Free Republic

This year, Russian schools started offering courses in the history of world religions, like Orthodox Christianity and Buddhism; a course on secularism is also offered, reflecting attitudes fostered during the era of the communist Soviet Union. In Chechnya the lines between history of religion and religious education are being blurred. Dzhabrailov, who says he is deputy director of his school's spiritual-moral department, says the programme is implemented in Chechnya with materials prepared by local religious leaders. Although officially not mandatory, students and teachers say all pupils are obliged to take the course on Islam, which focuses on the history of...

The Taliban and other insurgent leaders could stand as candidates in Afghanistan’s next presidential election, to be held in April 2014, the country’s top poll official said Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai, who is serving his second term as leader of the war-torn nation, is constitutionally barred from running in the election and no clear candidate to succeed him has yet emerged.

The Italian authorities have capitulated to hatred. Last week Italian education minister Francesco Profumo proposed that Islam be taught in public schools alongside the traditional teaching of Catholicism, while Bishop Mariano Crociata, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference, announced that the Vatican is in favor of building new mosques in Italy. Tthe European Bishops met with European Muslims in Turin to proclaim the need for the “progressive enculturation of Islam in Europe". And it began when thousands of Muslims marched in front of Milan’s Duomo to protest against Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, burning Israeli flags and chanting anti-Jewish...

Hundreds of supporters of Islamist MP Ali Wanis (2nd left) marched on Friday in the city of Banha to show support for him. (Photo courtesy of al-Youm al-Sabea) Egypt’s prosecutor summoned an Islamist MP for questioning after he was caught performing an "indecent act" with a teenage girl, an Egyptian daily reported late Friday citing an unnamed security official. “The normal legal procedure in this case is to send the prosecutor’s order to the People’s Assembly [Egypt’s lower house of parliament] on Saturday, so as to lift up the parliamentary immunity from the MP,” the source was quoted as...

Muslims in Russia are celebrating the Feast of Sacrifice, an Islamic holiday dedicated to the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). More than 150,000 prayers are taking place across Moscow at traditional prayer halls, and unconventional spots like golf courses. ­The main celebration of Eid al-Adha – known as Kurban Bayram in Russia – began at Moscow’s Cathedral Mosque at 8:30am local time. Despite the cold and rainy weather, worshipers gathered outside of mosques in the pre-dawn hours. Since there was limited space in the prayer halls, thousands poured out onto the streets as a mixture of rain and snow fell. Six sites...

Observers who follow such things know how important the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial has been in uncovering the spread of both violent and civilizational jihad in the USA. For those who may not be familiar with the Holy Land Foundation trial, here is a very brief synopsis: The Holy Land Foundation was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. It was headquartered in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. In 2007, federal prosecutors brought charges against the organization for funding Hamas and other Islamic terrorist organizations. The Holy Land Foundation’s assets were frozen by the European Union...

More of Obama's war on women, the fallout of Obama's pro-sharia foreign policy. Much thanks to Assad Elepty for sending this. EGYPT: Islamists & Salafist attempt to legalise Paedophilia National Council for Women (NCW) called on Egypt's Ministry of Interior and security officials in Egypt's northwestern governorate of Matrouh, Saturday, to take the required action to find Sara Abdel-Malik, a 13-year-old girl who was reportedly kidnapped in September. Abdel-Malik's father had filed a complaint to the the national body for women's issues, reporting that his teenage daughter was kidnapped after leaving school on 30 September. According to the father, the...

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on Saturday demanded a UN resolution condemning insults on monotheistic religions after a low-budget film produced in the US sparked deadly protests last month. "I demand a UN resolution that condemns any country or group that insults religions and prophets," he said during a meeting at his palace with religious figures and heads of hajj delegations in the Mina valley where pilgrims were performing final rituals of hajj. "It is our duty and that of every Muslim to protect Islam and defend the prophets." A low-budget film produced in the US, Innocence of Muslims, triggered...

While Monday's refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal by defendants in the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) prosecution effectively closes the case for the defense, it could open options for the government. In addition to the five defendants, HLF as an organization also was convicted in the case. As we reported in December 2008, there are potential enforcement ramifications stemming from the HLF case beyond the five convicted defendants. This is particularly true now the appellate process has been exhausted in favor of the prosecution. Since HLF has now been legally determined to...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Algeria for talks on fighting terrorism in Africa's Sahel region. The Obama administration is looking for Algerian cooperation against Muslim extremists in northern Mali. Secretary Clinton talked with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika about backing West African efforts against Islamic extremists in northern Mali.

he role of Islam in France was once again under the spotlight on Thursday after right-wing daily Le Figaro published the results of an opinion poll that suggested 43 percent of French people believe the religion is a “threat” to national identity. By FRANCE 24 (text) Six out of ten French people believe the influence of Islam in France is “too big” and 43 percent see the religion as a “threat” to national identity, according to the results of an opinion poll published on Thursday. The sensitive poll, which will likely cause ripples in a country home to Europe’s largest...

A young woman was stoned to death Thursday in Somalia after being convicted of engaging in out-of-marriage sex, reports say. Residents of Jamama town, 425km south of Mogadishu in Lower Juba region, said that militants loyal to Al-Shabaab carried out the stoning at the town’s main square in late afternoon. “Many residents were called to attend the execution of the punishment,” a resident who requested anonymity for own safety told Kulmiye, an independent broadcaster in Mogadishu. He added that Al-Shabaab officials in the town witnessed the stoning. “The woman admitted having out-of-marriage sex,” said an Islamist official who talked to...

Dersim massacre monument to open next month 24 October 2012 / ALI HAYDAR GÖZLÜ, TUNCELI A monument built to commemorate the victims of the Dersim massacre, which started in 1937, is set to open on Nov. 17 in Mazgirt in the eastern province of Tunceli. An alleged rebellion in Dersim, the old name for Tunceli, was led by Seyit Rıza, the chief of a Zaza tribe in the region. The government at the time, led by former Republican People's Party (CHP) leader İsmet İnönü, responded with air strikes and other violent methods of suppression, killing thousands of people. The massacre...

A drive to rekindle Roman Catholicism's missionary zeal is struggling to counter the challenge of Islam, a religion with an arguably more direct message and a greater institutional hold on its faithful. Bishops who have been meeting for three weeks to plot a way forward for a Church whose membership is dwindling in Europe are concerned by Islam's growth and worried about Christian minorities in Muslim countries, according to participants' comments released by the Vatican. Islam was barely mentioned in preparatory documents for the Synod on New Evangelisation, a meeting in Rome of 262 prelates from around the world been...

SNIPPET: "Indonesian anti-terror police, Densus 88 secure a terror suspect's house during a raid in Mojosongo, Solo in Central Java. Indonesian police have arrested 11 members of an Islamic group allegedly planning attacks on American diplomatic missions, a spokesman says." SNIPPET: "The group had planned to hit the US embassy and a US consulate, as well as a building near the Australian embassy in the capital Jakarta that houses the office of American mining giant Freeport-McMoran, police said. Police said they were from a new outfit called HASMI, the Sunni Movement for Indonesian Society, and explosives and a bomb-making manual...

Emerging evidence that both Ambassador Stephens and Secretary of State Clinton had requested increased security in Benghazi prior to the September 11 attack pushes blame upstream to the White House. Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney made an effort to expound upon the Administration’s thinking. “The determination not to beef up security for our embassy and consulate in Libya was a strategic decision,” Carney asserted. “I know that in hindsight it looks bad, but there were cogent reasons for the decision.” “The president felt that a heavy contingent of armed guards would send the wrong message to our Muslim friends in...

The police have arrested 11 suspected terrorists from the Harakah Sunni for Indonesian (Hasmi) group in raids in four provinces in Java on Friday night and Saturday. Officers from the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit conducted the raids in Jakarta, Bogor, West Java; Madiun, East Java; and Surakarta (Solo), Central Java. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Suhardi Alius told reporters at a press conference on Saturday that officers had confiscated several live bombs, high explosive materials, bomb parts and bomb-making manuals in the raids. “The targets of the group were allegedly American embassy offices in Surabaya and Jakarta; Plaza...

The hero of the 1971 India-Pakistan war over Bangladesh, 89-year old Lt. General (retd.) JFR Jacob's recalls that he joined the army to fight the Nazis. Lt General Jacob is the scion of an old Baghdadi Jewish family that immigrated to India some 200 years ago in order to escape persecution in their native lands. Despite the opposition of his father, in 1941, he enlisted in the British Army in order to fight the Nazis, whom he had heard were committing atrocities against the Jews. "No I would not have taken a career other than the army. After the 1945...

In a letter dated October 10, 2012, and received by its addressee four days later, the Marburg, Germany state prosecutor announced a suspension in the prosecution of medical historian Dr. Armin Geus. As discussed in my recent FrontPage Magazine article, Geus had run afoul of German authorities because of his book Die Krankheit des Propheten (The Sickness of the Prophet), in which Geus had argued that Islam's prophet Muhammad was not divinely led, but rather psychologically disturbed. Despite this victory for free speech with respect to Islam, briefs submitted by Geus' defense lawyers and a public declaration by a German...

BEIRUT -- A Greek Orthodox priest has been found slain after being kidnapped near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Syrian government and the Vatican news service reported Thursday.The body of the Rev. Fadi Jamil Haddad, pastor of St. Elias Church in Qatana, outside Damascus, was discovered  in the Jaramana district  of the capital, reported Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news service. The site was not far from the area where he was kidnapped by an “unidentified armed group" last Friday, the agency said.The Vatican agency quoted a colleague saying the priest had been “horribly tortured.” The official Syrian news service...