lurking on the intarwebs
Maybe it's declasse to be a lurker, but I have to admit it can be completely enjoyable. Par example, I like to read Bill Tammeus' Faith Matters blog. Bill used to write the starbeams column in the KC Star years ago (which were funny observations about KC/US/World news stories) and has stayed on as a religion columnist. His blog touches on different topics each day, but philosophically is geared towards promoting "interfaith dialogue." I think this means to learn about other religions in a non-threating way. There are many regular posters in the "comments" section, who have established themselves as "characters" in this strangely enthralling drama.
There are:
*New Age High Tech Jesus lady, who uses a lot of capitals and about finding our salvation in higher technology/religion merger. I find her comments unusual, but sweetly sincere.
*Dude who really hates Mainstream Coalition, which is a politically/religious moderate organization devoted to keeping religious conservatives from running the gov't. DWRHMC email involves the words "Mainstream Coalition" and regularly compares the Village Presbyterian Church (liberal Protestant?) to Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist in Topeka (wacky "God hates fags" religon). I'm guess from his posts that DWRHMC is a conservative Protestant.
*Angry Catholic Guy, who enjoys displaying his intellectual superiority by quoting church fathers, theologians and Bible verses. He "has read the Talmud," hates the Talmud (it's blasphemous) and dislikes Jewish pornographers and Jewish morality. He is wounded when Bill T. makes oblique references in his blog about how people should really think twice about posting anti-Semitic comments, but responds to most criticism sarcastically.
*Angry Protestant Guy who hates the Catholic Church, esp. those pedophilic, HIV+ priests.
*Liberal Religious Woman, who regularly takes on Angry Catholic Guy.
*Various other posters, many of whom urge peace, love and tolerance, display intellectual acuity and refrain from flaming/trolling.
It really is fun to read, though I suspect it would be considerably toned down if people had to display their real names.
There are:
*New Age High Tech Jesus lady, who uses a lot of capitals and about finding our salvation in higher technology/religion merger. I find her comments unusual, but sweetly sincere.
*Dude who really hates Mainstream Coalition, which is a politically/religious moderate organization devoted to keeping religious conservatives from running the gov't. DWRHMC email involves the words "Mainstream Coalition" and regularly compares the Village Presbyterian Church (liberal Protestant?) to Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist in Topeka (wacky "God hates fags" religon). I'm guess from his posts that DWRHMC is a conservative Protestant.
*Angry Catholic Guy, who enjoys displaying his intellectual superiority by quoting church fathers, theologians and Bible verses. He "has read the Talmud," hates the Talmud (it's blasphemous) and dislikes Jewish pornographers and Jewish morality. He is wounded when Bill T. makes oblique references in his blog about how people should really think twice about posting anti-Semitic comments, but responds to most criticism sarcastically.
*Angry Protestant Guy who hates the Catholic Church, esp. those pedophilic, HIV+ priests.
*Liberal Religious Woman, who regularly takes on Angry Catholic Guy.
*Various other posters, many of whom urge peace, love and tolerance, display intellectual acuity and refrain from flaming/trolling.
It really is fun to read, though I suspect it would be considerably toned down if people had to display their real names.