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…

Yoga: religion or fitness regime?

Is yoga a religion? Tax implications hang on the answer. As a story in the Post-Dispatch reported last Tuesday, the state of Missouri wants to tax yoga studios as it does other fitness centers, despite the studios’ claims that yoga, as a form of religion, should be exempt from such taxes. This raises at least a couple of interesting questions.

First is the issue of what, exactly, constitutes the legal definition of religion. Is it a strongly held belief in the absence of evidence? A moral code? A philosophy? An exploration of spiritual concerns? An established organization with a certain set of rituals and/or doctrines? The answer is more complicated than one might ever imagine, and as I read through a pile of court cases that proffered a cavalcade of definitions, I fell asleep several times.

Try coming up with one. It’s hard.

The IRS poses a fourteen-point test for…

Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia. Source: BBC

Tim Townsend’s story in the Saturday edition of the Post-Dispatch about the Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls annual dinner included a remarkable statement by Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia, described as “the highest authority for Bosnian Muslims.“

“Humanity is, at the moment, confused,” Ceric is quoted as saying. “People of all beliefs and concepts are claiming now that they possess the whole truth about our destiny. No one possesses the whole truth, but each of us has a bit of it. That’s God leading us toward each other.”

I could not possibly agree with the grand mufti more (except for the God part), and I trust the attendees at the dinner, all of whom are demonstrably interested in finding ways that people of different faiths can coexist in peace, found his remarks especially welcome.

As an atheist, I find I can agree with the lion’s share of…

Believe the earth is flat, or I'll kill you. Are you able to ignore the evidence that says otherwise?

Eternal bliss or eternal suffering, each at a level so profound that we cannot begin to imagine the plenary ecstasy of heaven or the relentless horror of hell. This,  Christians contend, is what is at stake as we try to decide whether or not to believe in Jesus as God.

But even this “choice” misunderstands the concept of belief. Belief is not a decision, but rather an intellectual position to which we are taken by evidence (evidence which can include, I am told, personal revelations from God, a courtesy not yet extended to me). We can’t believe the earth is flat, even if threatened with death for that disbelief, because the evidence tells us it’s spherical.

Yet according to the Christian proposition, we must believe certain things to avoid damnation. What are they? Besides the…