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The first images to emerge from the ancient city of Palmyra after Syrian regime forces expelled Islamic State fighters have shown large swaths of destruction but also suggest that several important archaeological sites are intact. The extremist group had destroyed some of Palmyra’s most treasured artefacts, including the Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph. However, some of Palmyra’s ruins appear to have survived, including the Agora and the celebrated Roman theatre. [Maamoun] Abdelkarim, [Syria’s antiquities chief] said a team of archaeologists would go to Palmyra in the coming days to assess the damage to its monuments, and pledged...

In a season filled with far too much tragedy there was at least a small bit of good news this week. Syrian forces claim to have retaken the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS. Given the historical significance of the site, this a welcome development indeed, but there are now new questions to be answered about how much destruction the terrorists inflicted on the region and what the intentions are of those who now control it. (NPR) State media are reporting that Syrian government forces are now in full control of the historic city of Palmyra, which has been...

Still pursuing al-Lat after all these years. “The statue was dedicated to the pre-Islamic Arabian goddess Al-Lat, who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca along with Manat and al-Uzza.” The Qur’an says: “So have you considered al-Lat and al-Uzza? And Manat, the third, the other one? Is the male for you and for Him the female? That, then, is an unjust division.” (53:19-22) This passage is ridiculing the idea that these three goddesses are the daughters of Allah, for that would mean that the deity only had daughters while human being have sons, who were assumed to...

Palmyra, one of the Middle East’s most spectacular archaeological sites and a UNESCO World Heritage site, sits near the modern Syrian city of the same name. Activists said the militants used explosives to blow up the Baalshamin Temple on its grounds, the blast so powerful it also damaged some of the Roman columns around it. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday night that the temple was blown up a month ago. Turkey-based activist Osama al-Khatib, who is originally from Palmyra, said the temple was blown up Sunday. Both said the extremists used a large amount of explosives...

BEIRUT — Islamic State militants have destroyed a temple at the ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria, activists said on Sunday, realizing one of archaeologists’ worst fears for the 2,000-year-old Roman-era city after the extremists seized it and beheaded a local scholar. Palmyra, one of the Middle East’s most spectacular archaeological sites and a Unesco World Heritage site, sits near the modern Syrian city of the same name. Activists said that the militants used explosives to blow up the Baalshamin Temple on its sprawling grounds, and that the blast was so powerful it also damaged some of the Roman columns...

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants on Sunday blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the UNESCO-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities chief told AFP.“Daesh placed a large quantity of explosives in the temple of Baal Shamin today and then blew it up causing much damage to the temple,” said Maamoun Abdulkarim, using another name for ISIS.Over the past several months, ISIS have blown up and defaced historical sites and artifacts across their sprawling self-proclaimed "caliphate" stretching across Iraq and Syria.ISIS took control of Palmyra in May, located in the central desert region of...

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have destroyed one of Palmyra’s most well-known ancient temples, according to Syria’s antiquities chief. Carefully stage-managed photographs by Isil show the moment the terrorist group destroyed one of the best known temples at Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra. The images, released by Isil’s media wing in the central province of Homs, revealed the Temple of Baalshamin was littered with explosives before it exploded into a mushroom cloud on Sunday.

Damascus, Aleteia (aleteia.org/ar) – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant posted a collection of pictures yesterday that portrays the destruction of a portion of a temple in Palmyra, which is a Greco-Roman archeological site that it had captured in March.The jihadist group posted five pictures on the internet showing its fighters placing explosives within the Temple of Ba’al and on the surrounding walls. The other pictures depict powerful explosions and a pile of debris where the temple had once stood. The temple was once the most important building in Palmyra. UNOSAT satellite analysis confirms Temple of #Bel...

I realize that the headline of this article sounds like it must be false, but it is actually completely true. The Temple of Baal (also known as the Temple of Bel) was a world famous landmark that was located in Palmyra, Syria. In August 2015, this temple was destroyed by ISIS, and most of the world recoiled in terror at the loss of a "cultural heritage site". In an attempt to "preserve history", two exact replicas of the 50 foot arch that stood at the entrance to the temple will be erected in April 2016 in Times Square in...

The main reason I don't get sucked into conspiracy theories is that my own brain creates them so easily that they never truly impress me. They're usually built on taking a few coincidences or lapses in data, and combining these with sinister motives presumed a priori. But this is still just plain "ick." A lot of alternative news sources are covering the fact that the Temple of Baal, destroyed by ISIS, will not only be rebuilt, but "temporary" facsimile structures will be built in New York, London and elsewhere. http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/temple-of-baal-to-go-up-in-new-york-london/ You probably have read news reports about how saddened the...

I am about to share with you some absolutely astounding information. It turns out that the exact day when reproductions of the arch that stood in front of the Temple of Baal are going to be erected in Times Square in New York City and in Trafalgar Square in London is also the exact day when a very important occult festival related to the worship of Baal begins. April 19th is the first day of a 13 day period of time known as "the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast" that culminates on the high occult holy day of Beltane on...

NEXT month, the Temple of Baal will come to Times Square. Reproductions of the 50-foot arch that formed the temple’s entrance are to be installed in New York and in London, a tribute to the 2,000-year-old structure that the Islamic State destroyed last year in the Syrian town of Palmyra. The group’s rampage through Palmyra, a city that reached its peak in the second and third century A.D., enraged the world, spurring scholars and conservationists into action. Numerous nongovernmental organizations are now cataloging and mapping damaged cultural heritage sites in the region. It will be uncanny and thrilling to see...

Former President, William J. Clinton will address the congregation during the worship service on Sunday, August, 29, 2004. Dr. Forbes will introduce Mr. Clinton as part of an anouncement about the current Mobilization 2004 campaign to recover America's spiritual, moral and democratic values. United States Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton will also attend the service.

In a 40 year flashback to the glories of 1960’s anti-war outrage, infamously left-wing Riverside Church in New York City is hosting a “Truth Commission on Conscience in War” next month. This special hearing, in the spirit of “truth commissions,” will evidently “explore and investigate systemic injustices, political violence, and mass atrocities” by the U.S., presumably in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will “receive testimony, process their findings, and recommend strategies for change, healing, and reconciliation,” while lifting “up the silenced and invisible voices of victims, offering survivors a public forum to testify to their experiences.” The “commissioners” of this...

Romans 11:22, Job 28:28 A173 In the early part of the 20th century liberalism took mainline Protestant churches by storm. In fact, it might be argued that the first half of the century ushered in the most serious spiritual decline since the Protestant Reformation. Historic evangelicalism,1 which had dominated Protestant America since the days of the founding fathers, was virtually driven out of denominational schools and churches. In a few decades, liberalism virtually destroyed the largest Protestant denominations in America and Europe. Evangelicalism managed to survive and even seemed to thrive for awhile outside the denominations. But it never regained...

Riverside, a liberal Protestant church known for its history of social-justice advocacy, has hosted world leaders such as Nelson Mandela,Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu and Bill Clinton. “I know that this church is begging for new life,” said Dr. Butler, 45 years old. “That process of resurrection involves some dying. This is what we believe in our Christian tradition.” One-on-one, Dr. Butler is witty and self-deprecating, and her sermons tend to be about 10 minutes shorter than those of her predecessors, congregants say.

Bill Clinton bashed President Bush in a speech delivered from the pulpit of a prominent Manhattan church on the Sunday before the Republican National Convention began. Yet, Americans United for Separation of Church and State does not view Clinton's pulpit-based diatribe a violation of tax laws. Ever since then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D.-Tex.) slipped a provision into a bill back in 1954, federal law has prohibited tax-exempt churches from engaging in partisan political speech. Every election season, Americans United files complaints against churches that it alleges have violated this law. The group also opposes the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration...

It was quite telling that the strongest religious statement made at the Republican convention came not from a Republican but from a Democrat, Georgia Senator Zell Miller, who claimed, among other things, that the current President is the same person on Saturday that he is on Sunday morning. Convention speeches are carefully managed. And I suspect that a shrewd Republican handler ensured that the convention’s most emphatic statement in support of Bush’s faith be offered by a Democrat. Why? Because the Bush team has learned a crucial lesson: The press does not express outrage when Democratic politicians, unlike Republican politicians,...

The words that the Rev. James A. Forbes chose to share with the roomful of black gay and lesbian faithful might have come straight from the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Forbes reminded his listeners that discrimination has no place in this world and urged them to lay down the notion put forward by some black ministers that they are less favored by God. "Your job is to get up every day and be grateful to God for your DNA," Forbes said. "It took an artist divine to make this design!" Forbes, senior minister at the Riverside Church, was...

REV. JAMES FORBES Gets 510G a year. A group of parishioners at storied Riverside Church has charged that $10 million has "simply disappeared," finances are in disarray, and the church's high-profile minister has received excessive, unauthorized raises. Five parishioners — some of whom once held leadership positions at the soaring, Gothic landmark perched on the Hudson River — are asking a judge to appoint an independent receiver to examine Riverside's books and order a special meeting to discuss church governance. The parishioners say Riverside's leader, the Rev. James Forbes, receives a $280,000 salary and a $240,000 housing allowance, and...