Pakistan
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Persecution Rank: #8
- World Watch List (Top 50 countries)
- opendoors.org

Asherah

Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, has been patroness of the United States since the mid-19th century. But her protection of the nation dates back to its earliest history.

One of the first Catholic churches in what is now the United States was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in 1584: the now-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, Florida.

John Carroll, the first bishop in the United States, had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1792, he placed the Diocese of Baltimore — which encompassed the 13 colonies of the young republic — under her protection.

Over the next 50 years, seven more dioceses were created, including New Orleans, Boston, Chicago, and Oregon City.

Continued below.

Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

On Dec. 8 the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — a paramount feast in the Church’s liturgical calendar and one that indirectly touches on a regularly misunderstood but important piece of Church dogma.

The solemnity is the patronal feast of the United States and marks the recognition of the Blessed Mother’s freedom from original sin, which the Church teaches she was granted from the moment of conception.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary was “redeemed from the moment of her conception” (No. 491) in order “to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation” (No. 490).

The dogma was disputed and challenged by Protestants over the centuries, leading Pope Pius IX to affirm it in his 1854 encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, stating unequivocally that Mary “was endowed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and preserved from original sin” upon her conception.

Continued below.

The founder of an antisemitism watchdog group condemned actors Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch and the hundreds of celebrities who signed a petition demanding that Israel release Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist found guilty of orchestrating multiple attacks that killed Israeli civilians.

The "Free Marwan" campaign is calling for the United Nations and world governments to "actively seek" Barghouti's release from Israeli prison, alleging in the petition that the political figure and terror leader faces "violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned."

Over 200 public figures, in addition to Ruffalo and Cumberbatch, have signed the petition, including musician Paul Simon, author Margaret Atwood and actor Sir Ian McKellen.

According to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Barghouti is associated with the Fatah terrorist organization, having served as the leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, which carried out thousands of terror attacks against Israel between September 2000 and April 2002.

"Just as we wouldn't expect a counterterrorism expert to win an Oscar or Grammy, no one should listen to celebrities' opinions on a mass murderer and arch terrorist," StopAntisemitism founder and executive director Liora Rez told The Christian Post.

Continued below.

The nature of idolatry is a frightening one. One thing leads to another...

A year has passed since Luigi Mangione allegedly pulled the trigger on UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. When arrested, Mangione received a tidal wave of sympathy that emanated everywhere from online forums and social media to the streets of Manhattan. People across the country celebrated the accused killer as a quasi-folk hero who struck a blow against what they saw as the vile institution of American healthcare.

Ed Davis, a former Boston police commissioner who led the police response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, saw the outpouring of support for Mangione and remarked, “I’ve been shocked by it. It’s actually troubling to see it, and I really am surprised that people are reacting that way considering the tragic loss here and the violence of what happened.”

The support for Mangione hasn’t cooled down over the past year, as evidenced by a $1.4 million crowd-sourced legal defense fund and the continued displays of public support that appeared at his court hearings this month. Jeff Goodwin, a New York University professor who studies social movements, said, “He had the chutzpah to actually do something spectacular, which certain people find attractive and courageous.”

I’m not the only one disturbed by people describing murder as being “spectacular” and “attractive” — Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, stated: “The only question after the assassination and its immediate celebration is: What the heck is going on with America’s moral compass?”

Mangione’s celebrators brought to my mind what Paul spoke about centuries ago: “They were fully aware of God’s death penalty for these crimes, yet they went right ahead and did them anyway and encouraged others to do them, too” (Rom. 1:32).

Someone else who sees this in our culture is Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf, who makes a connection with a disbelief in God and the kind of social justice violence we see when he writes: “Most people who insist on God’s ‘nonviolence’ cannot resist using violence themselves (or tacitly sanctioning its use by others).”

Volf then makes an excellent point when he notes the important distinction between Christianity and the secular culture’s methods for pursuing justice: “The practice of non-violence requires belief in divine vengeance.”

Think about that.

Continued below.

I have been working with Christian leaders in Philippines..
- for many years.
They were involved in pioneering missions/ministries..
- in the midst of persecution.

“By any objective, scientific standard, blacks are not fully human.”

“Adolf Hitler was a Christian prince.”

“It was evil to permit women to vote.”

“You can have either a civilization or blacks — but not both. What must be done is obvious.”

“Jews and blacks are both a problem.”

“It should be illegal for women to work outside the home.”

“Tolerance for the Jews is apostasy before God.”

“Adolf Hitler is in Paradise.”

Thesestatements — and many, many more like them — were posted on X over the past few years by Corey Mahler, a self-identified “Christian nationalist,” who is co-host of the Stone Choir podcast.

Last week, Mahler’s podcast was recommended by Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the “#1 Christian Nationalist podcast in the world” on his new website ChristianNationalist.com. More concerning still was the fact that Torba’s website was immediately praised by Christian nationalist pastors like Joel Webbon and Brian Sauvé, whose ministries were also recommended on the site.

How did Christian nationalism go from an ambiguous pejorative invoked primarily by progressives, to a small but growing movement among Reformed Evangelicals, to a repository for gutter racism, misogyny, and antisemitism? The story is complicated.

Christian nationalism as vague pejorative

Continued below.

Set aside any distinctly political topic or person for a moment, if you can.

If you’re a 40-year-old (or over) Evangelical like me, you’ve probably seen and heard so much about who Christians are in the last 20 years, and much of it has been hogwash. I know this personally, having spent nearly a decade in the media, and I have seen from the inside how these distortions and cartoonishly Ned Flanders caricatures are generated in real time.

Before the proliferation of social media platforms, many legacy media narratives that sincere, theologically orthodox believers faced were, and still are, beyond tiresome. While I can't speak for everyone, many Christians have been intensely frustrated that no matter how graciously they tried to explain where they were coming from, they were routinely misrepresented in the press, and they’ve often felt as though they were neither heard nor understood. And to be sure, I’m not defending truly evil people within churches and ministries who are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15) in sheep’s clothing, who should be exposed.

But I was wrong about something that I’ve believed for a while. Maybe partially wrong, but still wrong. As the world rapidly changes, it's important to be honest about what I've seen previously but now see more clearly.

Continued below.

December 8, 2025

Our Morning Offering – 8 December – Immaculate! Immaculate! By Fr Faber


One Minute Reflection – 8 December ‘ … Pure and Immaculate Virgin, chosen from among all other beings … ‘

Immaculate Conception propers & commentary (EF)

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary propers & commentary (EF)

December 8 – The Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin propers & commentary (EF)

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's Instruction on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary readings & commentary (OF)

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary readings & commentary (OF)

Daily Gospel

The Immaculate Conception (Declared a dogma December 8, 1854 by Pius IX)

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saints of the Day

Sermons for Everyday Living

Pope John Paul II’s Last Sermon on the Immaculate Conception

Tallis’ Gaude Gloriosa

Audio The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Guéranger)
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Kjelete said:

Everyday, something new and mean stuff is coming from American online. For example that unemployed people drain the system. That's how I understand it from you. Now it's like your dream of a society where everyone works will never happen, a kind of utopia. The reason I'm writing is because my mother worked in a factory for 32 years or something, and got a medal, and my father has worked for about 30 years also in different places, woke up to the same alarm every day for 30 years, yet they are treated degradingly when we are out because they "just" go there.

Its fun to be mean perhaps, I never understand it, but americans have to kinda weirdos to put all this nonsense out there. I'm always treated well because I've sung so much, but I think it's a bit the opposite of what it should be, maybe then, I've learned a lot on my own, worked hard, but I think 30 years in a factory is tougher

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Well, we are 8 billion +and no one can carry all the burdens of the world.

We are all good at something even factory work, best is to do what you are good at. makes life more stressless.

Trust in God conduct oneself with integrity, and the One above will take care of everything.

"Think good and it will be good."
The Rebbe.

12/08/25 Day 5

O St. Lucy, whose name proclaims the radiance of light, we approach you with humble confidence to seek your holy intercession. Obtain for us, through your prayers, that sacred illumination which guides our souls away from the shadows of sin and leads us toward the brightness of virtue.

Obtain for us also these petitions which we offer to you in this novena:

[Mention your petitions now]

We beseech you, St. Lucy, through your powerful advocacy before the throne of the Lamb, the protection of our eye sight, and for the grace to employ our eyes always in service of God’s glory and never for that which offends His divine majesty.

Help us to perceive with clarity the truths of our faith and the needs of our neighbor, that we may walk steadfastly in the light of Christ and labor earnestly for the salvation of souls.

Pray for us, St. Lucy, that having honored you as our advocate in this earthly pilgrimage, we may one day behold with you the eternal splendor of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose divine light all shadows flee away forever. Amen.

Generation gap?

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Welcome @Factotum

I get asked when I "found out" that there was no "Santa" all the time, by people who regard it as an inevitable tragic moment in every childhood. These same people have children in their families who are being told the tale. Why do they do it? Why would you tell your own children this thing, knowing and expecting them to be distraught when they found out it is not true?

I was told that it was a puzzle that the grown ups were setting, and I should try to solve it. The year that I was 11 I announced that I thought I had solved it. I said that there is really a Saint Nicholas, who was known for giving gifts, but there is not really a flying sledge, he is not fat, and the red suit thing is an American cola advert. I figured it had been a fun game, I learned that Jesus was the entire purpose of Christmas as we do it at our house, and while we can quietly leave others to do things their own way, we should and did keep the most questionable Pagan and pointless materialist habits out of it. There was no sense of tragedy or betrayal there, it was more a small rite of passage. In a country where there are people who celebrate the Winter Solstice according to pre-Christian beliefs it was a lesson to learn.

We did also know an atheist family, they told their son that Santa was a game, which made perfect sense to him since he was always being taught to doubt everything that could not be proved with science, and Christmas in their home was a simple matter of stay away from all others and play games. He never had a moment of tragic, distressing enlightenment about it either.

@keras,

How can you not understand this ?

Anybody remember me? I was a regular on this forum from 2004 until 2018, after which I mostly moved on to other things. I don't plan on becoming a regular here again, but I'm back for the time being to ask about a recent piece of evolutionary anthropology news.


According to this analysis, when the human and chimpanzee genomes are compared while including portions that hadn't previously been sequenced, their similarity drops from the commonly given 98% value to 84.7%. On the surface this seems valid, and the conclusion has been accepted by Jerry Coyne, an evolutionary biologist who is qualified to evaluate it. Jerry Coyne's post from yesterday is what brought this analysis to my attention.

But there is something odd about this conclusion: it's virtually identical to an argument made in 2012 by Jerry Bergman and Jeffrey Tomkins in the Journal of Creation. Bergman and Tomkins' 2012 argument was that when human and chimpanzee genomes are compared using data typically omitted from these comparisons, the percentage similarity drops to somewhere in the 81-87 percent range. Either the recent analysis by "Origins Unveiled" is an example of a major creationist claim being vindicated by mainstream evolutionary anthropology, or it's a very clever false flag operation by a creationist or Intelligent Design proponent, which was convincing enough for even Jerry Coyne to be fooled.

Looking more closely, I've noticed a few other possible red flags. First, the argument made by "Origins Unveiled" (and accepted by Jerry Coyne) is based on a paper published in Nature on April 9th. The exact same argument made by "Origins Unveiled"—that this paper shows the creationist figure of 81-87% to be correct—was previously made six months ago by Casey Luskin of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. And second, "Origins Unveiled" is a relatively new Twitter account (registered in 2024) without any identifying information, aside from that they were a were considering a Ph.D in evolutionary anthropology until they quit due to "the rampant political correctness I witnessed among professors and students in potential university programs". Some of the account's other posts include accurate summaries of evolutionary anthropology concepts, but a fair number of creationists have legitimate PhDs and have published mainstream biology or geoscience research, so the ability to accurately explain these concepts doesn't prove the account's provenance either way.

I would like some help evaluating whether the "Origins Unveiled" Twitter account is for real, and whether it's a coincidence that they've reached the same conclusion as Luskin (and also previously Bergman and Tomkins), or whether this Twitter account is being operated someone associated with the Discovery Institute who's posing as an evolutionary anthropologist. I suppose it's also possible that this account belongs to a creationist or ID proponent but that the substance of their argument is still correct. I'm aware of one other case where a creationist objection (not to the theory evolution itself, but to the way it's been presented in textbooks) turned out to be valid.

stevevw said:

All I know is he selected one example and ignored the rest. Thats not dealing with the evidence. Qoute mining over one bit of my evidence is not dealing with the evidence.


The same science tells us the forensics of those marks. This then gives evidence that some other knowledge and tech was used. The science even tells us the possible method or what it took to make the mark. The science shows us that melting or softening stone takes a particular knowledge. It verified that the stone was melted and softened.

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Get through your thick skull you have not presented a shred of evidence of anything in this thread that supports your nonsense.

The sheer stupidity is for you give lectures to educated individuals in this thread who at the very least know what evidence means.
Evidence is physical in nature, it is measurable and/or observable not your idiotic definition where it is derivable and interpretable according to one's bias.

When it comes to melted or softened stone in the case of Egyptology there is not a shred of evidence of any physical changes occurring when subjected to petrological testing as shown in my previous post.

If concentrating on Egypt is too narrow by all means supply petrological tests for any of your non Egyptian images showing the rock has been physically changed.
Otherwise as you have demonstrated images are subject to interpretation where bias not evidence is the determining factor.

Xeno.of.athens said:

The Law, as revealed by God and fulfilled in Christ, serves as a moral compass and pedagogical guide for the Christian faithful. It includes the Mosaic Law, especially the Decalogue, and finds its perfection in the New Law of the Gospel. “The Law has become our tutor unto Christ” (Galatians 3:24), and its enduring moral precepts are reaffirmed by the Church as binding. The Catechism teaches that “the Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel” and “remains necessary for man” as it “denounces and discloses sin” (CCC §1963–1964).

The Ten Commandments, given to Moses on Sinai (Exodus 20:1–17), are “fundamentally immutable” and “engraved by God in the human heart” (CCC §2072). They express the natural law and are reaffirmed by Christ, who deepens their meaning in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 5–7). The Commandments are not abolished but fulfilled in charity: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). They are the foundation of Christian moral life, guiding the faithful in their duties toward God and neighbour.

For the Christian in this world, the Law and Commandments are not burdens but paths to freedom and holiness. Grace enables their fulfilment, and the Spirit writes them anew on the heart (cf. Jeremiah 31:33; CCC §1965–1966). The faithful are called to interiorise the Law, living it not merely by external observance but through love: “Love is the fulfilment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Thus, the Commandments remain essential, not as relics of legalism, but as living expressions of divine wisdom and the way of life in Christ.

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By the way, its amusing that despite you affirming this, and despite the fact that your church is responsible for the majority of worship services celebrated on the seventh day, some sabbatarian members still accuse the Roman Catholic Church falsely of teaching people to break the Ten Commandments, when this is demonstrably, evidently false.

peter2 said:

i agree, but i wouldn't find useless to assume Mary was supported (and may be supported the apostles) by her belief during the three days of death. As called Peter, i assume the apostle (Peter) must have felt sheepish of his denials before her, even after resurrection, at least up until Jesus gives him back the leadership over his shep, may be still when waiting for the Holy Spirit.
i wonder whether it's not in what preceeds that part of this motherhood of Mary Jesus gives to John (indirectly to Peter) consists

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Indeed - this is an interesting point.

You might enjoy reading the Orthodox theotokia, particularly the stavrotheotokia, the hymns venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross.