YESTERDAY it was the damning report on abuse of children by Catholic institutions in Ireland. Today we learn that a retired Catholic Archbishop in the US is claiming in a soon-to-be-published memoir that he did not comprehend the potential harm to young victims or understand that the priests had committed a crime. Said Rembert G [...]
A FIERCELY debated, long-delayed investigation into Ireland’s Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorised thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades – and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation. Nine years in the making, today’s 2,600-page report sides almost completely with the horrific reports of abuse [...]
PACING across the bright, flood-lit stage, a faith-healer screeches Alleluiahs into the microphone, his voice echoing around the packed auditorium. As the offering buckets fill, an elderly man in a wheelchair empties what little money he has, catching the eye of the rock-star priest on stage. The healer bellows: Brother before this night is over, [...]
Continue reading about A story of revelation and rebirth, but not as Christians would like it
YOU probably won’t be surprised to learn that daily intelligence briefings to the “born-again” imbecile they once called the President G W Bush bore biblical quotes on the cover page. This barminess came to light when GQ Magazine broke the story in its June issue – and yesterday the Pentagon announced that it had ditched [...]
Continue reading about Pentagon scraps barmy Bible verses on White House briefings
YOU don’t have to be crazy to be a Christian – but it sure does help, as defrocked Catholic priest Neil Horan has proved on a number of occasions. Back in 2004, the Roman Catholic priest stripped naked and chased a seven-year-old girl around a room. This led to an Old Bailey indecency trial, but [...]
WE have just learned of the death of James Kirkup, the British poet who was reluctantly catapulted to notoriety in the 1970s after his homosexual poem, The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name, landed Gay News and its editor, Denis Lemon, in the dock for “blasphemous” libel. Kirkup died at his home in Andorra [...]
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
