Free Republic

A mob attacked a church in Minya, Egypt, on 13 July protesting against its legalisation and received a police officer’s approval, World Watch Monitor has learnt from local sources. The only church in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village, where about 20 percent of the population is Christian, was built in September 2016. Apart from masses and prayer meetings, St. Karas the Anchorite Coptic Orthodox Church also held Sunday school classes and housed a nursery. After a rumour spread in the majority-Muslim village that Copts had applied for the de-facto church’s legalisation, as is required by the August 2016 Law on the...

A pastor who has started hundreds of churches in Pakistan, where he suffered persecution for his faith, has chronicled his extraordinary journey in a new book where he says that divine healings and prophetic dreams are leading many Muslims to Jesus Christ.Pastor M El Masih, who started Cry of the Persecuted Church and now lives with his family in the United States, shared in an interview with The Christian Post some of his most difficult challenges growing up in Pakistan, where he studied and followed Islam and the Quran for years.In his book, From Persecution to the Promised Land, Masih,...

Why have several Eastern European nations been so adamant against taking in Muslim migrants? Most recently, when Polish lawmaker Dominik Tarczyński was asked earlier this month how many "refugees" Poland has taken in, he flatly responded: "Zero." When the British interviewer, whose nation has taken in millions of Muslim migrants, scoffed, "And you're proud of that?," he said: "We will not receive even one Muslim, because this is what we promised [to voters] ... this is why our government was elected; this is why Poland is so safe, this is why we have not had even one terror attack." Considering...

Construction, which began with the ground-breaking ceremony, is set to last until 2021. Once completed, it will be the reference point for the community of northern Arabia. In addition to the church, it will have a residential area for the episcopal curia, a guest house and educational facilities. A time capsule was placed in its foundations with the history of the local Church and Christians.Manama (AsiaNews) – The Church of Bahrain and the Gulf recently celebrated the formal start of the construction of the new cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, patron saint of the Arabian Peninsula. The new place...

It is commonplace for Leftists and Islamic apologists in the West to claim that jihadis are ignorant of Islam, and indifferent to it. “Terrorists don’t kill for their religion,” asserted an article published in the World Economic Forum last year, just one of many that claim the same thing. Yet again and again we see just the opposite: jihadis are devout, informed Muslims. Here is yet another example: According to the Times Ledger, a Muslim named Ahmed Parveg “pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn federal court last month to helping the overseas terrorist organization ISIS.” Parveg “traveled to Saudi Arabia [in]...

One of the interesting aspects of Fr. James Schall’s refreshing collection of essays, On Islam, is that it provides a chronological record. The first essay appeared in 2003, the last in 2018. This allows the reader to see how our understanding of Islam has changed over those years. Unfortunately, it hasn’t changed much at all. In 2003 we understood next to nothing about Islam, and in 2018 it’s still next to nothing.One of Fr. Schall’s main themes is that we must try to understand Islam as Muslims understand it, not as we would like it to be. But instead of...

Monsignor Raffaele Nogaro, bishop emeritus of Caserta, says he is ready to “turn all the churches into mosques if it were useful to the cause and if it allowed us to save the lives of men and women.” And so the Catholic Church continues on its path of aiding and abetting Europe’s civilizational and cultural suicide — not unwittingly, but with its eyes open. As I show in my book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, the Catholic Church was once one of the foremost bulwarks of defense in the jihad against Europe. But those days are long...

Plans are underway to build a new Orthodox church in Grozny, the capital city of the Chechen Republic, republic head Ramzan Kadyrov said in a recent interview with Izvestia. Upon completion, there will be just four Orthodox parishes in the entire republic, and two active parishes in Grozny. “There is now a proposal to build a new church in Grozny, a large, beautiful church on a 2-hectare territory. I gave instructions to the government and the mayor of Grozny to work on this issue. We treat all religions equally, we create the same conditions,” Kadyrov said. There is one active...

FULL TITLE: Woman lashes out at female morality police after they try to force her to wear a hijab on Iranian subway - and tells them: 'I wear whatever I like!' This is the remarkable moment a defiant woman fights back against Iran's stringent Morality Police after they confronted her about her clothes. The unnamed woman was caught on camera taking a stand against a gang of agents at the Darzaveh Zowlat metro station in Tehran, Iran. In the footage she can be seen booting one of three hijab-wearing policewomen after they took issue with her western clothing. 'I will...

Is Allah above his throne? Is he on his throne? Is he in the heavens? Is he everywhere? Was he ever alone? Are these questions important? In this compilation by Anthony Rogers, Muslim scholars answer these questions and many others, while clarifying the meaning of the Quran.

As many as 60 Turkish imams and their families face expulsion from Austria and seven mosques are due to be closed under a clampdown on what the government has called “political Islam”. Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, said the country could no longer put up with “parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation,” which he said had “no place in our country”.

The Catholic Church in Mauritius on Wednesday condemned the blocking of Saturday's gay pride parade in the capital Port Louis by hostile Muslim protesters. "Regardless of one's moral beliefs about homosexuality, we would like to express our indignation at the way a LGBT parade that had police permission was obstructed by illegal protesters," said Cardinal Maurice Piat, Bishop of Port Louis, in a statement. On Saturday, the Rainbow Collective, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, attempted to hold a Pride parade in downtown Port Louis, attracting around 200 people. But when a group of Muslim Mauritians...

JAD ABED is a 10-year-old Syriac Orthodox boy living in Aleppo, Syria. He is in fifth grade. In this interview, he reflects on his life in the city that saw some of the most intense fighting in his country’s civil war, pitting the regime against various rebel groups. Though normal life is slowly resuming, for Jad the pain of suffering and deprivation endures.“Nowadays, I go to a new school because my old one was destroyed in the bombing. We moved to another location, and it certainly is not like our first school, for it is an underground facility lacking heat...

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, June 6, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in partnership with other civil rights organizations,* will host a "NOT Trump's Iftar" fast-breaking meal (iftar) outside the White House. People of all faiths and backgrounds are welcome to take part in the iftar. Wednesday's event is designed as a counterpoint to the iftar that will take place at that same time in the White House. [*Other sponsoring organizations include CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Justice for Muslims Collective. Other groups are expected to be...

London's Southwark Cathedral hosted its second annual "Grand Iftar Service" on Sunday evening, marking the anniversary of the London Bridge terror attack last year. In addition to the 11 a.m. Eucharist service, the church also held a 3 p.m. Service of Commemoration for the attack, and an 8 p.m. service to celebrate the Muslim service. The Iftar service stood out, however, as it marked the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It has not yet been reported whether or not the prayers associated with Ramadan were performed inside the cathedral, which would be a serious violation of Christian holy space. Hosting...

Muslims joined worshippers of all faiths in St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle's city centre on Wednesday eveningMuslims joined worshippers of all faiths inside a Newcastle cathedral for an historic event as part of the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds gathered at St Nicholas Cathedral on Wednesday evening for an Iftar - the first time a North East Anglican cathedral has hosted such an event. People from all faiths were welcomed for the “celebration of peace and unity” to mark the breaking of the fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan. The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Christine Hardman, and Acting...

“Liverpool star Mohamed Salah’s unapologetic Muslim faith sends extraordinary message.”That’s the headline on an NBC story about the Egyptian sports star who plays for the Liverpool soccer club. Salah prays before each game and prostrates himself in prayer after every goal he scores. He is also popular with fans, contributes to charities and is featured in an anti-drug campaign video. According to the story, Salah’s unapologetic expression of his faith on the soccer field “sends a remarkable message.” What is the remarkable message? Answer: “Salah is living, breathing proof of the multilayered identity possessed by so many Muslims in Britain.”...

Dr Ali Selim: “The Eighth Amendment protects pregnant women against taking a hasty decision.” Repeal of the Eighth Amendment “is not compassionate. It is cruel. It gives licence for murder,” Dr Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin’s Clonskeagh has said. Abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks was “abortion for no reason,” he said. “Bearing in mind their difficult circumstances, the Eighth Amendment protects pregnant women against taking a hasty decision,” he said. “ The right decision is the decision that one takes when one is not under pressure of any type. That said the women’s...

New clashes between Buddhist extremists and Muslims occurred in two different towns in Sri Lanka, in 2018. Triggered in part by hate-filled posts spread by nationalistic Sinhala Buddhist Facebook groups, these riots resulted in the death of one Muslim and the destruction of many buildings.... The movement known as Buddhism revivalism or Protestantism in Sri Lanka started with Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933). Known as the father of Buddhist Protestantism in Sri Lanka, Dharmapala had an anti-imperialist and nationalist agenda. Besides fighting the British, who ruled Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) at the time, Dharmapala focused on founding Buddhist schools and strengthening the...

In his book “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam is Reshaping the World”, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid argues that Islam is exceptional in how it relates to law, governance and politics, and plays an outsized role in public life in the Arab world. He also posits that the hope that Islam will eventually undergo a reformation and secularise may be misplaced. This has implications for the future of not just West Asia but also Western democracy. ...Hamid uses Islamic exceptionalism in a value-neutral sense i.e. exceptionalism can be either good or bad, depending on its manifestation. Nevertheless,...