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A Saudi court has ruled in favor of the public display of a crucifix, despite a Kingdom-wide ban on Christian symbols. The only proviso is that a beheaded human body has to be attached to it: RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi court of cassation upheld a ruling to behead and crucify a 22-year-old man convicted of raping five children and leaving one of them to die in the desert, newspapers reported on Tuesday. The convict was arrested earlier this year after a seven-year old boy helped police in their investigation. The child left in the desert after the rape was...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue speaks to the way Catholics and Muslims are treated in the upcoming film, “2012”:When we got word recently that the movie “2012” depicts the Vatican being blown up, along with the famous statue from Rio, Christ the Redeemer, we were unmoved. Why? Because this occurs during the end of the world in a massive destruction. This kind of sensationalism, we reasoned, is standard fare for director Roland Emmerich: he is the guru of the “blow ‘em up” genre of movies. But now we’ve learned that while Catholics get theirs, Muslims are spared. Out of fear,...

Folks, Sandro Magister, the world-renowned vaticanista, hosted in his website an exchange between Muslim theologian Aref Ali Nayed and the Catholic Islamologist Michel Cuypers which I think you should read. The subject of the exchange is one that I’ve covered repeatedly in these humble folios, having to do with the need for a higher criticism of the Koran in order to know, expose, and study its literary genres, its historical context, the oral traditions that converged in its formation, and the phases in its redaction that gave us the text as we read it today. Of course, such an...

Sekou Jackson is used to the questions: Why does he need to leave a work meeting to pray? Don't black Muslims convert to Islam in jail? Why would you even want to be Muslim? "It's kind of a double whammy to be African-American and Muslim," said Mr. Jackson, who studies the Navy at the National Academy of Science in Washington. "You're going to be judged." Mr. Jackson's struggle may have gotten harder when the FBI on Wednesday raided a Detroit-area warehouse used by a Muslim group. The FBI said the group's leader preached hate against the government, trafficked in stolen...

According to the actions of Franklin County Juvenile Magistrate Mary Goodrich, and the Franklin County Children's Services, there isn't. At least not in their treatment of Rifqa Bary.After Rifqa Bary was returned to Ohio per a Florida Judge's order, Mary Goodrich acted on a request from the Franklin County Children's Services to restrict and supervise Rifqa's use of her cell phone and internet.This amounts to trampling on her Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Expression. Constitutional rights that even "illegal aliens" are acknowledged to have.Their reasons for doing so are based on a false narrative that Jim Zorn, a spokesman for the Franklin...

You tube video of Christians trying to ask Muslims questions at Arab Festival in Dearborn, MI. Police side with the Muslims.

  Does Islam need a Reformation? Not unless you think it would benefit from additional dollops of Puritanism; further encouragement to smash altars, stained glass, and other forms of "idolatry"; prodding to ban riotous celebrations like Christmas and Easter; and support for fundamentalist Islamic schools that insist on sola Korana and sola Sunnah. Indeed, it would seem that Islam has already had its reformers. Railing against the corruption of the West (let's call it "Rome" for short) have been such modern Islamic Luthers as the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the cave-dwelling Osama bin Laden, the voice of young Islam --...

A Coptic Christian man was reportedly arrested, abused and forced to pay a large sum of money for rescuing his 20-year-old daughter from her Muslim husband, who was said to be holding her against her will in Alexandria, Egypt. Gamal Labib Hanna, along with a few friends, on Oct. 1 went to the apartment where his daughter was being held, according to sources of Compass Direct News. His daughter, Myrna Gamal Hanna, had called her family on Sept. 30 and asked them to save her from her husband. Her husband, Mohamad Osama Hefnawy, reportedly had attacked the Coptic men with...

ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 9, 2009 ELCA and ELCJHL Bishops Deepen Conversations among Christians and Muslims WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, were among 1,000 people who attended the fourth major Muslim-Christian dialogue conference here Oct. 7-8. "It has been both the challenge and the hope for this conference that common words would lead to common deeds," said Hanson. "We have heard stories of places where particular Muslims and Christians are deepening their understanding of...

  Finally, a leader has spoken about the real, essential differences in the struggle between the West and Islam, as it emanates from a contest within Islam itself over the most important things. With startling -- indeed alarming -- clarity, Pope Benedict XVI told his audience in Regensburg, Germany, in a 2006 lecture, that not only is violence in spreading faith unreasonable and therefore against God, but that a conception of God without reason, or above reason, leads to that very violence. To ensure everyone knew what he was talking about, the pope quoted from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor,...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German publisher said Tuesday it had canceled the printing of a murder mystery about an honor killing because it contained passages insulting Islam and may have prompted Islamist retaliation. Droste publishers dropped the book by author Gabriele Brinkmann entitled "To Whom Honor is Due" after she refused to change several passages, including one where a fictional character is portrayed making abusive remarks about the Koran. "After the Mohammad cartoons, one knows that one can't publish sentences or drawings that defame Islam without expecting a security risk," said Felix Droste, head of Droste publishers. In 2006, violent...

The Koran, the holy book of Muslims, and Hadith (fatwas of the prophet Muhammad) contain numerous passages that are incompatible with the UN Declaration of Human Rights to which, by the way, all Muslim states have officially subscribed. One might argue that the Bible and the Old Testament of both Christians and Jews also contain atrocious passages that go against human rights. (For further information, click here.) However, while Christians and Jews ignore these atrocious passages and look at them in a historical context, Muslim believers, especially radical Muslims, do not. They are convinced that both the Koran and Hadith...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A conference call by an Ohio teenager, who ran away to Orlando after she says her father threatened to kill her over her religious conversion, has surfaced online, and it has the Department of Children and Families asking questions. Nine minutes of the 17-minute call was posted to YouTube. In the call, Rifqa Bary can be heard praying – at times becoming unintelligible. The call begins with the teenager telling her story of converting to Christianity and fleeing from Ohio to Central Florida in July to escape her Muslim parents, saying her father made threats on her...

"In an unprecedented find, a group of Egyptian researchers and archeologists has discovered a cache of coins from the time of the Pharaohs. Its importance lies in the fact that it provides decisive scientific evidence disproving the claim by some historians that the ancient Egyptians were unfamiliar with coins and conducted their trade through barter. "The researchers discovered the coins when they sifted through thousands of small archeological artifacts stored in [the vaults of] the Museum of Egypt. [Initially] they took them for charms, but a thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted...

Five ex-Muslims who founded a group called Former Muslims United put out a public appeal Thursday to the U.S. government for protection, saying the lives of thousands of "apostates from Islam" are in peril. Speaking at Capitol Hill press conference, the Granada Hills, Calif., group cited the case of Fathima Rifqa Bary, a 17-year-old from Ohio who converted to Christianity four years ago. She fled to Florida this past summer in fears that her parents would murder her for "honor" reasons. Her father, the girl said in court filing, had already threatened to kill her. Fathima first stayed with a...

This is SO scary…what is our country coming to??? Why aren’t Christians allowed to do the same? Not only this event........but, China is to have a very large event on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept 20th........ WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR COUNTRY???????????? Let's any of us try to have a Jewish or Christian gathering in the same place; remember Obama did not participate in the National Day of Prayer. Let’s see what he does for this event! And the ACLU gets their panties in a bunch over a Nativity scene in front of City Hall....

A Florida judge declined today to decide whether a 17-year-old girl should be sent home to her Muslim parents in Ohio or allowed to stay in Florida with a couple of Christian pastors. Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson instead urged the lawyers, the girl, her parents and the pastors to settle the custody issue in mediation. In the meantime, Fathima Rifqa Bary was ordered to remain under the jurisdiction of Florida's Department of Children and Families. The teenager, who goes by the name of Rifqa, has told Florida authorities that she fled her home in July because she had secretly converted...

A great explosion of purity is about to come , But "not" as before(as Katrina) ,something straight from my kingdom , The heavenlies are about to applaud , I AM The Lord behold I alone am God ! Yet for my children of my rod and staff , They shall rest in my bossom of Zion and laugh , For the Joy of The Lord is their strength , And these are my children of victiory that have gone the full length , Obedience to me has become their rod , My staff is their com(fort) for I AM their...

A great explosion is about to come , Destroying things not of my kingdom , Prophecies told about to unfold , Things new wiping out the old , The storehouses of God's lightning released , Disturbing things now resting in peace , Ancient walls suddenly cut down , Nothing left but burnt glass on the ground , As paper mache burnt and blown away , A prophecy of the past happening in one day , A blink of the eye and nothing left to see , Yet all the nations witnessing God's majesty , A turning point in a war...

Ok I have a question... What has Islam ever done to benefit Humankind?

A young Christian girl who ran away from her Muslim parents in Ohio when her father allegedly threatened her life will be allowed to stay with her foster family in Florida and keep her lawyer for now, a judge ruled today. As WND reported, Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, an honor student and cheerleader, was raised in a Muslim family in Columbus, Ohio. She became a Christian four years ago as a result of her interactions with children at school. But Bary, a native of Sri Lanka, hitchhiked to a bus station and ran away from home July 19 because she...

Ancient faith of their Middle East fathers Guardian Weekly reader Catherine Ann Lombard writes on a visit to Mor Ephrem, the Syrian Orthodox Monastery at the far eastern border of the Netherlands and meets 45 boys who are learning to read and chant in kthobonoyo, the litur gical language that only about 300 people in the world speak today Tuesday September 1st 2009 The morning is hot and sticky, but I have promised Dayrayto Shmuni to help in the monastery kitchen and put on my long-sleeved T-shirt. How the nun manages during the summer months in her long black habit...

At least nine Christians were burned alive in Pakistan Saturday, according to Pakistan Christian Post, and the pogroms saw young Christians girls raped by Punjabi Muslim zealots and their houses looted before being torched. The Christians are labeled as the dirty ones or bhangees in Pakistan and Muslims don't eat in the same plate with them. Forced conversions of Christians are routine and a black lack law called blasphemy law is used to inflict extreme miseries on Christians in Pakistan.

SPRING HILL, FL -- While showing off her JROTC uniform, 16-year-old Heather Lawrence told us joining the Army is her next big goal, to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather. "Our flag represents everything that our country is," she said. The teen says an issue over the American flag is why she was written up and handed a five-day suspension from Springstead High School this week for criticizing a Muslim student. Heather says the other girl was sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance.

UPDATE: On Aug. 8, Marzieh and Maryam were summoned to an Iranian court and ordered to deny their faith verbally and in a written statement, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Marzieh and Maryam were pressured to recant their faith after the chief interrogator recommended they be charged with apostasy. Praise God, they stood firm and replied, “We love Jesus. We will not deny our faith.” VOM contacts reported the deputy prosecutor, Mr. Haddad, aggressively questioned the women during the court proceedings. Haddad asked them if they regretted becoming Christians. They replied they had no regrets. When Maryam...

Rifqa Bary, the young woman who fled Ohio fearing for her life, after converting from Islam to Christianity, told of her Muslim father's words: "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me. I will kill you." "I will kill you"- the same words spoken to Mohammed Hijazi by his Muslim father in 2008. Watch this important video. "From the Gaza strip to neighboring Egypt, his father is promising to kill him for becoming a believer." "Now he's on the run with his wife and little baby." "Mohammed Hijazi's father always taught him to hate Christians....

Top trumps appears to have suddenly become the in thing in the world of religion. It used to be ferraris and lamborghinis. Now a Christian version of Top Trumps, called Testament Trumps, has been released, apparently to help children learn more about biblical characters. And not to be outdone, the humanists have also launched their own version of Top Trumps, called God Trumps. A pack has been sent to me from the New Humanist magazine, and it’s brilliantly satirical, as you’d expect. With the caricatures by the Guardian’s excellent cartoonist, Martin Rowson, it pitches Catholics against Anglicans and pagans against...

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The Russian Islamic University, inaugurated in Grozny, on August 21 is called Kunta-Haji, in honor the Sufi mystic who in the mid nineteenth century preached non-violence in Chechnya. The ceremony was opened by a video message in which Vladimir Putin, the Russian premier said: "There are three million Muslims in our country and they all consider Russia as their home, their mother country and we welcome the recovery Islamic traditions". The words of the Prime Minister in Moscow echoed those of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's president, who announced a future for the country without the influence...

Protests rise as Turkish renovation work turns church into mosque Deutsche Presse-Agentur Aug 25, 2009, 10:22 GMT Istanbul - Restoration work that would result in an historic Greek Orthodox church being recognized as a mosque has caused uproar in Turkey, reported the daily Milliyet newspaper on Tuesday. At issue is the 178-year-old St Dimitrios church in the northern Turkish village of Silivri. The village was once a Greek settlement but, after the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, ethnic Greek residents had to leave in a forced resettlement that swapped 1.5 million ethnic Greeks from Turkey for 600,000 ethnic Turks living in...

Will Heaven is a writer who specialises in politics and religion Freedom is an illusion for many Muslim women - Britain is letting them down By Will Heaven UK Last updated: August 22nd, 2009 A Malaysian woman has been sentenced to caning for drinking beer, an offence according to Sharia law. Does that statement shock you? I suspect not. How about this one: she has now requested that Amnesty International stop asking the Malaysian authorities not to cane her, saying she is ready to face the penalty for her “offence”. Part of the problem with Western attitudes towards Muslim women...

"Obama, Son of Islam" rising over the American flag, the greatest symbol of The West?

The Monthly » December 2006 - January 2007, No. 19 » The Nation Reviewed | Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 Contra Mundum Kate Holden A paean in an arcane language derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek; a ceremonial procession of men in Byzantine beards and robes; a supper table laid with platters of pizza and fried rice; a sermon aided by PowerPoint slides above a Madonna icon outlined in blue sequins; the spiritual wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Welcome to a Friday night Coptic service in a northern Melbourne suburb. There is something splendidly venerable about an institution such as...

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...

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...

The Muslim girl that converted to Christianity is in Florida. Turned out her daddy threatened to kill her and she fled here. link to article

Interview by Jeremy Lott | July 2009 issue Christopher Caldwell is a political writer whose work has appeared in, among other publications, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The American Spectator. He writes a weekly column for the Financial Times and serves as a senior editor for The Weekly Standard.CWR interviewed Caldwell in May about his first book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe (Doubleday). A correspondent for the New York Times called Reflections “a dense and important book about whether Europe’s identity…can absorb or survive a fast growing Muslim population.”CWR: How long did it take you to write this book?Christopher...

Hello Brothers and Sisters! It is on my heart to witness to the lost, among whom are the Muslims I encounter. I have been reading, and am almost done with Sharing Your Faith With a Muslim, and the thrust of it seems to be ... 1) pointing out the reliability of the Bible, given the Koran never speaks of it's corruption at all, contrary to what Muslims currently say about it. 2) cornering a Muslim into the divinity of Christ using the Koran I am only up to Chapter 10. If anyone else has finished it, I'd appreciate a better...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI deplored the killing of eight Christians in Pakistan by a Muslim mob and urged the minority Christian community not to be deterred by the attack. The Christians, including four women and a child, were either shot or burned alive Aug. 1 when a crowd attacked the eastern Pakistani town of Gojra, setting fire to dozens of Christian homes. Authorities said tensions were running high in the area, fueled by a false rumor that a Quran, the sacred book of Islam, had been desecrated. A telegram sent in the pope's name said the pontiff...

<p>It's a tradition that's over 700 years old and it involves dangling and then dropping infants from the roof of a mosque.</p> <p>On Thursday hundreds of babies under the age of two were shaken in the air before being dropped off the roof of the Baba Umer Durga, a Muslim shrine, in western India. The act is part of an ancient ritual that is believed to ensure good health for the children and prosperity for their families.</p>

In a move welcomed by the Orthodox Church, Russia is introducing religion classes in its schools, but Catholicism is not one of the four creeds to be taught. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill praised the initiative announced Tuesday by President Dimitri Medvedev, which programs a choice of classes on Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism or Judaism, or on a combination of these four creeds, or on secular ethics. Medvedev explained that children under 10 in 12,000 schools of Russia's 18 regions would receive these classes. Patriarch Kirill praised the proposal: "All of the worries that society expressed will be taken care of...

You must look at what is Islamic science...

A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for decades. Now, it is coming out of the shadows and openly hosting a July 19 conference entitled, "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam," at a posh Hilton hotel in a suburb...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, Iraq, had just finished celebrating Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and was talking to parishioners in the courtyard. Moments later, while he was in his office, a bomb exploded on the road that runs alongside the church. The July 12 bomb blast was one of six that targeted Christian churches in Baghdad July 11-12; another church was bombed in the northern city of Mosul July 13. Contrasting the Mass with the mayhem that ensued, Bishop Warduni told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview, "We...

Eight years after 9/11, Obama apparently justified Muslim expectations of apologies even when they are in the wrong, and abandoned logic when he declared that Islam has "demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities ofreligious tolerance and racial equality."

Special Note: In last week’s column, I wrote about the seemingly inexplicable events that are unfolding throughout the world. How do we understand the demonization of Israel, the new escalation of anti-Semitism, and the preponderance of Islamic terrorists throughout the world? Whenever we encounter challenges, be they major or minor, general or personal, it is always best to consult the Torah. But, you might ask, where are we to look? To which page should we turn? It is always best to focus on the first place the subject is mentioned, for the first is always definitive. So if we are...

I must give you my highest commendations for WORLD NET DAILY, Lighthouse Trails (and Jan Markell's, and Ken Silva's) rightful scathing sharp rebuke of Rick Warren! Shout it from the rooftops!!! Here is my response to this abomination committed by Rick Warren: I found it extremely ironic that Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Churches enforce removal of Bible studies, removal of good Bible teachers from churches, Christian purpose-driven pastors (like a top Rick Warren lieutenant) calling the police to remove a Christian from public property in front of his church because he picketed against the church conducting purpose driven teachings and...

On July 5 the Washington Times online reported that Pastor Rick Warren told his Islamic audience, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA,) that he envisions "a coalition of faith." Whether Pastor Warren knows this or not, this is just another term for the coming one-world religion outlined in Revelation 13. It is further outlined in Revelation 17. I have not taken on the issue of Rick Warren all that often, but after reading what the Washington Times has to say about his message to a group of spiritually lost Muslims, I feel I must address this in an open...

An Open Letter to Pastor Rick Warren By Jan Markell On July 5 the Washington Times online reported that Pastor Rick Warren told his Islamic audience, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA,) that he envisions "a coalition of faith." Whether Pastor Warren knows this or not, this is just another term for the coming one-world religion outlined in Revelation 13. It is further outlined in Revelation 17. I have not taken on the issue of Rick Warren all that often, but after reading what the Washington Times has to say about his message to a group of spiritually lost...