Free Republic

Throughout history, America has been known as “the land of the free” and “the home of the brave.” Or as we learned as children, America is a melting pot of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. Yet, despite those differences, America is a land of unity. At least that’s the beacon of hope, the “city on a hill” that it was meant to be and remain. However, all it takes is a glance from any news outlet to see that this country is now plagued with division.

I explore the testimony of David Wood, and debunk some popular misconceptions surrounding Islam and its relationship to paganism.

Jews have spread many revolutionary and ideological messages in the past. The irony cannot be missed that all these ideologies turned against Judaism. I am not Jewish - unfortunately. If I were Jewish I could make Aliyah and settle definitely in your marvelous homeland. I had the privilege of living four years in Jerusalem. I blessed every day I lived there, enjoying the warmth and easy familiarity with which Israelis relate to each other.

Do you think President Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the Korean conflict? Yes 54.13% No 45.87% Total Votes: 1755

Humans often seem to require dramatic crises to clarify our problems and direct our attention to what is truly paramount. One of the most striking examples is the story of the Jewish people. Many Christians have just concluded the season of Lent, that time they fast, pray, and give alms as a means of separating themselves from the things of this world and re-orienting their lives toward God. The fundamental idea is to remove the obstacles to worshipping God alone.Jews undergo a similar time of preparation as Passover approaches. Like Lent, Passover is a time for meditation on the one,...

Science is the systematic application of a logico-empiricist method to look at and understand things, and was born in Christian Europe first with the Scholastic philosophy and then with Leonardo da Vinci, Francis Bacon and Galileo Galilei. The necessary foundation for scientific research is the belief in one God that created a universe regulated by immutable laws which can be understood by man exactly because God's mind and man's are similar except in extent. The Christian God is a person. Galileo famously talked about the "book of nature", that scientists try to read, being written by God. This is possible...

A plan to hold Easter service at a Sacramento, Calif., mosque is drawing a mixed reaction from the Christian community. Some are commending the event, especially the generosity of the Muslim community to provide a place for a Sacramento community needing space, as a needed expression of mutual respect between cultures. But the good news of a resurrected Christ won't be part of the service. "I know that I don't believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus but I do believe his spirit ascended and his teachings are very valid and transformative," the Rev. Michael Moran, senior minister of The...

And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh; and he said to them: 'Go, serve Hashem your God; who exactly is going?' (From this week's Torah portion, Bo, Exodus 10:8) The real issue debated in the exchange between Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron is Pharaoh's political/theological status. "The river is mine and I made myself," says Pharaoh, according to the Midrash. Modern man has repeated this statement in varying forms, many times over. I am the focal point of creation, it is my will that determines what will be and everything else is simply a narrative or other post-modern postulation....

And Joseph said to them on the third day, 'Do this and live, I fear G-d.' (From this week's Torah portion, Mikeitz, Genesis 42:18) "For I said, there is no fear of G-d in this place, and they will kill me." (Abraham in Genesis 20:11) Joseph understood the same thing understood by his great-grandfather, Abraham. Joseph's brothers have nothing to worry about. They can leave Simon with the stern Egyptian ruler and be sure that no harm will befall him, for he has a G-d: "I fear G-d." True fear of G-d is the foundation upon which everything rests. There...

The familiar passages of the early chapters of the book of Genesis tell us that God not only created the earth and all it contains, but that He also revealed Himself to man and communicated directly with him. Clearly then, the Bible teaches that from his very beginning, mankind was aware of the existence of one God. Thus, if the biblical account is to be accepted, the first man was a monotheist. But, can this be reconciled with what modern science teaches us about the development and evolution of man and his institutions? Is it conceivable that the primitive mind...

First, an apology for making this a cacused thread. I know that Fundamentalist Protestant FReepers will feel cheated at having their religious beliefs explained by one not of their number, but to leave the thread open would be to invite thousands and thousands of posts, each and every one of them quoting the "new testament" to "prove" this and that. While I am no longer a Fundamentalist Protestant or chr*stian of any kind, I nevertheless used to be one and feel competent to explain their beliefs to Orthodox Jews--especially when those beliefs are so misunderstood and misrepresented. I also feel...

Two and a half centuries ago a stormy dispute surged through the Christian world about the nature of China’s culture. In Rome, the Catholic Church was deeply divided over the nature of Chinese culture. Did the ancient Chinese, long before they encountered Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam, have an understanding of God in a monotheistic sense as creator and sustainer of the universe? The Jesuits, who had an intellectually brilliant and profound impact on China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thought they did. So, two centuries later, did Rev. James Legge, translator of the Chinese classics into English and a...

In this war we are in, the one to conserve the best of what mankind has learned, the deepest question is one whose answer may go against us, and whose implications may be the millstone around our neck. The question is not new. It is old. It is the question about the powerful influence of religious belief on the affairs of mankind. Every sentient human mind necessarily considers God. Most humans, from whatever time or place, have come to a belief about God. It may be inculcated from birth, or taken after considerable open-minded thought. In the war we are...

While much of the world was watching the forced conversions of two kidnapped Fox News journalists in the Gaza Strip, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took a huge step toward forcing millions of Californians to convert. It's not Islam that Schwarzenegger and the state are forcibly pushing through all schools that accept any public form of financial aid for students. It's paganism. It's the worship of Baal. It's a primitive form of religion that is making a comeback. It's a faith that says sacrifice your sons and daughters on this altar – or else. In case you missed the stunning news, Schwarzenegger...

A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's oldest surviving book _ which may hold a key to understanding early monotheistic beliefs. More than four decades after the Derveni papyrus was found in a 2,400- year-old nobleman's grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text _ through high-tech digital analysis _ from the blackened fragments left after the manuscript was burnt on its owner's funeral pyre. Large sections of the mid-4th century B.C. book _ a philosophical treatise on ancient religion...

As we begin a new year, I believe that what the world Jewish community is most lacking is size, and the foremost challenge confronting it is the need for greater numbers. The number of Jews in the world has fallen below a critical mass, and the paucity of our number leads to its own tragic consequences. Foremost among them is our inability to defend ourselves. Does Israel really have a long-term future with so few Jews in the world? Who will influence and exert pressure on their own governments to support Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy, when the Jewish...

A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god," said Heyman. He was referring...

<p>My duties as a religion writer forced me to watch Mel Gibson's Jesus movie, "The Passion of the Christ," two times in three days, an assignment that also interrupted my reading of "God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism."</p>

In recent years the Bnei Noach, or Noahide movement, has seen an extraordinary increase in numbers and activity around the world. Its adherents are non-Jews who embrace the truth of the Torah and therefore accept the seven ‘Laws of Noah’ – those laws which are incumbent upon gentiles as well as Jews. Israel National Radio’s Tamar Yonah recently interviewed Jacob Sharf, a ‘Ben Noach,’ son of Noah, who explains that he espouses “The Orthodox stream of Judaism for non-Jews, which consists of observance of the seven laws given by God to Noah after the flood which are obligatory for all...

We are engaged in a struggle to defeat terrorism. I have no advice on how to win that struggle, but I have some thoughts as to why it exists. It is not, I think, because Islam is at war with the West or because Palestinians are trying to displace Israelis. The struggle exists, I think, because the West has mastered the problem of reconciling religion and freedom, while several Middle Eastern nations have not. The story of that mastery and that failure occupies several centuries of human history, in which one dominant culture, the world of Islam, was displaced by...