First there was the news, back in September, that an award winning British film about the British Unitarian, Charles Darwin, was not going to get U.S. distribution rights because it offended people on the religious right.

Why would it offend? Because it suggested Darwin might have moved from his Unitarian Christian theology to more of an agnostic one. According to a British newspaper the film’s producers say the American religious right waged a campaign against its distribution.

Too bad, because I think the movie looks pretty interesting.

Not all religious denominations have trouble with Darwin. The Roman Catholic church finds nothing incompatible with Darwin’s contributions to science and religion. The title of the story called “Vatican Gives Darwin a Big Birthday Hug, Leaving Creationists on the Fringes,” almost sums it up.

Protestant fundamentalists on the other hand, have an entirely different take. But theirs is a minority position according to…

Doors represent both the barriers to entry and the high levels of commitment common to strict churches

Saturday morning I was cleaning the house in my pajamas when the doorbell rang. Two young Jehovah’s Witnesses stood amid the leaves on my porch, and after excusing myself to change clothes I invited them in for a moment, as I try to do when they appear from time to time.  Perched side by side on my couch with Bible in hand, the pair brought to mind my own experiences as a young Mormon missionary in Portugal, and I was happy to read a verse of scripture with them.

Something about this young man and woman prompted me to put the conversation on a more personal tack, and I asked them to tell me how they came to be affiliated with the Witnesses. Despite the friendly front-room visits I’ve shared with Jehovah’s Witnesses over the…

Vaclav Havel, center in red scarf, placing a candle at a Prague commemoration of the Velvet Revolution (Petr David Josek/AP)

The New York Times did a nice retrospective yesterday on Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution on its 20th anniversary. I was 15 years old when the Berlin Wall fell along with all the other Eastern European dominoes that fell in its wake. Just old enough to have a global consciousness, but not quite old enough to have a sense of what it all meant and what it still means today. I’m still learning.

Of course, the Times didn’t mention the role religion played in the Czech Republic’s peaceful move toward a free democracy and society. That doesn’t bother me; that’s what we’re here for. And by sheer coincidence I ran across this passage last week by Stanley Hauerwas, written in his book After Christendom, not long after the monumental events of 1989.

These questions [about the “awkward” role of…

After humankind’s trial and error in conquering things, we have come to a dead end.

Our attempt to conquer nature now knows no gain, but only error and extinction. Our attempt to conquer men now meets no merit, but only error and exhaustion.

The winner produces enmity, because in suffering the defeated one lies down.
Being settled beyond victory and defeat, comfortably in peace one lies down.
- The Dhammapada, 201

The one who desires happiness causing others’ suffering
Is not freed from enmity but entangled in the snares of enmity.
- Op.cit., 291

Enmity is never appeased by enmity here,
but by non-enmity. This is the truth forever.
-Op.cit., 5

Human suffering comes from the delusion of independent and eternal ego. There is no such thing as the self-same, self-sovereign self. Our delusion and desire create bubbles of ego and economy in the great sea of eco-system. Bubbles burst but the sea remains.

Self-centeredness ends in wars, the worst, wishful, wasteful…

Right after the events of 9-11 (September 11, 2001), a group of people began to meet as an interfaith dialogue group one Wednesday a month.

And they have met every month since. They are from varied backgrounds including: Muslim, Catholic, Baptist, Buddhist, Lutheran, Unitarian, and Christian Science.

There are about 15 to 20 folks, most lay people. They meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Their leader is Brenton Dodge, a retired American Baptist minister (dodgebc@sbcglobal.net).

They often have a book or news clippings to discuss. And they weigh in on how their religion might interpret an event or give instructions as to how to act.

I’m usually eating lunch and working at church while they meet in the fellowship hall, but occasionally I hear bits of conversation, and it seems to me they are thoughtful, good natured, and genuinely committed not only to…

As a father with three boys in the Rockwood School District, it was with great interest that I read Tim Townsend’s recent STLtoday.com article on the issue of the school district’s stance of using B.C.E. and C.E. instead of the more traditional B.C. and A.D. when referencing the dates of historical events.

For those new to the controversy, a quick refresher:

B.C. is the abbreviation for Before Christ while A.D. is the abbreviation for Anno Domini (Latin, “in the year of the Lord”). The new designations allegedly remove the Christian implications and stand for Common Era and Before Common Era.

Does it matter whether we use B.C. or B.C.E?

Some comments from Rockwood Superintendent Craig Larson, from Townsend’s article:

“There’s no agenda here,” he said. “We’re just teaching kids how to understand dates.”

Last week, Larson reacted to the debate on his blog.

“Within the last 10-15 years, CE/BCE has started to appear in student textbooks, usually along with AD/BC and…

Jim and Betty, myparentswereawesome.com

Several months back a Facebook friend sent me a link to the website People of Walmart and I quickly became addicted to it.  People of Walmart is crowdsourced, meaning that it is dependent on contributions from the masses for its content.  The format is simple:  contributors submit photos taken at any WalMart   The photos are accompanied by captions; some clever, others just vicious.  What will you find at the site?  Many large people in tiny clothes, people in almost no clothes, lots of mullets and other eccentric hairstyles, semi-committed cross dressers, shockingly obscene t-shirts, creepy clowns and disturbing tattoos.  None of it is pretty.  Study some paintings by Bruegel the Elder and you’ll wind up with a similar sensation.  Humanity as displayed on People of Walmart is nasty, brutish and extremely overweight.    The site is funny, and wildly popular.  You can now purchase People of Walmart t-shirts and hoodies to…

Authors note: This is probably not the kind of post your used to reading.  This is not the kind of post I ever envisioned writing.  But the muse struck.  Please excuse me, while I honor the muses.  Think of this as a one act, one scene play.  Please don’t take the characters seriously.  I used them to present a problem, not be an answer.  I consider none superior to the other two.

Fundie, Libby, and Abbie are resting on a park bench, musing about the nature of Truth and God.  The conversation is hours old and the three are at that philosophical place where all are making their final claims.  Fundie starts…

Truth must be absolute.  Why do you think they call it the Truth?  God gave me the ability to conceptualize absolute truth and it is absurd to suggest that God’s gift be for nothing.  Plato was right, if absolute truth…

Recently the annual IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was published. It shows that 70 percent of identified plants, 35 percent of invertebrates, 37 percent of freshwater fish, 30 percent of amphibians, 28 percent of reptiles, and 12 percent of birds are under threat. The survival of a total of 17,921 species is in jeopardy. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

We humans are causing the sixth mass extinction, with more than a hundred species becoming extinct per day. We have created the global problematique, with population explosion (a 50 percent increase is expected worldwide in several decades), habitat devastation, environmental pollution, resource exhaustion, climate change, desertification, and wars all intertwined. We face ecological and economic collapse, twin human-centered devastations that have become the ego-logical problematique of our age.

This is due to our karma. Most advanced in selfishness, societies, statuses, symbolism, and sciences, humankind is acting as a cancer, causing…

“Search the depths of your own heart and you will find the Torah; Search the depths of the Torah and you will find your own heart!” Reb Zalman Schachter-ShalomiAs one who toils daily in the “retail end” of the “Lord’s Vineyard”, I have come to feel a special resonance with the 18th Chapter of the Book of Exodus which records an encounter between Moses, the somewhat beleaguered, overwhelmed leader of the nascent Israelite Nation and his wise, experienced father-in-law, the venerated philo-semitic Sheik of Midian, Jethro.

I am deeply moved by so many elements of our Torah’s depiction of this reunion. How wonderful it is to see a seasoned “manager of human resources” who is so willing to share - freely - of his vast knowledge! How refreshing to come across a powerful and accomplished “Chief Spiritual Officer” of a nation who is both humble and open enough to hear constructive criticism…

In lieu of a substantive post this week, I’m going to share a a bit of weekend fun.  Enjoy this charming little spot, part of the long-running LDS Homefront series.  This particular piece was recently recognized by the National Media Survey as best television PSA series.  Production values are great, the message is always relevant.   And with that I’m off to play some kickball with my kids.  Happy weekend, all!

Tim Townsend made a splash the other day with his story about Archbishop

credit:MiamiHerald

Carlson sending money to help fund the Maine fight against gay marriage. Townsend must have set a record for the comment board. As of this writing there are 153 comments and counting.

Most of the comments seem to be from outside our usual St. Louis Post-Dispatch Civil Religion readership, as JoeL mentioned in comment #145:

This first thing I noticed when reading though the comments to this story is that - like the archdiocese’s use of funds in this political campaign - comments don’t seem to be too local. Unless this hot-button issue fired up some local pro-gay marriage folks who don’t normally participate, it APPEARS the comments are coming from outside the typical STLToday readership. There aren’t too many familiar names, which is perfectly legitimate. The commentary on this blog has all the likings of hissy fit.

But I have a…

Chard grown at Washington University by Burning Kumquat, a student-run organic gardening collective. Photo courtesy Burning Kumquat.

Nearly three years ago, I started to get serious about applying my spiritual philosophy to my food choices.

I’ve slipped a little lately, and am hoping to get serious again with the help of a movie or two this weekend. Both Fresh: the Movie and Tapped are showing in town. Slow Foods St. Louis and the the Burning Kumquat (Washington University’s student gardening collective) are hosting “Fresh” this Sunday, Nov. 15, at7 p.m., in Brown 118, Danforth Campus, near Forsyth and Skinker. It’s free, but donations will be accepted.

“Tapped,” a documentary about the bottled water industry, is showing Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. and Friday, Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m., at the Frontenac 1 as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival, along with a slate of other environmental documentaries.

I’m hoping to recapture some of the eco-spiritual fervor I…

Jesus meets Santa: A mind-bending clash of mythologies.

As I picked up my Post-Dispatch this morning, my skeptic’s heart was gladdened by the inclusion of the Catholic Supply of St. Louis’ eight-page flier packed with a jaw-dropping assortment of religious artifacts, Christmas ornaments, nativity scenes, home decorations and more. The flier represents the tip of the Catholic knick-knack iceberg, the bulk of which can be seen online or at either of the two stores (one at Chippewa and Jamieson, the other at 2953 Highway K in O’Fallon), and includes at least a few products that strain the doctrinal envelope.

My favorite, offered in a variety of iterations, depicts Santa kneeling before the infant Jesus, “a subtle reminder to children,” the website tells us, “that Santa is not the main focus of the season.” Or, as one wag put it, that “the mythology of Jesus who saves us from our sins has not…

photo courtesy buynothingchristmas.org

The first Christmas after we married my husband and I had almost no money at all but still wanted to be able to give each other something special.  We each made a list of ten things that we’d like for Christmas and then exchanged the lists to take the guess work out of shopping.  One might argue that we’d also taken the thought out of the process, but that didn’t occur to us at the time.  And so we took our lists and carried out our “plan” to buy each other a few gifts.  When Christmas morning came - surprise!  It turned out that my husband had purchased everything on my list, and I had purchased everything on his.  But how, when we had no money?  Credit, of course!

I look back on that first Christmas as a demented consumerist version of “The Gift of the Magi”.  That was…

AP file photo, 2006

You may or may not know that the St. Louis area is host to the picketing of the Westboro Baptist Church today. Thankfully, it is one day only.

I know of several people who will attend– in order to counter demonstrate– in order to say, No, God doesn’t hate America, or soliders, or gay people.

A September 2009 AP story tells of a $5 million dollar lawsuit thrown out on first amendment grounds, of a the WBC picketing a slain soldier’s funeral.

This is the kind of stuff they do for fun.

They are convinced that most Christians, Jews, all gay people, and probably you and me are all going to roast in hell for eternity due to their particular interpretation of the Christian bible. For example, they claim that John 3:16 doesn’t apply to most people.

In case you’re interested in the counter demonstration, here’s the schedule:

2:10 PM - 2:40 PM Northwest High…

Frank Schubert, campaign director for Stand for Marriage Maine, claims victory for Yes on 1, Tuesday evening, Nov. 3, 2009, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Campaign finance records for a ballot measure that last week defeated a law legalizing gay marriage in Maine show that the St. Louis Archdiocese contributed $10,000 toward that effort.

Only two other dioceses in the country - Phoenix and Philadelphia - contributed more ($50,000). The dioceses of Newark, NJ and Youngstown, Ohio also contributed $10,000.

St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch that the money came from a “special needs” account which is tapped at his discretion, and which is funded by “private gifts.”

By 53 to 47 percent, Maine voters rejected a law Maine’s Roman Catholic governor signed in May that would have made Maine the sixth state to allow same sex partners to wed. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont allow gay marriage now, and New…

I was talking with a Baptist friend of mine the other day and we were good-naturedly bemoaning the fact that every time a church makes it into the news for some ridiculous reason, it usually has “Baptist” in its name, even if it doesn’t remotely resemble a typical Baptist church with typical Baptist beliefs (See: Westboro Baptist Church and Amazing Grace Baptist Church).

I mentioned that it would be really nice to write a positive story about an organization with “Baptist” in the title, and he reminded me of the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home in Bridgeton, Missouri.

Lowe-Frillman Campus in Bridgeton, Missouri

Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH) has been around since 1886 and is very good at what it does, providing such crucial services as emergency and transitional shelter, case management, foster and adoptive services, counseling and vocational training.

Every year around this time, a Christmas wish list gets published on the MBCH website, along with…

Last week I attended the yearly banquet for the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a group that lobbies for keeping religions out of government and government out of religions. The speaker, national AU executive director Rev. Barry Lynn, gave an update on the federal government’s financial support for religious organizations’ social-service projects.

I don’t support giving my tax money to religious organizations, even if they’re doing good work.  Having churches as government contractors raises too many red flags for me.  The money is not supposed to be spent on proselytizing, but how could that possibly be enforced?  And apparently religious organizations that accept government money are still allowed to discriminate in their hiring practices–discrimination that would be illegal if practiced by secular institutions.

Are you comfortable with your tax money going to religious institutions’ social-service programs? What if the money were going to a religious group…

Worship area for Fort Hood Open Circle. Photo by Selena Fox, courtesy of Circle Sanctuary.

I am sure clergy members of all faiths have been working very hard in the aftermath of the Fort Hood tragedy. Among them are Pagan chaplains and spiritual counselors working with the more than 150 Pagans known to be part of the Fort Hood community.

Some worship with the Fort Hood Open Circle, sponsored by Sacred Well Congregation. Others are solo practitioners.

Circle Sanctuary, a Midwestern Pagan organization with an active military ministries arm, has organized free telephone counseling and support for any Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens, Pantheists, or other Nature religion spiritual practitioners distressed by the Nov. 5 tragedy. That would include those at other military and government installations, as well as civilians.

Pagans are one of the larger religious minority groups involved in the armed forces. In 2006, Stars and Stripes claimed that 2005 Department of Defense statistics show…