Free Republic

MADRID, Spain "Spain has devised a school textbook it calls unique in Europe — a primer for Muslim first-graders to learn about Islam but do so in the local language and thus not feel like outsiders, officials said Wednesday."... "Europe has 40 million Muslims and governments don't know what to do to assimilate them," Lopez said in an interview. "This book is a hint."

Queen Isabella: Evangelizer of the New World by Cardinal Luis Aponte MartinezThe 500th anniversary of Queen isalbella's death this month prompts a Puerto Rican prelate to examine her faithful service In this article: A True Follower of Jesus A Reformer of Church and State Devotion to Jesus and Mary Bold, Decisive, Faith-Filled Action Detail from 1596 painting “King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle of Spain Bidding Farewell to Christopher Columbus." Imagine that you have before your eyes a map of the world. Looking at the map from heaven's perspective, imagine that the places strong in the Catholic faith shine with special...

The other online Tony news this week is that I'm closing down the TONY POLLS for the foreseeable future. Following several days of electronic and phone harassment, a Bush supporter...or maybe a small group of Bush supporters...tried to stuff the ballot box on our political questions. When a great number of votes come in all in a matter of an hour or so, you know someone is trying to fix the fight. I had little choice but to take all but the comics question off the ballot. I'll have more to say about this harassment in next weekend's TIPS. For...

In the next presidential election, are you more likely to vote for George W. Bush or the Democratic Party candidate? In a primary, for which of these Democratic Party candidates would you vote? Where would you like to see George W. Bush in 2005? Let's be very creative and nasty with the write-in votes.

Should Non-Catholics Run the Catholic Church? by Paul Gottfried The announcement that a majority of Spanish bishops are urging the pope to canonize Queen Isabella I has brought forth bellowing objections from the usual sources, namely, leftwing victimologists who are appalled that they have not been asked to endorse such decisions. A man identified as the secretary general of the Spanish Jewish Federation, Carlos Schorr, fumes that the church would consider for high honors someone who had engaged in "religious persecution," though he adds that not being a Catholic or being in charge of the church, the call is not...