Free Republic

Gravestones believed to be removed from the Armenian cemetery in the Beybasi neighborhood in the city of Erzincan were recently discovered scattered nearby, Istanbul-based Agos newspaper reported.How were they discovered? By chance, while making room for a new field in the city.Agos published this photo of the scattered remnants of the gravestones (Photo: Agos) The gravestones, which have Armenian cross-stones (khachkars) and letters on them, together with human bones, have been removed and scattered around the area for years.  Some locals told Agos that there is also an Armenian church in the city, though it has largely been destroyed over the years....

Trenton, N.J., Mar 26, 2015 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A New Jersey law crafted to ban the Archdiocese of Newark from selling cemetery headstones might not pass muster under judicial review, according to a constitutional law expert. Matthew Franck said the law “may well be violating the freedom of religion” guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution because it “singles out religious organizations for disfavored treatment.” Franck directs the Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Princeton, N.J.-based Witherspoon Institute. He characterized the law as “a direct assault on the freedom of churches to offer services to the bereaved...

Garrett McKay dipped his brush in a bucket of water and began scrubbing the dirt from another bright white headstone, this one from a second lieutenant who served in World War I, dying in 1963. “I know in the winter the headstones do get very weathered,” he said, as the bristles removed grime caked into the engraved letters. “The ones under the trees are really pretty dirty.” Despite the Saturday morning drizzle, McKay and 20 friends and family members spent the morning at Fort Snelling National Cemetery cleaning the limestone graves of hundreds of soldiers, their wives and the occasional...

Palestinian Authority Muslims went on a rampage Sunday and desecrated 70 Christian graves two weeks after the pope praised efforts for a new PA state and tried to appease Muslim anger over previous disputes between the two religions. The vandals smashed gravestones and knocked metal and stone crosses off graves in the village of Jiffna, near Ramallah, home to approximately 900 Christians and 700 Muslims.

ABLAIN SAINT NAZAIRE, France, April 19, 2007 (AFP) - The gravestones of 52 French Muslim soldiers have been daubed with Nazi slogans in a military cemetery in northeastern France, officials said Thursday. Swastikas and slogans such as "Heil Hitler" were also painted Wednesday night on the ossuary of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, the biggest military graveyard in the country, said the local prosecutor. President Jacques Chirac condemned the desecration, saying it was an "unspeakable act that scars the conscience, insults the memory and dishonours its authors." "This desecration is all the more shocking as it affects the gravestones...

ARLINGTON, Va. - Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts. Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names. The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic,...

FBI investigates allegations of false Boy Scout numbers Thursday, December 30, 2004 The FBI is investigating the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America to see if membership numbers have been inflated, board members said Wednesday.Exaggerating membership numbers could lead to greater financial support, board members said.The council is said to serve 50,000 youngsters in 22 counties in central and northern Alabama. This includes 30,000 enrolled in traditional scout units and 20,000 elementary school students receiving in-class character education using resources provided by the Boy Scouts, said Randy Haines, vice chairman of the council, which is led...

Game publicity plan raises grave concerns Mark Oliver Friday March 15, 2002 A gravestone with advertising billboard.   A computer games firm has been accused of pushing back the frontiers of bad taste after it announced that it was seeking to advertise its latest title on gravestones. Acclaim Entertainment said yesterday that it would pay relatives of the recently bereaved in return for placing small billboards on headstones, and that the offer might "particularly interest poorer families". The Church of England said that there was no way it would allow any of its graveyards to be used in such a...