Free Republic

There are two facile and credulously accepted claims that make the rounds of Late Roman-interest online fora and social media with some frequency. They are roughly as follows: “Christianity sought to destroy the art, architecture and culture of classical civilization.” and “Modern Christian holidays are nothing more than ancient pagan holidays with a Christian overlay.” Both of these declarations are treated uncritically as fact by those who use the outmoded Gibbon as their sole guide to Late Antiquity. The second is also used by those of a Protestant persuasion who wish to prove that Catholicism (and Orthodoxy to a lesser...

"It's just hardwired into us and our religion," Harsimran Singh aid. "Anytime someone needs help, we need to be there." Members of the Sikh faith are inviting the 188,000 evacuees who were forced to leave their homes because of the damaged Oroville Dam emergency spillway to come to their temples for a nice vegetarian meal and a rest on the floor of their prayer halls. Yuba City and Sacramento — both about an hour's drive from Oroville — are central migration spots for Sikhs in California, most of whom originally hailed from Punjab, India. Several temples in the surrounding Northern...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — For the first time in the event's 183-year history, a woman has led a prayer at the semiannual gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jean A. Stevens led the morning session's closing prayer Saturday for the more than 100,000 church members gathered in Salt Lake City for the two-day general conference, and the millions more watching via satellite, radio or Internet broadcast. A feminist group launched a campaign earlier this year asking church leaders to let women lead the opening and closing prayer — a first for the conference — as...

Springtime seems to be the season when strange things happen – or controversial occurrences – happen in connection with temples within the church system of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). The chart at the end of this article highlights “15 occultic and controversial facts you may want to know about Lds temples.” Thirteen of those 15 “Facts” relate to the Lds church history of its temples, and strangely the overwhelming “dates” associated with these occur in mid to late March and the months of April or May. Why? Perhaps it goes back to the original...

Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the...

Rarely are currency exchange rates as good for the American dollar as that of Asian countries. In Asia, the American dollar carries a lot of clout and with the recent devaluation of the USD; it is a good thing that these countries offer an excellent trip for so little cost to Americans.

"When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when you number them." -- Exodus 30:12. No one talked about plagues or ransoms during a news conference today at St. John's United Methodist Church downtown.... These local leaders gathered to promote "Census Sabbath" (PDF) March 5-7. They encouraged pastors, rabbis, priests and other spiritual leaders to dedicate sermons and other messages to the value of returning 2010 Census forms that will arrive in mailboxes...

REXBURG -- A top LDS religious leader gave a rare unscripted fireside to Brigham Young University-Idaho students Saturday. Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, focused much of his remarks on how the LDS Church is viewed by nonmembers and the media. He taught students about conveying the message of the LDS faith. Ballard spoke candidly about experiences with the national news media, specifically touching on his experiences during former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Romney is LDS. The apostle talked about the challenge...

Preliminary results have come back on a suspicious white powder found at the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FBI officials say they aren't sure exactly what it is, but they know it's not toxic. The FBI says the substance was tested for known hazardous biological agents and toxins, and all tests were negative. Lab tests will continue to determine exactly what the substance is, and those results are expected sometime next week. Three employees inside the temple office were decontaminated as a precaution, and a hazardous material crew cleared the office of any...

Bulgaria-Unearthed Temples A Millenium Older than Egypt Pyramids Lifestyle: 18 February 2007, Sunday. Temples that archaeologists have unearthed in the eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria are about a thousand years older than the pyramids in Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilization, experts claim. Archaeologists Ana Raduncheva and Stefanka Ivanova said in an interview for BTA that the whole system of temples in the Rhodope region dated back to the Vth millenium B.C. This is almost 4,000 years before the Thracian people settled on these lands. At the end of the Chalcolithic Age, the rock temples were abandoned for a large period...

Malaysia's ethnic Hindus have unveiled what is being described as the world's tallest statue of the deity Lord Muruga outside a limestone cave shrine near the country's largest city. An estimated 100,000 ethnic Indian Hindus watched as a helicopter showered flowers over the gold-painted, 42.7-metre statue late on Sunday at the foot of a hill outcrop that houses the Batu Caves, just outside Kuala Lumpur. Samy Vellu, the works minister and Malaysia's highest-ranking ethnic Indian politician, conducted the official unveiling of the statue at the base of a 272-step stairway leading to the Sri Subamaniar Swamy Temple, located inside one of...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal bankruptcy court on Monday approved a reorganization plan that will allow six California-based Hare Krishna temples and their affiliates to remain open while compensating members who claim they were abused at the society's schools. The plan includes $9.5 million for alleged victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse during the 1970s and 1980s at religious boarding schools run by the Hare Krishnas. A similar reorganization plan was approved May 16 in West Virginia, where temples also filed for bankruptcy. The monotheistic tradition, also known as the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, was founded in...

About 15 years ago I wrote a book about crime, tackling the knotty problem of how "technicalities" based on the Bill of Rights could end up excusing people of ancient crimes like robbery and murder. The problem, I found, was the tendency of judges and lawyers to elevate the Constitution to Holy Writ. Murder, rape, and other crimes, you see, are only statutory offenses. There's nothing in the Constitution that says you can't kill someone. On the other hand, if a murderer argues that he wasn't read his Miranda warnings three times in the language of his choice, he is...

On November 13, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary ordered the removal of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore from his post. The decision resulted from Moore’s refusal to obey what he considered a tyrannical order from a federal judge commanding him to remove a stone monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the Alabama supreme court building. The federal court, which was not overruled because the Supreme Court refused to consider Moore’s appeal, insisted that the state of Alabama could not acknowledge God by displaying a religiously-based representation, even though the Alabama constitution says, "We, the people of...

I believe the Church is in better condition than it has been at any time in its entire history. As we open this great conference we note the absence of Elders David B. Haight and Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Each of them served long and very effectively. We mourn their passing. We greatly miss them. We extend our love to their dear ones. We are confident that they are carrying on this great work on the other side of the veil.

Submerged Himachal temples to be relocated: [India News]: Shimla, Nov 5 : Eight medieval temples in Himachal Pradesh that have been lying submerged inside a lake for decades will now be relocated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The 15th century Nagara style temples in Bilaspur town, 90 km from here, have been lying submerged under the Gobind Sagar Lake, the backwards of the Bhakra hydro project built nearly four decades ago. The tops of some of these stone temples are visible when the water level drops in summer. "We have approached the ASI to transplant these temples as...

Tonight (Monday) marks the beginning of Tisha B'Av - the ninth day of the month of Av - the Jewish People's national day of mourning and fasting. Commemorating several sad events in our history, it is most noted for being the date of the destruction of both Holy Temples in Jerusalem - some 2,500 and 2,000 years ago, respectively. They both stood on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. In keeping with the Jewish tradition of showing our longing for the rebuilding of the Holy City, many thousands of people are expected to participate in tonight's tenth...