Free Republic

“The Quran gained a popular readership among Protestants both in England and in North America largely out of curiosity,” says Denise A. Spellberg, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Thomas Jefferson’s Qu'ran: Islam and the Founders. “But also because people thought of the book as a book of law and a way to understand Muslims with whom they were interacting already pretty consistently, in the Ottoman Empire and in North Africa.” When Jefferson bought his Quran as a law student in 1765, it was probably because of his interest in understanding Ottoman law....

The United Kingdom does not have a blasphemy law, but that didn’t stop the Criminal Prosecution Service trying their best, leading to something of a volte-face (about-face) after backlash. 50-year-old Hamit Coskun was charged with acting with intent to cause “harassment, alarm or distress” against the “religious institution of Islam” by the UK’s Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) this week after allegedly burning a copy of the Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London. Yet after a short campaign by free speech activists, including the Free Speech Union, which is supporting Coksun, and Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, the charge has...

He had no doubts at first, but slowly they emerged. He was struck, he says, by the fact that the first coins bearing Muhammad’s name did not appear until the late 7th century — six decades after the religion did. He traded ideas with some scholars in Saarbrücken who in recent years have been pushing the idea of Muhammad’s nonexistence. They claim that “Muhammad” wasn’t the name of a person but a title, and that Islam began as a Christian heresy. Prof. Kalisch didn’t buy all of this. Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds...

PUTIN henchman and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is "preparing to flee Russia" - as he has put his son in charge of the police. The infamous leader of Chechnya has already made several moves to prepare for his escape - and his efforts have sparked a conflict with Kremlin cronies. The 48-year-old dictator is a vocal supporter of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, and has sent tens of thousands of troops to support the bloody war in Ukraine. He has also been accused of violating human rights, including involvement in kidnapping and torture. But relations between Putin and Kadyrov have soured...

During his visit to Chechnya on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped at the Prophet Isa mosque in Grozny and posed for photos while holding, and kissing, a gold-leaf copy of the Quran. Putin was flanked by his hand-picked Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, and top Chechen Muslim cleric Mufti Saah Mezhiev during his Quran smooch. The Grand Mufti ceremonially read a verse from the Quran, translated into Russian for Putin. The Prophet Isa mosque, constructed in 2020, is a huge and expensive structure that can accommodate 5,000 worshipers at once. “Prophet Isa” is Islam’s version of Jesus Christ, who ranks...

A massive Ukrainian drone attack repelled in Russia's Rostov Region... The Rwandan-backed rebels say they intend to follow up on seizure of Congo's largest city Goma with a move on the capital city... Israeli air strikes late tonight in two parts of Lebanon... A US Appeals Court ruling that a federal ban on selling handguns to 18, 19 and 20-year-olds is unconstitutional... Top officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation being asked to resign or retire... President Donald Trump says the 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico begin Saturday... The US Federal Aviation Administration says that air traffic controller...

The brother of the terrorist who launched the deadly car attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans says that “radicalization” is to blame for his kin’s rampage. Abdur Jabbar, 24, of Beaumont, Texas, told The New York Times that his brother Shamsud-Din Jabbar — who killed at least 15 people in the New Year’s Day attack — converted to Islam at an early age. The younger Jabbar told the newspaper that what his brother “did does not represent Islam. This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.” Abdur described his brother, who was killed by police after mowing down...

Proofs that Islam should be outlawed — that is, if the West was actually serious about its own laws — continue to pile up. In a recent article, we saw that, according to the UN’s own definitions of hate speech, the Koran should be banned not just for routinely hating others by name — Christians, Jews, polytheists, and “infidels” (kuffar) of every stripe — but openly calling for overt violence against them. As it happens, Islam is also inherently genocidal — again, according to the UN’s own definition:

As an amateur historian -- and probably not a good one -- I go nuts when I see amateurish fictions tendered as core premises. This is no more frequently found than in Hollywood; but do not kid yourself, it is not confined to Hollywood. The following famous movie scene (based on the play) is a case in point, one worse than most: Camelot is unique. And we have, by far and away, the most equitable climate in all England -- Camelot (1967)A) The King Arthur stories hail back to the collapse of Celtic Briton, after the Roman garrison left in...

We recently saw how certain Western nations — first Denmark, then Sweden — have gone from being bastions of free speech and expression to banning any “hate” speech or expression against Islam (for example, burning the Koran). At one point, I wrote, “rather than ban the burning of the Koran, it seems that Scandinavia might have served itself better had it banned the Koran altogether.” Such an assertion is not as whimsical as it might seem.

A newly deciphered manuscript dating back more than 1,600 years has been identified as the earliest known account of Jesus Christ’s childhood. The manuscript, written on papyrus in either the 4th or 5th century, had been stored at a library in Hamburg, Germany, for decades and was long believed to be an insignificant document. However, two experts have now decoded the text and say it is the earliest surviving copy of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. “The papyrus fragment is of extraordinary interest for research,” Lajos Berkes, a theology lecturer and one of the two men who deciphered the document,...

Lahore -- An elderly Christian man has succumbed to his injuries sustained during an attack by a mob led by a radical outfit following a blasphemy allegation last week in Pakistan’s Punjab province, police said on Monday. An enraged mob led by radical Islamist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) activists on May 25 attacked Christian community members in Mujahid Colony in the Sargodha district of Punjab, some 200 km from Lahore, injuring two Christians and 10 policemen.The mob burned and ransacked the homes and properties of the Christians. According to police, the mob surrounded the residence and shoe factory of Nazir Masih...

In Gush Etzion, IDF soldiers acted against terrorist elements, confiscating incendiary materials, weapons and terrorist funds. Among other things, the book Mein Kampf in Arabic was seized. 15 people wanted for terrorist activities were arrested. The Palestinian terror nourishes from Nazism. During an activity in Beit Ummar in the Etzion Brigade, the fighters arrested a wanted man armed with an improvised shotgun type weapon, along with two other wanted men who were arrested. In the Wadi Fukin [وادي فوقين] area in the division of the brigade, IDF soldiers located and confiscated incendiary materials, including the book "Mein Kampf".

An Assyrian Orthodox Church bishop who was stabbed during a livestreamed church service in Sydney had spoken critically about Islam in a video recorded four months ago. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney's west just after 7pm on Monday when a 16-year-old boy walked up to the altar and allegedly stabbed him multiple times. On a separate video of the aftermath of the alleged terror attack, the boy said in Arabic 'If they didn't insult my prophet, I wouldn't have come here. If he didn't involve himself in my religion,...

Of the many things that today conform to his lament — and they are increasingly legion — is the mainstream presentation of Islam. Consider, as just one example, the heart of Islam — the Koran — and how its introduction into the West has been utterly twisted as a way to “put darkness for light.”

I asked ChatGPT to critique the Bible: Certainly! I will give you my critique of the Bible. Historical Hogwash: The Bible reads like a poorly researched work of historical fiction penned by an amateur hack. Its accounts are as reliable as a tabloid gossip column, filled with fanciful tales of talking snakes, parted seas, and magical resurrections. Anyone who takes its claims of historical accuracy seriously is either deluded or willfully ignorant. Intellectual Insolvency: To call the Bible a repository of divine wisdom is to insult the very concept of intelligence. Its pages are littered with nonsensical ramblings, contradictory teachings,...

Dwight D. Eisenhower said that “Without a doubt, psychological warfare has proven its right to a place of dignity in our military arsenal." (Snip) Over the last few weeks of Operation Iron Swords, we have seen many individual soldiers or units who have taken it on themselves to demoralize Israel’s enemies, whether in Gaza or Judea and Samaria. Many of the soldiers are acting primarily to raise the morale of the troops around them, but it is clear from Palestinian Arab social media that they are having a strong effect on the enemy. -We witnessed early on the large amount...

Hamas terrorists shot female Israeli soldiers 'in the crotch, intimate parts and breasts' as part of a 'systematic genital mutilation', the IDF has claimed. Some of the female victims of the attack on October 7 were left with agonised looks on their faces in death, according to an Israeli unit that helped bless the bodies. Army reservist Shari Mendes said many bodies of female victims, both civilian and soldiers, arrived 'in bloody shredded rags or just in underwear'. Mendes, whose unit is based at the Shura Army Base in central Israel, was speaking at a UN event in New York...

Would you wear a soccer shirt that says HAMAS? There should be a call to boycott Qatar, arrest Qatar's emir until Qatar hands in Hamas leaders hiding in Qatar, seize Qatar's oil fields to pay for the war against Hamas By Ezequiel Doiny Simpleflying.com reported "The Qatar Airways name and brand are no strangers to the football world, with the carrier having sponsored several major clubs worldwide. "Names like FC Barcelona, AS Roma, Boca Juniors, and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) have partnered with the Gulf carrier. In recent years, that number has decreased, and of these names, PSG is the...

Pope Francis is at it again, relativizing about Muslim violence, suggesting that it has no ideological component, but is a “perversion” of true Islam, which is peace.