Topics

Indiff’rent Strokes

NEW OXFORD NOTEBOOK

Pieter Vree

In blurting out his opinion of the supposedly wonderful and God-gifted diversity of religions in a slapdash manner, Francis does great injustice to the Catholic religion.

Genocide in Gaza: A Chronicle of Misery

Inez Fitzgerald Storck

We do not have to follow the logic of the Israel-Hamas conflict to make a moral judgment about the targeting of civilians.

Clarifying Our Thinking about the Holy Land

SOME HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Thomas Storck

It is time our government took seriously its purported commitment to peace and began the hard work of undoing decades of violence and counterviolence.

Religion: A Cause of War?

THE ROLE OF IRRELIGION

Frederick W. Marks

For every “religious war” there have been 13 others, which, according to the Encyclopedia of Wars, could have been avoided had there been more religion.

Freak Bus Across Afghanistan

TALES FROM THE GREAT HIPPIE TRAIL — PART II

Thomas Basil

My rescuers had, without any advance notice, sacrificed their money, time, and convenience for the sake of this foreigner, this stranger, perhaps this infidel.

Night Bus Across Baluchistan

TALES FROM THE GREAT HIPPIE TRAIL — PART I

Thomas Basil

For $333 I would receive “transportation by bus and double occupancy of a tent” on an escorted 60-day ride from Frankfurt, Germany, to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Jihad in the Modern World

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Fourteen centuries after the death of Muhammad, jihad remains a major obstacle to the full integration of Muslims into modern society.

Overcoming Our Culture of Indifference

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

We are called to care for the sojourner and to be sympathetic and responsive to the needs of those fleeing poverty, political oppression, or religious persecution.

A Mathematical Analysis of the Qur’an

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Texts have a “signature,” or a kind of DNA, that allows us to determine whether a book was written by one or several authors. The Qur’an has traces of at least thirty.

Religious Persecution Is Rising. Do Catholics Care?

NEW OXFORD NOTEBOOK

Pieter Vree

Our struggles in the U.S. are a far cry from the hard persecution that our coreligionists elsewhere in the world face on a routine basis.

The Fires This Time

NEW OXFORD NOTEBOOK

Pieter Vree

July was a cruel month for attacks on Catholic churches. But the mother of them all wasn’t an act of destruction; it was an act of desecration, a hostile takeover of a former Catholic cathedral.

Islam Critiqued by Ex-Muslims

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Online criticism of Islam is a new phenomenon, a revolutionary movement that eludes the control of the imams, Islam’s religious leaders.

Exotic Seed, Sown Deep in the Persian Dust

Jason M. Morgan

God leads us singly, according to our soul’s most intricate pathways, to the joy that we were born to know as unrepeatable individuals.

In Bureaucracy’s Grip

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

Our friends are being squeezed by the vise of Islamic extremism and by the incomprehensible, inescapable grip of U.S. federal bureaucracy.

Islam’s Engine of Conquest

Terry Scambray

Two-thirds of Christendom’s original territory — including Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria — were swallowed up by Islam and thoroughly Arabized.

The Qur’an as Allah’s Logos

THE ULTIMATE HERESY

Derya Little

Instead of completely erasing references to “the Word,” Muhammad attributed them to the Qur’an, thus making the book he received the true Logos of the Creator.

Learning the Meaning of Longsuffering

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

We all suffer together, we members of the mystical body of Christ. Our every act of virtue contributes to the glory of Christ’s Church.

Nazarenes under the Scimitar

ISLAMIC PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS: A BRIEF HISTORY

Ronald J. Rychlak

The only place in the Middle East where Christians face no restrictions on the practice of their faith is Israel, where they comprise two percent of the population.

Catholic Dreamers’ Failed Dialogue with Islam

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Interreligious talks have proven fruitless, and our own theologians have not told us even the minimum of truth about Islam.

The Futility of Trying to Derive a Religion from a Book

HOW “SCRIPTURE ALONE” FAILS BOTH MUSLIMS & PROTESTANTS

Howard P. Kainz

"Scripture Alone" fails both Muslims and Protestants, as living by one text leads to problems of authority and fundamentalism.

The Founding Father of the Christian Tradition Concerning Islam

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

St. John of Damascus wrote two brief yet remarkable treatises against Islam, and he can be called first apologist to the Muslims.

From a Witness in Bangkok to a Near Martyr in Karachi

THE LORD'S SUFFERING SERVANT

Casey Chalk

When we resist the demands of militant Islam, we are met not with pluralist-themed discussions or congenial tolerance but violence.

Are Islam & Democracy Compatible?

TOCQUEVILLE INVESTIGATES

Richard Fafara

Allah's laws and actions do not have to be reasonable; they simply have to be obeyed. Religious obligation flows not from reason or moral philosophy but from sharia law.

The Origins of the French "Jihad of Proximity"

David Pinault

Embracing Islam is a fast way to go from the plain-vanilla dullness of "white privilege" to the thrilling and coveted status of aggrieved and irascible victim.

Peter Against the Saracens

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Peter's treatise can be summed up thus: Put away your swords and "prove," whether "from an authority or by reason," that Muhammad was indeed a prophet.

Islamic Anti-Semitism & the Culture of Hate

The vast majority of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe (and elsewhere) are being perpetrated not by neo-Nazi skinheads but by Muslims. That might explain why we don't hear much about it.

Pearls of Greatest Price

GUEST COLUMN

Casey Chalk

What compelled so many people to give so much — families offering thousands of dollars — to those they hardly knew, might never know?

A Demon-Haunted Europe: Democracy's Totalitarian Impulse

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RYSZARD LEGUTKO

Timothy D. Lusch

Ryszard Legutko traces the twin developments of liberalism and democracy and shows how, at their precise intersection, the totalitarian impulse rises.

Silence of the Shepherds

ISIS capitalizes on the West's ignorance of its own history. The Pope and bishops should allow competent theologians and historians to publicly defend the faith against Muslim propaganda.

The Church's Strange Reappraisal of Islam

WILLING CAPTIVES TO CONTEMPORARY IDEOLOGY

Timothy D. Lusch

The Church came to see Islam as meriting different treatment because it is a religion, unlike Nazism and Communism, which were secular and atheistic ideologies.

Dawah, Dislocation & the Hijacking of Catholic-Muslim Dialogue

THE CIVILIZATION-JIHADIST PROCESS

Timothy D. Lusch

The USCCB must recognize the threat that dialogue with ISNA and ICNA presents, and either seek partners without Islamist motives or end the dialogue altogether.

The Femi-Swedes' Hijab Détente

Sweden's "first feminist government" sent a delegation to sign a trade deal in Iran, where the women felt compelled to wear headscarves and heavy coats.

Is Love Really All You Need?

GUEST COLUMN

John A. Perricone

When love is encased in truth, it radiates peace and societies prosper. Without truth, love is a silk noose strangling the souls of men and squeezing the life from society.

The Interfaith Delusion

THE U.S. BISHOPS' CATHOLIC-MUSLIM DIALOGUE

Timothy D. Lusch

It is time for the Catholic faithful to question the Church's interreligious efforts vis-à-vis Islam, with respect to its goals and choice of dialogue partners.

The Andalusian Illusion

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Certain scholars postulate that Islamic Spain was an exemplar of religious tolerance and diversity. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A Witness in Bangkok

AN ANNIVERSARY IN EXILE

Casey Chalk

The humiliations and defeats Michael and his family have endured are a testament to a family caught up in a story of redemption far greater than themselves.

To Kill in the Name of God Is Satanic

The Pope plainly stated, "To kill in the name of God is satanic," but again he studiously avoided identifying Muslim terrorists as perpetrators of this.

A Year of Magical Thinking

FAITH IN THE DENIAL OF REALITY

Timothy D. Lusch

The chief rabbi of Poland said that while "there's not a silence" about the persecution of Christians around the world, "there is not enough yelling and screaming."

Are You Sleeping?

GUEST COLUMN

David C. Stolinsky

Apathy and passivity are not the characteristics of civilized people. They are marks of submissive people who invite an authoritarian regime to control their lives.

Islam Is Like Fruit Salad?

Pope Francis sows confusion when he makes unconsidered or uninformed remarks during his in-flight press conferences, which are supposedly held in order that he might appear honest and transparent.

Barbarians Inside the Temple

By killing a priest as he celebrated Mass, Islamic supremacists have framed their ongoing aggression as a religious war between Islam and Catholicism.

Terror at the Disco: Why the Experts Always Come Up Empty

Again after the Orlando massacre, the national conversation about anti-gay hatred studiously avoided any mention of Islam and the Muslim view of homosexuality. Anger was directed primarily at conservative Christians.

Why the Left Rules the Rhetorical Battlefield

CONSERVATISM'S "UNFORTUNATE REFORMATION"

Edwin Dyga

By rejecting the cultural particularism that informed the disposition of the Old Right, its prodigal descendent dooms itself to aimlessly meander the political landscape.

Pope Francis's Appeasement Plan: Securing a False Peace With Iran

GUEST COLUMN

Timothy D. Lusch

At a time when Western culture has long since excised Christian faith from its core, the lone bulwark against an avalanche of secularism is Rome.

The New Double Standard

Media pundits and cultural elites who routinely excoriate the Church with false charges are oddly silent when it comes to flagrant transgressions by Muslims against gays, women, and non-Muslims.

Looking Beyond Malalapalooza

For those seeking Muslim female viewpoints that depart from the politically correct narrative, we suggest the writings and speeches of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, and Brigitte Gabriel.

Barbarians Inside the Gates

Why does compassion for anti-Semitic, chauvinist Muslim male refugees trump compassion for Jews' and women's human rights and dignity?

Giving an Appearance of Solidity to Pure Wind

When considering Muslim tolerance, one might inquire: Are Muslim attitudes toward drinking alcohol tolerant? And how about free speech? Women's rights? Freedom of religion? Music and Art?

Ecumenism of Blood: Persecution’s Fruit?

Christopher Beiting

As much as we assume Christianity's home is Europe, the reality is that, in its first few centuries, Christianity was far more Middle Eastern than European.

What If #AhmedIsaFake?

"Clock boy" Ahmed Mohamed may have a promising career ahead of him, not as an engineer or an inventor but as a social agitator and propagandist.

Barbarians at the Gates of Civilization

ISIS militants are true barbarians. Unlike most American or European rioters, they are evildoers . They've devoted their lives to violence and terror, destruction and mayhem.

The Fraudsters of Islamophobia

The slain editor of Charlie Hebdo has posthumously published a book on the subject of "Islamophobia," which he calls a "misplaced fight" spawned by "disgusting white, left-wing bourgeois paternalism."

The Most Pernicious Catholic Heresy

AS LARGE A MENACE NOW AS THEN

Kenneth Colston

Belloc saw Islam as a Catholic heresy, and a heresy is an evil. Like Calvinistic Protestantism, it overemphasizes the transcendence of God and His "immutable decrees."

The View from Obama's "High Horse"

CHRISTIANITY & ISLAM: MORALLY EQUIVALENT?

John A. Perricone

Any brutal act of a crusader was his brutal act, not the Church's. The Church teaches that men who commit such acts will be severely judged by God in the afterlife.

Who Will Call It Genocide?

Western journalists, often too busy reporting on so-called Islamophobia in our own backyard, have largely neglected the systematic extermination of Christians in biblical lands.

"Islam Has a Problem"

Bobby Jindal, the two-term governor of Louisiana, said in a highly publicized speech in London that "Islam has a problem." He continued, "religion that allows and endorses killing those who oppose it is not a religion at all," but "a terrorist movement."

The Blood Crying Out from the Ground

We Westerners bear responsibility for the current sufferings in Iraq. We created a power vacuum there that has been filled by bloodthirsty maniacs hellbent on religious cleansing.

Islam: Victors Vanquishing Victims

Terry Scambray

The former period of tolerance toward Christians in Muslim lands is an exception, and the present attacks on Christians are the norm.

Has the Church in the U.S. Succumbed to the Charms of Islam?

THE CATHOLIC-MUSLIM FAITH ALLIANCE

William Kilpatrick

Cardinal Dolan told his Islamic audience, "You love God, we love God, and he is the same God," and he thanked them "for making me feel like a friend and a member of a family."

The Pilgrim Church & Ummat al-Islam

TWO VISIONS OF PEACE & COMMUNITY

Heather M. Erb

Between the errors of inclusivism and pluralism, on the one hand, and a terrestrial, authoritarian concept of community, on the other, is a truer concept of peace.

A Continent of Contradictions

VISIONS OF DEATH, TALES OF MERCY

M.P. Summers

Africa is “at once beautiful and hideous, full of the most innocent love and the most unadulterated hatred, captivating at one moment and horrifying the next.”

The New Islamophobia

While mainstream journalists and academic talking heads exhibit a different kind of Islamophobia-- an inordinate fear of Islam-- they have no problems at all with shortchanging Christianity.

When Sectarian Violence Is Genocide

'Sanitized' news articles report Christian persecution as sectarian or ethnic violence, an inaccurate characterization of the reality of Christian minorities in the world today.

Five Common Misconceptions About Islam

A RELIGION OF PEACE?

Andrew Bieszad

We Catholics must live our faith fervently and in true, heartfelt love, so that others might see our good works and give glory to our Father in Heaven.

The Pope's Problem

GUEST COLUMN

Andrew M. Seddon

Benedict XVI said he had meant the Regensburg lecture as "a strictly academic address" without realizing the world sees papal lectures as "political statements."

We're Taking Our Ball & Going Home

When Pope Benedict urged the governments of Muslim countries to take more effective measures to protect religious minorities within their borders, Egypt went apoplectic.

Exodus & Bloodbath: Christians in the Middle East

Just days before the massacre of dozens of Christians during a Mass in Baghdad, Iraq's Chaldean Patriarch warned of a 'Satanic plan' to drive Christians out of the Middle East.

The Last Acceptable Prejudice

A man says he feels uncomfortable around Muslims on planes — and that makes him a racist? Just ask Juan Williams.

Swords About the Cross

Christopher Beiting

The modern age worships success, and the notion of fighting for a noble, though doomed, cause is foreign to us.

In Turkey, the Church Officially Does Not Exist

Why did Murat Altun, after murdering a prominent archbishop, shout "Allah Akbar!" (God is great!) and boast of having killed "the great Satan"?

Islamic Contradictions

Philip Blosser

Review of Cracks in the Crescent by Hussein Hajji Wario

An Army of Locusts Arises From the Smoke

GUEST COLUMN

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

Abraham Woodhead interpreted Apocalypse 9 as predicting a sudden invasion of Christendom by a horde of violent and unnaturally lustful insects.

The Silent Spectre of Religious Cleansing

The rise of Islamic extremism is putting increasing pressure on Christians in Muslim countries, where they are routinely victims of murder, violence, and discrimination.

'Inquiry' Shall Set Us Free?

Should Catholics try to convert Muslims? This has been a thorny question since the promulgation of Nostra Aetate.

Beware the Sajdah

KNEEL: NO BUTTS ABOUT IT

Shannon M. Jones

As a practice of personal piety, the laity may use the posture of prostration as an expression of humility only in private.

Retouching the Egregious Distortions of the Crusades

Philip Blosser

Review of God's War: A New History of the Crusades

Western Christianity & Muslim Societies on Morality

According to Pat Buchanan, Muslims hate us Westerners not for who we are but for what we do, e.g., abortion and sodomy.

Holocausts

GUEST COLUMN

D.A. Davis

We Christians have let the world forget the suffering of fellow Christians and the suffering of aborted children.

Good News & Bad News

In Africa, every year six million Muslims convert to Christianity, and very few Christians convert to Islam. In Europe it's a different story.

Cardinal Scola Exchanges Views With a Muslim Leader

LAST THINGS

Tom Bethell

Obscurity doesn't necessarily connote profundity, either. Nor does simplicity, of course, but at least it will be understood.

In 1531, Mary Intervened to Prevent a Clash of Civilizations

WILL SHE HAVE TO AGAIN?

Jim Coop

Many Moslem women not only resemble our Lady in their style of dress but also in the practice of a virtue that Western women must once again embrace.

Fuel Conservation: No War Needed

GUEST COLUMN

Robert J. Kendra

We Americans must embark on drastic measures or the consequence will be more U.S. blood shed and treasure spent for oil in the anti-American Middle East.

The So-Called War on Terror

After the nuclear attacks on Japan, Gen. Curtis LeMay said, "There are no innocent civilians," and that's what Osama says.

I Am Iraq

WILL THEY NEVER LEARN?

Vince Hodgins

Strangers come to change our way of life and impose their ways on us. They are motivated by greed for the fruits of our land and the minerals our land produced.

Abortion & Muslim Terrorism

GUEST COLUMN

Andy Nowicki

Abortion is far worse than Muslim terrorism for the sheer breadth and scope of the death and devastation it has wrought. But where is the GOP?

Targeting Muslims

In the state of Baden-Wurttemberg in southern Germany, Muslims who request citizenship must affirm their loyalty to gay rights and topless beaches.

Can You Imagine?

If Muslim women in India can protest condomania culture, why can't Catholics do the same thing in the United States of America?

What Does the Pope Know About World Affairs?

Where hot wars are concerned, many of Ratzinger's most ardent admirers find themselves diametrically at odds with the Pope.

Liberal Catholic Father, Muslim Son

Marquette U. theologian Daniel McGuire's "faith" didn't stick to his son.

The Man Who Was Ratzinger

AD EXTRA -- POPE BENEDICT XVI & THE WORLD

Michael S. Rose

It was not surprising that the election of Pope Benedict XVI met with much gnashing of teeth among liberal pundits (and much cheering elsewhere).

The Dogs Aren't Barking

ARE YOU CHRISTIANS DOZING OFF?

David C. Stolinsky

Sources of information abound on the persecution of Christians, so ignorance is no excuse. What is the reason that Christians worldwide are doing so little?

The Winepress

ISLAM VS. THE RELIGION OF THE VINE

Leon J. Podles

When our God came to earth He did not reject the human pleasures He had created: He ate and drank, and worked His first miracle at a wedding feast.

The Secret Weapon in the War on Terrorism: Priestesses!

"Dualistic (and sexist) thinking about masculine and feminine has led to a ruthlessly competitive marketplace."

John Walker May Be No Fluke

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

David C. Stolinsky

Perhaps he was so tired of — and so confused by — “seeking his own path” that he joined the first group that offered him certainty, even if it was a false and evil certainty.

Demography Is Destiny: Babies Trump Bombs in the End

GUEST COLUMN

Thomas Basil

Osama bin Laden was the 17th born in his family. America has the bombs, but the Muslims have the babies. Military power can’t hold off people power.

The First Crusade

Anne Barbeau Gardiner

The Gerusalemme liberata is an acknowledged masterpiece of world literature and a culmination of Italian Renaissance poetry.

The U.S.S. Cole: Who Are The Real Cowards?

GUEST COLUMN

Christopher Check

When American servicemen die at the hands of our political enemies, patriotic fervor swells to jingoism.

The Bishop & the Muslims

LETTER FROM ENGLAND

John Warwick Montgomery

An Apostle of Black Fatherhood

Christ and Neighbor

John C. Cort

Report from the Holy land

CHRIST & NEIGHBOR

John C. Cort

The Key Issue in the Middle East Conflict

DRAWING THE DIVIDING LINE — SOMEWHERE WEST OF THE JORDAN RIVER

Landrum R. Bolling

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict features sharply differing perceptions of the issues and seemingly irreconcilable “solutions” to an unresolvable struggle.

The Persistence of Islam

Kenneth D. Whitehead

Review of Letters on the Sufi Path by Ibn Abbad of Ronda, Eight Lives by Rajmohan Gandhi, and Lost in the Crowd by Jalal Al-e Ahmad