The Pokey Finger of God

When I first started along the pagan path, ere so long ago, much of my motivation was a desire to move away from what I perceived to be the hypocrisy and false origins of Christianity. For some time — indeed, for many years — I prided myself in my paganism, especially in how it wasn’t […]

[Read more →]

In Japan, a praying Chihuahua is bringing in lots of visitors to his master’s Zen temple. Yoshikuni said Conan generally goes through his prayer routine at the temple in the capital of Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture (state) without prompting before his morning and evening meals. “I think he saw me doing it all the time […]

[Read more →]

— from Chris Hedges of Free Press on Alternet Many of these atheists, like the Christian fundamentalists, support the imperialist projects and preemptive wars of the United States as a necessity in the battle against terrorism and irrational religion. They divide the world into superior and inferior races, those who are enlightened by reason and […]

[Read more →]

The dissolution of Bear Stearns over the weekend put a rather somber exclamation point on the sub-prime mortgage crisis. If anyone had any doubt regarding the extent of the problem or how deeply it had spread, that doubt should now be lifted. I have no clue what to do about the global or national economies. […]

[Read more →]

Easter must be near, as the annual “Christian Interest” story is going around. From the BBC: Was Jesus Black? Some say that it’s obvious that Jesus was a black man: he liked Gospel, called everyone ‘Brother’, and couldn’t get a fair trial. There are serious traditions that the family of Jesus migrated from Nigeria (!), […]

[Read more →]

The following text outlines my current understanding regarding the origins of Christianity. As usual, it’s chock full of speculation, which I like to pretend is rather well informed speculation, naturally. What it is and isn’t Christianity has deep roots within Judaism, but it is not an Aramaic faith. Greek philosophy informs and structures the theology […]

[Read more →]

Cultural congruity is a relative measure of the cultural distinctiveness between two organizations and /or individuals. Cultural congruity is noted by a person when another person or group makes them feel “at home”. Conversely, cultures are considered incongruous when the customs or habits of others are perceived as being very different. Cultural congruity is highly […]

[Read more →]

I mentioned Dungan’s Constantine’s Bible the other day before I had finished reading it. I fear that I made it sound like a lame book, and I’m glad I didn’t let my waning enthusiasm sour me on it before I was done. Dungan didn’t go on and on about Eusebius like I had expected. Instead, […]

[Read more →]

Yes, another book. David Dungan’s Constantine’s Bible has an amazing reach, starting from the beginnings of civilization, through the development of Greek philosophy and its distribution through the ancient East. Only a third of the way through, but I’m pretty sure I know how this one ends. Actually, I’m having such a severe case of […]

[Read more →]

The other day, I nearly picked up a package of “Last Supper Mints”, which was a 3″x1″x0.5″ metal tin with 50(!) mints within, covered lovingly with a 18th C. reproduction of daVinci’s Last Supper image without. Briefly, I considered putting a photo of the box in my collection of Last Supper images, but the image […]

[Read more →]