Free Republic

American Pastor Andrew Brunson has now been officially charged, facing what amounts to life in prison, as his trial begins in just weeks. Yesterday, in yet another turn of events, a Turkish court approved an indictment that the Turkish prosecutor apparently turned in last week, even after denying doing so. Since the indictment has been approved, the prosecution phase of the case will now begin. After almost a year and a half in prison, Pastor Andrew has his first court date set for April 16, 2018. The case file is now finally open, and by the end of the week,...

When one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general...

The rejection of asylum for about 100 Iranian Christian refugees by the Trump administration is raising eyebrows among advocates for the persecuted Church in Islamic nations. One advocacy group, Barnabas Aid, has gone so far as to call the rejected asylum applications “an insult to America’s Christian and humanitarian heritage and a betrayal by the Trump administration.” The Christian refugees, many of whom can recount horrific stories of persecution they have experienced at the hands of Iranian mullahs, now have less than a week to leave Austria, where they have been stranded for more than a year, unwanted by the...

The forty contemplative Little Sisters of Mary, the Mother of the Redemer, in Saint-Aignan-sur-Roe, France, are persecuted by their liberal bishop Thierry Scherrer of Laval, writes riposte-catholique.fr (February 27). The sisters run four old-peoples homes and formerly also served in the bishop’s house. Scherrer considers the sisters to be “too traditional”. He is specifically aggravated by the fact that they decided during their 2012 general chapter to return to the old habit. Because of a merger of the sisters’ nursing homes, Scherrer is now a member of the governing board of the civil association running them. No expert in...

..... Pakistan: Sharoon, a Christian boy who achieved academic excellence despite years of entrenched discrimination and bullying—and whose poverty-stricken parents had worked hard to put him in MC Model Boys Government High School—was beaten to death by Muslim pupils. On his first day at the school, the teacher slapped him across the face while blurting an anti-Christian slur. Having set a precedent, the rest of the classroom of Muslim boys continued harassing him throughout the same first day: they hurled out derogatory terms against Christians, denied him access to drinking water, and told him, "You're a Christian don't dare sit...

They sold their homes and possessions, quit their jobs, and left their country — they thought for good. The Iranians, mainly members of their nation’s Christian minorities, were bound for a new life in America after what should have been a brief sojourn in Austria for visa processing. But more than a year later, some 100 of them remain stranded in Vienna, their savings drained, their lives in limbo and the promise of America dead. Even as the Trump administration continued to pledge help to religious minorities in the Middle East, many of whom face persecution, the United States denied...

Thousands of Christians are being butchered in Nigeria and whole villages being destroyed. Why are we so unconcerned? Why don’t we care? I believe the biggest reason is that we simply don’t know about what’s happening there. Well, now you know. Here are the facts.For the last several months, one of my good friends, a Christian missionary serving the poorest of the poor in Nigeria, has been sending me emails with terrifying news. Fulani tribesmen raping and killing villagers. Children being used as Islamic suicide bombers, resulting in scores of casualties. One horrible report after another.Yet with each email I...

A BRIT who fought with Kurdish militia against Islamic State was cheered by supporters as he appeared in court charged with a terror offence. James Matthews arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court to face a charge of attending a place used for terrorist training, under the Terrorism Act 2006. The 43-year-old indicated a not guilty plea after the charge was put to him. Represented by Joel Bennathan QC, Matthews, wearing black jeans and a brown leather jacket, spoke only to confirm his identity. Matthews, from Dalston, east London, is due to next appear at the Old Bailey on March 1. As...

While the Vatican is turning a blind eye on the old, liberal and overaged religious communities which are falling into gay-ideology and heresy, it is at the same time ferociously persecuting young groups because they are Catholic and dynamic. According to the blog Anonimi della Croce, Francis' next victim will be the Priestly Fraternity Familia Christi. It was erected as a diocesan community by now retired Archbishop Luigi Negri of Ferrara, Italy whose resignation Francis quickly accepted after he reached the age of 75 in November 2016. The blog reports that the Vatican is about to put the group...

Father Bernardo Cervellera, the editor-in-chief of AsiaNews, has answerd Vatican Bishop Marcello Sanchez Sorondo who, its seems without being drunk, believes that the Communist Chinese regime is the best implementer of the Churches’ social doctrine. Cervellera accuses Sanchez of making “a laughing stock of the Church”. He writes, “Someone should tell Bishop Sanchez that since February 1 all underground Catholic Churches have been closed by the regime and at least 6 million Catholics have no meeting places. Further, local Communist authorities prohibit "minors under the age of 18" from entering churches, even official ones. Cervellera quotes a priest, "China has...

Donald Trump used the harrowing story of a North Korean defector to highlight the brutality of Kim Jong-un's regime during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Ji Seong-ho, who was among the guests of honour for the president's speech to Congress, was hailed as "an inspiration to us all" and received a standing ovation from the lawmakers. The president described how Mr Ji was a "starving boy in North Korea" 22 years ago when he tried to steal coal from a train to barter for food. "In the process, he passed out on the train tracks, exhausted...

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered,...

Is Google trying to censor Jesus Christ and Christians?

It is now well over a year since Vladimir Putin's Russia passed 'anti-missionary' laws and more than 180 cases have since been brought. Activities ranging from prayer meetings in homes, posting worship times on a religious website and praying in the presence of other citizens have been interpreted as 'missionary activity' with Christians making up the vast majority of the law's victims. One case is that of Donald Ossewaarde, an American Baptist preacher living in Oryol, who was expelled for hosting a church meeting in his house. Having lost appeals throughout the Russian judiciary system, Ossewaarde's case is now with...

An evangelical megachurch was destroyed by Chinese Communist authorities Tuesday in the country's northern Shanxi province, sparking fears among Christians that the persecution they suffer will soon get worse.China Aid said in an update Wednesday that Chinese military police detonated explosives inside Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, destroying the $2.6 million house of worship, which was owned by the Christians who worshiped there.A demolition crew broke apart the remaining pieces of the church after the explosion with diggers and jackhammers.Lampstand's head Pastor, Yang Rongli, had previously spent seven years in prison on charges of assembling a large crowd to disturb traffic...

Today, as you read this, my website Right Wing News is shutting down operations. It has been around since 2001, but became massive a few years ago because of Facebook. Remember the mainstream media liberals going out of their minds because the Russians reached almost 150 million people with their $100,000 Facebook ad buy? In July of 2015, in just a week, the Right Wing News Facebook page reached 133 million people. Because conservatives were sharing content they were interested in, little ol’ Right Wing News (well, I guess nearly 3.6 million Facebook likes isn’t so little) was driving the...

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in...

The Federalist has some takeaways from James Damore’s civil suit against Google, which he accuses of discriminating against white male conservatives. You gotta see this stuff to believe the corporate culture there. Excerpts: In a section claiming Google tries to “stifle” conservative parenting styles, the suit reads: “Google furnishes a large number of internal mailing lists catering to employees with alternative lifestyles, including furries, polygamy, transgenderism, and plurality, for the purpose of discussing sexual topics. The only lifestyle that seems to not be openly discussed on Google’s internal forums is traditional heterosexual monogamy.”A footnote next to the word “plurality” adds:...

One in 12 Christians around the world are persecuted for their faith and are the target of violent attacks including rape, a shocking report has found. According to a study by Open Doors USA, an organization that studies Christian persecution, 215 million Christians live in areas with high levels of persecution worldwide. The report also goes on to state that over 3,000 Christians were killed and nearly 800 churches were damaged in the last year. 'The most significant findings were that Christian women are among the most violated in the world, in maybe a way that we haven't seen before,'...

Since my last column on academic hypocrisy several readers have written to express the view that intolerance toward conservative Christians is the only form of intolerance that academics are willing to tolerate. Such a view seems reasonable at first glance. Upon further reflection it misses the mark. Tolerance presupposes a) a moral judgment against something and b) the choice to permit it. Hence, my readers’ views are overly charitable. In order to elaborate, I ask my readers to imagine the following thought experiment:The Dean of Journalism at a large public university refuses to sponsor a speaker as a part of...