Updates

It's hard to have a blog without the Internet but until I get service again the blog will updated twice a week. Butttttt once I get service again look for daily updates.

Consult the I Ching Online

The I Ching is a 3000 year old Chinese text and has played an important role in Taoism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism as well as in the cultures of China, Japan, and Korea. According to Wikipedia: "The text describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change".
It can be read simply for edification but it is best known as a oracle. Each chapter has a hexagram constructed of lines and half lines. People consulted the oracle by throwing stalks of the plant yarrow and randomly constructing the hexagrams and then would find the verses associated with that hexagram. Well skip all that by pushing a button.

What does the future hold and what the hell should I do?
(link)

St. Lucy's Day

Today is the feast of St.Lucy the patron saint of writers. I guess that makes her my saint.
Want to know why she's depicted holding a plate with two eyes on it?

Ummmm maybe you don't(link)

Sex, Rebellion, Marshal Mcluhan, Cyberpunks, and the Bible: Rushkoff's Testament

Douglas Rushkoff is a ultra hip media commentator mcluhanesque cyberpunk gen-x rad dude. He's probably best know for his book on the media taking over your brain: Media Virus: Hidden Agendas In Popular Culture. He also has some pretty interesting writings on Judaism which we'll get to in another post and....... he also has a comic book series named Testament that is a retelling of the Tanak (the Tanak is the Jewish Bible what some Christians call the "Old Testament").
Okay; even with my interest in religion I'd be the first person to throw up in my mouth if you tried to get me to read a Bible comic book. But this series is unlike whatever you may be thinking. It takes place in a nearfuture America where a group of hackers and misfits are fighting back against an oppressive government and mega corporation. However their story is a replaying of events in the Tanak. Behind the scenes of all of this are a group of gods created from humans beliefs, desires, and the unconscious.
Plus the art is effing great.

Download the first issue free (link)

The United Church of Canada's Wondercafe Ads

Around a year ago the ultraliberal United Church of Canada* began running some rather risqué, and humourous ads to raise interest in the church and in their new hip discussion and information website the "wonder cafe". The ads are a gas; visit 'em up eh ?!

Pass me the whipcream (link)

* home church of a certain handsome talented religious issues blogger

A US Diocese Votes to Leave the American Episcopal Church Over the "Gay Issue"

A Californian diocese is leaving the American Episcopal church and joining a South American congregation within the World Wide Anglican Union (they're not all moving to South America just putting their church under the authority of a South American Bishop) due to the American body's sinful notion that gays are human beings too.

Screw Progress Send Us Back to the Middle Ages (link)

People Dead and Injured in Two Seperate Shootings in Churches in Colorado Today

Two separate and apparently unrelated spree killings in two Colorado churches today.
Two dead and two injured in a attack in a missionary training centre in Arvada CO

(link)

Several injured and the gunman shot dead by police in an attack in a Colorado Springs "Megachurch" (the church has a membership of 10,000)

(link)

"Ask Me a Question About Religion" + "Suggest a Link"

Do you have a question about religion?
Of course you do!!
Everyone does. Post your question by hitting the link below and I will try to answer it or link you to resources where you can find out more information.

Ask your question (link)

Know an interesting page about religion? Post it in the comments section here and I'll check it out and maybe throw it on to the Thothic Sacredtorium.

Suggest a link (link)

"Turning Cyberspace into Sacred Space" Online Lecture by Dr.Christopher Helland

Dr.Christopher Helland is the patron saint of this blog. He once mentioned in a class I took with him (as well as in this post's link) that there are more sites on the Internet that deal with religion then deal with sex. That comment is what gave birth to this blog. You can watch a multimedia lecture of his ground breaking research on Google Tech Talks. Here's the abstract of the talk followed by the link:

In a recent survey conducted by the PEW Internet and America Life Project it was found that ... all 64% of wired Americans use the Internet for religious and spiritual activity. People are going online to do everything from searching for religious information and answers, to joining in online prayer groups, undertaking virtual pilgrimages, and even participating in online rituals. Dr. Christopher Helland, one of the foremost authorities studying religious activity on the World Wide Web, will present a summary of his current research, demonstrating the unique ways people are utilizing Internet technology so that it can meet their religious and spiritual needs. As the Internet has developed, people continue to push the boundaries of their religious practices so that they can incorporate this technology.
Dr. Helland will show some of the most cutting edge uses of the World Wide Web for online religious activity, which includes interactive virtual pilgrimages and long-distance ritual practices, to demonstrate this unique manifestation of the social shaping of technology. These new forms of religious practice are becoming extremely popular and they are changing how people "do" religion. This is transforming peoples' perception of what it means to be religious and altering the very religious and spiritual matrix of our culture

Saint Christopher (link)

The Old Testament Text Adventure Game

The Old Testament Text Adventure Game what can I say about it ? Just take 5 minutes and play a round. Post your high scores in the comment section and I'll give the highest a prize :

You lend him your trusty boil-lancing potshard and look on sympathetically as he writhes. You have 0 children. You have 11.11111111111111 goats. You have pottage. You have 0 boils. (link)

Tom Harpur's The Pagan Christ - The Documentary

I'm a big Tom Harpur fan and enjoyed his book "The Pagan Christ". I don't necessarily agree with the whole hypothesis and his scholarship is sometimes embarrassingly weak for a former professor but still it's an intriguing book and the spiritual message is sound. Well now someone has done gone and made a documentary of it and it's airing on CBC tonight Thursday December 6, 2007 at 9pm on CBC-TV repeating Saturday December 8, 2007 at 10pm ET on CBC Newsworld. Haven't heard about this book or doc? Let me cut and paste the blurb that appears on the cbc website for you:

So, what if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament – the cornerstone of Christianity – is based on myth and metaphor?

Based on Tom Harpur’s national bestseller, The Pagan Christ examines these very questions. During his research, Harpur discovered that the New Testament is wholly based on Egyptian mythology, that Jesus Christ never lived, and that – indeed – the text was always meant to be read allegorically. It was the founders of the Church who duped the world into taking a literal approach to the scriptures. And, according to Harpur, this was their fatal error – and the very reason Christianity is struggling today.

The mission of The Pagan Christ is not to accelerate Christianity’s slow demise, but to breath new life into its holy book and, in the process, bring the world a richer, more spiritual faith.

The Jerry Springer Opera and Blasphemy

Jerry Springer - The Opera is quite possibly the best thing ever done by
anyone
anywhere
anytime
ever.
Due to it's depictions of various holy Christian personages its been raising some trouble in its British land of birth. Read about it how it is

legally not blasphemous (link)

Watch the entire opera online

jerryjerryjerry (link)

The Mormons are coming

Following the US Presidential election ? What's that you say? There is no election yet and it's almost a year away. Well poo to you because if you watch American news they'll tell you there is a ELECTION under way. Douchbag Mitt Romney wants to be the Republican presidential candidate but problem is he's a Moron errrr sorry he's a Moron...whoops I meant to type Moron....I mean Mormon. Anyway his crazy beliefs about Jesus are different then most of his fellow party members (and many of his fellow citizens) crazy beliefs about Jesus and this is a problem. Even though Romney said he wasn't going to discuss it he gave a big speech about "problem M" earlier today in Texas.

Read about it Yo ! (link)

Want to more about the Mormon faith? Yes you do! So watch this very, very, very, good PBS "The American Experience" documentary on them. It's extremely balanced and I can't recommend it enough. It's ummm....four hours... but it's cut up into short digestible segments and you can even navigate around to watch the segements on the topics relating to the Latter Day Saints that you find most interesting.

Supported by viewers like you (link)

The Feast of Saint Nicholas

Ho Ho Ho ???

It's the feast day of Saint Nicholas today: the patron saint of theives, pawnbrokers, sailors, children, New York and a bunch of other stuff. The transformation of Sinter Klaus (the Dutch name for him) into the modern Santa Claus is a post for another time. Meanwhile enjoy the one of the best known and grisly miracle stories about ole'saintnick.

Horror Hotel (link)

Happy Hanukah

Greetings ignorant Christians, secular Heathens, cultural Jews and assorted others who don't know what Hanukah is all about. Well I'm not going to tell you, you'll just have to grab your Bible and read it for your self.....Ha gotcha! The Hanukah narrative isn't in the Bible...well it's in the Catholic Deutrocanoical books but whos reads thats. Anyhoo it's in 1Maccabees which you can read here:

1Maccabees (link)

I make amazing Yam curry Latkes using this recipe. Unflipping believable. Serve with chutney.

Latkes of Wonder (link)

Superman

Is the comic book and movie superhero Superman a modern interpretation of Jesus ?

Yep (link)
Yep-a-roo (link)

Is the comic book and movie superhero Superman a modern retelling of the Moses story and an embodiment of Jewish culture ?

You better believe it (link)

Is the comic book and movie superhero Superman a modern incarnation of ancient pagan astrotheological gods like Hercules and Marduk ?

Well(link)
Yeah (link)

I'm going to baptise your nose in

"I'm going to Baptise your nose in you Chalice Communion eating Virgin Alter lover. When I'm done; your girl friend and I are going to Holy Spirit on Calvary."

Did what i just say offend you ? No?? Then you're not

French Canadian (link)

Buddhism for Dummies

The Dhammapada; sometimes known as "the sayings of the Buddha", is an insightful and mercifuly concise introduction to Buddhism. It's one of the oldest texts of the tradition and plays an important role in many sects of Buddhism. Read a decent translation of it on the web

Right Here (link)

In the beginning.....

Where else to start but the Brick Testament ? Selections from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Gospels as interpreted by a smartass and presented in..... lego.

The Brick Testament (link)