Free Republic

In my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring the more family or clan-centered existence of an older time. It was possible to be “good people” who had fallen on hard times, just as it was possible to be “bad people” who were flourishing. Good people were always to be preferred. I am aware...

Catholic League President Bill Donohue said Wednesday that a photographic exhibit featuring porn stars such as Stormy Daniels posing as the Virgin Mary constitutes “the latest artistic assault on Christianity.”

What is it with abortion activists getting naked to promote abortion? Do they not understand that the rest of the world knows what the human body is? Do they not get that abortion involves an unborn child too? Does somehow being naked and exposing themselves accentuate the argument for destroying the lives of babies before birth? Whatever the reason, abortion activists and pro-abortion feminists frequently take off their clothes to promote abortion around the world. They did it again this week in Argentina, where a massive battle is being fought over legislation to legalize abortions killing unborn children. These kinds...

A sculpture of the Virgin Mary that appeared to be crying at a church in New Mexico is being investigated after it was determined her tears were olive oil. The statue, which is located at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hobbs, underwent a chemical analysis that was determined to be “a scented olive oil.” “Some of the witnesses claimed it smelled of roses,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of the diocese. “So something similar to the oil I bless and consecrate each year that we use for baptism, for confirmations and for ordination of the priests.” An investigation...

HOBBS, N.M. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces is investigating reports that a bronze statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe at a southeastern New Mexico church is weeping. The Hobbs News-Sun reports the investigation comes after alleged witness accounts of tears coming down the eyes of a bronze statue at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hobbs, New Mexico.

An ancient Orthodox hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary commonly chanted at Christmas.

The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is also the most passionate, the wildest, and one might almost say the most revolutionary Advent hymn that has ever been sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary as we often see her portrayed in paintings. This Mary...is passionate, carried away, proud, enthusiastic. There is none of the sweet, wistful, or even playful tone of many of our Christmas carols, but instead a hard, strong, relentless hymn about the toppling of the thrones and the humiliation of the lords of this world, about the power of God and...

As part of International Women’s Day (March 8), feminist protestors simulated a bloody abortion on a woman dressed as the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, outside the cathedral in Tucuman, Argentina. The protestors, according to Life Site News, which reported the incident in the English language press, cheered the fake abortion as symbolically killing “patriarchy” and “forced heterosexuality.” ****WARNING OFFENSIVE AND GRAPHIC IMAGE ON LINK****

As part of International Women's Day (March 8), feminist protestors simulated a bloody abortion on a woman dressed as the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, outside the cathedral in Tucuman, Argentina. The protestors, according to Life Site News, which reported the incident in the English language press, cheered the fake abortion as symbolically killing "patriarchy" and "forced heterosexuality."

A Catholic nun in Spain has caused outrage after she suggested that the Virgin Mary may not have been a virgin after all. The controversial Dominican nun invited the ire of the Catholic Church who responded to her statements in anger. Sister Lucia Caram was speaking on a talk show over the weekend when she let slip her belief that contradicts one of the key pillars of her faith. “I think that Mary was in love with Joseph and that they were a normal couple, and the normal thing is to have sex,” Caram told Risto Mejideon during Sunday’s Chester...

A leading Egyptian cleric irked his Christian compatriots when he said on television that the Islamic figure Muhammed would marry the Virgin Mary in heaven. Dr Salem Abdel Galil, a theologian at Cairo’s prestigious Al Azhar academy and a former director-general of the Ministry of Religions, said on his television program that “Allah, hallowed be his name, chose Mary of all the women, alongside Asiya, Pharaoh’s wife, Aisha and Khadijea, Prophet Muhammed’s wives, and Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter. There are verses in the Quran that suggest that in heaven Muhammed will marry the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus peace...

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of...

The Washington Post gave audience to Ruth Everhart who said that the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, offended her. Why? Well her reason for being offended started off as a claim that the virgin part about Mary was offensive because rape victims could no longer obtain virgin status. But then, if you read further into her statements, the offended lashes out at the church and the "patriarchs" for, as she alleged, making "vaginas inherently dirty" and says that attempting to protect ones virginity until marriage won't work and was what she called, "the idol of sexual purity." This woman...

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.December 18, 2016 This year the Left’s annual War on Christmas has taken a bizarre turn with a Washington Post op-ed claiming that the Virgin Mary’s purity is offensive to victims of rape. In an article titled, “Our culture of purity celebrates the Virgin Mary. As a rape victim, that hurts me,” Ruth Everhart explains that especially in the Advent lead-up to Christmas, Mary becomes a problem for many Christians because of her pristine purity. Mary “set an impossibly high bar,” Everhart writes. “Now the rest of us are stuck trying to be both a virgin and...

A town in eastern France has been ordered to remove a statue of the Virgin Mary to comply with a national ban on religious symbols in public, the local mayor said Saturday. An administrative court ordered the commune of Publier, in the Haute-Savoie region, to remove the religious image, which has stood in a public park since 2011.

French Town Told Park's Virgin Mary Statue Must Go The Virgin Mary, Jesus and Joseph are widely represented in European public art. A French town has been told it must take down its statue of the Virgin Mary to comply with a national ban on religious symbols in public spaces, the town's mayor said on Saturday. A court has given the town of Publier, in eastern France, three months to remove the work. If it fails to do so, it will be fined €100 (£80; $105) a day. Mayor Gaston Lacroix said he will try to relocate the marble statue...

The totally reconstructed, brand-new Estonian National Museum opened on September 28 with a blasphemous attack on Mary, the Mother of God. Here’s what’s happening, according to several news outlets: “Visitors at Estonian National Museum [are] offered to kick Virgin Mary’s image” - - and it’s definitely true. I’ve verified it. “The National Museum which opened in Estonia in the presence of President Toomas Hendrik Ilves last week, is offering its visitors to kick one of the exhibits, an interactive image of Virgin Mary, causing the picture to fall into pieces.” [my emphasis] The display is “a depiction of Virgin Mary...

One civilization's trash is another civilization's treasure. A ship in Israel's Caesarea Harbor was filled with bronze statues headed for recycling when it sank about 1,600 years ago. Now, thanks to a chance discovery by a pair of divers, archaeologists have salvaged a haul of statuary fragments, figurines and coins from the seafloor. The coins found in the wreckage date to the mid-300s A.D. Some show Constantine, who ruled the Western Roman Empire from A.D. 312-324, and who unified the Eastern and Western Roman Empire in A.D. 324; he ruled both until his death in A.D. 337. Other coins show...

Perpetual virginity 3/9/2016 Question: I am a lifelong and devout Catholic and have always considered Mary to be ever virgin. But recently, I read in my Bible that Joseph had no relations with Mary “before” she bore a son (Mt 1:25). Now, I wonder if our belief does not contradict the Bible.— Eugene DeClue, Festus, Missouri Answer: The Greek word “heos,” which your citation renders “before,” is more accurately translated “until,” which can be ambiguous without a wider context of time. It is true, in English, the usual sense of “until” is that I am doing or not doing something...

The municipality of Selcuk, a town in western Turkey where Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last days, plans to erect a giant statue dedicated to her in the fashion of the notable statue in Brazil depicting her son. Virgin Mary House, a stone structure on the outskirts of Bulbul Mountain, is a popular spot among Christian pilgrims since its discovery in the 19th century. Looking to boost faith tourism revenues, Selcuk Mayor Zeynel Bakici said they would erect "a splendid statue" depicting the sacred figure, the same day he announced they were seeking to host an international...