We can be anyone we want to be, more so because Wicca can encompass anything. We are everyone. We are kind and loving. We can be mean, because we are only human. We are not better than anyone else, but we are equal to everyone else.
This isn’t about rights, it’s about respect. We need to find a way for people to respect us, regardless of those who try to bring us down. And maybe, we can even look to Christianity for examples. Is this our arena, and are the Christians our lions? Perhaps. Not all of them certainly. Obviously, however, some of them fall under this category. We are in a young religion, and we are being forged in the fires. Will we break, or come out stronger? Read more…
Calamus are perennial flowering plants from the Acorus family. Native to to North America and northern and eastern Asia. The leaves grow between 0.7 and 1.7 cm wide, with average of 1 cm, and the flower is between 3 and 4 mm.
The Penobscot people would cut the root and hang it throughout the house to cure illness. When traveling, they would take a piece of the root, and chew to ward off sickness. To cure a runny nose, The Potawatomipeople would powder the dried root and put up their nose. The Teton-Dakota warriors believed it prevented excitement and fear when facing their enemy, they would chew it to a paste and rub it on their face. Read more …
New Zealand earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing at least 65 people
At least 65 people have died and more than 100 are missing after a powerful earthquake struck the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch, collapsing buildings, burying vehicles under debris and sending rescuers scrambling to help people trapped under rubble.
The 6.3-magnitude quake struck the country’s second largest city on a busy weekday afternoon.
The mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, has declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city centre. “Make no mistake this is going to be a very black day for this shaken city,” he said.
Power and water was cut and hundreds of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared throughout Christchurch in the aftermath of the quake, which was centred three miles from the city. The US Geological Survey said the tremor occurred at a depth of 2.5 miles. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
The cemetery, founded in the 1660s as a burial ground for nonconformists, radicals and dissenters, holds the remains of John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, Daniel Defoe, who wrote Robinson Crusoe, and the poet and artist William Blake, among thousands of others.
In the 19th century, when it had already become a place of pilgrimage for nonconformists and radical reformers, the poet Robert Southey called it the Campo Santo (holy ground) of the dissenters. By the time it was finally declared full and closed in 1853, at least 120,000 people had been interred in the four acres. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Planet could be ‘unrecognizable’ by 2050, experts say
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A growing, more affluent population competing for ever scarcer resources could make for an “unrecognizable” world by 2050, researchers warned at a major US science conference Sunday.
The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050, “with almost all of the growth occurring in poor countries, particularly Africa and South Asia,” said John Bongaarts of the non-profit Population Council.
To feed all those mouths, “we will need to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we have in the last 8,000,” said Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Read full story from yahoo.com
‘Yoga’ – Another Serious Acid Test For Naga Christians?
I have come across the word ‘Yoga’ for many years but it didn’t register or make any impression on me until 21st Feb. 2011 when I glance through an article, ‘Yoga for healthy living’ in a local daily written by Imtila Sangtam. She introduced herself as being born into Baptist background whose grandfather and grandmother were the first convert to Christianity from Kubza village on 25-01-1914 and whose father died while in service as a lay evangelist. She also quoted from Bible- Luke 2:14, ‘Glory to God in the highest’, to support her belief and acknowledges God as the one who brought her to this beautiful world. .After reading the writer’s article, which she wrote in support of her work in promoting Yoga as a harmless exercise, I started questioning myself, If Yoga is harmless, what harm would there be for a Christian to practice Christian Astrology? Christian Goddess Worship? Christian Animist? Christian New Age? Christian Shamanism? Christian Reincarnation? Christian Tai Chi? Christian Wicca? Christian Witchcraft? Christian Hinduism? Christian Islam? or Christian Zen Buddhism? My intent in writing this article is not to attack anybody, religion or the writer whose purpose I believe is of good intention but to let every reader examine the other angle point of view.
Firstly, I want to cite the definition from Webster’s on “yoga.” It says it’s “a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation.” Read full story from morungexpress.com
The Theological Dilemma of Medieval Neuroscience
To casual observers the history of science goes something like this: Greek philosophers introduced the world to rational, naturalistic ways of thinking which freed us from superstition and myth. Sadly, the Roman Empire crumbled, Christianity replaced paganism, religious dogma replaced rationalism, and progress stagnated until about the 16th century when the foundations of science began taking shape. Of course, the real story is more complicated (interested readers should see David Lindberg’s The Beginnings of Western Science). At the risk of disorienting casual observers, I am going to explore one of those interesting complications: Medieval neuroscience.
The 12th and 13th centuries witnessed a flourishing of natural philosophy in Christian Europe. While creation, the cosmos, miracles and the nature of God were uppermost on the agenda, medieval natural philosophy also included the biological basis of the human mind. The major brain theory of the time was called the theory of the “inner (or interior) senses,” the roots of which ran back to Aristotle (see Simon Kemp’s book Cognitive Psychology in the Middle Ages, chapter 4). In his De Anima, Aristotle identified a number of intellectual functions including sensation, imagination and memory. Originally, Aristotle located these functions in the heart, but the renowned Roman physician Galen relocated them to the brain. Physicians after Galen (precisely who is unclear) put these function specifically in the ventricles of the brain given that the ventricles were highly interconnected via nerve fibers to sensory and motor systems throughout the body. Animal spirits flowing from the ventricles through the nerve fibers could then account for the direction of thought and action throughout the body. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com
On the edge of history
Carleton University will award an honorary doctorate to Aung San Suu Kyi in absentia on Tuesday. I would like to share, in honour of the moment, a personal memory of my own visit to Burma (now Myanmar). This visit inspired a book of poems I wrote and attempted to send to Aung San Suu Kyi, to whom I dedicated the book. Her husband notified me that there was no means to deliver the book to her but that he thought she would have appreciated it as she was teaching herself French to pass the time in her house arrest.
Pagan, the plain stretching out along the Irrawaddy River, dotted with hundreds of ancient temples, captured my imagination. In my mind’s eye I could see the temples, shimmering in a mist of heat. I could imagine richly detailed carvings and ponder the mystery repeated in so many sites around the world. What causes humankind to create great works of art and architecture in one century and then abandon them abruptly to live amidst their ruins for centuries to come? Is it, as in Jared Diamond’s book, Collapse, because of over population and eco-failure? If so, why do remaining citizens not continue the traditions? Why are the noble arts lost? Read full story from ottawacitizen.com
Pilots, boaters adjust to shift in magnetic north
Magnetic north, the point at the top of the Earth that determines compass headings, is shifting its position at a rate of about 40 miles per year. In geologic terms, it’s racing from the Arctic Ocean near Canada toward Russia.
As a result, everyone who uses a compass, even as a backup to modern GPS navigation systems, needs to be aware of the shift, make adjustments or obtain updated charts to ensure they get where they intend to go, authorities say. That includes pilots, boaters and even hikers.
“You could end up a few miles off or a couple hundred miles off, depending how far you’re going,” said Matthew Brock, a technician with Lauderdale Speedometer and Compass, a Fort Lauderdale company that repairs compasses. Read full story from sunsentinel.com
Accused pig killer in trouble again
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) – The woman accused of killing and maiming two pigs, then leaving one of the pig’s heads on its owner’s front porch last week is in trouble again.
Police say 21-year-old Ashley Marie Fowler was arrested at her place of employment last Wednesday after they found evidence in her car linking her to a recent church burglary.
On February 9, just a day after the accused pig killings, Chesapeake police responded to the Northwest Baptist Church on Ballahack Road in reference to a burglary. Several items were taken from the church, according to police reports, including: three fire extinguishers and three wooden crosses. Read full story from wavy.com
Indonesian blasphemy law sparks Muslim violence in Java Indonesia has been shocked this month by two outbreaks of religious violence on the island of Java, involving Muslim fundamentalists who attacked members of the Muslim Ahmadiyya sect and, in a separate incident, three Christian churches.
On 8 February an angry mob condemned a court in Temanggung for its “lenient” sentence against a Christian convicted of blasphemy. Antonius Banwengan, 58, was arrested last year for handing out a Christian book and leaflets poking fun at some of the most sacred Islamic symbols. The five-year prison sentence for blasphemy, the maximum allowed under Indonesian law for this type of offence, was not enough for the crowd. “Kill him,” chanted more than 1,000 demonstrators who attacked the building and police, threatening the judges and prosecutor, the accused and his counsel. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Fortune telling ordinance challenged MERIDIAN — Sandy Mitchell stood in front of his computer Tuesday afternoon and pointed indignantly at the section of the city’s Web page that boasts of the historic Rose Hill Cemetery and its primary attraction, the side-by-side graves of the king and queen of the gypsies.
“They can use my family’s gravesite as a tourist attraction,” he said,” but they won’t let their descendants do business in the city.”
Mitchell is a Roma gypsy, a self-proclaimed descendant of Meridian’s famed Gypsy Queen Kelly Mitchell and King Emil Mitchell. He and his family have been reading palms and tarot just outside of Meridian for decades, but his repeated attempts to move his business inside the city limits have been denied — fortune telling as a business has long been outlawed within the city limits.
Now, the Mississippi chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the constitutionality of the law, and the city council has declared a temporary moratorium on fortune telling. Read full story from Read full story from meridianstar.com
Make your own talisman
What, you may wonder, is a talisman? According to Dictionary.com it is:
1. a stone, ring, or other object, engraved with figures or characters supposed to possess occult powers and worn as an amulet or charm;
2. any amulet or charm.
3. anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings or actions; Read full story from journalgazette.com
The administration of magic
I love Harry Potter. I’ve read the books more times than is socially acceptable, and I have been to every midnight movie showing since “Order of the Phoenix.” But like any superfan, I have overanalyzed the Harry Potter universe many times, and I always wonder: Who pays for Hogwarts? Where do the professors get their salaries? If it’s apparently tuition-free, does the Ministry of Magic collect taxes from magical families?In the real world, it seems Romania, land of Transylvania and the largest concentration of Gypsies in Europe, has considered the taxation of witches.
In legislation aimed at helping finance Romania’s debt obligations, Romania reclassified witches and soothsayers as a “taxable profession” one month ago. Read full story from idsnews.com
Evidence of slave life found at Eastern Shore estate
One day more than two centuries ago, a Maryland slave of West African descent took a smooth stone he had probably found in a plowed field and slid it between the bricks of a furnace he was building.The slave might have believed, as West Africa’s Yoruba culture held, that such stones had connections to Eshu-Elegba, the deity of fortune, and were left behind like mystical calling cards after a lightning strike.
The bond servant sealed the stone into the brickwork, where it would stay for generations, an artifact of the enslaved man as much as the god whose favor he sought.
On Monday, the University of Maryland unveiled, among other things, details of the stone’s discovery at the Wye House “orangery” – a jewel of European architecture, now found to have imprints of the slaves who built it. Read full story from washingtonpost.com
Dalai Lama’s nephew killed while walking road in Palm Coast
The nephew of the most recognized figure in Buddhism was killed Monday while walking along a Florida highway in an attempt to draw attention to the struggle of Tibetans to gain their independence fromChina.
Jigme Norbu, 45, of Bloomington, Ind., was the nephew of theDalai Lama. Norbu was walking along the white line on the side of the dark highway when he was struck and killed by an SUV about 7:30 p.m. on State Road A1A, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Norbu was struck by an SUV driven by Keith O’Dell, 31, of Palm Coast. O’Dell had two children with him in his vehicle at the time of the crash. They were not injured, and O’Dell was not charged.
Few other details about the crash were revealed. In September, a man was killed on a bicycle on the same highway.Read full story from orlandosentinel.com
Apostasy Now
In contemporary America, apostate is a casual term of derision used to describe someone who is in some vague way at odds with a party, as in Charles Krauthammer’s discussion of the two Republicans who gunned for the 2008 presidential nomination: “Giuliani’s major apostasy is being pro-choice on abortion. McCain’s apostasies are too numerous to count … . [On] tax cuts, immigration, campaign finance reform, Guantanamo he … opposed the conservative consensus.” Paul Waldman used the same metaphor in a recent post at the American Prospect blog: “the Republican Party takes a harsher view of apostasy than their Democratic counterparts.”
To risk splitting hairs: Krauthammer and Waldman should have invoked heresy, not apostasy. Heretics continue to claim identification with their religious community, even as they hold heterodox views. (Martin Luther, for example, was charged with heresy—he did not reject Christianity; he just had revolutionary ideas for reforming it.) The heretic might get thrown out, but she wants to belong, and indeed often claims to represent the authentic expression of the faith. An apostate, by contrast, rejects her faith and religious community altogether—like Paul Haggis, Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter of Crash. As Lawrence Wright describes at great length in his much discussedNew Yorker article, Haggis resigned from the Church of Scientology in 2009 over the church’s refusal to denounce California’s Proposition 8, which aimed to undo the state’s recognition of same-sex marriage. Read full story from slate.com
Nigeria’s celebrity preacher wants to save your soul
Dressed in simple trousers and a shirt and bowtie, Enoch Adeboye’s modest appearance belies the enormous influence and power he wields.The Nigerian pastor, known to his flock as “Daddy,” is one of the world’s most influential spiritual leaders. On any given night, he can draw more than a million to his service at Nigeria’s Redeemed Christian Church of God.
His fervent sermons, coupled with his magnetic personality, have turned the Pentecostal church into one of the fastest-growing evangelical congregations across the globe. Read full story from cnn.com
Hub City Hogwarts? Magic classes on offer
MONCTON – Witchcraft class: for many, the term calls to mind a bunch of little wand-toting English kids running around yelling ‘Expelliarmus!’
Okay, so there’s no Hub City Hogwarts concealed in a secret dimension off St. George Street. But wannabe witches and warlocks are, in fact, lining up for local classes in witchcraft and wizardry.
The instructor is Tony Raven, a 36-year-old Moncton business owner and practicing witch for 20-plus years. The aim? Training credulous New Brunswickers in the basics of magic.
The term ‘witchcraft,’ Raven explains, means different things to Wiccans, Pagans, and Stregheria (to cite just a few strains of modern magic). The traditional witchcraft that Raven teaches traces its roots to ancient Europe. As he defines it, magic means the “art and science of causing change to conform to one’s will.” Read full story from herenb.canadaeast.com
East Meets West in the Bedroom
When it comes to sex, there’s a lot of noise out there. Do it this way! Buy this! Try this! Do it more! Do it now! Do it today!
It’s a message we see and hear all around us. It makes you wonder what the real deal is. So, I thought I might take a step off the well-beaten path and look in an entirely new direction for some insight — Eastern religion and philosophy. I wondered if I might be able to find a little quiet in the sex storm, and I did.
So, here it is. The top things we can learn about sex from the Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Shinto philosophies. Read full story from foxnews.com
After two days of deadly clashes it was also claimed that a UN vehicle had been set ablaze and its driver dragged out and beaten.
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, told Reuters that her officials had been denied access to three mass graves including a site alleged to contain 80 bodies.
“I am very concerned now that a third mass grave has been discovered,” Pillay said in Geneva. “Not only my representative there but the UN representative has not been allowed access to the mass graves.” Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Worship has no place in schools
Lots of children like studying religions. They enjoy thinking about religions, philosophy and morality. They are engaged by questions about capital punishment, euthanasia and whether prayer actually works. What they don’t like, they tell me time and time again, is feeling that it’s “being rammed down their throats”, or that they’re “being told what to believe”. Such activities should have no place in our schools.
To argue, as The Church Mouse does, that it is “hard to imagine how a child’s spiritual development can be supported if they never experience any form of worship” is fallacious, and conflates the terms “spiritual” and “religious”. We should see “spiritual’ as a flexible term, that could incorporate the religious and the nonreligious. Look, for example, of the definition Ofsted offered in 2004:
“[Spiritual development] is about the development of a sense of identity, self-worth, personal insight, meaning and purpose. It is about the development of a pupil’s ‘spirit’. Some people may call it the development of a pupil’s ‘soul’; others as the development of ‘personality’ or ‘character’” Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Sam Mulgrew, the general manager of Trappist Caskets in Peosta, Iowa, told CNN a family representative of the Greens reached out to the monks at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque after her death. The custom-made casket arrived in Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday morning.
“We didn’t want to send an adult coffin that would be too big, we wanted something just for her,” said Mulgrew, who is not a monk but who manages the 11-year-old casket business that is part of the abbey. Read full story from cnn.com
The Housing Slump Has Salem On a Witch Hunt Again
SALEM, Mass.—There’s a certain look and feel to a foreclosed home, and 31 Arbella St. has it: fraying carpet, missing appliances, foam insulation poking through cracked walls.
That doesn’t faze buyer Tony Barletta since he plans a gut renovation anyway. It’s the bad vibes that bother him.
So two weeks before closing, Mr. Barletta followed witch Lori Bruno and warlock Christian Day through the three-story home. They clanged bells and sprayed holy water, poured kosher salt on doorways and raised iron swords at windows. Read full storyi from wsj.com
Conservative Media Attack Native American Blessing At AZ Memorial Service
Hume: “While I’m Sure [Native American Ritual] Has An Honorable Tradition With [Gonzales'] People, It Was Most Peculiar.” After Fox News aired the Tucson memorial live on January 12, several Fox News anchors commented on the service. Brit Hume said he thought the “sobriety you might have expected was not to be found” at the service and attributed this “tone and atmosphere,” in part, to the “opening blessing” by Gonzales, which he called “most peculiar.” From the Fox coverage following the service: Read full story from mediamatters.org
“The Exorcist Files” will recreate stories of real-life hauntings and demonic possession, based on cases investigated by the Catholic Church. The project includes access into the Vatican’s case files, as well as interviews with the organization’s top exorcists — religious experts who are rarely seen on television.
“The Vatican is an extraordinarily hard place to get access to, but we explained we’re not going to try to tell people what to think,” says Discovery president and GM Clark Bunting. Read full story from cnn.com
Working for the first time in collaboration with Bhutan’s Department of Culture, conservators from The Courtauld Institute of Art in England have spent the last three years documenting some of the reclusive kingdom’s most precious wall paintings.
According to Lisa Shekede, leader of the project, the wall paintings date from around the 17th century and are some of the best surviving works in the region.
The team visited over 200 temples — sometimes trekking for an entire day to reach remote monasteries — and documented around 50 paintings in detail. Read full story from cnn.com
Romanian Witches Use Spells to Protest New Taxes (AP) MOGOSOIA, Romania – Everyone curses the tax man, but Romanian witches angry about having to pay up for the first time are planning to use cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government.
Also among Romania’s newest taxpayers are fortune tellers — but they probably should have seen it coming.
Superstitions are no laughing matter in Romania — the land of the medieval ruler who inspired the “Dracula” tale — and have been part of its culture for centuries. President Traian Basescu and his aides have been known to wear purple on certain days, supposedly to ward off evil. Read full story from cbsnews.com
Al-Qaida in Iraq had threatened Christians in Iraq and Egypt in the weeks leading up to the holidays, while militant websites have allegedlyposted online lists of churches in Egypt to target.
Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, which makes up 10% of the 80 million population, celebrates Christmas tomorrow. Some have said they will avoid Christmas Eve services. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
The syndicate of 15 workers from West London Training in Aldershot are sharing the prize, which was won on the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle on Christmas Eve.
Each is £66,666.66 better off thanks to catering manager Ocean Kinge, whose predictions they would win spurred them to start the syndicate. Read full story from gethampshire.co.uk
Mass Animal Deaths Leading To End Times Panic
What started with reports of unusual blackbird deaths in the southern United States earlier this week has now snowballed into multiple reports of mass bird and fish deaths from around the globe, prompting some to theorize that they may be signs of the end times.
“When the term ‘dead fish’ became a top Google search Wednesday, soaring past the likes of Lindsay Lohan and leaving Justin Bieber in its scaly wake, it looked as if the end were near,” Jill Rosen of the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. “That’s what everyone was saying, anyway.”
“After millions of tiny fish went belly up in Chesapeake Bay this week, much of the populace immediately dismissed the official scientific explanation (the water was just too darn cold),” she added. “What made more sense, they reasoned? The approaching apocalypse. Of course.” Read full story from redorbit.com
What we Muslims can learn from converts
If Muslims have a bad reputation – and they do – converts to Islam have it even worse. Among their dreadful alumni are such characters as the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, the 7 July bomber Germaine Lindsay, and Nicky Reilly who tried to blow up a restaurant in Bristol with a nail bomb. And Lauren Booth. Yet despite these poor recruiting sergeants and in spite of the overwhelmingly negative media depiction of Islam, the number of people converting to Islam seems to be rising.
A report this week suggested the number of converts had doubled in the past 10 years from about 60,000 in 2001 to up to 100,000 with around 5,200 people converting to Islam in the UK last year. These figures come with a health warning – they are estimates derived from extrapolations – but if we accept that increasing numbers of British men and women are turning to Islam, it does lead to questions of why: why are people voluntarily signing up to a faith that is, if you believe what you read, a cesspit of misogyny, violence and hate?
The growth in conversions in the past decade is partly a reflection of social and geopolitical changes in Britain and the world during the past 10 years. Prior to 11 September 2001 there was relatively little press attention given to Islam. Following the attacks there was an understandable rise in focus on the faith, which led non-Muslims to want to find out more about the religion that was now so often in the news. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Taseer was buried in his home town of Lahore. The 66-year-old was assassinated yesterday by Mumtaz Qadri, one of his police bodyguards, after he had campaigned for reform of the law on blasphemy.
Qadri appeared in court, unrepentant, where waiting lawyers threw handfuls of rose petals over him and others in the crowd slapped his back and kissed his cheek as he was led in and out amid heavy security. Read full story from guardian.co.uk
Ancient practice: Why I’m pagan I am pagan. I make no excuses for this. I am not ashamed of my decision to follow a spiritual path that strays from the mainstream. I would be happy to explain my beliefs to anyone who is curious. However, I find that most are not willing to know my beliefs, as though the mere mention of a pagan ritual should send them scrambling to the nearest confessional to repent for the remotest ounce of curiosity for something so evil and fiendish. Why are pagans discouraged from celebrating our faith in the open?
Upon my decision to become pagan, I did my homework in the form of purchasing books, surfing the internet, and joining online groups with like-minded individuals. One common theme was clear: Informing those you know of your new religion choice should be viewed as if you were coming out of the closet. If you wouldn’t tell someone that you were gay, you probably shouldn’t tell them that you’re pagan. Read full story from newsreview.com
Families and cider drinkers have been invited to join a wassail in Tillington.
The ceremony dates to Pagan times and involves greeting an apple tree on the twelfth night to promote a good harvest.
Participants often sprinkle cider around a tree, hang toast from its branches and light fires nearby to ward-off evil spirits. Read full story from herefordtimes.com
While meant to ease the concerns of evangelicals over reports of her interest in witchcraft many years ago, the ad has offended real witches by implying they are evil, says Jacksonville’s Judith “Holly” Charland. Read full story from jacksonville.com
EPA tells town on Wind River Indian Reservation: Don’t drink the water
PAVILLION, Wyo. – The residents of Pavillion, a rural community on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming have been told by federal agencies not to drink their water and to use fans and ventilation while bathing or washing clothes to avoid the risk of explosion. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com
“I am extremely interested in getting the message out to the Native American communities,” said Col. Rob Porter, a director in the National Guard who focuses on recruitment efforts. Read full story from indiancountrytoday
Does Islam and Shariah Have More In Common With Nazi Ideology Than With Religion?
Since the atrocities committed on 9/11/01 by Middle Eastern Muslim terrorists in the name of Islam, people in the U.S. and West have debated whether Islam is “a religion of peace” or more of an all-encompassing totalitarian ideology cloaked in religious garb. Unfortunately, it appears that the Qur’an, Shariah, and the Islamic terrorist attacks of the last thirty years, indicate that Islam is indeed a totalitarian ideology engaged in an effort of world-wide conquest much like Nazism. The major difference being that Nazism was based on racial affiliation while Islam is based on religious affiliation. Read full story from canadafreepress.com
Mormon leader’s remarks spark outcry on same-sex issues
Twice a year, members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convene for a general conference during which the LDS Church leadership addresses the Mormon faithful.
Broadcast via satellite to millions of Mormons across the globe, and speaking in front of the more than 20,000 LDS Church members who flock to the enormous conference center in Salt Lake City, Utah, the leaders offer insights on doctrine and guidance to church adherents. Read full story from cnn.com
The Pagan Alliance connects to nature
The word Pagan comes from Latin; it means “country dweller.” The term was used derogatorily during the Christian conversion period of ancient Rome to refer to the people in the countryside who still adhered to the old traditions of polytheism, said freshman Kassie Cressall, president of the USU Pagan Alliance president. Read full story from usustatesman.com
Does yoga bend Christian faith?
TYLER, TX (KLTV) - Does practicing yoga compromise your Christian faith? That question is at the center of a debate made by the Southern Baptist Seminary president. Christians that practice yoga say two have little to do with each other. Read full story from kltv.com
Darwen man wins Druid campaign
Phil Ryder, of Richmond Terrace, led the campaign as chairman of the trustees of the Druid Network, a nationwide fraternity of followers of the Pagan practice. Read full story from Read full story from lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
My Talk at the Interfaith Observance at the Presidio
I was asked to give a talk this afternoon, October 3, at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio chapel in San Francisco. This was an annual gathering celebrating its founding, and this year’s topic was “Reclaiming the First Amendment,” a subject dear to my heart. I spoke alomg with members of the Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh, Mormon, and Baha’i communities. There was supposed to be a Muslim speaker as well, but last minute difficulties prevented his coming. Another Muslim participant contributed some very good improptu remarks in his stead. Read full story from beliefnet.com
The 3,400-year-old limestone statue of Amenhotep III, a pharoah who ruled Egypt from about 1391 to 1351 BC, was found at Kom el-Hetan in the city of Luxor. It portrays the king wearing the double crown of Egypt and seated on a throne next to the god Amun. The statue, which is 4ft tall and is decorated with the image of a serpent, was located at the site of the pharoah’s mortuary temple. Read full story from inpependent.co.uk
What do you make of ancient systems of wisdom, such as shamans?
It may come as a surprise to some of you that I have taken two courses on Shamanism. Even though I am a committed atheist, different world views fascinate me, particularly our Canadian indigenous religions. The beauty of the artwork and masks of our West Coast native life resonate within me and are a testament to a proud culture and tradition. It’s a shame that much of what we know of aboriginal religions and shamans is framed through Hollywood-coloured glasses as there is a pure, earthy richness to their beliefs that I find more tangible than those of the big three monotheistic faiths of today. Read full story from ottowacitizen.com
The conspiracy against tolerance
There is a conspiracy against tolerance. Ironically, that conspiracy is often waged in the name of tolerance. Political correctness now threatens free speech. Bigots now masquerade as compassionate liberals inveighing against ‘hate speech’, ‘intolerance’ and ‘bigotry’. Read full story from jamaica-gleaner.com
Far-right Dutch politician tried for inciting hatred (CNN) — Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday, charged with inciting discrimination and hatred over a controversial film he made about Islam. Read full story from cnn.com
Wall of Separation
A Texas-based Christian group is arguing in a California court on behalf of the California Department of Corrections that the First Amendment to the US Constitution protects only major religions beliefs, but offers no protection for minority religions. Read full story from auburnjournal.com
Somali radio station defies Islamist ban on music (CNN) — Somalis in Mogadishu could once again hear songs coming from their radios Thursday, as one of the city’s biggest independent stations resumed playing music. Read full story from cnn.com
Religious intolerance ‘the new racism’
RELIGIOUS intolerance is “the new racism” and one of the main causes of persecution of minorities across the world, according to the annual Minority Rights Group International report published today. Read full story from heraldsun.co.au
My Take: New York’s schools should observe Muslim holidays
I was recently eating dinner at a restaurant with a friend near Times Square when it became time for me to pray. Muslims pray five times a day and this particular prayer, called Maghrib, is performed at sunset. Read full story from cnn.com
Gathering strength through the water
LITTLE PRESQUE ISLE POINT, Mich. – As if emerging from the icy depths of Lake Superior, the fiery yellowish-orange sun rose the morning of June 19 to greet American Indians and non-Natives praying during the “Honoring Our Water” ceremony by Ojibwa women and gave them the strength to continue battling an international mining company that is desecrating sacred Eagle Rock on the nearby Yellow Dog Plains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read full story from indiancountrytoday.com
Bakersfield council prayers too Christian?
Bakersfield is the second city in Kern County to have prayers at city council meetings challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., a Wisconsin nonprofit with a membership of mostly atheists and agnostics. Read full story from bakersfield.com
Is Islam really a threat to America?
A recent headline in the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean asks the question “Is Islam a threat to America.” Throughout the history of the nation this question has been asked of many different groups. What is the difference now? Islam as a faith is no more a threat to America than Judaism, Hinduism, Paganism or other any other faith experience. The question itself suffers from the propensity to mislabel and mis-characterize Muslims (and many other groups). Read full story from examiner.com
What is Five Elements Acupuncture?
Five Elements Acupuncture is one of a handful of traditional Eastern acupuncture modalities. Originally introduced to the Western world by an Englishman, J.R. Worlsey, in the mid-20th century, it’s based on the ancient concept of the five elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. These five elements correspond to the five seasons known as winter, spring, summer, fall and Indian summer. Read full story from examiner.com
A perfect Christmas
The first requirement for an ideal Christmas might be this: Nothing new and different is allowed. No new songs, carols, traditions, customs, foods, movie plots or TV heartwarmers. You may occasionally think you’ve found a new holiday wrinkle, but if you check it out you’ll find it’s based on something that was first trotted out years ago. The closest thing to a really new Christmas idea would be a nativity scene in which the three wise men (dressed like Taliban warriors) are frisked for concealed weapons by U.S. Marines before being allowed admission to the manger. Read full story from tbnweekly.com
Solitary or Social Pagan?
Pagans practice in one of three ways: solitary (alone), socially (in a group), or semi-socially. Here are some ideas of what these three entail and tips on if you are a pagan and want to change from solitary to social. Read full story from The Examiner
ENA and content filtering categories for the Indianapolis Public Schools
Based on Content Filtering Categories for the Indianapolis Public Schools opt-in listed at http://www.ena.com/help/BlueCoat/InSchools/, anything with a single asterisk (*) is content that is blocked by Indianapolis Public Schools.Anything with a double asterisk (**) is always allowed by Indianapolis Public Schools.On this page, it is also stated that, “Websites that are categorized in this way are always allowed regardless of multiple categorizations.” Read full story from The Examiner
Islam in the Land of the Rising Sun
Everyday the call to prayer is made in different corners of the predominantly Buddhist country – unobtrusively within the confines of its 50 or so mosques and approximately 100 musollas or communal prayer rooms. Read full story from aljazeera.net
Nepal’s bloodbath fair claims three Indian infants
Kathmandu, Nov 25 (IANS) At least three Indian infants died due to cold in Nepal’s most controversial religious fair, where thousands of animals and birds are being slaughtered by Indians and Nepalis, mostly in the hope of getting a son or wish fulfilment. Read full story from sindhtoday.net
U of A offering occult course
For about 15 years Bruce Miller taught Witchcraft and the Occult at the University of Alberta as a credited course.
It was so popular that the university had to split the class in two and hire another teacher. Read full story from metronews.ca
Family group declares victory in ‘Christmas’ battle
The American Family Association has tentatively declared a victory in its battle to keep Christmas in American culture, suspending its boycott of Gap, Inc., after the clothing retailer announced an upcoming pro-Christmas commercial campaign. Read full story from wnd.com
