign of abating under the country's new leader, Kim Jong-Un, according to a report by the worldwide ministry Open Doors. "The fanatical regime, which rules the destitute country of 24 million people with a proverbial iron fist, has a special hatred for Christians," Jerry Dykstra of the California-based Open Doors USA noted. "North Korea is in a league of its own when it comes to persecution of Christians." Dykstra's and other reports parallel incidents in North Korea...

Well, I guess if you can redefine the definition of marriage, you can also redefine the definition of "objective newspaper." This hilariously obtuse piece of reasoning comes from the Washington Post's soon-to-be "inefficiencied" ombudsman, Patrick Pexton, and a Post reporter, who, for some odd reason, doesn't wish to be named. This so-called reporter, Pexton, and a reader entered into a three-way email debate over the issue of how the Post reports on the issue of same-sex marriage. The reader, a social conservative, is tired of seeing his beliefs described (in an "objective" newspaper, mind you) as bigoted and hateful. He...

Four foreigners have been arrested in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on suspicion of being Christian missionaries and printing books about Christianity, a security official said on Saturday. "They were arrested on Tuesday at a publishing house where they were printing thousands of books that called for conversion to Christianity," security official Hussein Bin Hmeid said. "Proselytizing is forbidden in Libya. We are a 100 percent Muslim country and this kind of action affects our national security." Hmeid said the government-affiliated security apparatus called the Preventative Security, for which he is a spokesman, had arrested an Egyptian, a South...

My column, “Catholics Defy ObamaCare! What About Fundamentalist Churches and Universities?” caused a stir in some circles. Will Christian leaders decide to fraternize with the enemy by killing innocent babies, or fall on their swords by closing their ministries, or fight to the very end by operating illegally in storefronts or darkened basements? They will do one of the three. The fraternizers will be promoted (but should be pitied); those who fall on their swords (seeking some credibility by not joining the enemy or identifying with the “fighters”) will be praised and those who fight and disobey the law and...

Army veteran Nathan Haddad, who suffered a career-ending shoulder injury whilst trying to qualify for Special Forces, is facing a few other challenges. Five of them, to be precise: felony charges for possessing AR-15 magazines left over from his Army service. A politically ambitious and rabidly anti-veteran local prosecutor in New York State is pressing Haddad for a plea, threatening him with 35 years in prison for the magazines. Ironically, one of the supposed motivators for New York’s politicians to pass such draconian anti-magazine laws was the use of an AR to murder two firemen. The murderer was no novice:...

For anyone unfamiliar with the Southern Poverty Law Center, you would not gain much insight judging by their name. Rarely, if at all does anything they do relate to poverty, except maybe to bring some citizens closer to it. Granted, some of the work they do is for the good. The SPLC is a private organization with strong ties to the federal government, namely the FBI, the BATF and the DOJ. They primarily infiltrate, investigate and collect data on organizations that have been labeled as “Hate Groups.” Then, they turn this information over to federal authorities, providing the evidence to...

Three Wilmington churches were struck by graffiti vandals early Saturday morning, police said. The vandals stenciled the words "brain washed" on statues, exterior walls, doors and stairs, according to the Rev. Philip Early, pastor of Saint Thomas of Villinova and Saint Dorothy's Catholic churches. A nearby Congregational church was also damaged. Early said, "Acting out accomplishes nothing." The graffiti was discovered early Saturday morning as several funerals were about to get underway.

Chiapas: Expelled Christians Living in BarnFebruary 2013 issue, page 9 “We aren’t delinquents; we’re people who love God and respect society.” A leader of a Christian group of 27 families in Altamirano, Chiapas, Mexico were expelled from their community “just for being evangelicals,” according to a recent report in a Chiapas newspaper. And now the families, which include about 40 children, are living in a cattle barn because they have nowhere else to go. VOM has been providing basic needs to expelled Christians like these through a dedicated pastor who volunteers his time to help. Last year, we provided the...

When the Dollar and global fiat currencies finally collapse, guess what group will get most of the blame. (Video)

More of the poisonous fruit of Clinton's war against the Christians in Serbia: Albanians Find a Church They Forgot to Destroy — in Serbia Proper; Erect Monument to Terrorists in Presevo and Threaten War if Serbia Removes it; Keep Serbs out of Church on Orthodox Christmas Posted by Julia Gorin ..............Snip............. Albanians last night completely destroyed the monastery “Assumption of the Virgin” in southern Serbia…Mother Paraskeva (62 years old)…[said] “…Albanians from Kosovo were organized with the intention of coming to destroy the Serbian monasteries in this area…Last year on Good Friday they attacked me…’ The Monastery of the Assumption of...

A longtime substitute teacher in Phillipsburg, NJ, has been fired after he shared a Bible verse with a student – and upon request gave the child a Bible. The Phillipsburg School Board voted Monday night to terminate the employment of Walter Tutka. He was accused of breaking two policies – distributing religious literature on school grounds and another policy that directs teachers to be neutral when discussing religious material. “It’s unfortunate the Phillipsburg School District chose the path of religious hostility and intolerance against a retired man serving his community and simply responding to a student’s intellectual curiosity,” Hiram...

Christianity faces being wiped out of the “biblical heartlands” in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report.The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group. And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”. It warns that converts from Islam face...

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on December 22, 2012, allegedly shows rebels speaking at an undisclosed location in Syria on December 22, 2012. AFP PHOTO / YOUTUBE JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: The world's largest Muslim body on Sunday condemned threats made by Islamist rebels in Syria against two Christian towns, warning of fresh confessional strife in the war-torn country. Such threats "are contrary to the precepts of Islam which calls for tolerance, brotherhood and peace," said the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation based in the Saudi city of Jeddah. It warned against the risks of...

Today (Dec 6) is the Feast of St. Nicholas. The real St. Nicholas was nothing close to the St. Nick (Santa Claus) of the modern age. He was a thin curmudgeonly man with a zeal for the Lord that caused flairs of anger. Compromise was unknown to him. The slow transformation of him into “Jolly ole’ Saint Nicholas is a remarkable recasting of him centuries in the making. Some years ago the Washington Post featured an article entitled Poles Apart: Nicholas of Myra; How a 4th-Century Bishop Achieved Fame 1,500 Years Later, With a Whole New Attitude.On this feast of...

After meeting with the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S. this week, the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) is calling on the international community to pressure governments and those in authority to have Boko Haram declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) – as the militants have been blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths since it started waging Jihad in 2009. ...The U.S. State Department in June announced that some of Boko Haram's leaders and affiliates have been classified as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists", with two individuals said to have ties to al Qaida. On Thursday, Ambassador Adefuye expressed solidarity with the...

MOSCOW -- A recent nighttime raid and destruction of an evangelical church outside Moscow raised concerns that religious freedom is fading in Russia. That's because police simply watched as dozens of men with heavy machinery demolished the Holy Trinity Pentecostal congregation. Some fear its part of a threatening pattern against Russia's evangelical Christians. Authorities Raid Church Sveta Romanyuk finds it difficult to talk about what happened the night of Sept. 6, 2012. "What they did was not right. We didn't even have time to save the Bibles," she said. On a recent morning on the edge of Moscow, 12-year-old Sveta...

Hundreds lend support to Royal Marines charged with murder Hundreds of people today came out in support of five Royal Marines charged with murder - by holding a protest march near their barracks. By Telegraph reporters 12:42PM GMT 28 Oct 2012 The crowd of around 300 waved ''Justice For The Five'' placards as they marched through Plymouth in Devon near the home of 3 Commando Brigade. They held their march to support five marines who have all been charged with the murder of an unknown Afghan national. The protest started at Devil's Point near the brigade's Stonehouse Barracks and travelled...

BEIRUT -- A Greek Orthodox priest has been found slain after being kidnapped near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Syrian government and the Vatican news service reported Thursday.The body of the Rev. Fadi Jamil Haddad, pastor of St. Elias Church in Qatana, outside Damascus, was discovered  in the Jaramana district  of the capital, reported Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news service. The site was not far from the area where he was kidnapped by an “unidentified armed group" last Friday, the agency said.The Vatican agency quoted a colleague saying the priest had been “horribly tortured.” The official Syrian news service...

The final debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama Oct. 22 was depressing to watch. The Romney camp had made the decision that only the economy matters in this election, and so arguments about foreign affairs should be avoided. As a result, Mitt Romney won the debate by agreeing with Obama on all major foreign-affairs issues, only differing on how to reach roughly the same goals. During the debate, it became clear that neither Romney nor Obama understands that there are 2.5 million Christians in Syria – over 10 percent of the population. Not a single mention was made of...

Visit any Coptic church in the United States and you immediately recognize the newcomers. You see it in their eyes, hear it in their broken English, sense it in how they cling to the church in search of the familiar. They have come here escaping a place they used to call home, where their ancestors had lived for centuries. Waves of Copts have come here from Egypt before, to escape Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalizations or the growing Islamist tide. Their country's transformation wasn't sudden, but every year brought more public Islamization. As the veil spread, Coptic women felt increasingly different,...

Rights activists have long urged Pakistan to reform blasphemy laws A 16-year-old Christian boy has been held on blasphemy charges in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The boy, named by police as Ryan Stanten, is said to have forwarded a text message which allegedly contained offensive material on Tuesday. The following day an angry crowd ransacked his family home, setting fire to their belongings on the street.

Dr Rowan Williams is retiring as the Archbishop of Canterbury to take up the post of Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. His “valedictory” book, Faith in the Public Square, is attracting considerable media interest. I was prompted to buy it after reading Dr William Oddie’s particularly colorful review in the London Catholic Herald. Oddie concluded that the ideas promoted in the book are the sort of impractical nonsense one only hears on Oxbridge high tables and in senior common rooms. I have never met Dr Williams but I once quoted him in a paper I delivered in Italy, a short...

I will call my Congressman and both my senators and every forum I can find to tell them to stop any and all aid to the Middle East because Egypt is CRUCIFYING Christians; they strip them then nail them to trees then crucify them as they did the Christ! I am not ashamed to say I am a Christian. Obama has no time to meet with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - BUT - he has $450,000,000.00 to give to the Muslim Brotherhood?? The aid is part of the $1 billion in assistance that the Obama administration has pledged to...