Free Republic

Italians reacted with outrage on Tuesday after a European court ruled that displaying crucifixes in the country's schools violated the principle of secular education. Italy's education minister condemned the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights, saying that the Christian cross was a symbol of the country's Roman Catholic religion and cultural identity. Mariastella Gelmini, a member of the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, argued that "no one, and certainly not an ideological European court, will succeed in erasing our identity," Other ministers said they were appalled by the ruling, calling it "absurd," "shameful" and "offensive." Generations...

Roger Nash Baldwin was the founder of the American Civil Liberties Union and a notable American Communist. These are facts. Now, read his words: “I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is, of course, the goal."— Harvard Class Book of 1935, spotlighting Baldwin's class of 1905 on its thirtieth anniversary.[1] “Do steer away from making it look like a Socialist enterprise...We want also to look like patriots in everything we do. We want to get a good lot of flags, talk a good deal about...

For more than two years, Rev. Jim Potter has fought Anderson County officials for the right to leave up a giant Christian cross he erected near I-75. On Monday, a judge sided with the county, ordering Rev. Potter to remove the cross. County officials argued that the cross, located on private property near exit 122, violated building and zoning regulations. But Rev. Potter said he believed that because of the significance of religious structures, his cross should be exempt from the zoning regulations. "I think it (the cross) should bring to knowledge the fact that Jesus Christ did die for...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - An interfaith group founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon is spearheading an effort to have Christian ministers remove crosses from their churches, calling them a symbol of oppression and perceived superiority. Mainstream Christian leaders call the request "outrageously bigoted." The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an organization that began as a project of Moon's Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), believes the key to "true and lasting peace in the Middle East" is reconciliation between members of the world's three largest religions. "Jews, Christians and Muslims must come together to heal divisions...