Category Archives: religion

Mel-ennial madness, from father to son

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Christopher Knowles at the Secret Sun reminds us this week that Mel Gibson’s crazed dad — a reputed Holocaust denier and darling of white nationalist broadcasters — deserves much of the credit for creating Hollywood’s favorite real-life monster.

Knowles calls upon his own experiences, as well, to make the case:

I very much doubt that growing up with a guy like Hutton as your father made for a lot of smiles and sunshine. I wouldn’t be surprised if that belt didn’t come off at the slightest possible infraction. Growing up in a neighborhood with a lot of people raised in the pre-Vatican II church, I got to know the mentality.

via The Secret Sun: Mel-ennium, or The Real Passion.

Praying for a cure? Proximity counts

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Photo: Giselle Giardino/Flickr CC

Here’s one for all of us who find religion every time we’re worried about our health:

As it turns out, for improving health, prayer might work, after all.

The key, according to Indiana researchers, is PIP — proximate intercessory prayer (PIP). That means the persona praying, and the “target” of those prayers, must be near to one another.

I’d like to see a followup on prayers made via live audio and video connections…

Rural Mozambican subjects exhibited improved audition and/or visual acuity subsequent to PIP. The magnitude of measured effects exceeds that reported in previous suggestion and hypnosis studies. Future study seems warranted to assess whether PIP may be a useful adjunct to standard medical care for certain patients with auditory and/or visual impairments, especially in contexts where access to conventional treatment is limited.

via Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Proximal Intercessory Pr… : Southern Medical Journal.

Deep links: Mormonism, Masonry and Magic

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Photo: Kid Korovyov. Flickr/CC

Smith. Photo: Kid Korovyov. Flickr/CC

Greg at Occult of Personality presents the second hour of his interview with author and historian Mitch Horowitz, who tells the fascinating story of the occultic roots of Mormonism.

I was immediately reminded of “Early Mormonism and the Magic World View,” the book by D. Michael Quinn that emphasizes Joseph Smith’s folk magic background as much as his Masonic membership.

Mitch is the editor-in-chief of Tarcher / Penguin in New York and has also been our guest previously in podcast 21, Podcast 42 – The Life and Work of Paul Foster Case, and Podcast 48 – The Life and Work of Col. Henry Steel Olcott.

via Occult of Personality.

"Magic" protected by Irish Law

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Photo: John Wigham. Flickr/CC

Atheist-activist Michael Nugent wants the Irish government to undo its protections for the Roman Catholic Church’s renewed practice of offering indulgences. He’s also concerned that non-Catholics might soon enjoy the same ability to sell supernatural fixes.

From Nugent’s letter to the Irish Times:

Madam, – From September 1st, the Charities Act 2009 has been offering State protection to the Roman Catholic Church, and only this one church, to sell Mass cards (Home News, September 1st). The legality of this Act is being challenged in the High Court, but for a reason that turns ethics upside down.

It is not being challenged to prevent people from selling claims of intercession with the creator of the universe to bereaved and vulnerable people. Instead, it is being challenged to allow a wider number of people to sell such unverifiable claims.

via Michael Nugent.

Those Nazi bastards, again?

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CC/Stephen Punter

The Archbishop of Canterbury. Photo: CC/Stephen Punter

The head  of the Anglican church warns many economies are going the way of Nazi Germany.

(Hitler boasted that his form of socialism was superior to that of the Soviets.)

Cue the “shocked” and “disappointed” pols, who will decry the mention of the Nazis in the same breath as the mega-rich.

LONDON (AFP) — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warned Monday that governments should not pursue dogmatic solutions to the financial crisis at the risk of the most vulnerable, saying that is what the Nazis did.

via AFP: Archbishop warns of dangers of economic dogma.

The Duke is Dead

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from Mark:

Isaac Hayes, the musician who so inhabited the role of The Duke, “A Number One, The Big Man,” in John Carpenter’s dystopian thriller, “Escape from New York,” died today while exercising at his home. (That’s Hayes on the left, with costars Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau.)

Hayes’ musical influence is apparent in Carpenter’s soundtrack for the film, which features soulful, heavy bass lines accompanied by the sounds of steel drums.

Exercise was one of the famed Scientologist’s favorite pastimes. His treadmill was still whirring when a family member found him on the floor beside it.

Soul icon Isaac Hayes dies in Memphis at 65 | U.S. | Reuters
Oscar-winning soul singer Isaac Hayes who, along with Al Green, James Brown and Stevie Wonder, was one of the dominant black artists in the early 1970s, died in Memphis on Sunday. He was 65.

His friend and former manager, Onzie Horne, told Reuters he spoke to Hayes’ wife, Adjowa, who confirmed that Hayes had died.

Antichrist touches down in Boston

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Dr. José Luis De Jesús Miranda’s number is 666. But he says the pope is the real devil.

(The Antichrist’s followers milled about this Boston intersection Saturday, seeking new friends:  Photo: Courtesy of The International Ministry Growing in Grace.)

from Mark:

The Beast’s peeps were here last Saturday, to “tell the world that God is on Earth and that the Vatican is the most evil organization in existence with Pope Benedict XVI as the worst terrorist in the world,” according to Axel Poessy, spokeswoman for the Government of God on Earth.

Poessy, a follower of the Miami-based preacher (and self-described Antichrist) Dr. José Luis De Jesús Miranda, passed those comments along to me in an email this morning.

“The Boston manifestation was an spectacle unto the world,” said Poessy, who is also a model (see a snap from her portfolio, right).

From the photos she sent me, however, it looks like only a small, if passionate, group, had gathered in front of the New England Aquarium for the protest.

Miranda’s disciples come for his “anything goes” brand of positive Christianity. They give their fortunes to him, and get tattoos of his brand, “666,” to demonstrate their devotion to the man.

To read more and how some people are responding to Miranda’s most curious prosperity gospel, click here:

New World Leader Claims He Is Jesus Christ. Con Man or Prophet? by David A. — education, facts, awareness | Gather
De Jesus wears fine suits and diamond-encrusted rings, drives a 7 Series BMW, and, until recently, lived in a 5000-square-foot Miramar home with Corinthian columns and vaulted ceilings. He also travels with a battalion of guards who wear dark suits and conspicuous earpieces. Surrounded by his personal security team and beautiful women, José Luis de Jesús, devoted his speech to striking against religious believers and assured his audience that those who follow his, belong to him.

Dull threads for budding cultists

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The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints reports a “flood of interest” in its Plain Jane threads. I’ve got my eye on the lucky Mormon underwear (right). I imagine there will be a few orders from those with a pervy interest (role-players) in the product. But the FLDS clothes for sale are for kids only. — mb

FLDS Dress
And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that
which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the
afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel,
yet they were neat and comely. Alma 1:27

Zealots haunt environmentalist religion

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Global warming now a core “belief” among environmentalists, says Freeman Dyson

(Love your mother.)

from Mark:

Environmentalism is a secular religion that we can all get behind, physicist Freeman Dyson writes in the Times.

There is just one problem: The movement, Dyson argues, is run largely by non-scientists, and many of those believe that “global warming is the greatest threat to the ecology of our planet.” (See excerpt, below.)

Now any global warming skeptic is being labeled in popular culture as “an enemy of the environment.”

One transhumanist (or H+, short for human-plus) complains that many of his fellows have already bought into the global warming “dogma.” Follow the link, below, to see the comments to this blog post, at Sentient Developments:

Sentient Developments: Freeman Dyson on the ‘religion of environmentalism’ There is a worldwide secular religion which we may call environmentalism, holding that we are stewards of the earth, that despoiling the planet with waste products of our luxurious living is a sin, and that the path of righteousness is to live as frugally as possible. The ethics of environmentalism are being taught to children in kindergartens, schools, and colleges all over the world.