Free Republic

SNIPPET: "The latest generation of jihadists has never been to an al-Qaeda training camp. These recruits learn everything they need to know online." SNIPPET: "This change, however, is not restricted to the younger generation. Many of the older elements have replaced the Afghan-style dress and long beard with an appearance that avoids attention from security officers." SNIPPET: "Herein lies the danger from sympathisers and supporters of al-Qaeda. That community is now deemed more active and effective than actual elements of al-Qaeda, especially after the crackdown by security agencies around the world. Therefore, we believe that al-Qaeda is now paying special...

IRAN: Act by 9 November to call for Pastor Nadarkhani's pardon during Eid Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in Rasht in 2009 while attempting to register his church. In 2010 he was tried and found guilty of apostasy (abandoning Islam), and was sentenced to death. He now awaits a decision on his case from the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, and a formal written verdict. His life is still in the balance.

Protests against new mosque construction have made headlines from New York City and Chicago to Los Angeles and Nashville. But despite the push-back in some communities, one new academic study shows the number of mosques in the U.S. continues to grow — especially in the Chicago area. It's demographics that drive this story. An estimated 400,000 Muslims live in the Chicago area, many in wealthier suburbs. But some observers see something else going on here: a lesson in good old Chicago politics. Abdulgany Hamadeh is a pulmonologist who moved here from Syria 30 years ago. First a county board turned...

Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the Iranian parliament’s leadership board, announced that it is possible there will be no presidential election in 2013, which would significantly alter Iran’s political structure. He made these comments in response to the Supreme Leader’s recent statement about a potential shift from an executive presidency to a parliamentary system of government. In mid-October, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei spoke about the government’s decision in 1989 to abolish the position of the Prime Minister and how the possibility of altering the current structure of the executive branch still exists. During his visit to Kermanshah, a western...

(AINA) -- In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix. "We wanted to believe the official version," said activist Mark Ebeid, "because the Coptic version was a catastrophe, as it would take persecution of Christians also to schools."...

There’s a longstanding joke, around since young people first started dabbling in New Age spirituality, that the “faith” of rebellious youth who call themselves “spiritual but not religious” is A.B.C. — Anything But Christianity. It’s hard not to see that concept underlying most mainstream discussions of religious issues these days, most notably in recent public discussions of Islam. Richard Landes writes in London’s Telegraph (Aug. 24) about an “elite that controls much of the discussion in the public sphere (journalists, academics, talking heads, mainstream politicians) and who fear being called Islamo­phobes and racists more than they fear Islamist racists.” This...

Why Islam is in as much trouble as the WestDenyse O’LearyMonday, 24 October 2011 David P. Goldman, who blogs at the Asia Times as “Spengler,” has written an insightful book challenging the truisms of the commentariat on both the rise of Islam and the decline of the West: How Civilizations Die: (and why Islam is dying too)History buffs will recognize that the pen name Spengler honours Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), author of Decline of the West. Goldman’s initial observations about the decline are most helpful but not unprecedented. From a much less religion-friendly perspective, American demographer Phillip Longman has been saying...

Islamic bigotry is a term that has been used to describe radical Islam, Islamic intolerance.Already used, at least as early as 1895, to describe the 1453 Turkish-Islamic massacre of Christians.[1].In 1924, an Islamic magazine defined it to differentiate it from moderate Islam.[2]It was used (in a 1967 book) vis-a-vis Pakistani Islamic motivated bigotry against the Ahmadiya, since at least 1953.[3] In 1971 on anti-Indian Islamic bigotry.[4] In a 1979 book on Iran, on anti-Bahai bigotry.[5] In a 2002 book on Pakistan anti-Christian rampage, Afghanistan and Indonesia.[6] In 1997, on Islamic bigotry being "progressive movement of history."[7] In 1998 author used...

Libya’s transitional government, established as a result of President Obama’s intervention, announced its first rulings Sunday following the death of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi. They include reestablishing polygamy for men and banning Western-style interest on bank loans. Both provisions are features of Sharia, or Islamic law; Mohammed, Islam’s founder, introduced both some 1,400 years ago. On Sunday, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil abruptly announced that Islamic law, or Sharia, would provide the “basic source” of Libyan law. “This revolution was looked after by Allah to achieve victory,” Abdul-Jalil, the leader of the Transitional National Council, said to a celebratory crowd in Benghazi. Libyans...

CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported. The Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule on Facebook," the agency reported. The court said his insults were "aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner," the agency reported. It did not provide details on what he had written...

No Way Out: A campaign by Christian Solidarity Worldwide Egyptian Christians need your support now more than ever. After living with the threat of discrimination, harassment or violence for decades, they are highly vulnerable. This long-planned campaign has the chance to bring hope and change to Egypt's Christians as the vital reform process begins. Speak up for Egypt’s Coptic community As peaceful protests turned violent in Cairo this week, we need your help to speak up for Egyptian Christians in the face of increasing sectarian attacks. Peaceful demonstrations led to bloodshed on Sunday as a crowd of thousands of Coptic...

Some 30,000 Arab Israelis took part Friday in a rally titled "Al-Aqsa Mosque in Danger," vowing to "redeem" the holy Muslim site in Jerusalem "with blood." The event was organized by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in the northern Israel town of Umm al-Fahem. Participants chanted "Allahu Akbar" and "we shall redeem you with blood and spirit, oh al-Aqsa.'" The rally included a show depicting ultra-Orthodox Jews destroying Temple Mount.

Following criticism from many quarters and official rebuke from the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), Wycliffe Bible Translators and its primary implementing partner, SIL International, issued new guidelines in August saying familial language for God should normally be maintained in the text of Bible translations. SIL convened an August meeting in Istanbul for translators and consultants to set standards. They then released a best practices statement that reaffirms belief in the eternal deity of Jesus Christ and says, "Scripture translations should promote understanding of the term 'Son of God' in all its richness, including his filial relationship with the Father,...

(CNSNews.com) -- There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime. In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country. The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last...

Muslims mutilate a Missouri man with a butcher knife....guess why? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FaFwKp9OdTc#!

A conservative media watchdog organization says left-wing billionaire George Soros is funding a course that teaches journalists how to downplay the negative aspects of Islam. The three-hour online course called "Covering Islam in America" is a project of The Poynter Institute, which claims the program is designed to "give a broad explanation of the religious, social, political, and geographical facts about Islam today." That organization has partnered with the Social Science Research Council and Washington State University to strengthen "accurate" reporting and to enhance "the ability of the media to fairly report on a range of pressing issues." But Dan...

Spanish authorities are investigating the recent deaths by poisoning of more than a dozen dogs in Lérida, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia that has become ground zero in an intensifying debate over the role of Islam in Spain. All of the dogs were poisoned in September (local media reports here, here, here, here and here) in Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years. Local residents say Muslim immigrants killed the dogs because according to Islamic teaching dogs...

TEXAS ISLAMIC COURT, 888 S. Greenville Ave, Suite 188, Richardson, Texas. EXCERPT On September 25, 2002, all five parties to the divorce signed an "Arbitration Agreement." This document recites, in full, that the parties: after consultation with their respective attorneys, agree to submit all claims and disputes among them to arbitration by the TEXAS ISLAMIC COURT (entire opinion at link)

British Islamist Abu Abdallah Al-Britani: The Assassinations of Anwar Al-Awlaki and Osama Bin Laden Will Not Stop the Spread of Islam See video. http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3132.htm

(Reuters) - U.S. officials have met members of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, a U.S. diplomat said, after Washington announced it would have direct contacts with Egypt's biggest Islamist group whose role has grown since U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted.