Free Republic

Richard Gallagher is a board-certified psychiatrist and a professor of clinical psychiatry at New York Medical College. He is at work on a book about demonic possession in the United States. In the late 1980s, I was introduced to a self-styled Satanic high priestess. She called herself a witch and dressed the part, with flowing dark clothes and black eye shadow around to her temples. In our many discussions, she acknowledged worshipping Satan as his “queen.” I’m a man of science and a lover of history; after studying the classics at Princeton, I trained in psychiatry at Yale and in...

July 13 **The Kingdoms of Our Lord** “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” REVELATION 11:15 God WILL establish an Irresistible Kingdom on the earth. This Kingdom does not rise up from the earth, but it comes down from heaven. This Kingdom will break to pieces and consume all the other kingdoms. And this Kingdom will increase from a single Stone into a great mountain that fills the entire earth (Daniel 2:35). It is an Irresistible Kingdom! Not only can this Kingdom not be...

The Vatican newspaper has published a front-page reflection on conversions to Islam. Summarizing a recent book by journalist Virginie Riva examining the conversions of 11 French women, historian Lucetta Scaraffia writes that the women were between the ages of 25 and 35, university educated, not attracted by terrorism, and either agnostic or Catholic. These women were drawn to Islam, Scaraffia said, through their friendship with Muslim students who witnessed to their religion, delighted in studying the Quran, and did not downplay Islam’s requirements regarding prayer and the role of the sexes. Accepting invitations to Ramadan meals, these women, “very often”...

Many commentators tried to implicate Christians in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando. But might it not be true that Western secularists have more in common with Isis than Christians?The two realities of Islamic extremism and Western consumerism are like shadowy doppelgangers showing up each otherÂ’s bankruptcy. Consider:I. ISIS and secularists have both created aggressive sexual playgrounds for men.At first glance, the two foesÂ’ attitudes toward sex look utterly different. In the West, the Sexual Revolution strains against any restriction on sexual expression. That loose attitude toward sexuality is one of the signs of decadence in the...

Jesus Christ, the Man Jesus Christ may be the most famous man who ever lived. But how do we know he did? Most theological historians, Christian and non-Christian alike, believe that Jesus really did walk the Earth. They draw that conclusion from textual evidence in the Bible, however, rather than from the odd assortment of relics parading as physical evidence in churches all over Europe.That's because, from fragments of text written on bits of parchment to overly abundant chips of wood allegedly salvaged from his crucifix, none of the physical evidence of Jesus' life and death hold up to scientific...

This weekend on the Mall in Washington, a bunch of atheists — tens of thousands, including me -- will get together just to be counted as not having a personal god. Why? Whether the pollsters bemoan it or celebrate it, the percentage of Americans who are losing their religion is rising. And in a presidential election year, candidates need to take note. Two of those remaining, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, still give lip service to being religious -- even if many on either side of religion don't believe them or want to claim them. (Why would this be the...

On Wednesday night, former House Speaker John Boehner bluntly called GOP candidate Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh.” When asked for his opinion about the Texas senator, Boehner said, “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.” It turns out that the Satanic Temple agrees with Boehner’s sentiments — but they said there’s no way Cruz is the living incarnate of Satan. When asked by the Friendly Atheist, Satanic Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves bashed Cruz.

In a twist that would have been unthinkable five decades ago, a man in Russia could go to jail for blogging that God does not exist.Ironically, Viktor Krasnov’s day in court was to be Tuesday, which was the 55th anniversary of the historic space flight of Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev later said in a speech that Gargarin found no evidence of God while orbiting Earth.Much has changed since 1961, but the change that concerns religious freedom advocates was prompted by a protest the feminist punk rock band known as Pussy Riot staged in a Russian Orthodox church four years ago. The group went...

A momentary chirp rocked the scientific world last week when a team of researchers announced they had detected signals from gravitational waves produced when two black holes, with masses 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, collided over a billion light years away. Since then, scientists have been giddy over the news. “This detection is the beginning of a new era: The field of gravitational wave astronomy is now a reality,” Gabriela González, a Louisiana State University physics and astronomy professor, said in a statement. But why is this discovery such a big deal?

We are at the dawn of a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to our life...Perhaps the best name for this new segment of historical experience is the Interspiritual Age." Wayne Teasdale, "The Mystic Heart" "At the outbreak of the modern era, the (gnostic) system of inverse biblical exegesis was once again activated." Ioan Couliano, "The Tree of Gnosis" The Gnostic system of inverse exegesis begins with evolution, which has persuaded people, "...to think of everything in nature as the fruit of a gradual growth rather than an original creation." Such inverse thinking means it is now impossible for educated...

Everyday Saints and Other Stories recounts how a student and his friends turned to religionIn my Catholic Books of the Year blog last week I forgot to mention Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea's long interview in the form of a book: God or Nothing, published by Ignatius. If any reader feels the Church has wandered off course in recent decades, this is the book to read: wise, authoritative, confidently Catholic. As we are now in the Year of Mercy, it is worth pointing out that, for Cardinal Sarah, the mercy of God cannot be separated from conversion; to receive divine...

More than 25 prominent rabbis from Israel and abroad recently issued a statement calling for a renewed look at Jesus, Christians and the New Testament faith. Quoting from their own sages, these outstanding Orthodox rabbis are not ashamed to exalt the name of Jesus, welcoming the carpenter from Nazareth back into the Jewish fold.

Song Lyrics: Pretty Presents, Under the Christmas tree, Busy Buyers, Belated in their shopping spree, Laughing Children, Awaiting the day with glee. When he comes, Will he find any vacancy? Luminous Lights, On every house and evergreen, The chill of nature, Painting a wintry scene, Santa's coming, With his whole reindeer team, Will hearts be blind, To who Mary and Joseph bring? There's a knock knock knocking this Christmas. Who is it at the door? Is it a pound pound pounding of wishes? A day later left on the floor. Christmas parties, With food and wine galore, Christmas cookies. Who...

Atheism is cool. At least, that's the popular perception of a worldview that's enjoyed a rebrand and a renaissance in the last couple of decades. Authors like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have issued forceful public challenges to the claims of the major faiths and the rights they've traditionally been granted, while well-respected and high-profile public figures have lent vocal support to their ideas. When Stephen Fry outlined an atheist (or even anti-theist) position on an Irish talk show, the interview went viral in hours, while comedian Ricky Gervais frequently uses his substantial platform to attack and undermine religion in...

The Freedom from Religion Foundation, America's largest association of atheists and agnostics, began a campaign Monday to rid all hotel rooms of Bibles distributed by The Gideons International and replaced with copies of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." The Gideons International is well known worldwide for their work with hotels but according to their website, they predominantly share Scriptures in schools and colleges, prisons and jails, hospitals, and medical offices. The group is also an association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through sharing personally and by providing Bibles...

Let's think about this. My 15-year-old son and I were pulling out of his large public high school when we spotted a bumper sticker on the back of a student's vehicle: Apparently, this is a popular saying among "free-thinkers" (atheists, agnostics, secularists), and although "religious people are blind followers" is a standard platitude, I had not seen this particular incarnation before.  I started to laugh, but it was my son who nailed it: "Wow, that's so ridiculous, because I'm sure she goes along with whatever belief is popular right now." Bam! Good thinking, son! I would bet the farm that...

Why is the term "self-help" so often used in a derogatory manner in mainstream media? Writing in the opinion journal Aeon, journalist and social critic Elizabeth Svoboda recently sized up today’s self-help field and concluded that some cognitively based self-help books are effective – and well worth defending -- whereas New Age and positive-thinking books are the product of "woo-peddlers" who cheapen the field. I stand with the "woo peddlers." Svoboda's piece demonstrates two assumptions that make it difficult to intelligently discuss self-help therapeutics in much of today’s media. First, the author groups together two different kinds of books: metaphysical...

The American Center for Law and Justice said it plans to stand up to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which recently called for the removal of Gideon Bibles from state-run lodgings.The group noted that the latest battle began after FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and her husband, Dan Barker, stayed at the Holmes Student Center Hotel in DeKalb, Illinois, and discovered a Gideon Bible placed in their hotel room. "No one is making any guest open the Bible. No one is making them read it. In fact, the university is not 'providing bibles;' it is allowing a Christian group to...

She worked for the Clinton administration, became a liberal pundit for the Daily Beast and a regular Democratic contributor to Fox News. On top of that, all her friends were agnostics or atheists. So when God pursued and won her reluctant heart, she was more surprised than anyone else. "If there was one thing in which I was completely secure, it was that I would never adhere to any religion-especially to evangelical Christianity, which I held in particular contempt," writes Kirsten Powers, in a first-person account of her conversion published in Christianity Today. The daughter of archeologist parents, she attended...

For quite some time now I have stated that the same arguments that have been used in support of consensual gay marriage can also be used in support of consensual polygamy. With that in mind, I am also one of the few who has argued for some time now (long before Kim Davis appeared on the scene) against the dangers of religious sectarianism (i.e. pre-Cromwell RC times in Europe and also Cromwell using God's authority to close down the theaters, etcetera) and that the citing of scriptures in opposition to gay marriage can lead to or at least open the...