Free Republic

Protesters display signs and carry flags during a rally in Detroit to highlight persecution of Iraqi Christians (CNS) Chaldean Catholics in the US have called on President Obama to do more to prevent the “genocide” of Christians in Iraq.Shouting slogans such as “Obama, Obama, where are you? Iraqi Christians need you!” and “Stop the violence in Iraq!” a group of about 150 protesters, most of who were Chaldeans (Christians of Iraqi descent), marched through the streets of downtown Detroit on Friday to raise awareness about the violent persecution of Christians in their native land at the hands of Islamic State...

Colin Collette, former music director at Holy Family Catholic Church in Illinois, says his partner, William Nifong, asked to “marry” him while they stood in front of St. Peter’s Basilica on a recent trip to Rome. In Illinois and Chicago, thanks to Catholic Democrat politicians, same-sex marriage is legal, so the two men planned a wedding. When Colin returned to the Chicago area, Father Terry Keehan of Holy Family Catholic Church, asked Collette to resign. Colin refused, and was subsequently fired. According to Collette, someone sent Francis Cardinal George a Facebook picture of him and his husband to be. That...

On Friday, the President of the Catholic League, Dr. Bill Donohue, spoke with TPNN’s the Voice of Reason, Tim Constantine on the issue of Christian persecution in the Arab world. Right off the bat, Constantine asked why the president was so resistant to speaking out against Christian persecution occurring in the Middle East. Dr. Donohue countered that Obama is a devout secularist. “I’ve worked with many professors in my life and I know the way they think. They’re either indifferent to religion or they’re hostile to it. But not all religions; I mean, I’ve never seen a president show more...

Pope lifts suspension of Father D’Escoto, former Sandinista official August 04, 2014 By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has lifted the suspension of Maryknoll Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, who was ordered 29 years ago to stop exercising his priestly ministry because he refused to give up his political position in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. The pope made his decision after Father D’Escoto, 81, formally requested permission to resume priestly duties, Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, said Aug. 4. Vatican Radio reported that Father D’Escoto had written that he wanted to...

In this episode of The Terry & Jesse Show on mp3: 1) Get the facts on what the Church really teaches on Immigration from the CCC. 2) Learn what Jesse Romero has learned about immigration and gangbangers as a former Los Angeles deputy. 3) The morality of fathers leaving their families in their country of origin and its dangers. 4) The moral obligations of immigrants. 5) Hear callers voicing their concerns (including one from Murrieta, CA. 6) Learn what the "The Cloward–Piven Strategy" is and more...

One hundred years ago this week, Christian Europe commenced the horrific Great War that spread globally, raged from August 1914 to November 1918, and was responsible for the death of more than 15-million soldiers and civilians.In The World Crisis, Winston Churchill’s six-volume account of the struggle, he observed that the warriors employed “Every outrage against humanity or international law.” And when it was over, “torture and cannibalism were the only two expedients that the civilized, scientific, Christian states had been able to deny themselves: they were of doubtful utility.”The conflict’s catalyst? On June 28, 1914, the Roman Catholic heir to...

Omar Akersim prays regularly and observes the dawn-to-dusk Ramadan fast. He is also openly gay. Akersim, 26, is part of a small but growing number of American Muslims challenging the long-standing interpretations of Islam that defined their parents’ world. They believe that one can be gay and Muslim; that the sexes can pray shoulder-to-shoulder; that females can preach and that Muslim women can marry outside the faith—and they point to Quran passages to back them up. The shift comes as young American Muslims work to reshape the faith they grew up with so it fits better with their complex, dual...

Righteousness is the only ingredient that makes the soup of government sweet and satisfying to the people, but unfortunately, this ingredient is lacking in most government/political arenas in the world.I will try to define the term righteousness, its relationship with politics and its importance in any (capitalist and socialist) government and again, the word religion and righteousness, will be used interchangeably for the purpose of clarity.Definition of RighteousnessRighteousness is a quality that can be possessed by any man/woman who desires it. It is the quality of being morally right or justifiable. It is the quality of being fair and...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for two monasteries and a church that were demolished during Soviet times to be rebuilt in the Kremlin, the largest overhaul of the site's architectural landscape in nearly a century. Putin has cultivated strong ties with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopting more conservative policies and prompting some critics to suggest the line separating state and church has become blurred. At a meeting on Thursday with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and top administrators of the Kremlin site, Putin said his plan would involve tearing down a building used for administrative...

Due to the false videos, false rumors of destroyed churches, false rumors of invasion that cause great fear among an already frightened people, the Archbishop of Mosul (Syriac Catholic Church), published the following open letter. Open Letter of His Excellency Youhanna Boutros (John Peter) Moshe,  Syriac Catholic Archeparch of Mosul and Qaraqosh Sunday, July 27, 2014 To All Priests, to all Monks and Nuns, to all Deacons, and to all those who have faith in Jesus Christ: May the peace and love of God come upon you, your homes, and your families, and upon all those who have come...

Some Catholic bishops have recently suggested that granting amnesty to illegal immigrant children from Central America is consistent with “pro-life” Catholic teachings. As reported in National Catholic Register, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh said that providing for the needs of the young illegal immigrants is one facet of a truly pro-life philosophy. “The Catholic Church responds to humanitarian crises here at home and all across the world because we are pro-life,” Zubik said in a statement on July 19th. “Being pro-life requires we protect and care for vulnerable persons from conception to natural death.” “Whether they are traveling because of...

Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Orthodox Christian who was nearly executed for her faith, was all smiles and her husband, Daniel Wani, in tears, when they and their two young children finally arrived home Thursday night — in Manchester, New Hampshire. Wani, who lives in the city along with his brother and extended family, was overcome by emotion upon encountering the celebratory welcome by members of the local Sudanese Evangelical Covenant Church. The Sudanese national reportedly shared "how happy he was that he and his family were on safe ground." The couple landed at the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport just after 8...

Moscow, July 31, Interfax - Russia and other states have the right for their own model of relations between religion and state different from the USA and they should not make excuses for it, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said commenting the recent report of the USA State Department on international religious freedom. "I"ve been reading this report for many years, and I think it becomes more and more balanced. It's good that the topic of Christians' exodus from some countries of the Middle East is mentioned, that not only countries which...

When, in 2012, EPA official Al Almendariz likened his enforcement strategy for federal drilling policies to Romans’ peacekeeping tactics in the Mediterranean — “Crucify them,” he quipped — he was only exhibiting what many already knew: that the Environmental Protection Agency performs its work with an almost religious zeal. But the agency’s latest effort — a massive clampdown on the nation’s coal industry — is receiving actual religious imprimatur. This week 28 religious leaders, representing not only a number of Christian denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, and more) but other faiths (Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahāʾī), testified in...

The following comes from a July 28 posting by Randy Thomasson on Save California.com.This is not a family you see. These are two very confused men who were likely sexually abused as children. And now they have a boy that one or both have adopted. And this boy is now being indoctrinated with big lies about family and sex….When Associated Press was preparing a widely-published July 27 article saluting another homosexual-agenda bill redefining family, the reporter pitted three liberal voices against me. But despite misspelling my name, and putting a qualifier before me and a subtle put-down after me, I...

The so-called "God Gap" between Republicans and Democrats continues to play an important role in partisan differences, according to a new Gallup poll.Among very religious Americans, about half, 49 percent, identify as Republican or are likely to vote Republican. Among nonreligious Americans, also about half, 52 percent, identify as Democrats or are likely to vote for Democrats. This God gap, sometimes called the "religious participation gap," has characterized party politics in the United States for at least the seven years that Gallup has been measuring it, Frank Newport, editor in chief for Gallup, pointed out in a blog post.Religiosity was...

In the Chronicle of Higher Education, a professor recently argued that Wheaton College’s accreditation, as well as that of several other religious colleges, should be revoked on the grounds that the schools’ required statements of faith violate academic freedom. I write not merely to defend Wheaton’s right to exist, but to express my gratitude that it does exist. Wheaton is an Evangelical Christian college in Illinois that houses the C. S. Lewis papers. I went there recently for a dialogue on C. S. Lewis and reading carefully, even reverently. While I am neither specifically Evangelical, like Wheaton, nor a...

A family at the Khazair checkpoint after fleeing from Mosul, Iraq on June 11, 2014. Credit: R. Nuri UNHCR-ACNUR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Washington D.C., Jul 30, 2014 / 04:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have urged the U.S. government to assist Iraqi Christian victims of persecution, while France has offered asylum to Iraqi Christians who have fled Mosul. “The Islamic State has taken control of large swaths of territory in northern Iraq, leaving a trail of destruction, burning and looting ancient churches and mosques, homes and businesses,” Bishop Richard E. Pates, the U.S. bishops’ chairman of International...

These terms -- duty, ability, and rights -- are often conflated, as a result of French and American influences. In this show, I break down the differences between them, how they relate, and how they should be respected on a practical level, all within the Christian context. LISTEN ON YOUTUBE.(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start with quotes from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Abraham Lincoln, then transition into the corrupted philosophies found in American and French history. I define the terms, then lay out how they can be applied, especially in the case of anti-Christian persecution in the Middle East. I...

Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s remarks last night at the White House honoring Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan: Last night the president said that Eid “reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” He would have done us a service had he enumerated them. “That is why we stand with people of all faiths,” he continued, “here at home and around the world, to protect and advance their rights to prosper, and we welcome their commitment to giving back to...