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Pakistan on Sunday angrily rejected a media report that raised fears of a militant takeover of the Taliban-hit nation's nuclear weapons and suggested that the US had a hand in protecting the arsenal. In the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that US officials had negotiated pacts with Pakistan to provide security for the nuclear arsenal in extreme circumstances. It also raised the possibility that the threat to the security of the nuclear programme might come not from Taliban rebels battling the government, but from a "mutiny" by fundamentalist elements within the powerful military....

Updated August 18, 2008 (first published June 4, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) - Many people have walked into the Roman Catholic Church through the broad door of the “church fathers,� and this is a loud warning today when there is a widespread attraction to the “church fathers� within evangelicalism. The Catholic apologetic ministries use the “church fathers� to prove that Rome’s doctrines go back to the earliest centuries. In...

Whip me in public, says Malaysian ex-model IANS 21 August 2009, 10:29am IST KUALA LUMPUR: A distraught and repentant former Malaysian model, who was convicted for drinking beer at a nightclub, wants to be publicly whipped with her family members watching. Set to be the first woman to be punished for violating the country's law that forbids liquor consumption in public, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor is also hoping for media coverage, Harian Metro newspaper reported Friday. A court last month ordered that she be whipped six times for consuming alcohol.

Sixth in a series Few church members have really encountered serious anti-Mormon arguments. Most have heard a few LDS-critical comments in the media or from acquaintances. Those who have attended General Conference, a temple open house, or an LDS historical pageant have probably seen the protesters and may have accepted, out of curiosity, some of their anti-Mormon literature. After browsing the literature it is typically thrown away and the member's testimony remains unscathed. Other members may stumble upon anti-Mormon literature on the Internet. In the privacy of one's own home, sitting alone at the computer, they may not be as...

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Georgia) is trying to get his so-called Bible bill made into law. And while it's not likely to happen any time soon, it's a wonderful idea...at least in theory. What's wrong with a law which would declare 2010 the "year of the Bible"? Given that we already have days for secretaries, months for reading and have parsed the calendar for just about every other purpose and cause from artichokes to zebras, it's almost silly that we have not already done this. Would it really be so wrong to honor the most influential book, for better or...

Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. Bart Ehrman says most of the New Testament is a forgery but it's still an important body of work. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North...

I've always suspected that George W Bush wasn't really a big fan of Christian fundamentalists: he's an evangelical with Catholic leanings, not a Bible-basher. Now my suspicions have been confirmed by a new book about the worldwide religious revival called God is Back by the Economist's John Mickelthwait and Adrian Wooldridge.What did Bush really think of Bible-bashers?In the 2000 campaign, they report, Bush was visiting the Boeing Plant in Washington State when he was asked whether his enthusiasm for free trade with China might cost him the Christian vote. The reporter who asked him the question was from a...

British Columbia has charged two fundamentalist Mormon men with violating the Criminal Code provision against polygamy. The defendants will argue "God made me do it," claiming their practice of polygamy is part of the religious freedom guaranteed by Section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms... ...What the U.S. Supreme Court said in its 1878 Reynolds decision is still compelling: Religious freedom means the state cannot punish people for religious opinions, but it can certainly regulate secular institutions such as marriage. The justification for prohibiting polygamy is that it leads to treating women and children as chattels and undermines...

Some 40,000 people in the US state of Utah live in illegal polygamous families in which a man takes more than one wife. These fundamentalist Mormons have now begun a campaign for a change in the law they regard as discriminatory and unfair... Under US law it is a felony, and technically the adults could be jailed and the children taken into care. But there are simply too many... Kody and Christine Brown live in a polygamous relationship...I had met the Browns a few hours earlier at the Utah State Legislature where they had joined a campaign to legalise polygamy....

The universe’s birth certificate Once you let go of the Bible as history, all Christian doctrine begins to disintegrate. Dr Nigel Leaves, the Warden and Dean of Studies at John Wollaston Anglican Theological College in Perth (Australia), provides a typical example in The God Problem: Alternatives to Fundamentalism.1 He says ‘the major factor in the waning of the Christian faith is its continuing insistence on a supernatural God—the Almighty, the lawgiver and judge.’ He considers four alternatives to ‘fundamentalism’ (i.e. believing in the God of the Bible), saying, ‘Traditional beliefs about God cannot be sustained in the light of the...

Middle East Apologetics by: Lance Nation, September 18, 2008 In a recent panel at the Brookings Institution, Dr. Kenneth Pollack proposed a new strategy for dealings between the United States and the Middle East. “The United States cannot run away from the problems in the Middle East. We must reach a balanced long-term relationship,” stated Dr. Pollack, a Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. Greatly simplifying the ideas in his new book, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, Dr. Pollack argued...

The Catholic Church’s teaching on papal infallibility is one which is generally misunderstood by those outside the Church. In particular, Fundamentalists and other "Bible Christians" often confuse the charism of papal "infallibility" with "impeccability." They imagine Catholics believe the pope cannot sin. Others, who avoid this elementary blunder, think the pope relies on some sort of amulet or magical incantation when an infallible definition is due. Given these common misapprehensions regarding the basic tenets of papal infallibility, it is necessary to explain exactly what infallibility is not. Infallibility is not the absence of sin. Nor is it a charism...

What is Sola Scriptura? "We believe in the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety as the sole rule of faith for the Christian!" You may have heard these words or something very similar to them from a Fundamentalist or Evangelical Protestant. They are, in essence, the meaning of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, or "Scripture alone," which alleges that the Bible – as interpreted by the individual believer – is the only source of religious authority and is the Christian’s sole rule of faith or criterion regarding what is to be believed. By this doctrine, which is one...

Potter Author JK Rowling Equates Christians Who Avoid Potter with Islamic Fundamentalists Says "fundamentalists across all the major religions, if you put them in a room, they'd have bags in common! They hate all the same things" By John-Henry Westen EDINBURGH, March 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The newly released edition of the Edinburgh University Student newspaper, the oldest student newspaper in the UK, includes an interview with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.  In the interview Rowling claims to have received death threats from Christians opposed to her novels, calling Christian 'fundamentalists' "dangerous" and comparing them by inference to Islamic fundamentalists....

Islamic fundamentalists lose big in Pakistan vote By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Feb 19, 4:38 PM ET LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani voters handed Islamist political parties a massive defeat Monday, virtually eliminating them from regional parliaments in an election that's likely to have a wide-ranging impact on efforts to rein in growing Taliban and al Qaida influence in Pakistan's North West Frontier province. In 2002, fundamentalist religious parties, some openly sympathetic to the Taliban, won 12 percent of the national vote. That was enough to form a regional government in the North West Frontier province, which borders Afghanistan ,...

Michael Moore Wannabe by: Bethany Stotts, September 13, 2007 The infamous far-left blogger, Max Blumenthal, perhaps best known for his harassment of Michelle Malkin at the 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), has persevered in his online posting of pseudo-documentaries. Once again, Blumenthal has chosen the Christian Right as his target, seeking to expose what he describes as the “politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre” events of the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) 2007 Washington-Israeli Summit. This reporter was also there and can fill in the part of the story that Blumenthal leaves out. In true Michael Moore fashion, Blumenthal deletes,...

Papal Authority / Apostolic Succession / Peter as First PopeThe basis for papal authority lies in the Roman Catholic Church's interpretation of Matthew 16:18-19 -- 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[d] in heaven. Catholics believe that Jesus was addressing Peter only in His...

Attacking "God" has become a lucrative book business. But there's not much substance behind the latest atheist tracts. There is nothing new under the sun," proclaims the Book of Ecclesiastes. The rise of the new new atheism confirms this ancient biblical wisdom. Of course the famous words of Ecclesiastes should not be taken in a slavishly literal sense, a technique that is all-too-common among those who think they can refute belief in God by showing that the Bible abounds in demonstrably false and self-contradictory statements.

Recent years have provided plenty of church scandals, but an unlikely one has occurred in the Bible belt. A prominent Tulsa, Okla., minister was scandalized not by sex or embezzlement, but by his belief in hell. When Carlton Pearson began wondering if modern believers still need a medieval pit of fire, it cost him his congregation. Watch "Hell: Our Fear and Fascination" Friday on a special "20/20" at 10 p.m. EDT He shared pulpits with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. He counseled presidents at the White House. And after the Oklahoma City bombing, he was called to lead the grieving...

PART 1 Guatemala is at a turning point. Historically it's been a 100% Catholic country - but that's changing - rapidly. Demographers predict that early in the next century Guatemala will become the first mostly-Protestant Latin American country.The jet made a careful descent between the three volcanoes that ring the sprawl of Guatemala City. It was April 19th, 1992. My husband, Marty, and I had reached the end of eight years of preparation to be Evangelical Protestant missionaries. We were finally here, excited and eager to settle in Guatemala. We knew our faith would be challenged and stretched, but we...

The Rev. Wanda Gail Campbell, a minister of peace, thinks of herself as one of the most tolerant, respectful, open-minded people she knows. So it was with shock last summer, as she entered the shrine to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France, that she realized some deep prejudices against Catholics were bubbling up from her Southern fundamentalist upbringing. Lourdes draws pilgrims from around the world to pray at the spot where the young St. Bernadette said she saw and spoke with the Virgin Mary in 1858. Campbell traveled there with other clergy from The Beloved Community, the religious organization that...

Who is David Cloud, one may ask? He is the visible leader of Way of Life Ministries, a literature and (ostensibly) preaching ministry for Independent, Fundamental, KJV-only Baptists. OK, so that's not very important, but my relationship with David Cloud is long and complex. The reason I'm bothering to address him at all might not be readily apparent to any thinking individual, since he's mostly irrelevant to almost everybody on the face of the earth, but it will become apparent as I continue. Allow me to recount my history with David Cloud. When I first became a Christian, way back...

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

DAILY Photo by John GodbeyThe Rev. Joe Culotta of Annunciation of the Lord Catholic Church discusses Sunday’s attack. “Children were scared and people were crying,” he said.What would seem to be among the safest places in America came under attack Sunday morning at Annunciation of the Lord Catholic Church on Spring Avenue Southwest.After communion at the 11 a.m. Mass, a man and woman came forward, screaming.Then, to the shock and horror of the Rev. Joe Culotta and his congregation, the man turned over the cherished century-old marble altar. It tumbled down the steps and smashed onto the floor, ripping...

Iranian authorities have admitted that a series of explosions at oil wells around the province of Khuzestan were an attempt to sabotage oil production. Khuzestan is the centre of the Ahwazi Arab homeland and produces around 80-90 per cent of the country's oil output, representing up to 10-12 per cent of OPEC's total output. Iran is the world's fourth biggest crude producer with output capacity of around 4.2 million barrels per day. It exports 2.5 million barrels of oil per day - the equivalent of a fifth of the US's net oil imports - most of which originate from Khuzestan....

TEHERAN - Iran on Saturday denounced as an “ugly act” the US decision to deny visas to an Iranian parliamentary delegation to attend the annual UN General Assembly session in New York, claiming it showed the Americans were not competent to serve as host to the United Nations. Washington has given no reason for denying visas to the delegation that was expected to be headed by Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel. The US, however, has indicated that Iran’s new ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will receive a US visa to attend the session later this month. US authorities decided...

Ambassador Greg Schulte:The U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency says there is plenty of evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon. In an interview with VOA, Gregory Schulte said Iran is entitled to nuclear technology, but not for military purposes. Ambassador Schulte has been in Vienna only a few weeks but has already experienced a special IAEA board meeting and is preparing for the next U.N. report on Iran's nuclear program. IAEA experts now say investigations confirm Iran's story that traces of weapons grade uranium were imported on contaminated equipment from Pakistan and not domestically produced. So does...

Baghdad, 7 June (AKI) - When travelling, wear jeans and carry a walkman -- try not to look like an Islamic fundamentalist -- and for precise instructions on how to link up with Iraqi groups "contact the Salafite jihadist exponents in your own countries". These are just some of the travel tips and suggestions provided on an Islamist internet site for potential al-Qaeda recruits from various Arab and Western countries who have signalled their desire to go to Iraq to fight against the American troops. "The route to Iraq for mujahadeen who want to reach the country of two rivers"...

The Swedish Radio programme 'Kaliber' reported on Sunday that "almost all" Islamic schools and congregations in Sweden have contacted potential sponsors in Saudi Arabia. Many of these Saudi foundations ask for influence in return. However, an expert thinks the chances are slight that violent organisations will gain a foothold in Sweden's muslim communities. Islamic organisations have received help from the Saudi embassy in Stockholm to find potential donors. Many community groups can only afford simple basement premises. But with Saudi money, they can build mosques. 'Kaliber' featured the Al Salam school in Örebro, which takes children from nursery age to...

In the absence of intellectual arguments, liberals in the media and in politics have increasingly reverted to name calling. When I was a boy, school children would inevitably begin calling each other names when frustrated or angry. "You're stupid," one would shout. "You're dumb," came the reply. "Well, well, you're so ugly your mother doesn't even love you." "She does too—and you don't even have a mother." As tempers flared, the kids searched for even more hurtful names, eventually stumbling into the aura of World War II which had engulfed the globe. "You're Hitler," was the "baddest" insult one could...

Baptist church 'fake pope' sign attracting attention, criticism By JEANNINE F. HUNTER, hunter@knews.com April 13, 2005 NEWPORT, Tenn. - Two days after being posted, a church marquee message that questions the purpose of the papacy is still attracting attention in this small community. "What I am trying to do is to let people know there's only one way to heaven through Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Cline Franklin, pastor of Hilltop Baptist Church. "There's no need for help. God sent his son, Jesus Christ. We're all priests if we're saved. I don't need to go to anybody else to pray."...

Libby, Randy and Fundy. Yes, I thought that it would be appropriate to create pet names for those who are either afraid of Christians or social conservatives. Why not adopt “Libby” or “Randy” for the Libertarians/Randians who are in a snit about Republicans and Christians? Remember the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip? A true work of genius. Some of my favorite story lines involved the monsters that inhabited Calvin’s closet and lived under his bed. When Libbies and Randies go into their bedrooms they always check for the Fundy police, knowing that The Christian Coalition stays awake at night working...

You and your fascist co-horts will all be sorry when the Bush* administration is charged with stealing this election. His administration and this website is nothing more then propaganda for a fascist regime. We are watching you, and we will be there when you slip up and your face down on the ground because you slipped on your own Nazi style propaganda. John Kerry won this election and you know it! Everyone knows it!

Oscars ignore the Passion... ...in what appears to be a Blue State snub of Red States. Church of the Masses offers a couple of good ideas. Let's email EWTN and Pax TV and request they play the Passion during the televised portion of the Oscar ceremony.

Hot Flash By Ralph R. Reiland All this 'God talk' "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?" That was the now-famous headline in the London Daily Mirror. Less reported was how those 59 million Bush voters were described in the Mirror: "The self-righteous, gun-totin', military-lovin', sister-marryin', abortion-hatin', gay-loathin', foreigner-despisin', non-passport-ownin' rednecks" who believe "God gave America" the right to push everyone else in the world around so that their country can be "free and strong." Things were hardly less livid at The New York Times. Seeing a takeover by American "primitivism," here's how columnist Maureen Dowd summed up the election...

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!

Islamic Group Issues Dutch Terror Alert Politics: 9 November 2004, Tuesday. An Islamic group has threatened to launch a series of terror attacks against the Netherlands in a Web-posted statement. The statement comes after a series of attacks hit mosques in the Netherlands and an explosive device ripped off an Islamic school in the southern part of the country, Russian RIA Novosti news agency commented.

QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | MEETUP | C-LOG | ISSUES townhall.comPrinter-friendly versionReligious discrimination at the University of GeorgiaMike S. Adams (back to web version) | Send November 9, 2004Author’s note: The president of the University of Georgia is also named Mike Adams. We are not related.Dear President Adams (phone # 706.542.1214):I was recently informed about a possible case of religious discrimination against a (now former) cheerleading coach at the University of Georgia (UGA). Before I ask you a few questions about that case, I have several preliminary questions regarding the gay “safe zone” at UGA. My...

E-mail to John (Goose Hunter) Kerry #20 From: James (Cooter) Thompson re: Post-mortem Dear Senator Kerry: Jack Boudreau, Armen Yazoo, and me, the Designated Letter Writer down to Daryl's Bait Shop here in Lagniappe, Louisiana been watching news commentary on TV and we been reading tons of punditry on the Web concerning why you lost the election to George W. Bush. Truth be told, those pointy-heads would've done well to read my e-mails to you since last May for edification. Certain people lay the blame for your and your Party's defeat on folks like us. It's true, a substantial majority...

In years gone by, anarchists held strong sway in the political tradition. They held that no law was just, no law should be imposed. There are few who still hold to this. Or, rather, there are few who hold to it in an obvious way. But anarchism is alive and well, and in a most surprising place.

Frank J. Gaffney is founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC. He earned his AM in international studies from John's Hopkins University. A former deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, Mr. Gaffney's articles have appeared in Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Newsday, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He is a contributing editor to National Review Online. Mr. Gaffney addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia on September 22, 2004. The threat of terror is the most direct challenge to the stability of...

ELDORADO - First it was going to be a hunting lodge. Then a retreat. But as each new dormitory-style building goes up, residents here become a little more apprehensive as a secretive polygamist sect prepares to occupy a ranch four miles outside Eldorado. Locals say they have good reasons for feeling uneasy about their new neighbors. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in Arizona and Utah, is believed to be the largest polygamist group in the country. The 10,000-member church openly promotes plural marriage and has been subject to allegations of forced marriages, abusing the...

What is the separation of church and state?: That is a very good question - the separation of church and state is perhaps one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned concepts in today's political, legal and religious debates. Everyone has an opinion, but unfortunately, many of those opinions are woefully misinformed. That is one of the primary purposes of this FAQ: to provide as much information as possible in order to better inform people about this debate. After all, the separation of church and state is not only misunderstood, it is also exceedingly important. That is probably one of...

AN offshore bank account has been established by supporters of one of Australia's most hardline Islamic clerics to raise donations in Saudi Arabia to help pay for a $2.65 million mosque in southwestern Sydney. Supporters of Sheikh Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud are trying to raise the funds before next month's settlement date on the property, which is near their existing small prayer hall in Lakemba. Monitored by ASIO, the prayer hall has been at the centre of controversy. Members of its congregation include alleged terrorism suspect Faheem Khalid Lodhi, charged with preparing a terrorist attack and recruiting for a terrorism...

In tonight's news there is a story about a Jewish Synagogue in Denver, Colorado being victimized by subhuman slime. source : http://www.9news.com/storyfull.aspx?storyid=25197 slug : DENVER - A Denver synagogue was damaged with graffiti overnight. Swastikas were drawn on the synagogue on south Monaco Parkway. The graffiti was in the doorway and across a sign. There were also several symbols drawn on the back wall of the building. A holocaust survivor who saw the graffiti says it was almost too much to take. There was no official response available from the congregation Saturday, although several people who called 9NEWS to report...

<p>ST. GEORGE, Utah - A 17-year-old girl who ran away to St. George from the polygamist enclave of Colorado City, Ariz. after an alleged altercation with her father has been returned to her home, a newspaper has reported.</p> <p>The unidentified teenager spent two weeks in Utah and Arizona state custody before being returned home Jan. 30, The (St. George) Spectrum reported. The girl's return home came after 5th District Court Judge James Shumate dismissed a protective order she had obtained against her father, saying the St. George court did not have jurisdiction over an Arizona case.</p>

No Christian group is growing faster than the fundamentalists. And many of their converts are coming from the Catholic Church-mainly, badly educated Catholics. To halt this "soul drain" to answer the fundamentalist challenge and, most of all, to understand our faith better, we need to look at five major points of conflict: (1) the Bible (2) the nature and authority of the Church, especially the Pope (3) how to get to heaven (4) Mary and the saints (5) the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. We needn't be bitter in defending our beliefs. Even though many fundamentalists think the Catholic Church is...

I am a fundamentalist. I am a fundamentalist. I believe the holy bible to be the word of GOD and that it is perfect. I believe that any thing that is contrary to the bible has to be false for the bible is the measure of the truth. All 66 books in the bible are perfectly in sync with one another even though it was written over thousands of years by inspired men who did not know each other. There are no errors if you have the correct version for your language. Refer to my essay on the Authorized version,...

<p>Should marriage be legally defined as only a union between a man and a woman?</p>