Free Republic

AP) – The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex – a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church. Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people. Some examples: Christianity The Catholic Church’s disapproving stance toward gender transition is shared by some other denominations. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant denomination in the United States – adopted a resolution in 2014 stating...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The federal government is asking a court to halt California’s enforcement of a rule requiring prison guards to be clean-shaven, saying it amounts to religious discrimination for Sikhs, Muslims and others who wear beards as an expression of their faith. The civil rights complaint filed Monday by the U.S. Justice Department says the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s prohibition on facial hair denies on-the-job accommodations for officers of various religions. It seeks a temporary court order “allowing these officers to wear beards while CDCR fully assesses options for providing them with religious accommodations while complying...

RNS) — A Hindu advocate has called for an official apology from General Mills after learning Yoplait brand yogurts contain gelatin sourced from beef. Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hindus, released a statement on March 19, which included a call for the resignation of General Mills CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening. Zed said he was told by a friend that the popular yogurt product contained gelatin, but he did not know from where. He wrote a query to the consumer care department of General Mills and received a response, he said, after several tries: “The source of...

A north Indian town is preparing for a mega event next week, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a grand Hindu temple that symbolizes the country’s surging Hindu cultural nationalism, a movement also known as Hindutva. The inauguration of the grand temple in Ayodhya, India is set for Monday, January 22. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Ram and stands on the site of a demolished 16th-century mosque. Some Hindu leaders have begun calling the town a "Hindu Vatican." Many Hindus claim that Ram was born in Ayodhya, in the state of Uttar Pradesh — exactly...

Tragedy struck in India when a five-year-old boy diagnosed with terminal cancer was drowned as his family tried to cure him with water from the River Ganges. Police say the child, who had leukemia, died after his parents submerged him in the river flowing through northern India in a superstitious bid to cure him. The family had reportedly travelled from their home in Delhi to Haridwar on Tuesday to perform the ceremony and pray for the unnamed victim. Their taxi driver said the child was accompanied by his parents and a female relative identified as his aunt by local media....

The pastoral center of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, was bombed on Nov. 26 and occupied by the Burmese military the next day, according to reporting by Agenzia Fides, the news arm of Pontifical Mission Societies. Though no one was killed in the bombing, the pastoral center’s ceiling collapsed and Bishop Celso Ba Shwe and the 80 refugees taking shelter in the church were forced to flee, per the Hong Kong Catholic news service UCA News. Shwe said in a statement published by Agenzia Fides that “the Burmese army tried to take the Christ the King Cathedral complex...

A senior Victorian Buddhist monk is facing a new allegations of child sexual abuse after media reporting earlier this year. Wearing traditional orange robes, Vijitha Naotunne, 68, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court via videolink from his lawyer’s office on Friday. Representing Mr Naotunne, Joanne Poole said they intended to fight the allegations, which he denied had occurred. Mr Naotunne, who is the chief monk at the Dhamma Sarana Buddhist Sri Lankan Temple, was charged in August over alleged child sexual abuse of three girls dating back as far as the mid-1990s. In September, Victoria Police revealed two more alleged...

The Church of England (CofE), also known as the Anglican Church, is a historic institution that has its roots in the 16th century when King Henry VIII sought to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon but was denied annulment by the Pope. As a result, Henry broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England, with himself as its head, setting the stage for centuries of close ties between the Church and the British monarchy and state. The Church of England’s evolution towards progressivism is a part of a larger historical trend in Western Christianity, where...

A former high school student in Chicago was awarded $150k in damages from her public school after alleging that they tried to force her to worship a literal idol worship. Mariyah Green is a dedicated Christian who felt coerced into participating in the Quiet Time meditation program that was implemented at Bogan High School in Ashburn. Summarized by Chicago Sun times: In the lawsuit, Green alleges the “Transcendental Meditation” program was held during school hours, and students were required to participate in an initiation ceremony called a “Puja” — an “expression of gratitude” to the dead founders of the practice....

NEW DELHI — Not even a judge’s reprimand of police spared an impoverished pastor in India from being jailed on baseless claims of fraudulent conversion, one of the latest examples of how Hindu extremists misuse “anti-conversion” laws. Pastor Bajarang Rawat, a 47-year-old convert from Hinduism in Mohanlalganj, Lucknow District in Uttar Pradesh state, faces charges of converting people by “allurement” even though police could find no witnesses against him, and the only evidence they presented was his Bible, the pastor said. “Reprimanding the policemen, the magistrate told them that it was not a crime to possess a Bible and that...

Earlier this summer, the Southern Baptist Convention garnered considerable attention for its disfellowshipping of two churches that allow women to serve in the office of pastor.Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and a smaller congregation known as Fern Creek Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, were disfellowshipped following a majority vote by messengers at the SBC's Annual Meeting in June. Some 90% of messengers voted to disfellowship churches that have women in the role of pastor. That is 9 in 10 messengers.Several other Christian denominations allow women to serve as pastors, however. As The Christian Post previouslyreported, this number even includes...

(VIDEO) Since May 3, ethnic violence has engulfed Manipur, a state in northeastern India. At least 150 people have been killed, over 6,000 homes and 400 churches destroyed and more than 50,000 people remain displaced. The Christian Kuki-Zo tribal community reports almost daily attacks, allegedly by Meitei extremist groups Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, alongside Manipur Police, their elite commandos and the India Reserve Battalion. Manipur officials have denied these allegations, claiming attackers wore police uniforms to create mistrust. This claim is based on newspaper reports of police uniforms being made in bulk by civilians. However, videos from the early...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to safeguard the “daughters of Manipur” following the horrific gang rape of two Christian women by an alleged Hindu group. A chilling video circulating online shows the women, stripped of their dignity, being molested by a group of Hindu men before being forcefully led into a field where they were reportedly violated, as per The Times. The victims, one in her 20s and another in her 50s were seen imploring the mob for mercy amidst the escalating ethnic violence in the state. When the younger victim’s father and brother intervened, the mob beat...

The delegation met with Vatican officials and prayed for the well-being of Pope FrancisA Thai delegation led by senior Buddhist monks visited the Vatican, which a Vatican official described as "a pilgrimage of friends.” The delegation met with top Vatican officials and prayed for the speedy recovery of Pope Francis during the two-day visit last week, Vatican News reported. The eighty-member delegation met with the representatives of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue at the Augustinianum Institute on June 15. The members of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, including Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso, Prefect of the Dicastery, and Monsignor Indunil...

A historic pilgrimage route believed to be the oldest in Japan has formed a friendship tie-up with the world-famous Routes of Santiago de Compostela, with the aim of increasing global name recognition for both through cooperation that transcends their different religions. The Saikoku Kannon Pilgrimage officially signed an agreement with the Santiago de Compostela, a World Heritage Site, at the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 1,000-kilometer Saikoku route comprises 33 Buddhist temples worshipping Kannon Bodhisattva, and stretches across seven prefectures, including Osaka, Kyoto and Wakayama...

A criminal lawyer, Sister Manjula Tuscano filed the petition in Gujarat High Court after police failed to take action A Catholic nun has petitioned a court in India seeking action against a man making derogatory statements against the pope and nuns in a video clip circulating on social media. Sister Manjula Tuscano, a criminal lawyer, on April 13 moved the Gujarat High Court in western India through her attorney seeking to register a criminal case against the unidentified man seen making derogatory and defamatory statements in the local Gujarati language. Tuscano decided to approach the High Court after her attempts...

"So that you may approve the things that are excellent" (Phil. 1:10). In a world of mediocrity and confusion, God calls you to excellence and discernment. There's the story of a pilot who came on the loudspeaker mid flight and said, "I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is we've lost all our instrumentation and don't know where we are. The good news is we have a strong tail wind and are making great time." That's an accurate picture of how many people live: they have no direction in life but they're getting there fast! We...

The student wing of ruling pro-Hindu party stage a protest and disrupt classes in Goa's St. Xavier’s CollegeChurch leaders in Goa, a former Portuguese colony in western India, have expressed concern over the ruling pro-Hindu party’s push to infiltrate Catholic educational institutions. “Our Catholic educational institutions are getting more and more communalized,” with the backing of the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the state and at federal level, says Jesuit Father Anthony Da Silva, director of Xavier Centre of Historical Research in Goa. The aim is to push forward the pro-Hindu ideology on Christian educational campuses, the Jesuit...

Pope Francis blamed the 'present environmental crisis' on 'human roots' in his meeting with the Buddhist delegation.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis accused humanity of being behind the “present environmental crisis” in a meeting with a Cambodian Buddhist delegation this morning. The striking comments were made today by Francis in a meeting he had with Buddhist monks as part of the current Christian Unity week series of events. The delegation of Buddhist monks from Cambodia were received by Pope Francis in private audience this morning, joined also by Cambodian officials and Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh....

A coalition of Christian and interfaith leaders in Texas are calling on members of U.S. Congress to condemn "anti-Christian hate and bigotry" from a local nonprofit they say is raising funds to demolish churches in India. The Federation of Indian American Christian Organization in North America (FIACONA) held a news conference Tuesday, warning that the Texas-based Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) is raising money in the United States to level churches and forcibly convert Christians and Muslims in India to Hinduism. A Dec. 13 letter obtained by The Christian Post and addressed to U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn,...