No surprise: Islam was at fault for the Crusades, and a bunch of other very bad stuff.

After the end of the Latin Roman Empire, the Mediterranean remained a Christian lake, open to commercial and cultural exchange between the new kingdoms in the West and the Greek Roman Christian Empire.

It was Islam, not the “barbarian invaders,” which broke the unity of the Christian world, thereby interrupting commercial and cultural exchange between the Christian East and the Christian West, propitiating the rise of the Carolingian “Roman” Empire, turning the Mediterranean into a Muslim lake, and therefore moving the cultural axis of the Christian West from the Mediterranean to the North: “the cause of the break with the tradition of antiquity was the rapid and unexpected advance of Islam.”

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It’s official: the European Union hates Jesus Christ

One of its most celebrated artistic works, the Christ Pantocrator of the Romanesque church of Sant Martí de la Cortinada, had been chosen as one of the images of a new coin.

That was too much for the European Union and the European Central Bank, that ordered Christ removed from the coin. It could not even remain as an iconic work of art of an area that was historically poor and treasured its few artistic relics from the past – no, imagery that can be considered offensive to the “principle of neutrality in the matter of religious beliefs” is to be removed. It does not matter, apparently, that the image is in the heart of the self-understanding of a people, and of all peoples of Europe.

Now, just a bell tower will remain; bell towers are probably not religious enough… The tiny nation that has a Bishop as one of its heads of State could not resist the orders, as Slovakia successfully did in defense of the sainthood of Saints Cyril and Methodius in a commemorative coin.

See the proposed coin

Editor’s note: The bell tower motif was probably approved because it resembles a Muslim minaret.

Remains of the Armenians are so prevalent in the area that all you need to do is scratch the sand along the river banks and you will find pieces of human bones that have been there for 98 years.

The lack of respect given to the Armenian genocide is shocking when you consider the scope and brutality of the event that killed 75 percent of the Armenians — a predominantly Christian group.

The accounts of the atrocities committed against the Armenians is as brutal and disgusting as any you have heard about from Hitler’s attempts to exterminate the Jews from Germany and the world. Small children and old people were marched over mountains and in circles, without food and water, literally until they died. Young Christian girls were defiled by the Turkish soldiers. There are reports that many killed themselves after being raped. The barbaric treatment of the Armenian women went even further.

Text, photos, video (Warning: graphic violence)

On the Current Christian Apocalypse in Egypt and the Middle East

…thirteen years before the “Arab Spring,” I could feel in my bowels that the end was near; that the apocalypse of Egyptian Christendom was coming. And curiously enough, I sensed this, too, in many of the more articulate Copts I spoke with: that there was something different in kind, in spirit, about the Islamist threat, now even coming from within the Mubarak government, which nominally protected them.

Over the centuries there had been persecution enough, and occasional pogroms; there had been constant pressure on Christians to convert to Islam, by which a nation still probably majority Christian at the time of the first Crusades gradually became overwhelmingly Muslim. Yet all this had been mostly against a background of “live and let live.” Now, perceptibly, the ground rules were changing. “Islamism” wasn’t “Islam” any more.

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Christianity is the only defense ordinary Muslims have against over-reaching Muslim hegemony

In a meeting this morning with the pope, Mufti Mohammad Rachid Kabbani, whose title is “Mufti of the Lebanese Republic,” told Benedict that Muslims “absolutely do not want Christians to leave the Middle East,” according to Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson.

Link

Editor’s note: Totalitarian Sharia Law is not much different, and possibly worse than totalitarian communism. Moderate Muslims understand that.

They also know that the only practical way to keep the radical Islamists at bay is to share political power with a substantial number of Christian citizens, in order to maintain a strong, stable, moderate, and reasonably popular central government.

That way, short of total insurrection, like what happened in Lebanon, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, some semblance of a normal everyday existence might still be maintained.

Lebanon’s Mufti Mohammad Rachid Kabbani knows all too well what can happen when the radical Islamists take over.

No surprise: Islam was at fault for the Crusades, and a bunch of other very bad stuff.

After the end of the Latin Roman Empire, the Mediterranean remained a Christian lake, open to commercial and cultural exchange between the new kingdoms in the West and the Greek Roman Christian Empire.  It was Islam, not the “barbarian invaders,” which broke the unity of the Christian world, thereby interrupting commercial and cultural exchange between the Christian East and the Christian West, propitiating the rise of the Carolingian “Roman” Empire, turning the Mediterranean into a Muslim lake, and therefore moving the cultural axis of the Christian West from the Mediterranean to the North: “the cause of the break with the tradition of antiquity was the rapid and unexpected advance of Islam.”

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It’s an Obama – Eat Dog – World

In a passage from Obama’s memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” President Obama (or more likely, Bill Ayers) wrote:

With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chill peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy). Like many Indonesians, Lolo followed a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths. He explained that a man took on the powers of whatever he ate: One day soon, he promised, he would bring home a piece of tiger meat for us to share.

Link

A Prominent Muslim Finds His True Home In the Catholic Church

Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar was instrumental in helping Ilyas Khan, a British philanthropist and former Muslim, to become Catholic. But so too were many other distinctly Catholic influences, all amounting to a “pull” towards the faith rather than a “push” away from Islam.

Khan, a merchant banker by training and the owner of the Accrington Stanley soccer team, is also chairman of the prominent British charity Leonard Cheshire Disability — the largest organization in the world helping people with disabilities. In a revealing interview with Register Rome correspondent Edward Pentin, Khan explains in more detail what drew him to the Catholic Church.

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Editor’s note: Mr. Khan’s experience is a great example of God’s grace, coupled with traditional Catholic faith and reason, invariably leading a person to the truth.

The Mohammedan Candidate: Under the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya [dissimulation], Muslims are permitted—in certain contexts, and even encouraged—to deny being Muslim, if so doing secures them or Islam an advantage.

In other words, if an American president were a secret Muslim, and if he were lying about it, and even if he were secretly working to subvert the U.S. to Islam’s advantage —not only would taqiyya, or dissimulation, be justified by Islam’s doctrines of loyalty and deception, but it would have ample precedents, stretching back to the dawn of Islam. Muhammad, for example, commanded a convert from an adversarial tribe to conceal his new Muslim identity and go back to his tribe—which he cajoled with “You are my stock and my family, the dearest of men to me”—only to betray them to Islam’s invading armies.

Graham further upset certain sensitivities by saying, “All I know is under Obama, President Obama, the Muslims of the world, he seems to be more concerned about them than the Christians that are being murdered in the Muslim countries,” adding that “Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama.”

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Seen on the web: If we’re going to preserve this Land-of-the-Free, we need a fresh infusion of Home-of-the-Brave…

Link

Victims describe horror of Christmas Nigerian Catholic church attack

The bomb exploded as Esther Ibu walked out of the church, her five-month-old son in her arms, the power of the blast throwing her and the boy to the ground and leaving death all around her.

“Before I knew it, I started seeing dead bodies, people burning into ashes,” the woman in her 30s said, sobbing as she sat in a wheelchair at a hospital in the capital holding her son and waiting to be x-rayed, her right leg bandaged.

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Blessed Virgin Mary: A Mother Not Just for Catholics

What is accomplished in Mary points to the glory of God. Her role in human history, and ultimately, salvation history, has meaning for us all. Her life is intimately acquainted with every member of the Trinity: Mary is the faithful Daughter of the Father, the loving Mother to the Son, and the fruitful Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

What’s more, Mary’s way of life is a beacon for many people, even those who do not ascribe to the Catholic Christian tradition. She is a spiritual mother to millions of children around the globe: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and Muslim.

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Events in Pakistan and elsewhere, show Catholic martyrdom not relegated to ancient history

Faisalabad (Agenzia Fides) – The local Catholic Church calls her “a martyr of the faith”: Mariah Manisha was a Catholic girl from Faisalabd who was killed a week ago by a Muslim man who had kidnapped her and intended to marry her. Fr. Zafal Iqbal, a Catholic priest from Khushpur, where the 18-year-old Mariah’s family live, reports to Fides that “the girl resisted, she did not want to convert to Islam and she did not marry the man, who killed her for this. She is a martyr”.

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This Week’s Ask Alice: Why the Vatican?

Send A Question To Alice

She’ll answer your Catholic questions
right here, every Thursday.

Email responses will also be provided, as time permits.

Roy writes: Jesus wasn’t born and raised in the Vatican, so why the Vatican is your holy city?

Alice explains: Catholics recognize Rome as our holy city since it is the place where Peter, Christ’s successor and our first pope, was martyred. Peter was given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus. Catholics acknowledge Peter as the earthly head of our Church.

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the powers of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19)

Jesus instructed his apostles to preach the gospel all over the world, which meant spreading their efforts outward far past Jerusalem.

“It is not for you to know the times orasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The disciples felt called to travel and preach the gospel in Rome. “There we found some brothers and were urged to stay with them for seven days. And thus we came to Rome.” (Acts 28:14)

Since God is omniscient (all knowing) and exists outside of time, He certainly knew what He was doing when moving our holy city from Jerusalem to Rome. Considering that Jerusalem has been a lit firecracker in the Middle East for centuries, the Holy Spirit wisely inspired Church leaders to choose a sacred city that’s removed from the fighting fray.

From 70 to 130 A.D., Jerusalem was the scene of terrible persecution. Through the centuries Jerusalem has been conquered and ruled by Muslims. Geographically, Rome sits by itself rather than in the midst of the troubled Middle East.

In Christ’s Love,

Alice

*****

Doug Lawrence Adds:  I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “All roads lead to Rome.”

In the early days of Christianity, that was literally true … and also, the reverse.

Rome was then the very heart of the civilized world’s system of government, commerce and industry. A network of excellent roads, coupled with easy, reliable connections by sea, made Rome the literal “center” of the earth.

With new Christian communities constantly popping up throughout the world, all of them in need of inspired, timely, and expert guidance, there was truly “no place like Rome” from which to stay in constant contact, with the Holy See of Peter effectively leading the budding church, in all things Catholic.

During the 4th century, with the rise of Emperor Constantine, who at once ended the persecutions, became a dedicated supporter of the Catholic Church, and eventually, a Catholic himself.

The wisdom behind the selection of Rome for the location of the Holy See soon became even more apparent, as the Catholic Church continued to greatly benefit from the dedicated patronage of both the Emperor Constantine and his mother, St. Helena.

The contemporary writings of the Roman historian and Catholic Bishop Eusebius, aptly chronicle those events (and more.)

Read all about that here (particularly in Books IX and X.)

When the Empire eventually fell, the Roman Catholic Church found itself in a unique position, charged with rebuilding modern western civilization in the image of heaven … a daunting task that was eventually accomplished with a very high degree of success … through the grace of God … and the holy, inspired work of generations of dedicated Catholic men and women.

Book Selection: How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization

It’s also interesting to note that the Jews, as a nation or people, have never accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah … while the formerly pagan Romans … the ones who actually nailed Jesus to the cross and thrust the spear through his heart … did indeed convert … and they have remained staunchly Catholic for (at least) the last 1500 years.

All the more reason to choose Rome, rather than Jerusalem, as the headquarters of the universal church … at least, until Jesus comes again … bringing with him the “New Jerusalem”.

(Revelation 3:12)  He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God: and he shall go out no more. And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name.

(Revelation 21:2)  And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Besides … “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.” (Psalms 127:1)

Click here to see all of Alice’s other columns

This Week’s Ask Alice: What the Bible (and the Catholic Church) teaches about abortion.

Send A Question To Alice

She’ll answer your Catholic questions
right here, every Thursday.

Email responses will also be provided, as time permits.

Rob Asks: What are the strongest Bible verses condemning abortion?

Alice Responds: Some of the strongest Bible passages condemning abortion present evidence that life begins in the womb.

A beautiful Pro Life witness was proclaimed by Elizabeth, in the New Testament, when her pregnant cousin, the Virgin Mary, came to visit.

Elizabeth clearly felt the movement of John (the Baptist) … her yet to be born son … in response to the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit:

“Thereupon Mary set out, preceding into the hill country to a town of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. It happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 41:39-41)

Here are more Scripture verses to help change the hearts and minds of people who tolerate abortion:

“For you formed me in my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb….My frame wasn’t hidden from you., when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were written, the days that you ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.” (Psalm 139:13, 15-16)

“Didn’t He who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15)

“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?” (Job 10:2, 8-9)

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you came out of the womb I sanctified you.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

“Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.. All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ “ (Deuteronomy 27:25)

Throughout history, the saints have taught us invaluable lessons about the sanctity of life. The maternal heroism of St. Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962) serves an an inspiration to all Pro Lifers.

Gianna was a pediatric physician and devoted mother of three children. During the second month of her fourth pregnancy, doctors discovered a fibroma on Gianna’s uterus.

Physicians offered her three choices: 1) an abortion to save her life and allow her to have more children; 2) a complete hysterectomy to preserve her life, but end the unborn child’s life; 3) removal of only the fibroma, with potential further complications.

Insisting that her unborn baby must be saved, Gianna chose the removal of only the fibroma. On April 21, 1962, Good Friday, Gianna’s delivered her fourth child, Gianna Emmanuela, by Caesarean section. In great pain, Gianna died seven days after giving birth, from septic peritonitis.

She was canonized on May 16, 2004. Her husband Pietro and the daughter she saved, Gianna Emmanuela, were both present at the ceremony.

In Christ’s Love,

Alice

Doug Lawrence adds: Abortion has always been abhorrent to those of the authentic Jewish and Christian faith traditions.

Probably the best, most specific, written proof of this can be found in this excerpt from chapter 2 of the earliest known, most widely circulated, extra-biblical teachings of the apostles – known as “The Didache” – dated to 100 AD – about 300 years before the Canon of Sacred Scripture was officially compiled and certified:

…you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion
nor kill that which is begotten.

The Didache, for a number of reasons, is still very much worth reading, for any Christian … since at the time it was written, the Christian Church was already being identified as “Catholic”.

Some 500 years later, Muslims and the Koran came out firmly against abortion and infanticide.

Only in later times was this totally consistent reverence and respect for life attacked and weakened by the false teachings of various apostates … and in turn … by their lethal, politically motivated spawn.

Daughter of St. Gianna visits U.S. church that bears her mother’s name

Click here to see all of Alice’s other columns

Big trouble in Dearborn-i-stan (Dearborn, Michigan)

The violent intimidation of anti-jihadists that I just saw in Stuttgart is coming to America.

Authorities should act quickly and decisively to defend the freedom of speech, or it will most assuredly soon be gone.

As Pamela Geller notes, these stories involve “two Christian groups, both under attack in a no-go zone zone in Dearborn, Michigan, in an increasingly sharia compliant America.

Dearborn, the same city that refused to run my bus ads offering help to apostates (despite our win in the courts). On Friday, two separate groups were threatened and attacked because they came to Dearborn to stand for their beliefs.

Link

Blatant violations of human rights, freedom of conscience and religion in Pakistan

Catholic woman kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and worse…

Unlike other religious juridical systems, Sharia intends to regulate, convert, or enslave the non-Muslim.

Amy Sullivan typically takes to comparing sharia with that of Jewish Beit Din, or even Catholic canon law, and finds no differences, “it’s all about marriage contracts and commercial disputes”, so no need to look behind the green curtain. There is a world of difference between these religious systems, only sharia law involves the non-Muslim, you only need to ask those who have been victimized by it to understand the stark differences, it truly does affect those who belong outside that ideology…

Link

Editor’s note: While ideologies, creeds, and ends certainly vary, the source of the principles behind all three systems can be found in the Old Testament, Mosaic Law.

Egyptian cleric: We ask non-Muslims to convert, but if they don’t convert or pay jizya, we fight them.

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Big trouble in Dear-born-i-stan (Islamic Michigan)

Writing  at The Corner, Nina Shea recaps the latest in the saga of Terry Jones, who has been trying to take a peaceful, non-flammable protest of sharia and jihad to the sidewalk outside the largest mosque in America in Dearborn, Michigan only to be outlawed by the Michigan District Court. Like all other envelop-pushing cases, this latest incident serves as a stress test of the rule of law in our society. And, like most other such envelop-pushing cases,  it proves that the rule of law is strong –  only the law that is strong is sharia (Islamic) law.

The Michigan District Court’s egregious ruling against Jones is all about protecting Islam from criticism, rather than about protecting criticism from Islam, which is what US jurisprudence, not to mention the American Way, demands. It is sharia that the US court is enforcing.

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