Free Republic

A Pennsylvania priest who lived at a Catholic church in West Orange in December and January was charged yesterday with possession of child pornography in Monroe County, Pa. The Rev. Virgil Bradley Tetherow, 40, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton, Pa., allegedly downloaded images of child pornography onto a computer used by a secretary at the St. Ann's Catholic Church rectory in Tobyhanna, Pa., while visiting there in January, authorities said. Tetherow, who lived at St. Ann's for most of 2004, admitted to the allegation, according to detective Kenneth Lanning of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police in an affidavit...

The Roman Catholic Church in Italy has spoken out against what it says are "shameful and unfounded lies" in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa, broke the church's official silence on the controversial book. Its story about the Church suppressing the "truth" that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene has convinced many fans. But the cardinal's spokesman denied reports that the clergyman was asked by the Vatican to hit back at the book. Carlo Arcolao told the BBC's News website that it had been the cardinal's own decision to make a public...

Despite all of this literature continuously being cranked out and the significance of the issue, in the public at large there is a serious lack of formal and broad education regarding religion and mythology, and most individuals are highly uninformed in this area. Concerning the issue of Christianity, for example, the majority of people are taught in most schools and churches that Jesus Christ was an actual historical figure and that the only controversy regarding him is that some people accept him as the Son of God and the Messiah, while others do not. However, whereas this is the raging...