Free Republic

EWTN Live - hosted by Fr. Mitch Pacwa with Professor Sharon Davies, author of "Rising Road, A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America," 7-20-2011

In the early 1900s, many Americans — from ordinary citizens to those in high office — were frightened by the perceived threat from the Roman Catholic Church. Their fear had tragic consequences.The mind-set is all too familiar: A radical religious group, lurking inside the country, owing loyalty to a foreign power, threatens America. No one denies that its members have a right to worship as they please, but good Americans, patriots, feel compelled to call for curbs against the menace they present. Because of the number of Americans sharing these fears, calls for restrictions on the religion are voiced openly...

.....The guidelines I used in interpreting Scripture seemed simple enough: When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense. I believed that those who were truly faithful and honest in following this principle would achieve Christian unity. To my surprise, this “common sense” approach led not to increased Christian clarity and unity, but rather to a spiritual free-for-all! Those who most strongly adhered to believing “only the Bible” tended to become the, most factious, divisive, and combative of Christians-perhaps unintentionally. In fact, it seemed to me that the more one held to the Bible as the...

This year, the most influential book you may never have read is celebrating a major birthday. The King James Version of the Bible was published 400 years ago. It's no longer the top-selling Bible, but in those four centuries, it has woven itself deeply into our speech and culture. Let's travel back to 1603: King James I, who had ruled Scotland, ascended to the throne of England. What he found was a country suspicious of the new king. "He was regarded as a foreigner," says Gordon Campbell, a historian at the University of Leicester in England. "He spoke with a...

Expropriation of Monastery Land Seen as Effort to Squash Syriacs ROME, FEB. 18, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Not even the Mongols of the 14th century, when they killed 40 monks and some 400 faithful, succeeded in making one of the most ancient Christian convents in the world disappear, but perhaps Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan of Turkey, can. This appears to be the case of the Syro-Orthodox monastery of Mor Gabriel or "Dayro d-Mor Gabriel," called "Deyrulumur" in Turkish. It is located in the region of Turabdin in the southeast of Anatolia. The convent bears the name of Mor Gabriel (634-668), bishop...

From Christianity’s beginnings, the Church has been attacked by those introducing false teachings, or heresies. The Bible warned us this would happen. Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths" (2 Tim. 4:3–4). What Is Heresy? Heresy is an emotionally loaded term that is often misused. It is not the same thing as incredulity, schism, apostasy, or other sins against faith. The...

If you ask people who Saint Patrick was, you're likely to hear that he was an Irishman who chased the snakes out of Ireland. It may surprise you to learn that the real Saint Patrick was not actually Irish—yet his robust faith changed the Emerald Isle forever. Patrick was born in Roman Britain to a middle-class family in about A.D. 390. When Patrick was a teenager, marauding Irish raiders attacked his home. Patrick was captured, taken to Ireland, and sold to an Irish king, who put him to work as a shepherd. In his excellent book, How the Irish Saved...

By decoding the inscription on a 3,000-year-old piece of pottery, an Israeli professor has concluded that parts of the bible were written hundreds of years earlier than suspected. The pottery shard was discovered at excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah valley in Israel -- about 18 miles west of Jerusalem. Carbon-dating places it in the 10th century BC, making the shard about 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea scrolls. ...... English translation of the deciphered text: 1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord]. 2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an] 3'...

It is amazing how many names were applied, in the period of the Reformation, to the Baptists. They called each other brethren and sisters, and spoke of each other in the simplest language of affection. Their enemies called them Anabaptists because they repeated baptism when converts came from other parties. This name Anabaptist is a caricature. It damns first by faint praise and then by distortion. "The opprobrious term ‘Anabaptist’ was and is a vile slander. It was invented to conceal thought. It shrouded in a fog the grand ideals of a people loving peace and truth. The term is...

Before starting the text of a long article, I want to explain what it is. In discussing the meaning of the Eucharist with Catholics on FreeRepublic, I've frequently been told that the Church Fathers, from the very beginning, have taught it was a 're-presentation' of Calvary. I've read little of the Church Fathers - as have many who have lectured me, I suspect. The norm on both sides of the argument is to pull quotes from those who help your case, and ignore what does not. In excerpts below, taken from his 7,000 page history, Philip Schaff discusses the nuance...

As we prepare for the Holloween season (which seems to become a bigger and bigger deal in the United States each year, and that probably isn't a healthy sign), let's see what our Protestant brothers and sisters are planning. PCANews at the Christian Broadcasting Network website has come up with a way to overcome the satanic/occult aspects of Halloween - a Reformation Day party! They explain it: October 31 celebrates the day that the Reformation in Europe began with Martin Luther posting his 95 theses on the Wittenburg church door, leading to a firestorm response in Germany. Why not...

The Russian Primary Chronicle on how Russia was Christianized "Invitation to the Rus" 860-862 (6368-6370) [The four tribes who had been forced to pay tribute to the Varangians--Chuds, Slavs, Merians, and Krivichians] drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them further tribute, and set out to govern themselves. But there was no law among them, and tribe rose against tribe. Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one against the other. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince who may rule over us, and judge us according to custom [po nravu]". Thus...

Hagia Sophia angel uncovered in Turkey Restoration workers have uncovered the mosaic face of an angel in the world-renowned Hagia Sophia Museum in the Turkish city of Istanbul 29 Temmuz 2009 Çarşamba 02:35 The mosaic, believed to be one of a group of six, was found in the pendentive, an arched triangular section supporting the dome of the monument. Some experts believe the six-winged figure dates back to the 14th century, but the Hagia Sofia Science Board is set to determine the relic's true age by comparing it to similar mosaics found in 1935. Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian,...

Review: How the Byzantines Saved Europe Posted by JOHN COURETAS on MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009 The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Edited by Elizabeth Jeffreys, John Haldon, Robin Cormack. Oxford University Press (2008)Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Princeton University Press (2008) Ask the average college student to identify the 1,100 year old empire that was, at various points in its history, the political, commercial, artistic and ecclesiastical center of Europe and, indeed, was responsible for the very survival and flourishing of what we know today as Europe and you’re not likely to get the...

Constantinople and Norsin MUMTAZER TURKONE m.turkone@todayszaman.com There is a contradiction in a question posed by Devlet Bahçeli to the president, who referred to Güroymak as Norşin. "Will you also change the signboard reading ‘İstanbul' that you encounter on the highway traveling from Gebze to İstanbul to ‘Constantinople'?" asked Bahçeli. Here are my questions: What will happen if we change it? What change will this make? The answer: Only our habits will change. Why? It is because there is nothing in the name “İstanbul” that belongs to Turks, Turkishness or the Turkish language other than our habits. İstanbul as a name...

I was talking to my daughter at lunch today and she asked me if she had told me about what she had discovered about the Spanish fondness for cured ham. She said she had traveled all over Europe and did not see the cured hams that hang from the ceilings in the delicatessens as is common in Spain. Usually, in the smaller delicatessens they have about fifty to one hundred, "severed legs," as she calls them, hanging from the ceiling, each with a little paper cup hanging below to catch any grease that leeches out of the ham. Here is...

Osprey Media. - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA [Emperor] Constantine's Last WalkJunior Fiction winner Local News - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 @ 00:00 By Erik Blackthrone O'Barr Grade 9 Peterborough Collegiate The cannon fire grew closer with each thundering belch of rock and iron, as the walls of Constantinople, wonders of the world that had never been breached save for treachery, groaned under the strain. Buildings crackled with scorching heat, set ablaze by pitch- covered arrows. The shouts and screams of the dying echoed in the empty streets of the once great city. And Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Emperor of...

Aug 14, 2009 From church to mosque: Istanbul’s forgotten Byzantine heritage Is it a church? Is it a mosque? Is it a museum? Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia, the Church of Divine Wisdom) may be one of İstanbul's most famous buildings, but it's also one that suffers from an acute identity crisis, having started life as the great sixth century church of the Emperor Justinian, before becoming a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and then a museum in 1935 after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared the Turkish Republic. Something similar happened to Chora, near Edirnekapı, which also kicked...

CHURCH FATHERS Protestantism is closer than Catholicism to the beliefs of the Church fathers Many Catholic doctrines were only introduced centuries later and were corruptions Initial reply In fact, the exact opposite is true: the fathers as a whole were much more "Catholic" in their beliefs than they were some kind of primitive "Protestants", and this is amply confirmed by Protestant Church historians themselves. Extensive reply Ten major "distinctively Catholic" doctrines will be supported by documentation (that early Church fathers largely agreed) from the Protestant historians listed below: Bible, Church, and Tradition, not Bible Alone (sola Scriptura) as the...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Sometimes a job is just a job, even when from the outside it looks like it involves the stuff of an Indiana Jones movie. Fabrizio Bisconti is the newly named archaeological superintendent of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, which oversees the upkeep and preservation of 140 Christian catacombs from the third and fourth centuries scattered all over Italy. Most of the time, he said, the job is just work and study. Staff members can spend a full month with surgical tools and cotton balls cleaning a third-century sarcophagus, but then there are those stunning, shocking,...

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth (July 10, 1509), opened today at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva. Beginning with a welcome by Mr. Guillaume Taylor from the St. Pierre Parish Council, approximately 500 worshipers attended the opening convocations, featuring morning worship from Calvin’s time and a sermon on Philippians 3:8-12 by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The evening services featured Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, much psalm singing, and a sermon by Dr. Bryan...

What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? How Christians elevated culture What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? They raised the status of women. It's dogma in our public schools today that women in ancient times were oppressed, because women had no voting rights, women had not the same opportunities as men, and so forth. You will be mocked if you deny that this spells oppression. If you're a college professor and you deny it, get ready for the stake. But the charges are anachronistic and...

Ancient Find Proves Christ's Words?Archaeologists have unearthed in Jordan what they believe to be the first Christian church in the world. Dating back almost 2,000 years to sometime between 33 AD to 70 AD, the church, which is actually a cave, was found underneath Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border. Agence France Presse and The Jordan Times report that the church is thought to have sheltered the world's earliest Christians from persecution and certain death. "We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians--the 70...

No, not THAT Calvin — although maybe he has a birthday coming up, too. The rock star of the moment is John Calvin, the stereotypically dour theological chaperone of Geneva (his 500th birthday is July 10). A balanced, nicely-done story by Religion News Service writer Daniel Burke maps the lawyer’s influence on American evangelicals, particularly Southern Baptists. But why is Calvin becoming so, er, trendy? Well, it isn’t because of his clothes, his beard, or even the way he wanted to govern Geneva. It is, as Burke astutely notes in his lede, Calvin’s doctrine that is undergoing, excuse the expression,...

History is the great debunker of pre-conceived ideas that are rooted in ideology and false piety rather than in reality. Without a grasp of history, and of the history of the papacy in particular, many Catholics are led to believe that the papacy must always have been as they have known it, and most popes have been just like the popes of the 20th and 21st centuries: Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. The pontificates of a thousand years ago, however, were very different from any that we have...

Praise God, that we are saved by grace alone. Works without faith are utterly without merit. This is not merely a Protestant notion. Such has been the persistent teaching of the saints throughout the ages. Yet a whitewashing of Martin Luther has led to many people, even Catholics, fundamentally misunderstanding the Catholic Church's criticism of him. Please understand that what I write here is no ad-hominem attack on Luther for any purpose, including the slander of Protestantism. Attacking the moral character of Martin Luther is gainless, for no-one supposes Luther to be imbued with the gift of infallibility. But when...

WITTENBERG, Germany -- Martin Luther, a renegade monk, triggered the Reformation here five centuries ago . . . Today, fewer than one in five people identify themselves as Christian . . . " . . . east Germany is perhaps the most atheistic region in the world" . . . The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States, has bought a building next to the old Town Church, where Luther used to preach . . . plans to start a congregation . . . "In east Germany, you actually have to go up to people and...

For the non-Calvinists or anti-Calvinists among us who may worry that this issue of WORLD has several articles about John Calvin, be not afraid: It happens only once every 500 years. July 10 brings the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth—and the great theologian, even with his warts, deserves a better press than he has typically received in recent decades. Calvin was a fallen sinner, as all of us are, but was he especially mean-spirited? He taught that God created the world out of love and loved the world so much that Christ came down from the glorious kingdom of...

Who were the Huguenots? John Calvin (1509 - 1564), religious reformer. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besançon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus...

As a Baptist Sunday School and Bible study teacher, one of the questions that used to nag at me incessantly was this: Why, after such painstaking deliberation in dictating an institutional religion that pleased Him in the Old Testament and that was designed to lead the people to recognize the Messiah when He came, would God then introduce a system in the New Testament Church that was so completely unlike the one He established in the Old? There are innumerable examples of how ridiculous this complete “change� would be, but take the priesthood, for instance.Priests were the officiators of worship...

June 15, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This article presents the Christian attitude toward abortion before the first ecumenical council, that is, until A.D. 325. Because the New Testament does not comment on the morality of abortion, this article considers the writings of the first generations of Christians after the apostles, for they indicate that opposition to abortion (1) was shared at a time when the writers — or Christians not many generations earlier — personally knew the apostles or their first disciples and thus benefited from their unwritten teachings and interpretations of Scripture, (2) comes from a date so early that...

Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, wrote the following which was taken from a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox: “There WAS and IS a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was NOT Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath WAS TRANSFERRED from the Seventh to the First day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of...

Should historical amnesia be an option for the average Christian? Knowing church history, particularly as it relates to the early years of Christianity and the theological issues which faced leaders in that age is important for all believers, essayists in the summer edition of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology argue. The latest SBJT examines the early church and encourages Christians to learn from important church fathers such as Athanasius, Augustine and Irenaeus. Essayists include Southern Seminary professor Michael A.G. Haykin, author and pastor John Piper, Westminster Theological Seminary professor Carl Trueman, Western Seminary professor Todd L. Miles, and Scottish...

A Rhode Island author claims in his book that Islamic violence against Jews and Christians has been part of the religion since its origins 1,200 years ago. Andrew Bostrom, associate professor of medicine at Brown University, wrote in his book, The Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism: from Sacred Texts to Solemn History, that Muslim governments dating back 1,000 years forced Jews and Christians to show deference to Muslims and wear clothing that distinguished them from followers of the official state religion, IsraelNN.com reported Friday. Bostrom claimed the Koran itself is anti-Semitic, with references to the prophet Mohammed's poisoning death at the...

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2008 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- L’Osservatore Romano published an article last week explaining how Pope Pius VII decided in 1808 that the Vatican colors would be white and yellow.  Historian Claudio Ceresa explained the history behind the Pope’s choice.In an article entitled, “Two centuries of yellow and white as the papal colors,” Ceresa explained that in order to understand why the colors were chosen, one must consider the “occupation of the city by Napoleonic troops in February of 1808.”“The commander of the French forces, General Miollis, posted notices on the walls informing that the Pope’s army...

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In the beginning of the church (first ten years) all the believers were Jews. The church began and was established in Jerusalem where Jesus did a good portion of his preaching and was crucified and raised. The gospel went out from Jerusalem "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" Acts 1:8 Luke 24:47-48 that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (see Acts 10:36-37) It wasn’t until years later that the gospel went to the Gentiles...

Chapter 2Apostasy and Restoration "Mormonism has no claim to be a viable religion in the present unless it has been a viable religion in the past."- Truman Madsen1The simple fact is that had there been no "apostasy," or "falling away," from Christ's original Church, there would have been no need for God to restore the Church through Joseph Smith. In this chapter we will establish the fact that there was, indeed, such an apostasy and describe its history and some of its effects.2 Finally, we will present evidence that a restoration of the gospel was also predicted in the early...

My mother-in-law, a Roman Catholic, was at it again. Just before Christmas, I was informed that the Church of England was started by Henry VIII because he wanted a divorce, and that the reason that the Episcopal Church has its homosexual problem is all due to married clergy. Thank God for monogamy, because one mother-in-law is quite enough. The saddest man in the Bible had to have been King Solomon with about a thousand of them to deal with. It should have been enough to put a king off of sex, since each bride probably had a mother. But, enough...

What Did the Early Church  Believe and Preach After Jesus' Death? Suppose you could invite one of the original twelve apostles to your church this weekend. Can you imagine what it would be like to entertain Peter in your worship services? How do you think he would react to what he saw?Would this apostle approve of your denomination's practices?Or is it just possible that he would tell you that some of your most cherished beliefs were in error? How would you feel if he stood up and loudly proclaimed that your church was a promoter of heresy? What if he...

Q:I saw a magazine article that mentioned discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt. Are Coptic Christians a separate church or is that just a name for Christians in Egypt. Do they belong to different Christian churches? — Lakesha, Oklahoma City A:The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church is a separate church that is part of the little-known group of Christians called the Oriental Orthodox. Oriental Orthodox churches are not the same as the more familiar Eastern Orthodox group, which includes the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches. Most Americans are aware of the split in Christianity caused by the Reformation led by Martin...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Monday morning it will establish a new imprint for publishing works relating to its origin and growth— the Church Historian's Press. "The claims the church makes are in its history," Elder Marlin K. Jensen, church historian and member of the Seventy, said. "It seems logical to have a Church Historian's Press." Although this publishing effort may never have its own separate printing facilities, its staff and efforts will utilize those of church-owned Deseret Book initially and perhaps someday even the facilities of the church's own existing printing services too. "We don't...

Church's pre-historic past unearthed Feb 14 2008 By Tony Henderson Work on a town’s church has revealed that the site may have been used for ritual and worship for thousands of years. Major refurbishment work on the Grade I-listed St Michael and All Angels church in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, began last month and has involved digging up the floor to install a new heating system. The church, dating back to Norman times, is the oldest building in the town. A carved stone above a tiny doorway, featuring a carving of mysterious intertwined animals known as the Houghton Beasts, may...

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last hurrah before the Catholic season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It also has links to the Christmas season through the period known as Carnival.Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French...

Once there was a Pope named Peter? One day Jesus asked two questions to his disciples. The first: Who do men say that the Son of Man is? (Matthew 16:13). The second more personal "But you, who do you say that I am?" Do you believe what the people’s opinion are of him or do you have one of your own. In v.16 Peter spoke up and answered “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus now turned to Peter and made a series of statements. One is where the revelation came from. Jesus tells him that...

Christmas Definition and Summary Christmas, also known as the Feast of the Nativity, literally means "Christ Mass." The feast celebrates Jesus' birth and the Incarnation of the Son of God on December 25. Christmastide is another name for the Christmas season, and currently extends from the first Vespers of Christmas Eve until the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Prayers: Christmas Prayers Basic Facts Liturgical Color(s): White Type of Holiday: Solemnity; Holy Day of Obligation; Season Time of Year: December 25th until the Baptism of Our Lord (Sunday after Jan. 6th) Duration: Christmas: one day; Christmastide: varies, see above...

The Origin of Nativity Scenes “... Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the place where travelers lodged.” According to St Luke the Evangelist (2,7) Jesus was born in a stable or at least in a place where animals were kept. In fact the word presepio (Nativity Scene) comes from the Latin verb praesepire (to enclose, to hedge, to fence) and today it means manger or crib. The term is thought to have been used for the first time with...

When HaShem (God) dictated the Torah to Moses, that Written Law, or Torah She'bi-khetav, made God's laws known to His people.  This Truth, in all its glorious revelation, was to provide the Jewish people with instructions for daily living, how to celebrate their holidays, and the ways in which they should worship their Creator.  The Torah is also unambiguous on the behaviors that should be avoided and gives clear directions for atonement for sins committed.  Although the Written Law was considered complete, traditional Jewish teaching is that Moses also received a second set of laws called Torah She'bi-al peh: the...

Without the clergy guiding them, and with religion still a very important factor in the average person's life, their fate rested in their own hands, Simpson said. The rise of fundamentalist interpretations during the English Reformation can be used to understand the global political situation today and the growth of Islamic extremism, Simpson said as an example. "Very definitely, we see the same phenomenon: newly literate people claiming that the sacred text speaks for itself, and legitimates violence and repression," Simpson said, "and the same is also true of Christian fundamentalists."

First Knights Templar are discovered April 10, 2006 LONDON: The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel. British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar. The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries. They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by...