Tag Archives | Religion

Interview with Chris Stedman, Author of ‘Faitheist’

Chris Stedman

Recently in a bookstore, killing time before going to my day job, I came across the book Fathiest: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, by Chris Stedman.

The concept really resonated with me. Here was an atheist reaching out to religious people, to find common ground and work for equality and social justice. It seemed like a very refreshing approach. I’m familiar with The New atheists such as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens. I frankly felt these guys were missing a lot of the aspects of religion that are worthy of support, such as feeding the hungry, providing shelter for the homeless, working with people struggling with addiction – work I had been involved in as an evangelical. Though I definitely wouldn’t categorize myself as a scientific materialist, I actually am on board with the scientific and philosophical objections vocal atheists espouse against Christian fundamentalists.… Read the rest

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In Search of Disorganised Religion

linknotbrokenVia The Spectator:

Theo Hobson attends Grace, an alternative Christian service in west London, and finds it arty, irreverent, postmodern — and full of people seeking a new way to worship

I went to church last weekend. Sort of. It was a Saturday evening service run by a group of laypeople in an Anglican church in Ealing. It’s a monthly event called Grace. What sort of people attend? Quite trendy ones. People who are a bit too trendy for normal church. The sort who know how to link a computer up to sound and visual equipment. No grannies, no kids.

Soft club music pulsed as I entered, and a big screen showed an art installation: furniture made of neon strips. In the middle of the pewless nave were a couple of sofas, a table and chairs, and a fridge; round the edges were some beanbags. I sat on one. This month’s theme was Home.

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Inside Santa Fe’s Ayahuasca-Based Church

ayahuascaIs this what the biblical Moses was dabbling in when he encountered the “burning bush”? NPR describes attending a plant-based Christian spiritist service:

A small church in Santa Fe, N.M., has grown up around a unique sacrament. Twice a month, the congregation meets in a ritualized setting to drink Brazilian huasca tea, which has psychoactive properties said to produce a trance-like state.

UDV stands for Uniao do Vegetal — literally translated “the union of the plants.” The Santa Fe church is the largest of the six UDV congregations in the country, numbering only 300 members in all. There are 17,000 practitioners in Brazil, where the church started.

The Supreme Court confirmed the UDV church’s right to exist in 2006. The church doesn’t seek new members and prefers to keep a low profile.

Barbara, an electrologist, says the tea cured her Lyme disease; Satara, a substitute teacher, claims huasca amplifies perception of herself and the world — like turning up the volume on a radio.

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Out of All Drugs Legal And Illegal, Which Ones Kill?

Picture: William Rafti (CC)

Picture: William Rafti (CC)

If we were to have a sane and adult conversation about drug use and abuse in America instead of waging a war on drugs the same way we wage a war on terror, we might come to the realization that  we’re letting the bad ones in our homes freely while some of the most helpful to improving the quality of life of the average person carry some of the highest minimum prison sentences of all, while touting an infinitesimal number of related deaths.  Some of you may have read Thad McKracken’s well thought out article on the state of drugs in society today.  The numbers fall in lockstep with his thoughts.

It turns out that, aside from Alcohol, Big Pharma is the #1 killer  while drugs that have been used traditionally as entheogens hardly appear in the statistics at all.  Drugs like LSD, DMT, Marajuana, Peyote and other psychedelics are used as a religious sacrament in many belief systems around the world, but are vilified because of their tendency to provide people with what Terence McKenna simply called ‘funny ideas’.… Read the rest

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Catholic bishops: Background check vote shows a ‘failure in moral leadership’

via The Raw Story pot-kettle

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Friday reiterated that the “culture of life” often cited by Republican politicians included gun control.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Bishop Stephen E. Blaire expressed his disappointment that legislation to expand criminal background checks on gun purchases was killed by a filibuster.

“The USCCB has been working with other faith leaders and organizations urging Congress to support legislation that builds a culture of life by promoting policies that reduce gun violence and save people’s lives in homes and communities throughout our nation,” he said. “In the wake of tragic events such as the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, the failure to support even modest regulations on firearms is a failure in moral leadership to promote policies which protect and defend the common good.”

Last week, the Senate voted 54-46 in favor of a bipartisan amendment to a larger gun bill that would require background checks on firearm sales at gun shows and on the Internet.

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Juggling Jesus Miraculously Appears On British Man’s Shirt

juggling jesusIf you were looking for a hip, new image for the Christian savior for the Coachella generation, I think it has arrived. Introducing Juggling Jesus via the Christian Post:

Jesus has appeared as a fabric softener stain, according to one British man in reports out this week.

Martin Andrews reportedly had an accident in which he spilled some fabric softener on his T-shirt, and the resulting stain is an image of Jesus Christ, the man resolutely claims. According to Andrews, Jesus appears in the stain with his arms stretched outwards.

Others, however, have mocked Andrews claims, with some saying that the image looks more like a juggler tossing some objects rather than the Messiah. Andrews is undeterred in his claims though: “When the T-shirt’s the right way up it doesn’t really look like anything … but when you look at it the other way up it’s really Him.”

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Belief in an Angry, Punishing God Associated With Increase in Mental Illness

sinners hands angry god2A new study reveals that if your vision of God is that of a pissed-off monster then you may be more likely to have certain kinds of for mental health problems. And yes, I mean beyond just believing that there’s an ill-mannered invisible monster watching your every move:

Analyzing a Gallup survey conducted in 2010, the researchers sought to determine how one’s perception of God — as punitive, benevolent, or indifferent — was associated with five different psychiatric symptoms: general anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion.

Respondents’ characterizations of God were gleaned from their opinions of how six adjectives — absolute, critical, just, punishing, severe, or wrathful — applied to God. A numbering system was used to gauge the degree to which the subject viewed the adjective as an accurate descriptor of God (very well = 4; somewhat well = 3, not very well = 2, etc.). In a similar fashion, respondents answered queries designed to measure the five aforementioned psychiatric symptoms.

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Christian Fundamentalism’s War on Higher Mathematics

384px-Relation1001.svgI’ll be the first to admit that my math skills are rudimentary. I’d go so far as to say they’re borderline non-existent. To quote that famous plastic scholar Barbie, “Math is tough!” If you can do math, especially anything from algebra on up, you’ve got my admiration – maybe even my fearful reverence. You’re like the first caveman who mastered fire to me. You don’t have to worry about me coming to your door with pitchfork in torch in hand. However, the same can’t be said of certain groups of Christian fundamentalists. According to BoingBoing’s Maggy Koerth-Baker, some of these guys are waging war against higher mathematics, particularly something called “set theory”. Check it out:

Some of these folks get very touchy about the idea of infinity. Mark Chu-Carroll is a software engineer at foursquare and a math blogger. Unlike me, he was already aware of the fundamentalist objection to set theory, because he’s actually had people show up in his comment section railing about how the theory is an affront to God.

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Vatican Department Shares Building With Italy’s Biggest Erotic Gay Sauna

vatican gay sex club saunaCan the Catholic Church just no longer be bothered to make a token effort to hide the obvious? The Vatican’s department of missionary activities recently paid $35 million to house its officials within a building that also contains Europa Multiclub, an anonymous men’s hookup club that claims to be the “number-one gay sauna in Italy,” the BBC reports:

A historic palazzo in Rome that houses a key Vatican department is also the home of a well-known gay sauna. The Vatican paid 20m euros in 2008 for around 20 apartments in the building.

The proximity to Europa Multiclub, billed as Italy’s top gay sauna, has drawn comment due to the Vatican’s strict stance on gay partnerships. The facility boasts a Turkish bath, Finnish sauna, whirlpools and massages. Also on offer are “bear parties”.

The Vatican has declined to comment on the proximity of the sauna to the department headquarters.

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How To Potty Train Your Child By Demonic Exorcism

demonic exorcismCould parenting difficulties be attributable to Satanic possession of your children? Top anti-demon website DemonBuster reveals:

We received the following email about a woman learning DELIVERANCE, and practicing DELIVERANCE on her young child:

“Well my baby boy has been difficult to potty-train. I would sit him in the toilet for a long time and nothing would happen. So I got really mad, sat him in the potty and told him he had to “go”. The baby started screaming and I got the idea that it was a demon. So I commanded it to manifest and give me his name. The baby continued screaming and saying: “You can’t make me, you can’t make me”. I insisted in the demon telling me his name, so the Holy Spirit said: “That’s his name, “you can’t make me”. I commanded it out. The baby had deliverance and he has been potty-trained since.”

Praise the Lord!

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