Muhammad's Hegira (622) It was on this date, July 16, 622, by tradition and on the Western calendar, that Muhammad's hegira (or hijra, هِجْرَة) occurred — that is, his flight from Mecca to Medina (then called Yathrib) in order to escape persecution and found a community of believers. History shows the event taking place in […]

Mary Baker Eddy (1821) and "Christian Science" It was on this date, July 16, 1821, that Mary Baker Eddy was born near Concord, New Hampshire into a Congregationalist family. A sickly youth, Eddy studied alternative medicine, alongside the Bible, in search of a mind-body-Bible connection. Prompted by her supposed recovery from a life-threatening accident in […]

The First Crusade Captures Jerusalem (1099) Then Kills Everyone It was on this date, July 15, 1099, that the First Crusade, or "Campaign of the Cross," achieved its objective and captured Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher. Once the Muslim citizens of Jerusalem lost control of their city, the Crusaders then proceeded, with the zeal of […]

The Third Secret of Fátima Revealed (1917) It was on this date, July 13, 1917, that the Third Secret of Fátima was revealed by the Virgin Mary to three peasant children in a rural village north of Lisbon. At least, that is how Lucia dos Santos remembered it. But by this time she had been […]

"Calvin was ... as nearly like the God of the Old Testament as his health permitted." - Robert Ingersoll

The life of the Báb gives us an interesting illustration of how miracles and legends can attach themselves to recent historical figures.

Freethinkers such as Voltaire in France and John Locke in England pushed back the night of superstition with the light of reason.

It is said that Hus's doctrinal divergences with the Church were socially harmful, but that is laughable given the corruption against which he had been protesting.

If the Salvation Army is to continue its "warfare against evil," it might reflect that over a century of success was achieved without taxpayer-tainted funds.

His one achievement was to drive out of the Church what was left of Catholic scholarship.