Free Republic

Amid the worst recession in generations, Karl Marx, who famously described religion as “the opium of the people�, got a thumbs up from the Vatican overturning a century of Catholic hostility to his creed. Marx, who predicted that capitalism would be destroyed by its internal contradictions, has joined Galileo, Charles Darwin and Oscar Wilde on a growing list of historical figures to have undergone an unlikely reappraisal by the Roman Catholic Church, The Times newspaper said on Thursday. The British daily, quoting the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, said Marx’s early critiques of capitalism had highlighted the “social alienation� felt by...

Liberal and conservative Catholics alike would prefer not to discuss how the Catholic Church, here and abroad, functions like a liberal/left-wing political lobby. Some pro-life Catholics are acting shocked that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion. They don't seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues. This is the untold story-how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order. Another untold story is how, despite a disagreement over abortion, the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the...

Some pro-life Catholics are acting shocked that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion. They don't seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues. This is the untold story-how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order.

REPOST: This is one of my favorite vanities. Ok! Ok! I know Pukin Dog has been banned, but you never know he might have come back under another name. This post is so good, I thought you might enjoy reading it again.

Greetings in the Name of The Lord Jesus Christ! This brief letter is written to those of you who have been left behind. May I calm your great anxiety and fears with this great message of hope! God loves you and cares greatly for you. He has a great plan, purpose and future for you and your life. He wants only and always the highest and best things for you. So please give your ear and full attention to the words that follow. The days ahead will be days that will not be easy - in fact they will be...

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn celebrates Mass at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin in 2000, the last time the Shroud of Turin was on public display. (CNS) That’s right, an Italian scientist whose work was funded by an Italian association of atheists and agnostics has undertaken some experiments that he claims “prove” the Shroud of Turin isn’t really the burial cloth of Jesus, but rather a fraud created in medieval times. What is the conclusive research that the scientist has conducted, that allegedly refutes the substantial body of scientific findings that suggest the cloth was indeed wrapped around the...

Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin — revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb — and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection. Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said. The group said...

An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake. The shroud, measuring 14 feet, 4 inches by 3 feet, 7 inches bears the image, eerily reversed like a photographic negative, of a crucified man some believers say is Christ. "We have shown that is possible to reproduce something which has the same characteristics as the Shroud," Luigi Garlaschelli, who is due to illustrate the results at a conference on the para-normal this weekend in northern Italy,...

An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake.ntist Reproduces the Shroud

A couple in California turned over their 2001 Nissan X-Terra for the Cash for Clunkers program, but a few weeks later they discovered that the dealer decided to put it back up for sale instead of destroying it as per the program's rules. The dealership says it never asked for the government credit and decided instead to treat the X-Terra as a trade-in. They never told that to the customers, however, who thought the X-Terra would be destroyed. The customers told the U.S. Department of Transportation that they participated in the program specifically to get the 17 MPG X-Terra off...

Economic activity is stabilizing or improving in the vast majority of the country, according to a new government survey, adding to evidence that the worst recession since the 1930s is over. The Federal Reserve's snapshot of economic conditions backs predictions by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and most other analysts that the economy has started to grow again in the current quarter. In the survey released Wednesday, all but one of the Fed's 12 regions indicated that economic activity was "stable," showed "signs of stabilization" or had "firmed." The one exception was the St. Louis region, which continued to report that...

Cardinal O’Malley issued a forceful defense of his decision to participate in the funeral of Senator Kennedy; revealed the substance of a conversation he had with President Obama: Catholic bishops are “anxious to support a plan for universal health care, but we will not support a plan that will include a provision for abortion or could open the way to abortions in the future.’’ But the most impassioned part of the cardinal’s blog post is a de facto plea for greater civility among Catholics when discussing divisive issues. He warned against “harsh judgments’’ and attributing “the worst motives’’ to people...

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS DESCRIPTION --- Part One of Lucas Smith debunks WND s disinformation that was put forth on August 25, 2009 by Jerome Corsi, Drew Zahn and Joseph Farah at World Net Daily. Book: Annual Report on the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. Page # 60. By: Great Britain, Colonial Office. Published 1960. You'll find the hospitals name, COAST PROVINCE GENERAL HOSPITAL. This book was published one year before Barack Obamas birth. Book: East African Doctors: a history of the modern profession. Page # 108. By: JOHN ILIFFE. Published 2002. Youll find the name of a hospital...

Once again Fox News is caught flatfooted while CNN is airing news of the Kennedy death, FoxNews is continuing with regular programming.

A leaked memo sent by an oil industry group reveals a plan to create astroturf rallies at which industry employees posing as "citizens" will urge Congress to oppose climate change legislation. The memo -- sent by the American Petroleum Institute and obtained by Greenpeace, which sent it to reporters -- urges oil companies to recruit their employees for events that will "put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy," and will urge senators to "avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill."

Can you imagine if Boeing, the very first time it flew the 747, didn't have just two test pilots in the cockpit, but a cabin filled with fare-paying passengers in the back! Making 300 million Americans depend on the untested, risky Obamacare scheme, designed by politicians not doctors, for their critically important healthcare is like having a brand new type airliner, designed by whores amd horoscope writers, fly for the first time, not with just two test pilots, but with everyone in America on board!

The Boston Globe won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Catholic Church's decades-long cover-up of priests who sexually abused children. There is a Pulitzer Prize waiting for the reporter who can figure out why the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, considered by Catholics the personal representative of Jesus Christ, has become an advocate for one of the most corrupt organizations on the face of the earth-the United Nations. The U.N. has been rocked by scandals involving U.N. "peace-keepers" who sexually abuse women and children, the failure to protect populations in danger of genocide, and financial corruption....

<p>Fellow Freepers, which sort of conservative described in this list are you?</p>

African-Americans are the most religiously devout racial group in the nation when it comes to attending services, praying and believing that God exists, according to a recent profile. Compared to the rest of the U.S. population, which is generally considered highly religious, African-Americans engage in religious activities more frequently and express higher levels of religious belief, Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life highlighted in a report released in time for Black History Month. The center's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007 on more than 35,000 people, found that 79 percent of African-Americans say religion is very...

The Pope and the cardinals of the Vatican help organize tours of Auschwitz for Hezbollah members to teach them how to wipe out Jews, according to a booklet being distributed to Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Officials encouraging the booklet's distribution include senior officers, such as Lt. Col. Tamir Shalom, the commander of the Nahshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade.

The Boston Globe won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for covering the Catholic Church's decades-long cover-up of priests who sexually abused children. There is a Pulitzer Prize waiting for the reporter who can figure out why the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, considered by Catholics the personal representative of Jesus Christ, has emerged as an advocate of one of the most corrupt and non-Christian organizations on the face of the earth-the United Nations. The U.N. has been rocked by scandals involving U.N. "peacekeepers" who sexually abuse women and children, the failure to protect populations in danger of genocide, and financial...

In a moment of moral clarity rare in modern times, his holiness Pope Benedict XVI planted himself firmly athwart the tide of history, raised his hand, and loudly said to Capitalism, "Stop!" Supporters were thrilled to see the Hope and Change movement currently remaking our economy get a boost from such an unlikely source. Those seeking more aggressive distributive justice can now call on a higher power to validate their principles - papal infallibility. In his encyclical released last week titled "Caritas in Veritate," or Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict clearly cribbed from the Obama campaign's barrage of emails. "Grave...

Without a Doubt Why Barack Obama represents American Catholics better than the pope does. By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Jul 9, 2009 Tomorrow Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama meet for the first time, an affair much anticipated and in some circles frowned upon by American Catholics in the wake of Obama's controversial Notre Dame commencement speech in May. Conservatives in the church denounced Obama's appearance as a nod by the premier Catholic university to a conciliatory politics that heralds the start of a slippery moral slope.

When President Obama meets with Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow, there will be no right-wing Catholic demonstrators upbraiding the pontiff, as they did Notre Dame earlier this year, for conferring the church's legitimacy upon this liberal politician. In fact, whether he is the beneficiary of providence or merely good luck, Obama will have his audience with Benedict just three days after the release of a papal encyclical on social justice that places the pope well to Obama's left on economics. What a delightful surprise it would be for a pope to tell our president that on some matters, he's just too...

I retired in late 2006 with a conservative financial plan in place that would last through the lives of my wife and myself and still leave a little something for the kids. My financial planner and I choose an appropriate asset allocation model and we needed only 5% returns to be in good shape. My wife and I planned on working or volunteering, but we could do things because we wanted to and not because we had to. After many years in corporate America, this was a great place to be. I am still in a little bit of shock...

Reporting from Washington -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Sunday that ideological conservatives, particularly radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, have gained a hold over the Republican Party that risks driving the GOP into an extended exile from power. Powell's warnings were cast in unusually personal terms as Powell answered recent charges from two champions of the Republican right -- Limbaugh and former Vice President Dick Cheney -- that Powell was no longer a Republican. "Rush will not get his wish and Mr. Cheney was misinformed," said Powell, whose resume includes military advisor to Ronald Reagan, chairman of the Joint...

“Can you ordain a hermaphrodite?” Santa Clara University theology professor says Church had long history of ordaining women that ended because of “virulent misogyny” Gary Macy, a professor of theology at Jesuit-run Santa Clara University, told attendees at a Monday night lecture at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, there is little room for historical doubt that women were ordained in the Catholic Church until about the end of the 12th century. Macy’s lecture, entitled “A Higher Calling for Women? Historical Perspectives in the Catholic Church,” was given at Benton Chapel on the Vanderbilt campus. The university’s...

Forty-two percent of Americans now say same sex couples should be allowed to legally marry, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. That's up nine points from last month, when 33 percent supported legalizing same sex marriage. Support for same sex marriage is now at its highest point since CBS News starting asking about it in 2004. Twenty-eight percent say same sex couples should have no legal recognition – down from 35 percent in March – while 25 percent support civil unions, but not marriage, for gay couples. As has historically been the case on this issue, liberals are...

Seven Georgian monastics were forced to leave the territory of Abkhazia by separatist forces on April 2-3. Representatives of the breakaway region had accused them of “politicking.” The three monks and four nuns were from the Saint Giorgi Monastery in the village of Azhara, located in the Kodori Gorge, the only part of Abkhazia that was controlled by the central Georgian Government before the August Russian-Georgian conflict. When Georgian troops were driven out of the area the monastery and its residents stayed. “[After the August conflict] we proposed to the Georgian ‘priests’ that they accept the regulations of the Abkhazian...

Christians and Muslims have been kept apart for over 1,300 years, because they were taught that irreconcilable differences exist between their religious beliefs. This has resulted in mutual distrust, persecution, and even wars. I was motivated to read the Qur’an by the events of September 11th, 2001. I wanted to know the teachings in the Qur’an that could convince Muslims to be willing to sacrifice their lives, in order to kill persons who did not appear to be associated with Islam or their conflict. My Christian tradition was the source of some anxiety, since I had been taught that “the...

For his own, short-term, political advantage, Charlie Crist has become an Obamlican, a Republican savvy enough to get on the president's economic bandwagon to save Florida — and the nation. Not so, his jaundiced political brethren. Daily, Republicans are committing hara-kiri. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal reaped a firing squad of public opinion after bungling his response to the president's national address on the economy. Republican Party boss Michael Steele has been hoisted on his own petard for first belittling Rush Limbaugh, then begging him for forgiveness. And Rush the ranter is overdosing on extremism. Closer to home, Florida Republicans, especially...

In lifting the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson who has been accused of Holocaust denial last month, the Catholic Church also readmitted a priestly society that openly propagates virulent anti-Semitism, according to a probe by a Belgian Jewish newspaper. The Roman Catholic Church excommunicated The Society of St. Pius X in 1988 along with Williamson and three other member priests, declaring their consecrations were "unlawful" and "schismatic." In January of this year the Vatican lifted the excommunication. On the same day, a Swedish television station aired an interview with Williamson in which he denied the existence of gas chambers during...

Russian Orthodox Patriarch chosen Kirill will now lead more 160 million Russian orthodox believers The Russian Orthodox Church has elected senior cleric Metropolitan Kirill as its new leader, to succeed Patriarch Alexiy II who died last month. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, received 508 votes in a ballot of the Church Council in Moscow. Kirill - who is regarded as a liberal - has said the Church could play a greater role in Russia. He was the favourite in the contest and was chosen ahead of the more conservative Metropolitan Kliment. "I accept and thank the Church Council for...

You've probably seen the commercials; TV actor Noah Wyle (ER, The Librarian) somberly informs us of an impending grave catastrophe: "A tragedy is unfolding in the world today. Climate change is threatening one of the most magnificent wild animals on the planet. Polar bears. They're struggling to survive."  Heart-tugging violins accompany video footage of a mother polar bear and her cuddly cub on a small ice flow.The ice is melting all around them and food is becoming harder to find as they lose their hunting grounds. Climate change. It's happening right now and its leaving mothers weaker and unable to...

Deal triumphs over the patriarch of the 1980s “government is the problem,” according to a new Rasmussen poll. By a margin of 45-40 with 15 percent undecided, poll respondents selected Franklin Delano Roosevelt as better than Ronald Reagan. Predictably, the two commanders-in-chief won high marks from those on their ideological spectrum, with 76 percent of liberals favoring Roosevelt and 68 percent of conservatives preferring Reagan. But it’s with moderate, women and African-American voters where the poll gets interesting. Centrists back FDR over Reagan 56 percent to 26 percent, while black voters overwhelmingly support him by a 2-to-1 margin. Women favored...

Beethoven: Revealing His True Identity   In the 15th and 16th century, written history underwent a massive campaign of misinformation and deception. With the European slave trade in full swing, Afrikans were transported to various parts of the world and were stripped of every aspect of their humanity, and in most of western civilization, were no longer considered human. This triggered a wholesale interpretation of history that methodically excluded Afrikans from any respectful mention, other than a legacy of slavery. This can result in being taught, or socialized, from one perspective. In this instance, historical information tends to flow strictly...

Sarah Palin is the rogue elephant in the GOP war room. The maverick mom is distancing herself from John McCain and blowing off the advice of senior Republican aides, convinced they're damaging her reputation and ruining the campaign. Things have gotten so tense between Palin and her traveling staff, an insider said, that she's overruling their advice - which was evident last week when she ignored GOP aides piling into waiting cars at a Colorado event and strolled over to the press corps for an impromptu talk. MORE: Palin Has Future Even If McCain Loses In speeches, Palin has contradicted...

WATERLOO, Iowa, (AFP) – Bitter infighting between aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin erupted into public view in a sign of tension gripping the Republican camp with the election 10 days away. A series of recent surveys have suggested Palin's presence on the ticket is hurting McCain's chances in the November 4 election, at a time when Democratic rival Barack Obama has surged clear in most key polls. The inquests into what has gone wrong with McCain's campaign appear to have already begun, according to reports, with Palin's camp blaming the Arizona senator's senior advisers for mismanaging her contribution....

Sarah Palin is the rogue elephant in the GOP war room. The maverick mom is distancing herself from John McCain and blowing off the advice of senior Republican aides, convinced they're damaging her reputation and ruining the campaign. Things have gotten so tense between Palin and her traveling staff, an insider said, that she's overruling their advice - which was evident last week when she ignored GOP aides piling into waiting cars at a Colorado event and strolled over to the press corps for an impromptu talk. In speeches, Palin has contradicted her running mate's positions on issues, telling a...

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race to 10 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 42 percent among likely U.S. voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, up from an 8-point advantage for Obama on Tuesday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. It was the third consecutive day Obama gained ground on McCain as the two begin the final sprint to the November 4 election. "Obama just keeps growing, he has expanded his...

Mary Worship Still Alive in Catholicism10/21/2008 - Tur8infan Benedict XVI is reported (link to report) as recently praying to Mary: "We implore you to have pity today on the nations that have gone astray, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they might repent and return to your heart," the text of the prayer reads. This is a prayer that is openly idolatrous. Mankind needs to turn, not to the heart of Mary, but to the Son of Mary, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The true and proper object of worship is God alone. Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus...

I recall the first day of the second Gulf War clearly. It was the day I made a speech that quickly became very famous, and which has now been criticised by a former soldier as having left my men "fearful of the dangers that faced them". The Americans had attacked Iraq with, once again, no warning to us, their British allies. It was just like the last time: the first Gulf War, when the first we in the SAS knew of the beginning of the air war was when we saw it on CNN. This time, in March 2003, soldiers...

Hmmmmm… ~snip On September 29, 2008 Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg, filed a response to a motion to dismiss by defendant Barack Obama who was joined in his effort to quash Berg’s lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee, claiming it has no standing to proceed. Berg argued in the brief response that he has provided the precedents which establish the standing and petitioned US District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to pursue the case. In his Sept. 29 filing, Berg said: “Plaintiff served discovery in way of Admissions and Request for Production of Documents,...

But because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a shortage of the (night-vision) goggles. In the United States, the military gets first access to the goggles, and only a couple of companies manufacture the complex, and classified, equipment. Less than a third of about 800 EMS helicopters in the United States have night-vision technology. A lot more would like it, according to a survey of 382 active helicopter EMS pilots by the National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA).

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America Because John Mashek is apparently so utterly unfamiliar with it, I'm setting out the text of the First Amendment for his ease of reference. According to his column in U.S. News, the Roman Catholic bishop of Scranton, PA violates the First Amendment by...

A pro-life Catholic group called Catholics United will begin running a cable television ad in Catholic sections of Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton on Friday that criticizes Sen. John McCain's support for the Iraq war and his August 2007 vote against a bill to provide health care for uninsured children. "Senator McCain, when will you start defending all human life, without exception?" asks the woman in the ad, who identifies herself as a pro-life mother of three children. The Cleveland-area ads will run for a week on the CNN, Fox News, Headline News, Home & Garden and AMC networks. The ads...

    Stealthy ... Brit Jon with B2 bomber        Exclusive   RAF pilot is one hell of a guy     By JOHN KAY Published: Today     AN RAF Top Gun known as “Killers” has been recruited to fly the world’s deadliest aircraft for the elite US Grim Reapers squadron.   13th bomb squadron ... badge of the elite Grim Reapers  Squadron Leader Jon Killerby pilots the £1billion state-of-the-art Stealth Spirit B2 bomber. The former Tornado ace, 34, is based with the 13th Bomb Squadron in Missouri, US. His flying overalls sport the squadron’s badge...

Alongside last Friday's announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be John McCain's running mate, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 170 points. Stocks have shown weakness ever since. While there are many factors that move markets, a looming electoral contest between a tax-hiking Democrat versus a nominally pro-growth Republican surely weighs heavily on market psyche. It says here that the markets concluded that whatever John McCain's true economic views, he has handed the election to the anti-growth candidate with his selection of Palin. Stocks were presumably booing a running-mate choice that will greatly aid Barack Obama's election in November....

Lawsuit over McCain citizenship should be tossed, GOP lawyers say By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Article Launched: 08/28/2008 06:19:23 PM PDT Lawyers for John McCain and the state and national Republican Party on Thursday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the candidate's place on California's Nov. 4 ballot. Markham Robinson of Vacaville, chairman-elect of California's American Independent Party, sued McCain, the GOP and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Aug. 11, arguing the presidential candidate's birth 72 years ago today in the Panama Canal Zone means he's not a "natural-born citizen" — a...