Over the past week, I spent some time discussing matters spiritual with my family of origin. What struck me is that I have become adept at creating complex statements of technical matters and points of fine detail, but I've lost the knack of stating things simply. It's all so interconnected that I can't say just one thing without a list of ( Read more... )

“[Gods might actually] be self-referential idea clusters that, upon broaching a certain frontier of complexity, have become either aware or apparently aware…. It is my belief that all gods are stories, or at least the ideas behind the stories, but stories or ideas that have become in some way almost alive and aware, or at least appear to be to all ( Read more... )

Death: Humans need fantasy to *be* human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape ( Read more... )

It seems that some fans have decided that their worship of the sparkly vampires of the Twilight novels should be literal, not just literary. Yes, someone seems to have founded a Twilight based religion.

From the SF Examiner: 'Twilight' series spawns religion: Edward Cullen is real, members should read the books like a BibleSomeone please ( Read more... )

A group of committed churchgoers, pastors and like-minded businesses have teamed up to fight America’s ‘moral decay’ by introducing a series of sanitized pornographic films modeled after biblical parables and featuring ethical lessons mixed in amongst ultra-softcore erotic scenes. Among the group’s stated goals is the eradication of “indecent ( Read more... )

This one is interesting. The author posits that the J source is ( Read more... )

Just in case your day isn't surreal enough: An argument in favor of Christian butt-sex.

No, really.  http://www.sexinchrist.com/The out-of-context Bible quotes are amusing.  There are also links to further articles that basically argue that there is no sex act, however kinky, that can happen between a man and a woman that is out of bounds for ( Read more... )

The other day I found a link in wickedthought's journal that lead me to this segment of Fresh Air: Jesus, Interrupted. wickedthought had this entry tagged "faithless," which is the tag he attatches to his posts about atheism and against religion.

Jesus, Interrupted is a recent book by biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman. In it, Ehrman examines the places where the Gospels ( Read more... )

Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being.... Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken.... One rules through one's ruling passion. Those who look upon gods then say ( Read more... )

So, I'm reading this article about How an English church is removing a scary crucifix that "was scaring local children and deterring worshippers" because it was "a horrifying depiction of pain and suffering".

My first thought was, Well duh.  It's a bloody crucifix.  It's a dead man on a stick.  What did you expect?

Later on, the vicar explains:

( Read more... )