Free Republic

Although Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have lost 9 percent compared to the last elections, her party has yet again become the largest party in Germany's parliament today. Merkel's CDU won 32.5 percent of the vote. That's significantly less than four years ago, but because Germany's electorate is more divided than ever before, it's enough to make her chancellor once more. Well, if she's able to form a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats and the Greens, that is, who finished the day with respectively 10.5 and 9.4 percent of the vote. For Merkel, the results will leave a bitter taste...

I have said it before and I will say it over and over --if we are not living in the days which Christ promised to shorten for the sake of the elect, then I fear what is to come. Confusion is rampant, truth has all but disappeared, apostasy is manifest, and even those who are allegedly Christ's shepherds betray him on a daily basis. In the words of a wise and holy priest --"Today if a person doesn't have extensive theological training or at least access to a holy priest they are toast". FROM THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL— "Rhode Island’s Islamic...

SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS   Strongman Ramzan Kadyrov was installed by Putin to squelch Chechnya's Islamist insurrection. But Kadyrov's adoption of sharia and political Islam in the region are challenging Russia's secular constitutional order. MOSCOW—Russia fought two bloody wars in its Caucasus republic of Chechnya, ostensibly to crush an emerging threat of Islamist extremism on its own soil. So it is with no small irony that the strongman Moscow installed to run a pacified Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is increasingly posing a similar challenge to Russia's secular constitutional order. Mr. Kadyrov is imposing sharia (Islamic law) on his population – and lately,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia has canned an annual craft beer festival after an Islamist party warned it would turn the city into “the biggest centre of vice in Asia”. Drinking alcohol is common among the large ethnic minorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia but there have been a growing number of protests against activities and events seen as un-Islamic by politicians and hardliners. The Better Beer Festival, billed as Malaysia’s biggest craft beer festival, was due to take place on October 6 and 7 at a shopping mall on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. But last week the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party...

A Christian man in Pakistan was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he sent a WhatsApp message to a friend that insulted Islam, his lawyer said on Friday. His trial continued for more than a year at the Gujrat Jail, about 200 kilometres from the provincial capital Lahore. Lahore -- A Christian man in Pakistan was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he sent a WhatsApp message to a friend that insulted Islam, his lawyer said on Friday. Nadeem James Masih was charged in July after his friend Yasir Bashir told the police that he sent him a poem on...

Huma Abedin's mother told then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to talk about sensitive issues like the prohibition on women drivers in Saudi Arabia, just before Clinton gave a speech at a Saudi women's college. "Do not even mention driving for women!" Saleah Abedin wrote in an email to Clinton. "The last visitor received a torrent of rejoinders from the students who said they have more important challenges to contend with." Saleah Abedin lectures on sociology issues at Dar Al Hekma, a women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Clinton gave a speech in February of 2010. Her daughter Huma...

In the picture, he departs from this earth like an arrow. Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying. He appears relaxed, hurtling through the air. He appears comfortable in the grip of unimaginable motion. He does not appear intimidated by gravity's divine suction or by what awaits him. His arms are by his side, only slightly outriggered. His left leg is bent at the knee, almost casually. His white shirt, or jacket, or frock, is billowing free...

Libertarianism.org, a project from the Cato Institute, claimed “Islamic teachings are consistent [with] many libertarian principles, such as tolerance, property rights & individualism” in a tweet on Tuesday. In the post linked in the tweet, Libertarianism.org also praised Ibn Khaldun as a libertarian hero, describing him as “the most consistent of the many free-market economists in Islamic history,” despite the fact that Khaldun promoted slavery. “Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated,”...

But the decision to allow the head covering in state primary schools has angered Islamic campaigners who believe the children may be bullied for looking different to other pupils." Many are also furious because the garment is often seen as one of sexual modesty for adolescent teens - and say that out of context it can be seen as sexualising little girls. Gina Khan, a children’s right campaigner in Birmingham said: “Schools are allowing it because they are afraid of being called Islamophobic and they have been told that this is a religious garment.

Several social media companies in the West have been criticised for a perceived lack of transparency in alleged talks with the Iranian authorities on censoring content to the approval of the country’s strict religious authorities. Instagram, currently available in the country – as well as Twitter and YouTube, which are blocked but widely visited by Iranians using proxy servers – have all been reported by local media in recent weeks as as co-operating with the authorities to aid them in blocking or censoring “immoral” content.

The chief of the Swiss Guards, the force that protects the Vatican, has said it is only “a matter of time” before an attack that is inspired or directed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) against the home of the Catholic church. Commander Christoph Graf, speaking to Swiss Catholic news website cath.ch, said that the security force for Pope Francis is prepared for any act of extremism. “Perhaps it is only a matter of time before an attack like that happens in Rome. But we are ready also for this,” he said. Created in the 16th century, the force...

The Vatican has called an ISIS terrorist video from the Philippines threatening the life of the pope "worrying" and made vague statements about security being in ready to halt the potential attack. Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's No. 2 official, said he has seen the video of militants desecrating Christian statues and threatening the pope by saying they'll come to Rome, as they tear in half photos of him and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The video was mostly filmed in the Philippines, where ISIS has been clashing with government forces for control of the city...

Machete-Wielding Man Shot Dead in Brussels Terror Attack After Attacking Soldiers A knife-wielding man was shot dead on Friday after wounding a soldier in Brussels, in what authorities called a “terrorist attack”. The man, who prosecutors said yelled ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greatest) during the violence, was shot by soldiers on a street in the city centre. “We believe that it is a terrorist attack,” said a prosecutors’ office spokeswoman, who added the attacker “is dead.” The incident comes after attacks claimed by the Islamic State group in Spain last week killed 15 people and a knifeman’s stabbing spree in...

A Labour Party shadow minister has suggested that trains should have ‘women-only’ carriages to cut down on sex attacks on female commuters. Shadow Fire Minister Chris Williamson told website Politics Home that the move would create a “safe space” for women on public transport.

Readers' Forum African Americans, slavery and Islam Many African Americans in the United States have renounced Christianity and embraced Islam, in protest against the enslavement of their ancestors by white Christians in America when slavery was legal in America. This is ironic because Islam supports slavery. The enslavement of Africans under Islam is not only a historical fact, but is something that continues today, in some parts of Africa, and some Islamic countries, since Sharia (Islamic Law) supports slavery. Historically, Islam has enslaved members of all races. o The enslavement of Black Africans by Islam is described in the book...

Court documents show that authorities found nothing when they searched the home of Justine Ruszczyk Damond shortly after an officer fatally shot her. Damond called for police assistance July 15 because she believed she had heard a sexual assault taking place in the alley behind her house. Mohamed Noor, one of the two responding officers, shot her. He has declined to be interviewed by investigators. Hours later, police obtained a search warrant for Damond's house and checked inside for blood, hair, guns, ammunition, knives, drugs or writings. They took nothing from the home. The Damond family attorney, Bob Bennett, says...

ANN ARBOR, MI – In a settlement agreement, which reads more like an instrument of surrender, Bernards Township (“Township”), New Jersey officials agreed that, in addition to a $3.5 million payment to Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (“ISBR”), residents and citizens of the Township are prohibited from commenting on “Islam” or “Muslims.” at the upcoming public hearing to approve the settlement. Astonishingly, a federal judge approved the prohibition as a fully enforceable Order of the Court. As a result of this suppression of speech, the Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor,...

A group of international Islamist organizations led by the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, recently held a two-day conference on countering “Islamophobia” in which it recommends imposing Islamic blasphemy laws on the media worldwide. Under Islamic law, it is considered a serious offense to criticize Allah, Muhammad or Islam. In countries like Pakistan, a Muslim can take a non-Muslim to court and claim he was “offended” by something that was said, resulting in a trial and jail time, even death, for the non-Muslim. But the OIC, which consists of 57 Muslim-majority countries and boasts the largest voting bloc...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan banned advertisements that promote "unrealistic expectations of women's body image and health". Now Berlin is planning to ban images in which women are portrayed as "beautiful but weak, hysterical, dumb, crazy, naive, or ruled by their emotions". Tagesspiegel's Harald Martenstein said the policy "could have been adopted from the Taliban manifesto". The irony is that this wave of morality and "virtue" is coming from cities governed by uninhibited leftist politicians, who for years campaigned for sexual liberation. It is now a "feminist" talking point to advocate sharia policy.[snip]Paris has said au revoir to "sexist" ads on...

Breitbart London Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam told Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM listeners that naivety over Shariah supremacism runs throughout the Western world, and that there is “very clear evidence” Islamist ghettos are appearing in the United States. Discussing his new book, No Go Zones: How Sharia Law Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You, on Tuesday, Kassam said he was struck by the “naivety through optimism that locals and officials had” in No Go Zone areas such as Rinkeby and Husby in Sweden, Molenbeek in Belgium, and Hamtramck in Detroit. “I met with nice people, well meaning people who...