Free Republic

Proposals are being drawn up on “the nature and scope” of introducing a free contraceptive service, Minister for Health Simon Harris has said. He said he would seek approval in a few weeks for a series of measures to further support women and improve access to counseling, contraception and perinatal care. “If our underlying principle is that abortion should be safe, legal and rare, then we must do all we can to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies and to support women in every way,” Mr. Harris added. The Minister was introducing in the Dáil on Friday the Thirty-Sixth Amendment...

Massachusetts college librarians state that wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” or saying “God bless you” if they sneeze is an act of “Islamomisic microaggression”. Librarians at Simmons College in Boston have banded together to write what they have titled The Anti-Oppression Library Guide. While controversial, the guide is intended as a resource to promote equality and limit religious oppression. While the guide is not an official policy of Simmons College, some of its beliefs have already made their way to reports in mainstream media outlets like Fox News. Librarians at the college argue that “Islamomisic Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or...

A bronze plaque with the Ten Commandments is no longer on view at the St. Louis County Courthouse in Hibbing. Property management removed the plaque at the direction of county administration on Monday. St. Louis County communications manager Dana Kazel tells the Hibbing Daily Tribune that officials consulted with the county attorney's office, which recommended removing the Ten Commandments based on past court decisions.

"...Both of these cults are based on myths...One says that 75 million years ago an intergalactic warlord nuked billions of people..., and then there's the really crazy myth that guns have nothing to do with gun violence....".

PHOENIX — Saying it just translates a Latin word already in the state motto, a House panel voted Monday to let schools literally put the word "God'' into classrooms — as long as it's connected to the word "enriches.'' Existing Arizona law says teachers and administrators may read or post a variety of things in any classroom. They range from the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem to published decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the writings and speeches of the Founding Fathers' and presidents. It also includes the national motto, which is "In God We Trust.'' SB...

The residents of Sungai Buloh, Selangor were greeted with an unwelcome guest when a wild boar sneaked into the neighborhood’s mosque on Tuesday night. A mosque-goer was injured by the wild boar amidst the ruckus at Masjid Jamek Sungai Plong. The mosque’s imam Ungku Ahmad Hazwan Ungku Kamarudin said that the incident happened as worshippers were performing additional prayers after Maghrib prayers. “Our mosque was visited by a male wild boar who had gotten lost in the mosque’s grounds. It subsequently started chasing mosque-goers and children in the grounds. It then went into the mosque and we could see that...

COLUMBIA, Md. — Please God, give me salvation — and a car. That prayer may have been uttered by more than a few people at a Maryland church on Sunday. That’s because Destiny Church in Columbia handed out five used cars to demonstrate God’s goodness and to attract new members. Pastor Stephen Chandler said the predominantly African-American church normally draws up to 1,100 people. This week, the church gave away 2,250 tickets in advance of three services.

There were 546 reported incidents of Islamophobia in Spain in 2017, according to a report released Friday by the Citizens’ Platform Against Islamophobia (PCI). […] The most frequent type of incident cited were those of “defamation, slander, and libel,” in which Muslim men were accused of being “violent, sexist, chauvinists, pedophiles, backwards, intolerant, or terrorists,” while Muslim women were characterized as being “submissive, oppressed, ignorant, or backwards.” The second leading category of incidents was those of discrimination or negation of rights. The report used the European Union’s definition of discrimination, citing it as the “conduct, action, or omission by which...

A Pennsylvania school district will be moving its elementary students for the day on Wednesday due to a nearby church’s decision to bless couples carrying AR-15 rifles. The Wallenpaupack Area School District will move students out of Wallenpaupack South Elementary School in Newfoundland due to its proximity to the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary church, where couples will be blessed alongside their semi-automatic rifles. The district in the Poconos sent letters to parents on Friday notifying them that students would attend class at another elementary school further from the church on Wednesday. Students who miss school that day will be...

Full Title: History of tattooing is rewritten after world's earliest figurative inkings are found on 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies in the British Museum The world's earliest figurative tattoos have been discovered on 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummies at the British Museum, rewriting the history of inking. The tattoos are of a wild bull and a Barbary sheep on the upper-arm of a male mummy, and S-shaped motifs on the upper-arm and shoulder of a female. The find dates tattoos containing imagery rather than geometric patterns to 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. Researchers say the discovery 'transforms' our understanding of how people lived...

Billy Graham as a guest on What's My Line?, October 9, 1960.

Chris Pratt is facing backlash from social media users after he posted a tweet in which he sent “prayers” to Kevin Smith following a heart attack. Pratt wrote that Smith’s “Clerks” inspired him when he was a senior in high school and included the line “praying for you.” Smith suffered a heart attack on February 25 following a comedy show in California. The director said he almost died. Many Twitter users responded in fury to Pratt’s well-wishes, mocking the fact he was “praying” for Smith. The backlash cited the politicians who sent prayers and thoughts to the survivors of the...

A week-long course on exorcism will be held in April at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a Catholic educational institute in Rome. In 2011, the Catholic Church warned that a surge in Satanism, facilitated by the internet, had led to a sharp rise in the demand for exorcism, and a six-day conference on the subject took place at the institute. The announcement of the training course is likely to be welcomed by Father Pat Collins, a Irish leading exorcist who said recently he is “baffled” why Church leaders are not taking action as more people claim to be victims of...

Icelandic lawmakers are considering a law that would ban the circumcision of boys for non-medical reasons, making it the first European country to do so. Some religious leaders in Iceland and across Europe have called the bill an attack on religious freedom. It is seen as a particular threat by Jews and Muslims who traditionally embrace the practice. Under the proposed law, the circumcision of boys — removing the foreskin of the penis, usually when the child is a newborn — would be viewed as equal to female genital mutilation and punishable by up to six years in prison. […]...

My brother(in Texas)was diagnosed last week with(Mantle Cell?)Lymphoma...

Credit: Biblical Archaeology Review 44:2, March/April May/June 2018 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Author and archaeologist Eilat Mazar has published an article in Biblical Archaeology Review suggesting that a small piece of clay with a seal imprint on it (called a bulla) might be the first-ever extra-biblical reference to the prophet Isaiah. In her article, she gives a historical overview of both King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, followed by an overview of the locations in which both people were believed to have lived and worked—specifically temples in Jerusalem that have been under excavation for many years. Researchers found a bulla believed to...

The Church of England’s most senior clergyman has attacked Brexit and told Britons they must welcome mass immigration in an extraordinary political opinion piece. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made his intervention in the Mail on Sunday, which like Welby backed the Remain campaign during the EU referendum.

Been around here a long time, but this is my first post. I'm not sure if it's a vanity or not, but hopefully it's well-received. I'm wondering about people's opinion on the question of whether Billy Graham would be receiving the same (well-deserved) honors and attention after his passing if Obama the Commie was still the president. This question occurred to me on the way home tonight, and I'd like to hear what y'all think.

Since at least the 1960s – swathes of the Western world have witnessed unprecedented religious change and (for the most part) decline. We have simultaneously witnessed a series of social and cultural revolutions, most recently the technological and media revolution driven by the internet. That alone has profoundly changed the way people think and act... This “new evangelisation” requires that we (and I mean all Christians) are embarking on a centuries-long endeavour. And given this, we need to approach it in the right frame of mind, fortified with a spirituality of patience and perseverance. While we tend to think of...

Luxury fashion brand Gucci is facing a backlash from people after it adorned white models with traditional Sikh turbans down the ramp in their brand's Fall 2018 fashion week. The move by Gucci has upset many people and who took to social media to condemn the use of turbans in fashion, by calling it "offensive" and "irresponsible", The Independent reported. Canadian actor and model Avan Jogia began the backlash, in a series of tweets. "could you not find a brown model?", Jogia wrote on Twitter, along with an image of a white male model wearing a blue turban. "and please,...