Free Republic

Hungary’s last communist leader János Kádár met a priest at his own request shortly before he died, former Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Németh revealed on Tuesday, two decades after Kadar’s death. “Aunt Mariska (Kádár’s wife) called me: ‘My husband wants a priest’ she said,” Németh, who headed the country’s last Communist-era government in 1988-1990, told Reuters. “I still remember the Catholic priest whom I found, he was a short man called Bíró, I think,” he added. “I don’t know whether Kádár atoned to him or what he told him, you can’t ask a priest about such things. There is no...

Join Tallulah and Mamacooks as we dig deep into God's Word to discover the grace delivered to us through faith in Jesus Christ.Tonight... We will join Abram in Genesis 14 as he wanders following God's leadOur Colossian's study will examine 2:1-7, "...having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him..."Our study of the names of God in Lord I want to Know You continues with Jehovah-Mekoddishkem, The Lord Sanctifies You Our new day and time is Wednesday at 10 pm EST. Please join in tonight or, stream or download the archived podcast, for later listening.Chat is open...

Prompted by a billboard calling Christmas a myth, the Catholic League erected a pro-Jesus billboard Tuesday. MANHATTAN — The Catholic League, upset over an anti-Christmas billboard at the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, threw a "counterpunch" at atheists Tuesday with a billboard of their own on the New York side of the tunnel.The new 26-by-24-foot billboard at Dyer Avenue and West 31st Street features a depiction of Joseph and Mary looking adoringly at baby Jesus, with the message: "You know it's real. This season, celebrate Jesus. Merry Christmas from the Catholic League," according to the Catholic League's website....

The authenticity Shroud of Turin has been the most debated of Christian relics in history. Many believe this is the burial shroud of Jesus. Some dismiss it out of hand because of their religious or philosophical beliefs about God. Some Protestants are wary of they perceive as a “Catholic” relic. But what if it is real? What if it is an authentic archaeological piece?

The Sign of Jonah for Islam Muslims seem to be having trouble understanding the "Sign of Jonah." Because Islamworld and my webpage currently trade off for Google's number 1 slot on the subject, I have been overwhelmed with Muslim claims that the sign disproves Jesus, so please allow me to answer with Scriptures. Jesus said: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three...

I have always been fascinated with psychology. Psychology was my favorite subject in high school, and was the class that I looked forward to going to most. I saw some tremendous value in the class, but I saw even more than what I learned in school when I realized its root meaning. At face value this may sound confusing, but it won’t be once it’s properly explained. I always knew psychology to be the study of the mind. That’s how it was explained in school. What was even more interesting and so definitive was the fact that psychology is really...

One of the first things that your GetReligionistas do when preparing a post in our WordPress software is to head over to the “Categories” function box and click all of the relevant choices for how we want this item stored in our archives. It’s a far from perfect process that keeps raising questions. For example, “Are Pentecostals really evangelicals?” Or how about, “OK, I know that Jordan is in the Middle East. But how about Iraq and Iran? How close is close enough? Do I really need to create ANOTHER new category?” In the world of Christianity, there are some...

...If morals are ingrained in us from birth, as Christianity asserts, why do different religions promote different morals?... The bottom line is whether in a god-free universe ruled by blind forces and inspired by survival of the fittest evolution all “morality” is merely an organism’s accidentally (in a manner of speaking) benefiting others (the in-group) in “expectation” that the others will benefit the individual organism—this is why, on this view, morality is considered to be, in reality, selfishness (this was the point argued in a debate between an atheist and a Christian).

For those of you who have not been following the dialogue Chris Redford and I have been having, this is the 2nd part of a series of answers Chris, an atheist, gave to questions about his beliefs. He chose to answer as he would have answered when he was a youth attending an Assembly of God church and as an atheist. The difficulty with this Sisyphean approach is the assumption that he can answer and "defend" a position he no longer holds. It is one thing to tell somebody what you believed, it is a whole other thing to...

In his 2009 year-end address to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict reflected on the role of the ‘Court of the Gentiles’ at the temple in Jerusalem: it was “a free space for the Gentiles who wished to pray there to the one God, even if they could not take part in the mystery for whose service the inner part of the Temple was reserved.” He added: I think that today too the Church should open a sort of "Court of the Gentiles" in which people might in some way latch on to God, without knowing him and before gaining access...

One in four Americans said they couldn't think of a single positive societal contribution made by Christians in recent years, according to a nationwide survey released Monday. Also, one in 10 adults said they couldn't think of a recent positive contribution because Christians hadn't made one, the Barna Group reported. On the positive side, almost one in five mentioned how U.S. Christians help poor and underprivileged people. Those under the age of 25 were most likely to reference such service. Among other findings, researchers noted that Evangelical Christians over age 25 and those who said they are "mostly conservative" on...

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is part of a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that will attend the opening ceremony for a new seminary in Havana, Cuba, in a few days. The seminary is the first to open in Cuba in more than 50 years, according to a Catholic News Agency report. The trip to the seminary, which is actually about 30 miles from Cuba’s capital city, will be November 3 to November 6. The U.S. group also is expected to visit several parishes in Havana.

…Josh Timonen was one of a small coterie of young proteges around Richard Dawkins, sharing his boss's zealous atheism. But now he and the evolutionary theorist have fallen out spectacularly… Dawkins…had a lot of respect and affection for Josh Timonen in the past and is very disappointed that it has come to a point where their relationship has severed on this basis….the foundation was "heartbroken"… But why the heartbreak? Richard Dawkins claims an employee of his Foundation for Reason and Science embezzled $375,000 from the online store he ran for Dawkins' charity, by claiming it made only $30,000 in 3...

Full story posted in parts: Part 1Part 2Part 3

...That “Hitchens delights too much…” is indeed true, which is why he refers to himself as an “anti-theist.” The greatest issue with the death bed conversion is that a death bed is not guaranteed. Whoever said that you will rest upon a death bed and reflect upon your life, etc.? One car wreck or one fallen piano could spell your instant demise. Daniel Dennett suffered a heart attack and he took pleasure in praising man and science for his physical salvation stating, “Thank goodness I’m alive.” Richard Dawkins stated that he is going to record his death bed experience so...

As an aside to their article Atheism Appears to be Significantly Less Appealing to Women; Conservapedia notes that atheism is primarily a young white male phenomenon: More evidence that atheists quite often tend to be white, unmarried, socially challenged nerds! An atheists' meeting was organized in the United States concerning the future direction of the atheist movement and 370 people attended. The New York Times described the attendees as "The largely white and male crowd — imagine a Star Trek convention, but older..."1 For more information, please see Atheism appears to be significantly less appealing to women…Survey data and website...

Sam Harris seeks to instruct humanity with regards to morality. Is it moral, one may ask, to puff up your book sales? Well, according to Sam Harris the answer is “Yes,” or is it “No,” or perhaps a definite “Maybe.”... This is all in keeping with his media manipulation savviness—whereby he and his fellow New Atheists have become instant celebrities...

If you believe any of the hogwash about the irrelevance of the religious right to this election, take a look at the numerous right-wing evangelical websites promoting the 40/40 Prayer Vigil, which began in September with a prayer for Christian voter registration and ends--you guessed it--just before election day, Nov. 2. The 40/40 stands for the forty days and forty nights that Jesus supposedly spent wandering in the desert before finally saying no to Satan's temptations. I'm sure that you won't have any trouble figuring out which political party the Southern Baptist Convention--America's largest religious denomination and one of the...

...typical Sam Harris; get you feeling something real so that any logic that attempts to overturn his argument seems oh so very abstract and ethereal. What is an idea compared to an emotion? One is tangible the other is not. How do you argue against emotion? Keep this in mind as it is a favorite New Atheist tactic. Indeed, within paragraphs he will mention “raping children,” “a 9-year-old girl raped by her stepfather”... This is part of why atheistic ethics or morals are an infinite regress of assertions: when they assert that the premise is human flourishing you can ask...

The time has come for the Vatican to open its doors and divulge its secrets.  Hidden inside are ancient manuscripts, knowledge of extraterrestrial activity, and perhaps some knowledge of God’s mysteries known only to a few. The Vatican is falling apart.  It has spent decades covering up secrets—and some not so secret immoralities within the church.  It is no surprise that these crimes, especially those against children are coming to light, (1) NOW, during End Times.Desmond Tutu recently said, “As human beings we have the most extraordinary capacity for evil. We can perpetrate some of the most horrendous atrocities. That...