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The Islamic State is turning Christian churches in Iraq and Syria into dungeons and torture chambers after stripping them of priceless artifacts to sell on the black market, according to reports. Ancient relics and even entire murals are being torn from the houses of worship and smuggled out through the same routes previously established for moving oil and weapons in and out of the so-called caliphate, a vast region the jihadist army has claimed as sovereign under Sharia law. "ISIS has a stated goal to wipe out Christianity,” Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice and the...

ISIS is leaving a path of destroyed churches, shrines and mosques in its wake as it storms across Syria and Iraq, and has even set its sights on Mecca -- Islam's holiest site. The nihilistic jihadis, led by self-proclaimed descendant of Prophet Muhammad Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, have already bulldozed or blown up some of the most sacred places in Iraq, and seem bent on killing and destroying anyone or anything that does not measure up to their twisted vision of Islam. Experts say the group, which originally stood for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but now simply calls itself "Islamic...

The Iraqi government has launched a project to renovate the interior of the prophet Ezekiel's shrine in the small town of Kifl, south of Baghdad, and the country's Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities says it hopes to eventually repair and renovate other Jewish sites across the country. "The ministry is concerned with all Iraqi heritage, whether it is Christian or Jewish or from any other religion," ministry spokesman Abdelzahra al-Talaqani told AFP. "The present plans do not include the synagogues in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Fallujah and other places because of lack of funding, but I think they will be included...

Moscow, August 11, Interfax - In a letter, which came to Moscow this week, Patriarch Pavle of Serbia thanked the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for his support in building and restoring Serbian shrines. According to Patriarch Pavle, Alexy II has given this support ‘in the spirit of love, which has united our Orthodox sister Churches for centuries’, Interfax has been informed Thuesday by the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations. The Patriarch of Serbia’s letter has become a reply to an earlier letter of Patriarch Alexy welcoming the memorandum of understanding signed between the Serbian Orthodox Church...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Deaths from vehicle crashes leave surviving family members and friends of victims with a hole in their hearts and no safe place to grieve at the spot where the deaths occurred. Whether in pursuit of closure, remembrance or hopeful prevention, creating a roadside memorial has been an increasingly common practice for those who've lost someone. Whether these memorials are helpful or harmful, though, has become a controversy across the country. "It's a recent phenomena," said Middleton Police Chief Paul Armitage of the memorials. "I've been here 36 years and we used...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

"A dangerous situation is developing in Najaf, one that is putting all the law-abiding citizens of that holy city at even greater risk.† Weapons are being stockpiled in schools, mosques and shrines. This explosive situation cannot be tolerated by those who seek a peaceful resolution to this crisis.† The coalition certainly will not tolerate this situation.† The restoration of these holy places to calm places of worship must begin immediately."

*The Indian Express* reports an upsurge in Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists visiting Catholic shrines dedicated to the Blessed Mother. As it says in its report, [which we could not directly link due to technical problems]: "In an unexpected twist of globalization, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and other pilgrims regularly worship at famous Roman Catholic shrines to the Virgin Mary such as Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal. They drink the holy water, light votive candles and pray fervently to the Madonna for help with life's hardships. Many venerate her like one of their own goddesses, a view that would be...

Tehran, 8 April: A prominent Shi'i cleric on Tuesday [8 April] denied reports that coalition forces had struck holy sites in the cities of Najaf and Karbala in central Iraq. "This claim that holy sites have been damaged is not true at all," opposition figure, Sayyid Abd al-Majid al-Kho'i, told IRNA from Najaf by telephone. "Believe me, not a single bullet has hit the wall of the shrine," he said when asked to comment on the speculation that some of the Shi'i holy sites, including the mausoleum of Imam Ali (AS) [peace be upon him] - the first infallible imam...