Free Republic

WHEN Malcolm X visited Mecca in 1964, he was enchanted. He found the city “as ancient as time itself,” and wrote that the partly constructed extension to the Sacred Mosque “will surpass the architectural beauty of India’s Taj Mahal.” Fifty years on, no one could possibly describe Mecca as ancient, or associate beauty with Islam’s holiest city. Pilgrims performing the hajj this week will search in vain for Mecca’s history. The dominant architectural site in the city is not the Sacred Mosque, where the Kaaba, the symbolic focus of Muslims everywhere, is. It is the obnoxious Makkah Royal Clock Tower...

Talking Back to Goliath: Some Advice for Students in the Evolutionary Biology Classroom Paul Nelson September 30, 2014 2:18 PM | Permalink A student in David Barash's animal-behavior class at the University of Washington might feel a bit like David facing Goliath -- even though Goliath, in this case, happens to be named David. Goliath occupies the podium at the front of the class, holds the professorship, and has the authority of the scientific community (apparently, anyway) on his side. And, like the biblical Goliath, he is confidently outspoken when he delivers what Barash in this past Sunday's NY Times...

Darwinist Denies Human Exceptionalism in NYT The New York Times is consistently anti-human exceptionalism, never missing an opportunity to publish articles that seek to reduce humans to just another animal in the forest.Today, the Sunday Review section has University of Washington biology professor, David P. Barash, bragging that he works to destroy faith in his classes (“The Talk”), insisting to his students that science and religion are incompatible.That kind of ideological indoctrination is par for the disturbing course in universities, but not the one of the areas with which I grapple. However, I would be remiss not to point out...

Choral music not heard since the time of Henry VIII has been brought to life for the first time in 500 years, as an academic unearths an untouched manuscript and shows it to a modern choir. The manuscript, a book of 34 religious songs, was given to Henry VIII as a lavish gift from a French diplomat in his early reign. Containing songs referencing Henry and his then-bride Catherine of Aragon, it is considered the most "luxurious" surviving diplomatic gift of its kind. It remained in the Royal Collection after the king's death, and was later given to the nation...

Spent the last week with Mom in hospital. A very close friend of Mom's (like an adopted daughter) is a wonderful help, but as a Catholic, is always fearful of her destination.She says that assuming that she will go to Heaven is beyond her...so she is painfully afraid and spreads that fear to others. Please help with your opinions.What should I say to her? She is neurotically fearful of her own future and spreads that fear generously.

Just days prior to the ruthless beheading of an innocent woman at the hands of Oklahoma jihadist Alton Nolen, his Imam, Imad Enchassi, garnered international attention after claiming that Muslims--even Muslim children--who resided in Oklahoma were under constant threat of literally having their heads chopped off. Imam Enchassi said in an interview about the threats he allegedly received: “We’re going to chop your head off. We’re going to burn your mosque. We got specific threats of beheading Muslims in the state. Beheading children.” The Imam said of his fellow Muslims’ children: “Yesterday, our children did not go play outside in...

Married couples who met online are three times more likely to divorce than those who met face-to-face, a study has found. Online daters are also 28 percent more likely to split from their partners within the first year, new figures from Michigan State University in the US suggest. A study of more than 4,000 couples found that relationships were far more stable if couples met in traditional ways such as introductions by friends or through work, hobbies or socializing. Couples who meet online are also less likely to get married and generally have a poorer relationship quality that those who...

A group of ultra-Orthodox passengers heading to Israel to celebrate the Jewish new year delayed an El Al flight out of JFK Airport, kvetching that they couldn’t sit next to women because of religious reasons.(snip) The Haredi travelers wouldn’t sit unless they could trade their seats with other passengers, rankling the secular Jews on board the Tuesday night flight, according to Shalom Life. “I ended up sitting next to a … man who jumped out of his seat the moment we had finished taking off and proceeded to stand in the aisle.” Other passengers recalled that the black-clad rabblerousers stood...

It should be apparent to American citizens that our government will not, cannot, defend us from the forces of Islam (who have declared war on us). There are many in the armed forces that understand the nature of this war, but they are also ham-strung when fighting and even naming our enemy. To defend against this enemy, more than just asymmetrical warfare will be required. Our own government at present is with the enemy and against the Country.We must formulate our strategy here at FR (where else might we do it?).A majority of the country supports us, but the electorate...

The Muslim convert who allegedly beheaded a female co-worker was arguing with his colleagues about whether it is acceptable to stone women to death the day he launched his attack, it has been claimed. Alton Alexander Nolen, 30, was trying to convince workers that Islam teaches that the punishment is acceptable on Thursday, shortly before he was fired from his job at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma, according to local media.

n a pessimistic world, a Michigan mother is looking for a miracle to save her terminally ill four-year-old son – and she’s turning to prayer and social media to find it. Tammi Curtis Carr of Ann Arbor was given the horrifying news Tuesday that her toddler, Chad, had an inoperative tumor on his brain stem. According to Carr, her son fell on Monday and hit his nose.The mother of three took her youngest to the hospital to make sure he didn’t have a concussion but what the MRI revealed was much worse. Chad was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma,...

Actor Nicolas Cage will reportedly star in what producers hope will be a new, improved movie version of the best-selling, end-times thriller Left Behind.

On Sunday, the forces of darkness were invited into Oklahoma City. It seems that today the invitation was accepted.

Oklahoma beheading suspect Alton Alexander Nolen calls himself “Jah’Keem Yisrael” on his Facebook page, where he uploaded photos of himself reading the Koran and wearing Muslim religious clothing. Nolen’s Facebook “cover” photo appears to be of several Taliban fighters, according to a Google reverse image search. A Philadelphia-based friend asked Nolen if he was praying in one of his photographs at “the Masjid on Luzerne,” referring to the Muslim American Society of Philadelphia. Nolen replied, “LAA,” to which his friend responded, “oh you not in Philadelphia.” “I JST WANT TO SAY AS AN MUSLIM WE DNT CELEBRATE AMERIKAS HOLIDAYS,” he...

The woman is Leyla Josephine of Glasgow, and she is a self-described feminist performance artist. She is reading a poem titled "I Think She Was a She" -- a poem lauded by The Huffington Post as "unapologetic. ... She ardently declares her power over her body as she reminds us that a woman exercising her right to choose is not uncommon -- and should never be shamefully brushed under the rug." What, exactly, is this poem? It's Josephine recounting her abortion of her unborn daughter. She notes, "I know she was a she and I think she would've looked exactly...

Methodological Naturalism: A Rule That No One Needs or Obeys Paul Nelson September 22, 2014 11:47 AM | Permalink Recently, BioLogos posted the concluding Parts 3 and 4 of Robert Bishop's review of Darwin's Doubt. Although the discussion at BioLogos is winding down, Bishop's review raises issues calling for a reply, because the underlying premises of his position are shared by large numbers of science and philosophy faculty at both secular and religious universities. It is likely that, left unchallenged and unexamined, these faulty premises will continue to influence the debate.One issue in particular deserves extended comment: the standing of...

<p>"Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a massive compound dating back to the Byzantine era, which was used for “industrial-scale” production of wine and olive oil.</p> <p>The site at Ramat Bet Shemesh about 19 miles west of Jerusalem contains an oil press, wine press and colorful mosaics, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.</p>

Full title: 'Faith Warriors:' Video of Marines Delivering Powerful Rendition of Christian Worship Song 'Days of Elijah' Goes Viral A powerful video of nearly 500 U.S. Marines at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California declaring "there is no God like Jehovah" in an inspirational rendition of the Christian worship song "Days of Elijah," is taking the Internet by storm. Merrie Pardee Baldwin, the Christian volunteer who first posted the video of the worshipful Marines to her Facebook page Sunday, told The Christian Post in an interview Friday that she is hoping the video inspires Americans to pray for...

Oneida High School cheerleaders were upset that the school chose to ban prayer at their games, so they decided to pray on their own and found they had supporters among the opposing team and the crowd...

Mega-church pastor Joel Osteen may lead the largest Protestant church in the United States, but a recent Facebook post shows he might need to go back to Sunday school.A Monday post to his verified Facebook page, Joel Osteen ministries, read: “God said in Numbers 11:23, ‘Moses, is there any limit to My power?’ He was saying, ‘Moses, you saw Me part the Red Sea, stop the sun for Joshua, keep three Hebrew teenagers safe in a fiery furnace, don’t you realize that I can bring water without rain?’ There’s no limit to God’s power.” Post by Joel Osteen Ministries. As...