Free Republic

A Christian college and two Catholic dioceses in western Pennsylvania are again under the yoke of the HHS mandate as a federal court reversed the injunctions previously granted to the institutions by lower courts. Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Diocese of Erie, and several Catholic charities under the dioceses had all been granted injunctions from the HHS mandate. But on Wednesday, a panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously ruled to reverse the exemptions. Judge Marjorie Rendell noted in her opinion that the institutions can take advantage...

Papacy built on pious fiction and forgery, part 1 J. Gresham Machen said, in his 1915 lecture "History and Faith," that "The student of the New Testament should be primarily an historian." And in fact, thanks to the last few centuries' worth of historical criticism, and a couple of “historical Jesus” quests, both the life of Jesus and the history of the New Testament have undergone a thorough historical examination, and in the process, have only had their historical reliability enhanced. On the other hand, what we've been told about the early papacy has fallen away like chaff. Instead...

The recent attack on a French satirical magazine renewed Americans’ pass to keep talking seriously about Islam as a threat. In America’s arena of religious intolerance, Muslims are the easiest targets imaginable. So easy, in fact, that another religious movement can chime in on the bigotry of such attacks while keeping a straight face. In light of the political gains being made by the Christian Right, it’s clear that the religious fanatics who should be stopped can less often be found in a mosque than in Congress. The movement does not deserve our tolerance. It’s fascinated by violence, ferociously intolerant...

Credit: fsecart via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Rome, Italy, Feb 12, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While church attendees dwindle in Germany, questions have arisen once again over the controversial state-imposed church tax – and whether it's time for the country's bishops to address concerns around it. “We are in a time when more and more people realize that the financial apparatus Church works well, that the facade is optimal but what is behind it? Where is the true faith?” asked Martin Lohmann, Catholic publicist, author and spokesperson of the advocacy group Christian Action in Germany. “While we have...

Influential Catholics—many of them supporters of Barack Obama—are advancing a proposition that may have the result of sullying the reputations of Catholic conservatives and those Catholics arguing for a robust market economy.They couch their arguments in Catholic Social Teaching; the common good, political community, love for the poor, subsidiarity. They compare this over against libertarianism; a radical individualism where each man sets and makes his own course that—damn all the rest—leads to his flourishing unless the heavy hand of the state interrupts it. Above all—to radical individualists—the State is the Enemy. Except some of what these people call libertarianism,...

S.F. Archbishop's Imposition Of Morality Clause At Schools Outrages Many By LEE ROMNEY San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone sparked a protest last summer when he ignored pleas from public officials to cancel his plans to march in Washington, D.C., against same-sex marriage. Now Cordileone has prompted fresh outrage in the liberal Bay Area by imposing morality clauses on teachers, staff and administrators at the four high schools under his control in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. A newly released handbook asks the nearly 500 school employees to "affirm and believe" that "adultery, masturbation, fornication, the viewing of...

The guy whose behavior during the Nazi occupation converted the chief rabbi of Rome to Catholicism was working with the Nazis? The guy who was supposedly so silent and passive, at best, did enough that EWTN found a dozen paged of quotes from contemporary Jewish sources that were favorable to his behavior? A Pope who is defended from such accusations by a Jewish historian (formerly of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America) who not only debunks the claims, but describes Pius XII as the greatest friend to Jews of the 20th century? The man who, at his death, got this...

The federal government is stepping into the void of decades of inattentiveness to religious identity at several Catholic colleges. The chapel at St. Mary's College of California in Moraga is seen in a 2009 photo. (CNS photo/courtesy St. Mary's College of California) While many Catholics have been concerned for decades about professors at Catholic colleges denying core Church teachings on theological issues, as well as about disputes over women’s ordination, same-sex marriage, and abortion on Catholic campuses, few Catholic college leaders have been willing to enforce the requirements of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which mandates that Catholic college faculty teach in...

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, could be dragged into a messy legal battle after a Muslim family demanded that a “non-believer” who was buried next to their relation be exhumed for religious reasons. The unnamed Muslim family raised objections after an 89-year-old Roman Catholic man was buried in a plot adjacent to their relation. Shadrack Smith was buried in the multi-denominational Lychgate Lane Cemetery in Burbage, Leicestershire, following his funeral on Jan 30. Mr Smith had lived in an official gipsy camp in nearby Aston Firs for more than 20 years, and in excess of 400 relations and friends attended...

At a “Defeat Jihad Summit” hosted by the Center for Security Policy, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) noted Wednesday that former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is Mormon, did not travel to New York launch a terrorist attack on “The Book of Mormon."“Right now on Broadway, a play is showing, the Book of Mormon, that is ridiculing and making fun of the Mormon faith," said Cruz. "Last I checked, Mitt Romney didn’t show up on Broadway trying to blow up the stage." (VIDEO-AT-LINK)"It is not a permissible response for anyone of any faith to say if you disagree with or...

For some time, an argument has been made that the liberal left, in refusing to examine the problems of Islam, has betrayed its Enlightenment roots. That is, while secular, feminist, and protective of free speech in dealing with its Western peers, the liberal left has been accused of abandoning its heritage in its quest for political correctness regarding Muslims. In truth, however, the left has a distinguished background of courting Islam as a weapon against Western capitalism. Its most representative figures from the past did so frankly, as the following rehearsal of their statements demonstrates. Karl Marx supported the Ottoman...

This sermon is titled "What really happen in the Garden of Eden". This is from the female pastor that is conducting gay marriages in Alabama. She uses this sermon talk about the idea of shame and guilt. She states almost every racist slur that exists. Then she moves onto politics from page 4 an on. She compares the incidents at Abu-Ghraib to Joe Arpiao: "Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio forcing his male prisoners to wear pink underwear and swelter in tents. How does one recover from being treated that way? More to the point, isn't there something fundamentally wrong with Lynndie...

The last read verses deal with non-believers (hypocrites) and continues into today's verses. 'These', 'their', 'they' in the following verses refer to non-believers. 2:16. These are they who have purchased error for guidance, so their commerce was profitless. And they were not guided. 2:17. Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindled a fire; then, when it lighted all around him, Allah took away their light and left them in darkness. (So) they could not see. 2:18. They are deaf, dumb, and blind, so they return not (to the Right Path). 2:19. Or like a rainstorm from the...

FULL TITLE: On Losing Streak in Courts, Obama Administration Goes After Nuns’ TV Network with Abortion Drugs Mandate ATLANTA — In the latest federal court case impacting abortion policy, last Wednesday the voice of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was finally heard as they presented oral arguments against the Obama Administration at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The face of the Obamacare juggernaut, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, is set on enforcing the highly-contested contraceptive services provision, which mandates coverage of abortion-inducing drugs — despite the federal government racking up a series of recent Supreme Court losses on...

The statue of Father Junipero Serra (Far Left) inside the National Statuary Hall in Washington D.C. Washington D.C., Feb 10, 2015 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just weeks after Pope Francis announced his intention to canonize missionary Father Junipero Serra during his upcoming visit to the states, a California legislator has proposed replacing the soon-to-be-saint's statue in the U.S. Capitol – but critics of the move are beginning to speak out. “I certainly wouldn't endorse it,” Monsignor Francis J. Weber, an author and historian of 18th century missionary, told CNA Feb. 6. Father Serra helped establish the California missions, many...

In 732 AD the Muslim Army which was moving on Paris was defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell. In 1571 AD the Muslim Army/ Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to attack southern Europe in the Battle of Lepanto. In 1683 AD the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish Christian Armies. This crap has been going on for 1,400 years and half of these damn politicians don't even know it !!! If these battles had...

1. Surah Al-Fatihah (The Opening) 1:1. In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. 1:2. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). 1:3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. 1:4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of Recompense (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) 1:5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything). 1:6. Guide us to the Straight Way 1:7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the...

The underground bishop of Yixian disappeared in police custody in 2001. In late January news of his death spread. But authorities denied the reports. Family members await his corpse or ashes. The long list of underground bishops who have died in prison after torture. The government is terrified of possible demonstrations at his funeral. The visit of Yu Zhengsheng, "number four" from Baoding Politburo. Out of his 93 years of life, Bishop Shi spent 54 years in prison because of his fidelity to the Church and the Pope.Rome (AsiaNews) - Very "dangerous." Very "worrying": This is how Hebei Catholics comment...

President Obama took to the podium of the National Prayer Breakfast to criticize the “terrible deeds” . . . committed “in the name of Christ” throughout the pass two thousand years or so. "And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," he said. "In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ." While the president is right that slavery supporters often sought out validation in...

2Chronicles 7:14 If My People, which are Called by My Name, Shall Humble themselves, and Pray, And Seek My Face, and Turn from their Wicked Ways; Then will I Hear from Heaven, and will Forgive their Sin, And will Heal their Land.