Free Republic

Secular historians may snicker at early Christians who insisted Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue was a vision of the Messiah, but the case for interpreting Black Elk’s vision that way is not so easy to dismiss. Raymond DeMallie, founder and director of the American Indian Studies Research Institute, has delved into the transcripts of what Black Elk originally divulged to Neihardt. DeMallie’s definitive study shows the association with Jesus in this culminating passage to be unavoidable. Black Elk also said that the transfiguring figure he saw had “holes in the palms of his hands.” In addition, Black Elk flatly asserted to Neihardt,...

When Cardinal Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013, many traditional Catholics were wary. Recently, their pessimism is being justified as "The Francis Effect" makes itself felt across the world and in America, most notably in the Archdiocese of New York. So-called "traditional" Catholics prefer to attend the Mass as it was celebrated before and during the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), before the liturgy was radically reformed in 1969. The Tridentine Mass, which was the ordinary form of the Mass from 1570-1969, is said in Latin, often accompanied by Gregorian Chant and incense, and emphasizes the sacrificial aspect of the Mass.

In 2002 a group of tourists from the United States visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing to hear a talk by a Chinese academic who prefers to remain anonymous. Speaking in the plural for unnamed fellow thinkers, he described their search for what accounted for the pre-eminence, the success of the West all over the world. Their studies ranged widely. Originally they thought the main reason was more powerful guns; then it was Western political systems, before considering the claims of the Western economic system. Finally, and I quote "in the past twenty years, we have realized...

It all started with a parody from Tom McMahon, who was aggravated by the extremely smug and intellectually slovenly bumper sticker in which a variety of religious symbols spell out “COEXIST.” McMahon produced a parody bumper sticker with Nazi and Communist symbols substituted.

That sounds horrendous. You're actually going to eat that?

Von Hildebrand remarks further that it's vitally important for human beings to be aware of their ontological value -- their dignity as persons made in God's image and likeness. The pantheistic view that we're but drops in an immense universe is fake humility, a subtle lack of gratitude for the fact that God -- in His infinite bounty and generosity -- has metaphysically "knighted" us. Apart from ontological values that are more or less beautiful according to their ontological rank, von Hildebrand speaks about qualitative values, moral values, intellectual values, and aesthetical values, to mention the most important ones. These...

Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004)(President of the United States) "For the first time ever, everything is in place for the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ."

A Double Take on Early Christianity MIKE AQUILINA Tracking the growth of Christianity 2,000 years ago is an ambitious undertaking for a sociologist. But Rodney Stark found it irresistible. Reading recent histories of early Christianity, he began to do some number-crunching. Soon, he says, it was a consuming "hobby." And, before long, he had written a best-selling book, The Rise of Christianity. What he found in his study of the first Christian centuries was an astonishing growth rate in the number of Christians of 40 percent per decade. From a small band of twelve, the Church had grown to 6...

The opportunistic criticism of Pope Benedict over the SSPX controversy. By its own tardy admission, the Vatican botched the handling of Pope Benedict’s decision to lift the excommunications of four Society of St. Pius X bishops. Vatican officials failed to inform the Pope that one of those bishops, Richard Williamson, had made appalling remarks about the Holocaust. p The episode raises many legitimate questions about the Vatican’s insular mode of operation. Couldn’t Vatican officials have “Googled” Williamson’s remarks easily enough? astonished observers asked. Williamson’s status as the “Borat of the schismatic Catholic far-right” was hardly a secret, they remark. Sure,...

Need help. Pastor at our church pulled aside a friend of ours to form a quiet committee to rebuild a religion curriculum from the ground up. She gave him a list of people she thought would be good to have in the group and she named my wife and I, among others. Looking for recommendations, sources, ideas, anything you think ought to be considered for a Roman Catholic Religion Curriculum. Current curriculum has silly nonsense in it, i.e. "a family is any group of people living together". I hate it when they sacrifice God's ethos in the name of His...

Freep this poll!

Okay, after seriously considering not voting anymore, I'm back on board. First of all, is there already a Sarah Palin rule akin to the Ann Coulter rule: must show pic. Also if anyone from Alaska is reading this, I'm from Illinois so if you have any of those Sarah Palin for Governor signs or bumper stickers left, I'd really appreciate you sending them my way. You know, in case this whole veep thing doesn't work out...

It’s certainly refreshing to be reminded that the cablenews partition of pro-war nutjob on your right and antiwar whiner on your left simply does not hold. Still, the presence of Francis Fukuyama, Jack Kemp, and Matt Labash on this list not only proves that no antiwar conservative coalition is imminent but, more importantly, that the divisions within the Right run very deep, and were not fully revealed in the debate over the war.

Brian Dettmer carves into books revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures.

A 56-foot, 60-ton sperm whale died on a beach in Taiwan in January, 2004. Researchers wanted the carcass to perform an autopsy and for research, so they loaded the whale onto a tractor-trailer and set out through the city of Tainan, heading for the Shi-Tsau Natural Preserve. It took 13 hours, three cranes and 50 workers to get the whale loaded on the truck. Unfortunately, on the way through the city, gasses built up to a critical level in the whale and it exploded, spewing whale guts in the street, on the cars and over pedestrians. According to witnesses, the...

The “Isms” That Bedevil Bush by Patrick J. Buchanan On reading George Bush’s discourse to the New York Economic Club last week, Cicero’s insight came to mind: “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” With Iraq entering its sixth year, the dollar sinking to peso levels, the economy careening into recession, and 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens roosting here, Bush alerted us to what really worries him: “I’m troubled by isolationism and protectionism … (and) another ‘ism,’ and that’s nativism. And that’s what happened throughout our history. And probably...

Beginning in the 1970’s, America quietly embarked on the boldest social experiment in her history. With no public discussion of the possible consequences, laws were enacted in virtually every jurisdiction that ended marriage as a legal contract and precluded couples from creating binding agreements to rear children. Regardless of the terms on which a marriage is entered, government officials can now, at the request of one spouse, simply dissolve it over the objection of the other and with no penalty to the moving party. As far as the federal and state governments are concerned, all couples are cohabiting. ... The...

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Écrasez l’Infâme The Persistence of Christophobia by Tom Piatak Imagine a magazine that argued that the central symbol of Judaism was inextricably bound up with monstrous evil, claimed Judaism’s holy writings were lies, criticized what Jews believe and demanded they change their beliefs, attacked Judaism’s most important holidays, asserted that Judaism was directly responsible for one of the most horrific slaughters in history—and declared that anyone who questioned Judaism’s responsibility for that great crime was a liar or a bigot. An impartial observer would be forced to conclude that such a magazine harbored an animus against Judaism. It is difficult...

History - of - Religion How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries? > Go to Map Leadership - and -War Which Presidents have led the United States into its deadliest wars?> Go to Map Imperial - History Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? > Go to Map Iraqi - Pressure - Vault From a geographic standpoint, Iraq is caught between a rock and a hard place...> Go to Map Signs - of - OccupationBefore / after satellite photos of Saddam's palace in Baghdad, Iraq...> Go to Map Shiite - vs -...