Free Republic

An Egyptian jihad leader, with self-professed links to the Taliban, called for the “destruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt,” drawing ties between the Egyptian relics and Buddha statues, local media reported this week. Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such “idols.” “All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,” he said on Saturday during a television interview on an Egyptian private channel, widely watched by...

Apologies if this has already been postedAs you sit down with your family on Thanksgiving and consider offering a prayer of gratitude, be aware the turkey at the center of the table may have already been "blessed" – in the name of Allah. Customer service representatives from Butterball, one of America's most popular Turkey brands, confirmed to WND that the company's whole turkeys are – without being labeled as such – slaughtered according to Islamic "halal" standards. "Halal slaughter involves cutting the trachea, the esophagus and the jugular vein and letting the blood drain out while saying, 'Bismillah allahu akbar'...

The Capture of the Ark pt 3 I Samuel 5 The Future History of the Gentiles Bill Randles The story of the capture of the Ark of God, contains not only history, as we have seen, but also Gospel, and Eschatology. We pointed out in our last article that the future history of Israel was outlined in the double defeats by the Philistines, and the loss of the Ark. The first defeat, in which 4000 Israelites were killed in battle, corresponds to the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Solomon’s temple. It was devastating, but Israel did return from captivity...

(IsraelNN.com) Political consultants Dick Morris and Eileen McGann say that United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton want Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu out. They continue, "Livni, who thinks nothing of trading land for peace, no matter how flawed the peace might be, will then hold Netanyahu's government hostage and force it to bend to the will of Washington

In a powerful echo of the Biblical story of the patriarch Abraham, a Mumbai doctor smashed his father's idols and eventually decided to become a Jew in the Land of Israel. Dr. Aharon Abraham, left his position as Director of the ICU Medical Center at British Kennedy in Mumbai, India after terrorists murdered his spiritual guide and his wife, Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg one year ago. Abraham was born Vagirds Frads to a Hindu cleric who worshipped idols, and a mother who prepared food for them. As did the Biblical Abraham, young Vagirds could not understand how his father...

"Hear our cry, Obama." "Deliver us, Obama." Video at link.

If Barack Obama disappoints his supporters, they will have only themselves to blame. In January 2007 Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said he was running for president to revive “our national soul”. He was not alone in taking an expansive view of presidential responsibilities. With the exception of Ron Paul, all the serious candidates waxed grandiloquent about their aims. John McCain said he modelled himself on Teddy Roosevelt, a man who “nourished the soul of a great nation”. Hillary Clinton lamented that America had no goals, and offered to supply some. And let us not forget the man...

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God." Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: "I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful...But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility...The question now is whether the...

Pope blames idolatry of money for economic crisis Vatican City, Feb 27, 2009 / 07:03 pm (CNA).- Meeting with pastors and clergy of the Diocese of Rome on Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI discussed the economic crisis, the liturgy and evangelization. Naming the idolatry of money as a major shortcoming of the economic order, he warned that large-scale reform cannot be achieved without individual reform and conversion.Pope Benedict said that the Church has the duty to present a reasonable and well-argued criticism of the errors that have led to the current economic crisis. This duty is part of the Church’s mission...

NEW YORK - One of Iraq's first heavy metal bands has been reunited in the United States after fleeing their homeland as refugees. Members of Acrassicauda faced death threats in Iraq for playing Western rock music and went into hiding before spending two years exiled in Syria and Turkey. Named after a type of scorpion, Acrassicauda began writing and playing heavy metal in 2001 after being inspired by bands including Metallica and Slayer.

They hailed him as the Messiah and said his election was a miracle, but now Barack Obama has made it into the Holy Family to appear in the Nativity scene alongside Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. Hand-carved figures of Mr Obama and his wife Michelle are on sale in a Naples Christmas market with the rest of the Nativity set regulars. The President-elect and his spouse are the best sellers.

One of the Idols of the Age is that "People Are The Same The Whole World Over" or, in another variant, "Everyone Wants The Same Thing." George Bush believes it. He believes everyone wants something he calls "freedom," which bears in his view a remarkable resemblance to the head-counting that nowadays too often passes for democracy, combined with free-market fundamentalism. The editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal believes that everyone wants economic prosperity, and once that is achieved, all other resentments, grievances, and triumphalist aggressive impulses will fade away -- just as we are asked to believe, apparently, that...

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Like the Israelites who idolized the golden calf, the pro-life movement is challenged today by "the idolatrous gospel of total autonomy, sheer utility and false mercy," Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia told a gathering in Arlington Aug. 2. The cardinal, who chairs the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, spoke on the opening day of the Aug. 2-4 annual conference of directors of diocesan pro-life offices and state Catholic conferences, sponsored by the bishops' pro-life secretariat. "Those who have blind faith in embryonic stem-cell research and its so-called 'biblical power to cure' -- as House Majority...

Shane Inwood, of Tripod Jimmy Well, I assume that trite answers like "Saddam Hussein so I could slip 10 tabs of bad acid and some rat poison in his dinner" or "David Geffen so I could auction it on-line to the millions of graspers all vying for his time" are against the spirit of the question. And as much as I would love to meet say, Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine or Bob Mould or to have met Kurt Cobain etc, how much can you really accomplish in one dinner? You may love their work but hate them and...

Justin Griffin of Columbia started losing his vision as a senior in high school, the same year he professed his faith in the Lord. “My plans for me in high school were to graduate, join the military and become a professional soldier,” he said. “I had no love of God. I had no love of people. “Basically, I was my own God.” A victim of retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary disease of the retina of the eye, Griffin said he didn’t view his failing vision as a curse. “When the blindness came, I looked on it as a blessing,” said the...

Today is the first Sunday in Lent for Eastern Orthodox churches, and by tradition this is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, a celebration of the seven ecumenical councils that defined the faith of the undivided church, and in particular of the seventh council, the Second Council of Nicaea, which defined the proper veneration of icons. Icons, of course, are a form of liturgical art most associated with churches of the Byzantine or eastern Christian tradition, but have in recent years become once again a source of interest and inspiration to Christians outside of Eastern Orthodoxy, including a great many Anglicans....

Although Benedict XVI has expressed sympathy for Islam, he states quite plainly that the "martyr ideology" of Islamist terrorists amounts to an odious form of idol worship. Most Muslims, and emphatically the Muslim clergy, support this "martyr ideology".

Do Muslims worship idols? By Spengler Is what divides Islam and the West a minor misunderstanding, or an incipient war of civilizations? One's answer often depends on whether one sees Islam as a variant of Christianity or Judaism, or a pagan conqueror cult. Pat Robertson, the prominent American evangelical, claims, "The struggle is whether Hubal, the Moon God of Mecca, known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah God of the Bible is Supreme." President George W Bush and his advisors, by contrast, aver that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, an argument restated recently by Daniel...

Singer Billy Joel has married his 23-year-old fiancée Kate Lee in a ceremony at his Long Island home, Columbia Records confirmed on Saturday. It is the third marriage for Joel, 55, best known in the UK for his 1983 chart-topper Uptown Girl. The singer-songwriter's teenage daughter, Alexa Ray, by his second wife and former model Christie Brinkley, also attended the sunset ceremony. Lee, a TV restaurant critic, began dating the singer last year. Joel has had more than 24 hit singles in the US, in a career that has spanned more than 30 years. His song Piano Man, which was...

21 May, 2004 RUSSIA: Spread of neo-paganism brings racism and violence Livna (AsiaNews/ agencies)- “Neo-paganism” has gathered such a following in the former Soviet Union that organizations, seminars and books are sprouting up throughout the country, claiming adherents. According to Viktor Shnirelman, compiler of the book “Neo-paganism on the Expanses of Euroasia”, St. Petersburg has become the main center of Russian neo-paganism, though cults and organized ‘churches’ have spread throughout every part of the country. On May 13th there was the arrests of three suspects in two incidents of arson against the church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother...