Free Republic

Islam Factor is a bold experiment in Muslim freedom of expression, freedom of speech and cooperation with people from all walks of life. Some who follow, agree with or are amicable to Islam and some who are opposed. Whether you agree with or follow Islam or not, whether you oppose Islam or not, no matter the nation, race, religion or creed we are from, we all have one thing in common. We all are human-beings with the same basic needs, hopes and emotions. Our forum hopes to promote an almost unheard of tolerance (that eludes many Muslim groups) that transcends...

B. Hussein Obama has it in for America’s evangelicals. That is evident in his anathema of evangelical leader Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Evangelicals stand at the direct opposite of B. Hussein’s creed. He is a moral relativist. That is, for B. Hussein there are no moral absolutes. To state it in other terms, B. Hussein defines morality by “situation ethics.” That twosome was quite popular among liberals a few years ago; the term has since faded out as a frequency. However, it means that the specific situation governs the ethic of that situation. For example, if...

Our Times: The Age of Martyrs by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. Never in the history of the papacy has any Bishop of Rome written at greater length about martyrdom than Pope John Paul II. His encyclical The Gospel of Life devotes a thousand or more words to the call to martyrdom in our age.He reminds us that the revelation from the Old Testament to the new, and from the time of Christ to the present day, is the history of martyrdom as a witness to the truth.He names Susanna, who refused to consent to lechery and was ready to...

Tomorrow is our nation’s 232nd birthday. Two months ago Israel celebrated its 60th birthday. I feel that more honest arithmetic would have had the small beleaguered country actually celebrating its 3,320th birthday. What happened three millennia ago which brought the people of Israel into existence? Ancient Israel became a nation with an eternal destiny when it received its constitution, the Torah, from God on Mount Sinai and formally adopted it. “And (Moses) took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said...

The atheist Freedom from Religion Foundation has taken its anti-faith message to Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention. Their "Imagine No Religion" sign demands Denver residents and Democratic Party officials preparing for the convention to envision an America without people who believe in God. In response, Bishop Council Nedd, chairman of the In God We Trust has asked Senator Barack Obama to condemn the sign's message. The Freedom from Religion Foundation President, Dan Barker, has called Christianity "and enemy to humanity" and "the antithesis of freedom." In his letter to Senator Obama Nedd states, "By placing their billboard...

Marriage laws, lack of church commitment from newlyweds make faith leaders think twice. Some clergy think churches should divorce themselves from the wedding business.The controversy over same-sex marriage – along with a growing sense that many couples who marry in churches never return – has prompted faith leaders to say it's time to reconsider how California couples tie the knot.After the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California began encouraging all couples to marry outside the church. "I urge you to encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of...

Archbishop Roberto Luckert Caracas, Jun 30, 2008 / 12:35 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro and vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference deplored the founding of the self-proclaimed “Reformed Catholic Church,” whose leaders have aligned themselves publicly with “Bolivarian Socialism” and are receiving financial backing from the government of Hugo Chavez. Speaking on Union Radio, the archbishop said that the church’s leaders “want to give the impression that the Catholic Church in Venezuela is divided. They are going to dress like priests, baptize and confirm, with everything paid for by the government, which seeks to destroy the...

We must tread very lightly through this part of our journey. The terrain here has many pitfalls. We do not want to stumble and fall into the sin of racism or ethnocentrism. Sometimes people trip themselves up and are unable to continue on the path toward solidarity. This can be likened to spraining an ankle. Although we may have the intellectual desire to continue, we have become injured and it seems impossible to go on.

The Roman Catholic bishop of Richmond was told that a diocesan charity planned to help a teenage foster child get an abortion in January and did not try to prevent the procedure. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo "was told erroneously that everything was in place and there was nothing he could do to stop it," said Steve Neill, Bishop DiLorenzo's communications officer. "He is very apologetic about the whole episode. "It is very awkward, it is very embarrassing. A human life was taken. He certainly has not taken it lightly in any way. He is clearly opposed to abortion." Mr. Neill...

Declaring that stem-cell research does not present a conflict between science and religion, the U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved a statement June 13 calling the use of human embryos in such research "gravely immoral" and unnecessary. In the last vote of the public session of their June 12-14 spring general assembly in Orlando, the bishops voted 191-1 in favor of the document titled "On Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: A Statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops." "It now seems undeniable that once we cross the fundamental moral line that prevents us from treating any fellow human being as a mere object...

Should Catholics vote for Barack Obama? Is it a sin to vote for Obama?  I get emails with these kind of questions all the time. I reply and tell them I plan on doing an article about it in the future. I’ve spent the last few days do almost non-stop research and I’m ready to write my article. Democratic Senator Barack Obama has caused a stir in the political world. He came out of no where and has virtually taken over the Democratic party.He holds rallies where thousands of people show up to cheer on the young Illinois senator. He promises change...

The US bishops have issued a very clear statement on embryonic stem cell research. It does not dwell upon the scientific nuances of the issue, but rather assists the reader to focus on the moral issues involved. The statement is not marked by condemnation, but rather by explanation. It is not a rejection of research or of those who stand to benefit from research, but rather a call to pursue the well being of those very individuals by preserving the moral standards that protect their dignity and that of the rest of us. The statement reminds us that there is...

How America came to accept using human embryos for research In the ten years since Dr. James Thomson at the University of Madison first procured human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), support for the prospect of using human embryos and fetuses for research purposes has gradually seeped into the American mindset to the point at which it is now broadly tolerated, if not openly endorsed, especially in the political arena, in academia, and certainly within the scientific community. [1] As we continue to advance as a nation into the age of developmental biology there is reason to fear that Americans are...

The value of anything must always be set by something outside of that object. A coin is no more valuable than a pebble except by common agreement that it can be exchanged for something else. Humans are unique in their ability to assign abstract values to inherently non-functional and other wise useless objects. A diamond ring, a thousand dollar bill, or a gold bar have no more value to an animal than a smooth pebble, shiny rock, or fuzzy leaf. Animals cannot even assign value to their own lives. Apart from survival instincts and some mutually beneficial biological relationships, animals...

Just minutes ago, conservative Anglicans announced what they are calling “The Jerusalem Declaration,” which states their intention to erect a new “fellowship of confessing Anglicans.” "We grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness…Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together."... The declaration is the unanimous product of the bishops and archbishops meeting here in Jerusalem, whose dioceses together...

Moscow, June 27, Interfax - At its final Friday session, the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church ruled that the Bishop of Anadyr and Chukotka Diomid should be defrocked. An absolute majority of the Bishops' Council (with three abstainers) voted for "stripping Diomid of priestly privileges" due to his disobedience to hierarchy, Interfax-Religion reports. "The Council calls Diomid to immediately repent and stop his activity. If he refuses, the Council's ruling shall be enforced," one of the Council's participants told to the agency. The Council also fixed the deadline for such repentance - before the next session of the...

Anglican Churches Win on Constitutional Grounds Va. Court Upholds Constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute to End Episcopal Attempt to Seize Control Over Church Property FAIRFAX, Va. (June 27, 2008) – The 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia celebrated today’s Fairfax County Circuit Court ruling that confirms the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9). The 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). “We are pleased with Judge Bellows’ ruling today. After meticulous examination, the judge ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the Virginia Division...

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has just released its new findings on Americans and their attitudes toward religion, God and doctrine. It is not too surprising that most of those surveyed are suffering from a bit of confusion when it comes to the difference between faith in God and claiming to be somehow associated with religion.  What moved me the most about this survey was, sadly, the conundrum we face in the Catholic Church, which is actually a very good example of why the results from the Pew survey are not at all extraordinary. They may be...

Washington DC, Jun 25, 2008 / 01:23 am (CNA).- A new survey from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicates that Catholics may lean towards voting for the Democratic candidate for president in the 2008 election.The CARA polling shows that only 21 percent of all Catholics are either strongly or weakly affiliated with the Republican Party in 2008, compared to 31 percent in 2004. Fewer Catholics identify themselves as Republicans than in any year since 2000.Among all adult Catholics, 38 percent identify as a weak or strong Democrat, while 22 percent lean Democratic. Republicans are...

NEW DELHI: With Democrat senator Barack Obama busy in the run-up to the US presidential polls, a group of well-wishers in the capital have decided to send him a symbol of his lucky charm, Lord Hanuman, to help him emerge victorious. Obama's representative Carolyn Sauvage-Mar on Tuesday received a gold-plated two-feet-high idol which she will pass it on to the Obama after it is sanctified. The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms. An hour-long...

MEDIA ADVISORY, June 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Commenting on Senator Barack Obama's recent meeting with a group of prominent Christians, Vision America Action President Dr. Rick Scarborough, a Southern Baptist minister, said the Senator did nothing to reconcile his actions and words with his professed Christianity. "Claiming you're a Christian isn't enough," Scarborough said. "Here's a man who doesn't deviate one iota from the extreme leftwing of his party, when it comes to values issues," the Vision America Action President charged. "He supports partial-birth abortion. As a member of the Illinois State Senate, he had a 100% perfect rating from...

What is Life/Non-life in Nature? by Jean F. Drew Everywhere we see the “behavior” of life/non-life (death) in nature; but that doesn’t tell us what life/non-life IS. Darwin’s theory of evolution doesn’t help with this question. It presupposes the existence of life axiomatically, and then proceeds to speak of the origin and evolution of species. Its fundamental assumption is that biological evolution is a wholly naturalistic, material process governed by the laws of physics and chemistry, with random variation and natural selection as the principal drivers of the system. Central to the Darwinist view is that life forms — species...

...Few would have even noticed if Thomas had succumbed to the Royal request. He probably could have even justified the action through the exercise of his well honed rhetorical and logical skills by calling it a merely perfunctory action. He could have thereby restored his political position, some would have argued, in order to try to influence the King for the good over the long haul. He could have had his substantial properties restored if he had just sworn that oath, others would say, in order to provide material safety for his beloved family. Instead, this man who loved life,...

Whether the problems in America are plagues or not, God is still in control. The revisiting of the ten plagues of ancient Biblical times makes it easier to understand the reasons why America is in the mess that it is in today. All the possible plagues that have been mentioned could become even worse as days, months and years pass. But, one thing is for sure, if America does not repent as a nation, God will send some form of punishment. God will not be continually mocked by sinful Americans who rebel against Him.

June 20George Weigel  Theologian & Senior Fellow, Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. Recent USCCB Spring Meeting; the growing schism in the Anglican Communion George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America's leading public intellectuals. Professional ExperienceA native of Baltimore, he was educated at St. Mary's Seminary College in his native city, and at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. In 1975, Weigel moved to Seattle where he was Assistant Professor of Theology and Assistant (later Acting) Dean of Studies at the St....

Magdi Allam, the Christian convert from Islam who was baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at an Easter service in April, has reacted to Islamist death threats posted on a web site said to be close to al-Qaeda. He has expressed particular concern that the writers of the threatening messages may be Italian. Allam, an Egyptian-born writer and deputy editor of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, has been a controversial figure in Italy for his regular critiques of Islam. In fact, in his book “Long Live Israel,” Allam wrote “the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically...

Evangelist Bill Keller of LivePrayer a dot com ministry that has 2.4 million daily subscribers to Keller’s messages is leaving the seat open for Sen. Obama to answer questions about his Christian faith. Will he accept the invitation? The call is simple and cordial but the questions are biting and will not be easy to answer. Bill Keller has issued the public invitation by saying “I am sending a formal invitation to Senator Obama to sit down with me on camera and deal with these serious questions regarding what he believes about his Christian faith

As many readers know, I recently wrote a column titled “Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound,” which explored the logical and philosophical case for the Divine. As I painstakingly pointed out in the column, all of the arguments hold true whether one believes in evolution or not. Nonetheless, many chose to attack the column from a scientific standpoint, not by bringing specific examples, but because of the lack thereof. While they entirely missed the meaning of the column, I would still like to address their issues.

Tim Russert / Archbishop George Niederauer Washington DC, Jun 18, 2008 / 04:11 am (CNA).- Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Communications Committee, the late Tim Russert on Tuesday for his devotion to his Catholic faith, family, work as a journalist and his work with Catholic charities."Russert was valued by Americans for his tremendous command of the political and electoral process and his commitment to discovering each aspect of the story that contributed to people having a better awareness of the issues of public life and candidates for political office," Archbishop Niederauer said....

On the second-to-last day of school in Seattle, the fifth-grade class at B.F. Day Elementary School is bustling around the art room, cutting streamers, trying on hats and testing out their twirls. Volunteers from the Fremont Arts Council are also busy, helping students scissor through fabric, glue on streamers and parade their wares around the school......Like many Fremonsters, the kids who attend B.F. Day are excited about next Saturday’s parade.The Fremont Solstice Parade will be held on June 21st at noon- directions can be found on the Fremont Arts Council’s website.

ANN ARBOR, MI – Military Judge Colonel Steven Folsom, USMC, will issue his ruling on the crucial Unlawful Command Influence motion brought by LtCol Jeffrey Chessani’s defense counsel in a Camp Pendleton, California, courtroom on Tuesday, June 17, 2008, at 9:00am PST.  Col Folsom had originally scheduled hearings in Chessani’s case to last for three days, June 16–18.  However, in an announcement that might prove to be significant to the Chessani case, Col Folson indicated late last week that he will announce his decision on the defense motion to dismiss on June 17 in a hearing that should last...

The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today. In addition, all seminaries will be required to teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes. Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite. Yesterday’s announcement by the senior Vatican cardinal in charge...

For 40 years, English Catholic worship has been controlled by a bossy alliance of bishops and politically correct activists known as the "Sandalistas". Now, a Colombian-born cardinal close to the Pope effectively announced that their time has come to an end. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos – speaking as an emissary of Pope Benedict – revealed that every parish in England and Wales will be required to offer worshippers the ancient Latin Mass detested by the Sandalistas. This is great news not just for the Latin Mass Society, but also for growing number of young Catholics who hate going to church...

LONDON — A "wedding"-like ceremony between two male priests broke the Church of England's rules, a spokesman for the Anglican body said Saturday. The two clergymen exchanged rings and vows last month at a ceremony in St. Bartholomew the Great in London, according to The Sunday Telegraph, a preview of which was made available Saturday. The paper said the ceremony included traditional marriage liturgy, hymns and a Eucharist. The ceremony took place in defiance of the Bishop of London, in whose diocese it took place. It is likely to embolden liberal clergy who have been reluctant to offer a full...

In the beginning, God created heaven and Earth, and he saw that it was good. So begins the Book of Genesis, the dramatic opener of the Old Testament. But things went downhill from there. God's wrath seems at work these days, as the heavens and Earth have unleashed earthquakes in China, a cyclone in Burma, killer tornadoes and record floods across the U.S. and even a plague of locusts (cicadas) in New England. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa today, floodwaters forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad...

The pope has timed a speech about the role of Ireland in European history to coincide with the eve of the Lisbon Referendum. Pope Benedict has used his weekly audience to praise the central role of Irish missionaries in European history, a day before voters go to the polls to decide the future of the Lisbon Treaty. Speaking to tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square, the Pope gave a sermon about the life of St Columbanus, an Irish monk born in 543 who travelled to Europe to spread Christianity. In his speech charting the saint's life,...

Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.

On Monday, Episcopal Bishop Marc Handley Andrus, of the Diocese of California (the San Francisco area) issued a pastoral guideline calling for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation, to follow the same pattern for marriage, seeking a civil ceremony first followed by a church blessing. This will allow, the bishop said, for all couples to enter marriage on the same footing. He is even going to personally volunteer to perform the ceremonies as a Deputy Marriage Commissioner. In other words, he wants those whose marriages the church can sanction to seek a civil ceremony instead, followed by a church blessing......

Rome, Jun 12, 2008 / 12:17 pm (CNA).- The official Vatican daily “L’Osservatore Romano” has reported that the bishops of Turkey have decided to move up the beginning of the Pauline Year in that country to June 22. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, will celebrate a Mass on that day, and symposium on the writings of St. Paul as well as a national pilgrimage to Tarsus, Antioquia and Ephesus will take place until June 24.In order to welcome visitors, the Church in Turkey has asked the government for permission to celebrate...

California's Episcopal bishop has praised the state Supreme Court ruling that gives same-sex couples the right to marry and is calling on the faithful to defeat a November ballot measure that would restrict marriage to unions of one man and one woman. "For far too long the onus has fallen on marginalized people to bear the burden of inequalities that exist within the Church, and the decision by our state's Supreme Court has given us the opportunity to level the playing field," Right Rev. Mark Andrus wrote in a pastoral letter dated June 9. The letter appeared on the Diocese...

Faithful Citizenship June 11th, 2008 by Mickey Addison There are roughly 77 million people in the USA who identify themselves as Catholics.  The much vaunted “Catholic Vote” is very sought after with politicians trying to use the words of our bishops as implicit endorsements.  This is a twisting of our bishops’ teaching, since as Cardinal George said in response to the public scandal of a “zealously” political priest in his archdiocese, “The Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates.”Every four years for the past thirty, our bishops have issued a teaching document to assist Catholic voters as they approach the...

He maintains he is following the Holy Spirit in calling for this radical revision of Christian orthodoxy. Yet, he argues against the clear teaching of the Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Christian tradition that reserve sexual activity to the loving, lifelong marriage bond between a married man and woman. Clearly, Bishop Gene Robinson views himself as a liberator, and he is doing more to foster the splintering of the Anglican Communion worldwide singlehandedly than anyone else. He seems to take delight in both his celebrity and his self appointed task. Now, the controversialist crusader for homosexual equivalency with marriage...

THAI BINH, Vietnam (UCAN) -- The government has allowed a northern diocese with a grave shortage of priests to open refresher courses for older seminarians at a former seminary officials have promised to return to the Church. According to Thai Binh diocese's May 30 announcement, which is being read out at parishes, the People's Committee of Thai Binh Province approved the special philosophy and theology courses at My Duc Seminary. The 2,000-square-meter seminary was built in 1936 by Spanish Dominican Bishop Juan Casado Obispo, the first bishop of Thai Binh, then a vicariate. The complex, which includes two three-story buildings,...

The leader of East Bay Catholics has gone beyond an accommodating message on same-sex marriages from bishops statewide to urge his parishioners to change the law."As faithful citizens, Catholics are called to bring our laws regarding marriage into conformity with what we know about the nature of marriage," said Bishop Allen Vigneron, head of the Oakland Diocese.Failing to do so would make Catholic life countercultural, he wrote in a statement published in the June 9 Diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Voice. "No government has the power to change the order which God has inscribed in our nature," Vigneron says in the...

A new report released on Sunday, exactly two months ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, details the current Chinese Government’s crackdown on unregistered Christians, including the funding of a campaign to eradicate house churches throughout China. The report, entitled “China: Persecution of Protestant Christians in the Approach to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games”, by Christian Solidarity Worldwide and China Aid Association, provides information on different tactics used by the government to restrict the religious freedom of Christians. CAA said that in May, two independent sources reported that the Chinese Central Government was providing funding to the Ministry of Public Security...

One of the beautiful aspects of self evident truths is that they can be proven on both the simplest and the most complex of levels. By contrast, to make an argument for what is in fact an illogical fallacy, one must use plenty of skill, sophistry and remain beholden to a dogmatic protection of what is really an illogical position. Yet even after a detailed case is made for the illogical side of the argument, it can instantly be deflated like a balloon with the simplest poke of clear logic. It can also be attacked piece by piece with even...

This “education to hope and freedom” is the antidote for a Western culture that has become diseased, drunk and debauched on what John Paul II called a “counterfeit notion of freedom”. This culture is losing its hope because it has, in the words of Benedict XVI “...Put God in Parentheses”. This culture has hidden the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race, the womb, behind the language of “freedom of choice”... This culture gives legal protection to the commercial trade in pornographic images that turns the bodies of women and men...

Bush also broke protocol when he welcomed the Pontiff last April 15. Bush, accompanied by his wife and daughter Jenna, went to Andrews Air Force Base to receive the Pope -- an honor the president has never given to a visiting head of state. The next day, Benedict XVI's 81st birthday, the president hosted a celebration in the White House. The Holy Father's welcome is meant to repay the president for his cordiality, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said. Bush will be accompanied by his wife and by Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. envoy to...

Incredible Message About my （Dr. Don Boys） Islam Book from a Muslim Nation! How this brother got my book on Islam I don’t know. He must have purchased it while visiting in another country or someone sent it to him. He says he would be killed by followers of that peaceful religion of Islam if it were known that he had my book! What a way to live! Following is his email except for his name and country. I got to read some parts of your book Islam: America 's Trojan Horse. I would like to mention that it is...

In another disturbing sign that Sen. John McCain has little interest in reaching out to his conservative base, including evangelical Christian voters, his campaign has declined an offer to meet with the Rev. Billy Graham. For almost six decades, Graham has been America’s most influential preacher and evangelist, a man sought out by every president since Harry Truman. Today, the 89-year-old Graham is in declining health and stays near his home in Montreat, N.C. His last public appearance, in May 2007, marked the dedication of his library. Three former American presidents -- Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and Bill...