Free Republic

Pope Francis held a private audience Wednesday with a French student critically injured in 2016 defending a gay couple who were kissing in the street in the French city of Lyon. “An incredible encounter with an exceptional man… I am thinking of you all on this special day for me. I leave full of strength, courage and hope,” the 20-year-old wrote on the Facebook page of the association «Je soutiens Marin» (“I support Marin”), created by his parents and followed by nearly 200,000 people. On 11 November 2016, Marin, then a third-year university student studying law and political science, came...

A British organization has launched an ambitious project aimed at restoring old, abandoned synagogues across Europe and bringing them back to community life, and commemorating communities that were wiped out in the Holocaust. The Foundation of Jewish Heritage has identified 3,300 pre-Second World War buildings used for Jewish prayer, of which at least 19 could be brought back into use - out of an estimated total of 17,000 that were in use before the Second World War. The remaining buildings, of which just 718 are still being used as synagogues, have been carefully catalogued based on their artistic, urban, and...

A young kid is going viral for imitating his teachers at daycare in the most unique way. Twitter user @kyliamerrell shared a video of her brother Trace laying down on a mat in a prayer stance. "My brother has been doing this thing where he pulls a mat out of his diaper bag and lays on it like this and we couldn’t figure out what he was doing," the Twitter user says. "A few of his teachers at daycare are Muslim and we realized he’s seen them pray and now he does it too so precious."

Remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to repair church-state ties caused uproar Tuesday, sparking charges he was tampering with France’s longstanding secular tradition. The Church and the state were for centuries virtually indistinguishable in France, but the 1789 Revolution marked the first step by republicans to exclude religion from government affairs, codified in a 1905 law separating the two. But tensions have persisted, with conservative politicians often accusing officials of denying France’s cultural heritage — as seen in efforts to install nativity scenes at town halls during Christmas. Macron, who prides himself on tackling difficult issues head-on,...

By 1945, Pyongyang was known as the Jerusalem of East Asia, where 50,000 Catholics lived in peace and Catholic missionaries were overseeing a wave of conversions. The heartbreaking story of religious persecution in North Korea began during the Soviet occupation from 1945-1948 and continued with the new independent state in 1953. Today, there is only one state-controlled Catholic church in Pyongyang and there are no priests or members of a religious institute recognized by the Holy See. Francis Lee, a translator for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, estimates that there are about 800-3,000 ‘official’ Catholics left in North Korea....

Olivia Montellese stands on a raised dais in the middle of a bright room, surrounded by gleaming gowns, and smiles as she models an elegant white dress for her godmother, mother and two grandmothers. The women ooh and ahh as she twirls and poses, and – after deciding on a veil and matching shoes – Olivia happily holds up a flowery sign on a bejeweled stick proclaiming ‘I Said Yes To The Dress!’ They all snap pictures excitedly before Olivia retires to a special-arranged vanity in the middle of the boutique showroom, posing for more photos in a white satin...

After more than 111 years of living, the nation's oldest veteran was treated to an unexpected first: a trip on a private jet. On Saturday, Austin's Richard Overton was flown to Washington, D.C., for a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The trip was made possible by billionaire Austin businessman and philanthropist Robert F. Smith. Last Friday, Smith spent a couple hours visiting Overton, believed to be the oldest man in America, at Overton's home. Overton mentioned that one day, he'd like to visit the museum, where Smith donated $20 million. The next morning, Overton...

The Word of God grew and multiplied under much persecution. Many of the disciples were driven from Jerusalem and the city of Antioch in Syria was gaining importance in the early church. When this was reported at Jerusalem, Barnabas was sent to Antioch for a special mission. He sought Saul (later called Paul) in the city of Tarsus and Saul returned with Barnabas to Antioch. Many great things were happening at Antioch and in this city the disciples of Jesus were first called "Christians". Around 48 AD, in the springtime, Paul and his companions Barnabas and Mark were called on...

Dmitri Gasak, Chairman of the Transfiguration Fellowship of Minor Orthodox Brotherhoods, speaks about why it is that what happened in 1917 in Russia wasn’t just a change in the political system, but the beginning of a national and human catastrophe, as a result of which society has lost the ability to discern between good and evil, and why repentance is exactly the thing which will give the people back their bearings. The Transfiguration Fellowship is, in this 100th year since the Russian Revolution, running an initiative called “Calling our Nation to Repentance." More than a quarter century has passed since...

Is Paul, Apostle of God an appropriate move to take a 13 almost 14 year old to? I realize it is PG 13 but he was greatly abused and eventually beheaded. How traumatic might it be. Thanks

Jordan Peterson is currently engaged in a study of tradition and culture. He is clear that we know very little of the world about us. That knowledge comes, he believes, through the kind of enlightenment exemplified by Jesus and to a lesser extent Buddha. The religious community is clear about the vital significance of tradition and historically derived knowledge. The founding principle upon which all knowledge is built according to the aforementioned luminaries is universal love. This is the authority that will bring down the demonic pantheons that rule our world. Love is a cleansing power. It grinds evil into...

What, then, was “the Enlightenment”? This term was promoted, first and foremost, by the late-18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant . . . [who declared] that only reason allows human beings to emerge from their “self-incurred immaturity” by casting aside the “dogmas and formulas” of authority and tradition. For Kant, reason is universal, infallible and a priori—meaning independent of experience. As far as reason is concerned, there is one eternally valid, unassailably correct answer to every question in science, morality and politics . . . This astonishing arrogance is based on a powerful idea: that mathematics can produce universal truths by beginning...

Pro-choice campaigners have a serious message in their fight for reproductive rights. But a group of expats in Berlin is aiming to provide some light relief on the issue of abortion by inviting people to party together. The Berlin-Ireland Pro-Choice Solidarity group is trying to remove the stigma of abortion, raise funds for women in need and highlight the upcoming Irish referendum on abortion laws at the fundraiser on Friday April 6th. The referendum on repealing article 40.3.3, known as the eighth amendment, takes place on May 25th. The amendment, which has been in place since 1983, bans abortion even...

Just four days after Easter, George Washington University will host a training session for students and faculty that teaches that Christians — especially white ones — “receive unmerited perks from institutions and systems all across our country.”

Franciscan University posted a series of ads on Facebook Friday to promote some of its online theology programs, but it says one of them was rejected because it included the Crucifixion of Christ on the San Damiano Cross. The Catholic university in Steubenville, Ohio sent out a tweet on Friday saying its ad was rejected for content that is "shocking, sensational, and excessively violent." "An ad we placed was rejected by Facebook today for content that is "shocking, sensational, and excessively violent," said the tweet, which included a link to a blog post."We must agree with them."

At my very first job in New York, a colleague jokingly informed me: “You came in a WASP, but you’re leaving a Jew.” That statement was in reference to the demographics of the office’s staff. Almost everyone who worked there was Jewish, and I, a recent college graduate who had spent my adolescence in a largely Christian community in the South, was not. At the time, I had no idea she would end up being so right. As a teenager, I attended exactly one bat mitzvah, but moving to New York provided endless opportunities to learn about the Jewish faith....

Rhonda James (Source: WMC Action News 5) __________________________________________________________________________________________________ MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - Rhonda James has been living with a painful secret for 50 years. "It was just what my mother wanted, my parents wanted for us. She wanted us to go on and go to school and go to college and have a regular life." James is a grandmother who has lived in Memphis her whole life. She was 8 years old in 1968 when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to support the Memphis sanitation workers in their strike for higher wages and better working...

IC Editor’s note: Hot Press magazine is Ireland’s Rolling Stone, vastly influential, especially with younger readers. Niall Stokes, it’s (sic) longtime editor, has issued a direct challenge to Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg to stay out of the Irish abortion referendum.In the upcoming referendum, Irish people will be voting on whether to Repeal the 8th Amendment to the constitution. And already it has been confirmed that anti-choice groups have engaged Kanto, a company similar to Cambridge Analytica, which is run by former Brexit strategist Thomas Borwick, to target the most vulnerable and persuadable voters. Facebook told us that they had plans...

Scientology is commonly known as the religion of the stars. Its reach inside Hollywood is deep, and celebrity recruitment is a huge component of the group’s marketing strategy. It sounds strange to describe the proselytizing efforts of a religion as a marketing strategy, but Scientology is unlike any other American religion. It operates as a business at best and as a cult at worst. In Los Angeles, Scientology’s most expensive outpost is the Celebrity Center. At a 1999 fundraiser for the Center, actress Leah Remini said, “Celebrity Center is my second home, and there is not a person here that...

Anybody watch Jesus Christ Superstar tonight?