Free Republic

Professor Richard Dawkins, known as the world’s most famous atheist, has risen to rock star status for his attacks on God and religion, in particular, his attacks on the God of the Bible. But when he recently criticized Muslims, he was in for a surprise. Before looking at Dawkins’ rather mild criticism of Muslims, let’s remember the depth of his vitriol against Christians and the Bible, most of which has only enhanced Dawkins’ reputation. In an April interview aired on the Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera, Dawkins railed on the Catholic Church, saying that, as “Horrible as sexual abuse no...

It is a reckless analyst who risks reopening sixteenth-century disputes between Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformers. I do so in the interest of a greater good, but my purpose is not to say who was right or who was wrong. I would simply like to explore why the Protestant churches maintained unity with the Catholic Church on the contraception question for four centuries, only to abandon this unity during the first half of the twentieth century. I write as a historian, not an advocate. (I am a “cradle Lutheran.”) Orders & Disorders To understand the change in Protestant thought...

No Compromise Between The Church and Rome by Martin Luther (1483-1546) The following article has been extracted from volume VIII of, The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). This was a section of a sermon based on Col. 1:3-14 titled "Knowledge of God's Will and Its Fruits," (sections 26-30 presented here). It was later published in english in 1905 by The Luther Press (Minneapolis, MN), in Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 14 (later republished by Baker Books, Sermons of Martin Luther vol. 5). This e-text was scanned and edited by Shane...

MEXICO CITY (AP) _ A young, vigorous Pope John Paul II came to Mexico on his first foreign trip and seized the heart of a nation at a time when laws barred outdoor religious ceremonies and even forbade priests to wear clerical garb in the street. He donned a sombrero at a bullfighting ring, strummed a guitar with mariachis and became the first pontiff to visit the most revered religious center of the hemisphere: the shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Roman Catholic patroness of the Americas. By some counts, 20 million people turned out to see the...