TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Alice Gordon, Staff Writer, The Atlanta Progressive News
(April 25, 2009)

(APN) ATLANTA -- Atlantan, Audri Scott Williams, had a vision in April 2005. She and the Spirit of Truth Foundation wanted to spread the message of global peace. Armed with the vision and word of mouth, six people agreed to sell their wordly assets and start out on a march across six continents doing public service work. The march took three and a half years, and covered 17 countries and six continents.

What began at the King Center in Atlanta on October 21, 2005, ended on the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King in April 2009.

The group put their money together to start the march, including retirement saving and pensions. As they walked they were able to get contributions and often what was needed would appear, Williams said.

They would do community service wherever they went. "It was very much in our nature to always be mindful of being in service of a team as well as the community," Williams said. They helped Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. They worked at food banks, ranches, and spoke at churches, schools, and other community organizations.

Much of their work was in keeping themselves centered believing peace begins within. First while advocating no religion there was a belief that the walkers had to be connected to something greater than themselves. They considered this "the energy that helped us to move forward," Williams said. They emphasized what they called detraumatization, being supportive of one another and able to communicate.

"Humor was very important in our group circle; every morning we laughed a lot... We also used it just to keep the energy at a certain level. Whenever we would get too heavy with things we would say, 'OK stop and drop. Get out of your head, get in your heart.' We had these little trigger sayings that we would use with each other."

The members of the group were asked to spend at least 20 minutes not just walking through, but becoming conscious of nature and things around them.

In the worldwide communities the group found they could only help by meeting people where they were at and understanding their boundaries and those of the community. "Really getting to know... what works and what doesn’t work. At the same time we have to know what is the time to shift those boundaries," Williams said.

The Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk was created to focus attention on peace and global transformation as the group moved around the planet. The group wanted to meet people and establish relationships. "We were not trying to be political or social; we were not trying to be anything other than moving people to people heart to heart. In order to get to that level to attract human relationships we had to find that within ourselves," Williams said.

Please click on "external source to read this complete article - well worthwhile reading...

Labels: Alice Gordon, Atlanta, global peace, service, Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk

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RD10Q: Thinking About God Makes Your Brain Bigger

RD10Q: Thinking About God Makes Your Brain Bigger
By Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman
April 24, 2009

A new book argues that spiritual practices, be they secular or religious, are inherently good for you. Meditation and prayer—be it about God, or evolution, or peace, or the Big Bang—will actually change your brain.

Ten Questions for Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman on How God Changes Your Brain, (Ballantine, 2009).

What inspired the two of you to write How God Changes Your Brain? What sparked your interest?

Our newest brain-scan research showed that different forms of meditation and spiritual practice can actually improve memory, and it may even slow down the aging process itself. We had also gathered enough data to draw a more comprehensive picture of how spiritual practices affect and change different parts of the brain, and we wanted to share this new perspective with the general public. We also wanted to present evidence showing how the religious landscape of America is moving from traditional values to a more spiritual and science-based vision of the universe.

What’s the most important take-home message for readers?

Spiritual practices, secular or religious, are inherently good for your body, and especially your brain. Meditation and prayer—be it about God, or evolution, or peace, or the Big Bang—will strengthen important circuits in your brain, making you more socially aware and alert while reducing anxiety, depression, and neurological stress. And meditation can be adapted in endless ways. You can use it to become more motivated to succeed in business. You can apply it to communication to reduce relationship conflicts. You can do a sixty-second meditation involving yawning to quickly relax your body and mind. Indeed, you can use the same technique to bring a roomful of children, students, or CEOs to attention with their brains becoming acutely attuned to each other: a fancy way of saying that yawning can actually evoke social empathy with many living species on this planet.

Please click on "external source" to access the entire interview with the authors.

Labels: Andrew Newberg, brain, God, How God Changes Your Brain, Mark Robert Waldman, science

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Medical Miracles

By Carrie Davis
Published: April 23, 2009

You’ve heard the stories of the impossible happening. Someone recovers from a disease and doctors can’t explain why.

Now a recent study shows an overwhelming majority of people, including doctors, believe in medical miracles and many think religion plays a big part in these miracles.

We talked to an Upstate man who is living proof miracles do happen and his doctor to find out why.

According to some people, Bill Pitts shouldn’t be here. He’s walking a life path he never thought possible and he’s been given a second chance to try a passion he’d only ever dreamed about.

You see Bill Pitts has stage four colon cancer. Three years ago he stopped all his treatments to live out his last days enjoying time with his family and his art.

According to his doctor, Dr. Steve Courso, Pitts is a medical miracle.

He says, “He was here just last month and he looks great. we can’t see any signs of the cancer in him.“

Dr. Courso says no one can figure out why these miracles happen. They are unexplainable by modern science.

Dr. Courso admits, “I don’t have a medical explanation. I just simply smile and realize God’s presence is in these patients.“

At Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, Chaplain Carson Rogerson says he’s seen cases like Bill Pitts before. He says he believes the miracles may occur when a persons mind, body and soul all get in line.

There is some proof supporting healing power of prayer. A study done at Pacific College of Medicine found that people who received prayer were six times less likely to be hospitalized than those who didn’t have someone praying for them.

According to national survey, 72 percent of doctors believe miracles have occurred compared to 86 percent of the general public.

Today, 70 percent of physicians and 85 percent of general public believe a miracle is possible now.

When asked about prayer, 54 percent of doctors say they pray for their patients to get better.

Please click on "external source" for further information, and links to other articles regarding studies on prayer and healing.

Labels: Carrie Davis, medicine, meditation, miracles, prayer, worship

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Churches Across Faith Traditions Plant 12,000 Trees

By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Apr. 23 2009

In keeping with the biblical mandate to care for God's creation, thousands of people from ten faith traditions have come together to plant 12,000 trees in northern Michigan.

Thousands of volunteers will be picking up tree seedlings on May 2 and planting the equivalent of a forest across 400 miles the following day.

Being stewards of God's creation has taken on greater significance as more Christians view global warming as a serious problem.

According to a Pew Research Center survey from July 2006, 78 percent of white mainline Protestants, 68 percent of white evangelicals and 86 percent of Catholics believe global warming is a serious problem. Nearly half of all Catholics and 40 percent of white mainline Protestants say it's "very serious."

Earlier findings by the Pew Center showed that for Catholics and mainline Protestants, protecting the environment takes priority over abortion and gay marriage concerns. For white evangelicals, the environment still ranks below the cultural issues.

Nevertheless, the Pew Center found a fairly strong consensus across faith traditions on regulations to protect the environment in contrast to other issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

Labels: Audrey Barrick, Earth Day, global warming, interfaith

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Major points of convergence within great spiritual traditions

Friday, April 24, 2009
By Rev. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI

When we look at all the major world religions, we see that they are more similar than dissimilar in how we understand the spiritual quest...we can draw out these major points of convergence:

---First, in all of them the aim of the spiritual quest is the same: union with God and union with everyone and everything else.

---Second, in all the great spiritual traditions the path to union is understood as coming through compassion.

---Third, in every great spiritual tradition, the route to compassion and union with God is paradoxical, requiring that somehow we have to lose ourselves to find ourselves, die to come to life, and give so as to receive.

---Fourth, every great spiritual tradition is clear that spiritual progress requires hard discipline and some painful renunciations, that the road-more-traveled won't get you home.

---Fifth, every great spiritual tradition tells us that the spiritual quest is a life-long journey with no short-cuts, no quick paths, no hidden secrets, and no appeal to privilege that can short-circuit the discipline and renunciation required.

All the great religious traditions agree: The road is narrow and hard and there are no short-cuts.

Please click on "external source" for the remainder of the similarities between religions, and an expanded understanding of these important points of religious convergence.

Labels: compassion, faith, God, Rev. Ronald Rolheiser, spirituality, unity, world religions

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Obama appoints The first Muslim American woman head of Gallup as advisor

Obama appoints The first Muslim American woman head of Gallup as advisor
Tuesday, 21 April 2009

The first Muslim woman appointed to a position in President Barack Obama’s administration met with lawmakers Monday and discussed her role on an interfaith advisory board the new administration hopes will broaden dialogue and understanding.

Dalia Mogahed’s dimpled smile shined from under her hijab, the Muslim headscarf, as she addressed senate staff and think tanks at a meeting organized by the Congressional Muslims Staffers Association to discuss American Muslim public opinion in the wake of a recent survey.

The Egyptian-born American who heads the Gallup American Center for Muslim Studies a non-governmental research center providing data-driven analysis on the views of Muslim populations around the world, became the first Muslim veiled woman to be appointed to a position in the White House.

"I am very honored to be given this opportunity to serve my country in this way," Mogahed, who will be Obama's window into the Muslim American community, told AlArabiya.net.

Last month, Obama signed an executive order setting up a new body at the White House called the “Office of Religious Partnerships” to support religious institutions and strengthen inter-faith dialogue and government ties. The advisory group, consisting of 25 religious and secular representatives, is to report to the president on the role religion can play in resolving social problems and addressing civil rights issues.

"The key idea of the council is to tap into the energy and wisdom of religious organisations and leaders who focus on faith groups to solve common problems," explained Mugahed.

Mogahed will brief Obama on what Muslims want from the U.S. in a bid to create channels of communication and correct erroneous image of Muslim Americans.

The advisory group will help define issues of concern to religious constituents including the effects of economic crisis on minority groups and the phenomenon of fatherless families. It will also seek to reduce the number of abortions and strengthen inter-faith relations between Muslims and Christians.

"The main premise behind the council is cooperation between faiths and helping them become a force that helps push society forward," said Mogahed. "These societal challenges are shared by all faith-based groups and it is our task to unite them against common challenges."

Mugahed will keep her full time job at Gallup while serving as an advisor.

Mogahed’s appointment comes at a critical time given the rising tide of Islamophobia in the media and within some academic circles.

Please click on "external source" to access the complete article

Labels: American Muslims, Dalia Mogahed, faith, Gallup American Center for Muslim Studies, interfaith, Office of Religious Partnerships, President Obama, religion

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The End of Christian America

The End of Christian America

The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.

By Jon Meacham | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 4, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Apr 13, 2009

It was a small detail, a point of comparison buried in the fifth paragraph on the 17th page of a 24-page summary of the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey. But as R. Albert Mohler Jr.—president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the largest on earth—read over the document after its release in March, he was struck by a single sentence. For a believer like Mohler—a starched, unflinchingly conservative Christian, steeped in the theology of his particular province of the faith, devoted to producing ministers who will preach the inerrancy of the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only means to eternal life—the central news of the survey was troubling enough: the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8 to 15 percent. Then came the point he could not get out of his mind: while the unaffiliated have historically been concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, the report said, "this pattern has now changed, and the Northeast emerged in 2008 as the new stronghold of the religiously unidentified." As Mohler saw it, the historic foundation of America's religious culture was cracking.

"That really hit me hard," he told me last week. "The Northwest was never as religious, never as congregationalized, as the Northeast, which was the foundation, the home base, of American religion. To lose New England struck me as momentous." Turning the report over in his mind, Mohler posted a despairing online column on the eve of Holy Week lamenting the decline—and, by implication, the imminent fall—of an America shaped and suffused by Christianity. "A remarkable culture-shift has taken place around us," Mohler wrote. "The most basic contours of American culture have been radically altered. The so-called Judeo-Christian consensus of the last millennium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crisis which threatens the very heart of our culture." When Mohler and I spoke in the days after he wrote this, he had grown even gloomier. "Clearly, there is a new narrative, a post-Christian narrative, that is animating large portions of this society," he said from his office on campus in Louisville, Ky.

There it was, an old term with new urgency: post-Christian. This is not to say that the Christian God is dead, but that he is less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory. To the surprise of liberals who fear the advent of an evangelical theocracy and to the dismay of religious conservatives who long to see their faith more fully expressed in public life, Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.

According to the American Religious Identification Survey that got Mohler's attention, the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent. The Jewish population is 1.2 percent; the Muslim, 0.6 percent. A separate Pew Forum poll echoed the ARIS finding, reporting that the percentage of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith has doubled in recent years, to 16 percent; in terms of voting, this group grew from 5 percent in 1988 to 12 percent in 2008—roughly the same percentage of the electorate as African-Americans. (Seventy-five percent of unaffiliated voters chose Barack Obama, a Christian.) Meanwhile, the number of people willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009, from 1 million to about 3.6 million. (That is about double the number of, say, Episcopalians in the United States.)

While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing—good for our political culture, which, as the American Founders saw, is complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance. It is good for Christianity, too, in that many Christians are rediscovering the virtues of a separation of church and state that protects what Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters, called "the garden of the church" from "the wilderness of the world." As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom—not least freedom of conscience. At our best, we single religion out for neither particular help nor particular harm; we have historically treated faith-based arguments as one element among many in the republican sphere of debate and decision. The decline and fall of the modern religious right's notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.

NB: This is only a small excerpt of a four-page article which can be accessed by clicking on "external source" at the bottom of this snippet.

Labels: ARIS, Christianity, culture, Jon Meacham, Newsweek magazine, politics, post-Christian, religion

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Book Review: Perceptions of God will shape future of religion

By Ray Waddle • April 18, 2009

We've got God on the brain. The Master of the Universe comes as a storm of neurological impulses that can change the brain for better or for worse.

Thinking of God as All Compassionate can do you good. It makes you more empathetic and improves brain health. Extremist religion only increases anger, risking brain damage.

Such conclusions and more arise from the much-discussed research collected in a new book, How God Changes Your Brain, by neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman.

Please click on "external source" for complete book review.

Labels: Andrew Newberg, God, Mark Robert Waldman, neuroscience, Ray Waddle

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Book Review: Solution to "The God Wars" Found in Award-Winning Book

WEBWIRE – Saturday, April 18, 2009

RETURN TO MEANING: THE AMERICAN PSYCHE IN SEARCH OF ITS SOUL redefines religious meaning and its importance for a Scientific Age. (http://www.andrewcort.com)

"Renaissance man” Andrew Cort (science and mathematics teacher, attorney, and doctor of chiropractic), has written an inspirational and scholarly book that “rescues philosophy from the mathematicians, sex from the hedonists, religion from empty sanctimony, and science from barren materialism,” says George Gilder, noted social commentator.

If there is a God, and God is all-powerful and good, why would God create such a painful and difficult world? Does religion have a credible answer? Morality, as secularists know, does not require a deity. Blind faith, as atheists know, often leads to hatred and violence. Taking scriptural stories as literal accounts of history, as scientists know, borders on the nonsensical. There has to be more.

Please click on "external source" for complete article, and a link to the author's website.

Labels: Dr. Andrew Cort, God, philosophy, religion, science, soul

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Review: Teenagers more moral, less religious, says new survey

By Jim Coggins

This is the first of a two-page article. Please click on "external source" for complete article.

TEENAGERS are becoming more moral but less religious, according to a new study released by one of Canada's most respected sociologists.

The Emerging Millennials: How Canada's Newest Generation is Responding to Change & Choice is the title of the latest book by Reginald Bibby, a sociologist with the University of Lethbridge. It is based on a survey of 4,746 high school students aged 15 - 19 that he conducted in 2008.

Friendship and freedom

Asked what they found "very important," the Millennials -- as teenagers in this age bracket are called -- responded emphatically: friendship (86 percent) and freedom (85 percent). These values rated higher than a comfortable life (75 percent), a good education (73 percent), success (73 percent), family life (67 percent), money (44 percent), looks (40 percent) and popularity (16 percent). They also ranked much higher than did spirituality (27 percent) and involvement in a religious group (13 percent).

Along with these values, Millennials also demonstrated that they hold a number of "traditional" moral values. Eighty-four percent said trust is "very important," and 81 percent said honesty is. Millennials also value humour (75 percent), concern for others (65 percent), politeness (64 percent), forgiveness (60 percent) and working hard (55 percent).

Relativism rules

Nonetheless, almost two-thirds of Millennials said that "what's right or wrong is a matter of personal opinion." When asked what they based their own moral values on, 43 percent said "how I feel at the time," and seven percent said "a personal decision." Sixteen percent cited their parents' views, three percent said their friends, and only 10 percent based their moral decisions on "religion" -- slightly below the 12 percent who said their moral views were based on "nothing."

This, however, does not mean Millennials are not acting morally. From 2000 to 2008, the percentage of teens who drink alcohol declined from 78 percent to 71 percent, the percentage who smoke dropped from 37 percent to 22 percent, the percentage who use marijuana or hashish dropped from 37 percent to 31 percent, and the percentage who never have sex rose from 51 percent to 56 percent. In fact, the study claims, teens are having sex less frequently than seniors. The April 13 issue of Maclean's magazine responded to Bibby's findings by dubbing Millennials the "tame" generation.

Teens have not, however, fully embraced traditional values. Seventy-two percent of Millennials said they approved of sex before marriage "when people love each other"; but that is down from 82 percent in 2000 and 87 percent in 1992. Similarly, 44 percent approve of homosexual relations and accept them, and another 28 percent disapprove but accept them; however, that level is lower than the approval rate among Baby Boomers (people who were born between 1946 and 1965).

Who needs organized religion?

Millennials have inherited trends established by their grandparents and their parents -- particularly a trend away from organized religion.

In the 1950s, more than 60 percent of Canadians attended a Christian church weekly. In the 21st century, less than 30 percent do. Conservative Protestants (evangelicals, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mennonites, Christian Reformed, etc.) have held steady at about eight percent of the population; but there have been very significant declines among mainline Protestants (United, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans), and among Roman Catholics.

Labels: Canada, Jim Coggins, millennials, organized religion, Reginald Bibby, religion, teenagers

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10 Minutes with … the Rev. John Polkinghorne

April 15, 2009
NEWS FEATURE
10 Minutes with … the Rev. John Polkinghorne
By Daniel Burke

(UNDATED) Christian thinkers have long employed insights from sociology, literature, and other fields to augment their ideas of how God works in the world.

Yet despite the world-changing insights of science, very few theologians have drawn on physics, biology or geology in the same way.

Renowned Anglican physicist-theologian John Polkinghorne wants to change all that. His new book, “Theology in the Context of Science,” examines what topics like space and time can teach us about God, and how a scientific style of inquiry can benefit theologians.

Polkinghorne, who was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2002 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work reconciling science and faith, spoke about his new book from his home in England. Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Theology and science are highly specialized, often complex disciplines. Is it feasible for someone to become fully versed in both?

A: I’m not saying that every theologian has to approach theology through the context of science any more than a liberation theologian would say that everyone has to live in base community in South America. I wrote the book to encourage theologians to take the context of science more seriously ... without having to master all of the technical details.

This is a transcript of an interview with renowned Anglican physicist-theologian John Polkinghorne, who was the winner of the Templeton Prize in 2002. It is a worthwhile read. Please click on "external source" for complete article.

Labels: Daniel Burke, God, Rev. John Polkinghorne, science, Templeton Prize, theologians

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God and the Multiverse

April 14, 2009, 6:14 am
God and the Multiverse

Please click on "external source" to access the original article in "Seed" magazine. Interesting juxtaposition with Urantia Book revelation.

Today’s idea: Multiverse?theory —?the idea that many universes lie beyond what we can observe — doesn’t really undermine the argument for God as creator as some Christian thinkers contend, scientists and theologians say.

Science and Religion | New “multiverse” theories challenge both humanity’s uniqueness and our central place in the cosmos, Nathan Schneider writes in Seed magazine — so it looks like they could join evolution as another battleground in the culture wars. Christian thinkers have criticized such ideas as “motivated by a refusal to accept evidence of God’s handiwork in the cosmos.”

But among scientists and theologians focused on multiverse theory, many believe that it simply expands the job description for God.

Labels: God, multiverse, religion, science, Seed

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Easter: Sign of Our Faith in Renewal

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Please click on "external source" for complete article.

Polls over the recent decades have consistently shown that nine in 10 Americans believe in the existence of God. A Harris Poll in 2003 indicated that roughly 84 percent professed a belief in miracles, the same number as those who believed in the survival of the soul after death. (Nearly 70 percent also believed in the devil and hell.)

A Pew Forum survey in 2007 indicated 78 percent saw the Bible as being the word of God, either literally (35 percent) or not (43 percent).

A current poll conducted by Newsweek found basic religious beliefs have varied little in decades. According to Newsweek, 78 percent still found prayer to be “an important part of daily life,” and 85 percent said religion was “very important” or “fairly important” in their lives.

No matter our specific spiritual doctrines, humans do exhibit a need to maintain hope and a faith in revival. We say that it’s only natural, and we see the basis for that belief in the continual renewal of the natural world around us.

Change is a constant.

Newsweek also reported its latest poll found that only 48 percent of those surveyed thought faith would “help answer all or most of the country’s current problems.” That’s down from 64 percent in 1994. Presumably, that means we tend to see fewer possibilities for specific spiritual beliefs solving the convoluted problem of toxic assets, bundled mortgage securities and such.

Labels: belief, Bible, faith, God, Newsweek magazine, spirituality

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Broken connection

Broken connection
Growing number of Christians claim no church affiliation
BY PAM THARP
APRIL 12, 2009

This is the first of a three-page article which is well worth reading. Please click on "external source" to access the complete piece.

Natasha Allen does not have a church she calls home, but she prays every night.

Allen is among a growing number of Americans this Easter with no religious affiliation, a group that's almost doubled in size during the past 18 years, from 8 to 15 percent, according to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) released last month. Fewer Americans also say they are Christians now than did in the 1990 survey.

And even though three-quarters of those polled still identify themselves as Christians, area pastors say the survey is an indicator of a church culture that's not fulfilling its God-given mission.

"Jesus gave us the blueprint and the church is not following it and the church is dying," said Pastor Ocie Poole of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Richmond. "The imperative is to go and teach and the whole thing is driven by love, but too many believers won't do it and they're not concerned about the lost."

The church isn't reproducing itself because some Christian parents have failed to disciple their children in the faith, said Pastor Laura Altman of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Richmond.

"Parents are letting children make their own decisions. Faith has to be taught," Altman said. "You don't get it by osmosis."

ARIS showed few gains in atheism, those who don't believe in God, said Liberty Church of Christ senior minister David Soper. It's the "nones," who have no connection to a church, that are most concerning, he said.

"The 'nones' are a growing trend," Soper said. "People know what the church is against and not what it's for. The church doesn't have good answers to people's problems and it's not addressing the problems they face.

"We've spent too much time in politics rather than living out our lives in Christ and in love. We need to focus on what the church was called to do: serve, love, teach and disciple. That's where the true influence lies."

Labels: ARIS, Christianity, church, Pam Tharp, religion

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Friday, April 17, 2009

Is Political Rebound Ahead for Christian Right?

By Tracie Powell, CQ Guest Columnist

President Obama raised a few eyebrows back home with his choice of words in Turkey, a Muslim nation, about religion.

“We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values,” the president said.

A few days before, a new report revealed that fewer Americans identify themselves as Christians. The American Religious Identification Survey said the proportion of Americans who claim to have no religion has increased to 15 percent today, from 8.2 percent in 1990.

Still, I’m not ready to write an obituary for Christian conservatism just yet.

One only has to look at the response, such as in this video from groups like the National Organization for Marriage after Iowa and Vermont legalized same sex marriage and the Washington, DC council voted to recognize the unions to see how they are now shaping their message.

No, Christianity isn’t dead nor dying, neither is the Christian Right for that matter. It’s just slowing, perhaps temporarily, being replaced by a softer brand of religious expression, says David Roozin, Director of the Hartford Seminary’s Institute for Religion Research.

More progressive Christian leaders are making service, not condemnation, more in vogue.

One example of that soft side in action: a group of Christian leaders plan to converge on Washington later this month to discuss ways to end poverty around the world in 10 years. Sounds pretty lofty, but it shows a shift in values and a shift in understanding about what makes a person moral and righteous.

This is just a part of this excellent, two-page article. Please click on "external source" to access the entire article.

Labels: American Religious Identification Survey, Christian right, President Obama, Tracie Powell

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Banish negative vibes

Take some positive steps and try to turn the day around

By Jackie Loohauis-Bennett of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Apr. 10, 2009

You know it even before your feet hit the cold floor in the morning.

It's going to be a bad day.

Not an extraordinarily lousy one - no foreclosure or major health probs. But you can tell this will be a stinker for our times, filled with frustration, stress, conflict, worry. Plenty of opportunities for simple yuckiness.

But you don't have to start humming "The Bad Day" song and book a lousy 24 hours into your Franklin Planner. You can turn a bad day around and make it good, experts say.

"Most days will be labeled according to our focus. If we are thinking, 'Oh, this will be a bad day,' chances are it will be. But we can focus on what is good and change that," says Vlada Kleyman, a therapist and life coach with Winds of Change Coaching in Milwaukee.

Bad days can take on a power of their own that can also be their weakness.

"Bad days and bad things tend to make us forget what we know and what works against them because we feel so loaded. But we can challenge those negative thoughts," says Robin Monson-Dupuis, manager of outpatient behavioral health services with Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee.

Here are some tools you can use to banish nasty vibes given off in a bad day.

Please click on "external source to access this entire article.

Labels: Jackie Loohauis-Bennett, negativity, positive thinking

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Religion in America: A many splendored thing

By ARTURO MORA

Should America be guided by any specific religious viewpoint? You’d think the answer was obvious, considering the First Amendment.

Yet there are politicians and religious leaders who insist we are a Christian nation, and demand the majority religion should set the rules. They want it to dictate our laws, our education system, and even how we shop. (“There’s a “War on Christmas!” they complain.)

But are we a Christian nation?

The Pew survey also showed a lot of movement between religions. Americans are searching for meaning in their lives, and they care less about specific creeds or traditional faith lines.

For example, few in the survey said they were Buddhists. Yet mindfulness practice and meditation have grown beyond the fads they once were. Popular writers such as Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and Thich Nhat Hanh mix Eastern and Western spiritual teachings. God, they say, is not Christian or Buddhist. God is just God.

So even if we were to agree Christianity should set the rules, whose Christianity would that be exactly?

Instead of claiming you’re oppressed, instead of yelling at one another, how about we talk to each other?

A relative of mine, a traditional Christian, called last year during a health crisis, and asked, “Have you thought that maybe the reason you got sick is you’re worshipping the wrong God?”

I explained the Buddha is not a God, and described what God meant to me. We talked for an hour about the role spirituality plays in our lives, and she directed me to a wonderful passage in Philippians (4:6-8), which helped me through my crisis. I go back to it often.

I’d love to have such discussions with many traditional Christians. If you see God and Jesus in a traditional way, or take the Bible as literal truth, I respect your beliefs.

Labels: America, Arturo Mora, Christianity, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, religion, spirituality

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Easter coupled with articles about Americans' religious beliefs

by Elizabeth Hovde, Oregonian columnist
Friday April 10, 2009, 3:00 PM

A couple NEWSWEEK articles -- published just in time for Easter, the pinnacle of the Christian calendar -- are creating some controversy and mixed feelings.

The first, by Jon Meacham, is titled, "The End of Christian America." Check it out. It discusses surveys that show the percentage of self-identifying Christians has fallen 10 points in two decades time while the number of people calling themselves atheists or agnostics has increased about fourfold from 1990 to 2009.

Christians still make up the majority of Americans (76 percent of Americans in the survey still identify as Christians), but other faiths are on the rise and there has been an increase in the number of people who are religiously unaffiliated. And those people are more apt to identify with being "spiritual" rather than "religious." Meacham writes that the present belief system out there "is less about the death of God and more about the birth of many gods. The rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans are people more apt to call themselves 'spiritual' rather than 'religious.'"

The next article, "One Nation Under God?," by Daniel Stone, reiterates that the U.S. remains a deeply religious nation. But Stone writes:

"A nation facing problems of biblical proportions appears to be looking less and less to religion for answers. According to a new NEWSWEEK Poll, the percentage of Americans who think faith will help answer all or most of the country's current problems dipped to a historic low of 48 percent, down from 64 percent in 1994. "The poll also shows changing perceptions about the religious makeup of the United States and its politics. Since Barack Obama took office earlier this year, the number of people who consider the U.S. a Christian nation has fallen to 62 percent, down from higher numbers during the Bush administration (69 percent last year and 71 percent in 2005)."

He adds:

"Americans' personal beliefs about religion haven't changed much in the last 20 years. The number of Americans with faith in a spiritual being--nearly nine in 10 -- has not changed much over the past two decades, according to historical polling. Seventy-eight percent said prayer was an important part of daily life, an increase of 2 points since 1987. Eighty-five percent said religion is 'very important' or 'fairly important' in their own lives -- a number that hasn't changed much since 1992. Nearly half (48 percent) described themselves as both 'religious and spiritual,' while another 30 percent said they were 'spiritual but not religious.' Only 9 percent said they were neither religious nor spiritual."

Christ is a champion of underdogs, offering endless mulligans to those who dare to believe in something much greater than themselves. He lived a life worth celebrating, worth remembering, worth affiliating with.

Labels: America, Christianity, Daniel Stone, Easter, Elizabeth Hovde, Jon Meacham

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Religion Spirituality Theology Books

WEBWIRE – Friday, April 10, 2009

Dr. Andrew Cort, D.C., J.D., has launched a website, http://www.andrewcort.com, providing information on books and seminars, with free excerpts, customer reviews, and related articles, on the topics of Religion, Spirituality, Education, Science, Holistic Healing, and contemporary American Culture.

Regarding his own major work, ‘Return to Meaning: The American Psyche in Search of its Soul’, Rev. Janet McKinstry has written, “Cort demonstrates that all religious traditions have the common aim of teaching a method for enlightening our souls. When this shared noble purpose is understood, a sense of sacred meaning is restored to our lives and there is no further need for religious hatred and bigotry. All of this is made clear in a book that is entertaining, inspiring, beautifully written, and filled with amazing insights into biblical passages that have perplexed generations of scholars (I was especially moved by Cort’s exploration of the Feminine aspect of creation). His real genius is that he takes complex theology and explains it for the everyday reader.”

Labels: Dr. Andrew Cort, Janet McKinstry, religion, spirituality

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Friday, April 10, 2009

After 4,000 Comments, Taking the Pulse on Modern Christianity

Kurt Soller

...Newsweek proclaimed "The Decline and Fall of Christian America" on its cover. The Washington Post/Newsweek "On Faith" blog featured a post that belittled the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. The Discovery Channel aired a documentary that painted Jesus as little more than an opportunistic politician who caught a bad break in a trial."

Whether valid or not, it's portrayals like these that have you readers -- especially Christians -- up in arms. The majority were using our forum to share their beliefs on where Christianity is headed. And as Christians, there were some great first-hand accounts of life in an increasingly "post-Christian" society. "As an Evangelical Christian from Africa, I should say this article was long overdue... I have always been bothered by Political Evangelical Christianity in America and the spreading of the same Political Christian dose in Sub Saharan Africa," wrote commenter Katm. "Any thinking and discerning evangelical Christian should take the critique in this article as a positive." Many agreed, echoing an overarching idea that Christianity in America has long been too political, and that this post-Christian America may be well-warranted. "Raised as I was, I am very familiar with the teaching of Christianity, and I am painfully aware of the holes my parents conservatism left in my education," echoed one reader."But, my favorite bible verse is the one about man being created in the image of God. Isn't that another way of saying that God and man are the same? To me it's just that simple."

With the numbers of believers down in this year's American Religious Identification Survey -- the inspiration for our cover -- I was surprised by the commenting Christians who were open about why the left organized religion. "People are not abandoning Christianity so much as abandoning organized religion," offered commenter xargaw. "Many of us have found a deeper faith in our own searching and in our communities outside of the church where irrelevant doctrine and hypocrisy are hard to ignore. There is often more of God at work in volunteerism in your town and being a true friend to someone in need than in the church building. Many are striving to live as Jesus directed rather than simply warming a pew once a week." But why forget organized Christianity? Others were quick to explain: "Most Americans still believe in God. But the last several decades the most visible voices of Christianity have been those who preach judgment, hatred, anger and violence."

Getting even more specific, there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of blame placed on the previous administration and the effect it had on politicizing religion. "I watched with dismay as the religious right hijacked the political process and decisions that were previously individual became part of a movement to impose a group's religious views on all of us," wrote Bookfan. "Abortion, intelligent design, stem cell research, and gay marriage became the property of voters' sectors--rather than a personal moral decision." Even Christians agreed, many of whom were unwilling to refute Meacham's assertion that we've entered a new era when discussing how the church interacts with the state: "Although I was raised in the US and in the Christian faith, I have come to see it primarily as something very ugly and divisive," wrote the reader 'Meditating.' "Instead of concentrating on loving one another, the Old Testament Christians (yes, it's an oxymoron) seem to have taken over the religious dialogue of my faith and turned it into a weapon intended to wound anyone who disagrees with them. What moral person would want to identify themselves with a faith like that? I don't and I am now one of those people who would not want to be identified as a Christian. It seems no one injures the name of Christ like the Christian have done."

That's certainly a harsh response, and it's worth pointing out that many Christians who read the piece were justifiably worried that Meacham and the magazine were dismissing Christianity. That's not the case; since the cover's publication, Meacham has published a follow-up -- asserting that faith, regardless of how it interacts with politics and American society, will never disappear. "The Newsweek of my childhood would have included historical data on church affiliation/attendance in America over the last two centuries," wrote Bobsf_94117. And others agreed that they wish our article had provided more context into how we've been approaching this post-Christian status." With that, came myriad arguments explaining what the Founding Fathers intended, as Christians or non-Christians, when they wrote The Constitution. But obviously, constitutional interpretation -- even as it interacts with religion -- is a different, and very huge, topic. Another time? On that note, I won't address the hundreds of comments that went back and forth arguing whether Hitler was a Christian. Not relevant...

Of all the thousands of comments though, the story about declining Christian identification focused squarely -- and nicely -- on one topic: the purpose of Christianity in society. I'm obviously not the right person to answer that, but I was intrigued by the hundreds of readers who wished religion away in sum, despite it's long history in American society. "This can only be good for the United States," argued one commenter. "We have lost our competitiveness in Science and the quality of our Education has been declining thanks in part to religious minded people who have been corrupting both Science and Education with nonsensical concepts such as Intelligent Design." In a less-specific away, hundreds agreed: "I am pleased!," wrote commenter Thevail. "How wonderful that humans have chosen once again to think for themselves, rather than depending on "the big book of answers." Religion is supposed to inspire us to be better people, make us aspire to higher goals, make us think before we act. But the truth is that if Christianity is wounded..it's a self-inflicted wound." Immediately, a committed Christian took it a step futher: "Another sensational title by Newsweek; however, as Christianity goes, so does America....maybe, that's why this country is going into the toilet."

As I'm sure you realize, it's impossible to cull more than 4,000 thoughts on Christianity into a few concise paragraphs. But from all these viewpoints, we can glean a few things: Faith isn't headed away, but our country an impasse between what Christians want from their government, and how the rest of non-Christian America views Christianity. Whether you believe Christianity is impure, or that our Democracy itself is faulted, it's clear that both politics and religion are in a time of flux. When do you think it will settle? And how will both religion and democracy -- even in a post-Christian society -- intersect? Your comments below.

Please click on "external source" for a look at a collection of reader comments...

Labels: 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, believers, Christianity, faith, God, Kurt Soller, Newsweek magazine, organized religion, politics

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Christians' Views on the Return of Christ

April 9, 2009

For many Christians, Easter is the most important religious holiday of the year — a time to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and look forward to the Second Coming. According to a 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, fully 79% of Christians in the U.S. say they believe that Christ will return to Earth someday. There is less agreement among Christians, however, over the timing and circumstances of his return.

Please click on "external source" to access the chart which displays the findings of this survey.

Labels: Christian, Jesus, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, resurrection

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Youth Survey: Teens lose faith in droves

Youth Survey: Teens lose faith in droves

Islam and atheism are on the rise while Christianity fades

Teens lose faith in drovesEvery day, Mohamed Hadi wakes up before sunrise for morning prayer. The 19-year-old then boards a bus for the 90-minute ride from his home in Richmond, B.C., to the campus of Simon Fraser University, where he’s studying to become a physiotherapist. He’s involved in the Muslim Students’ Association, and with Rich in Faith, a Muslim youth group he founded that offers tutoring and mentoring services. Hadi’s a busy guy, yet he always finds time for his religion, including prayer five times a day. “It helps me stay composed,” he says, “and to maintain balance in my life.”

Such devotion is rare among teens these days—or at least, among those from Protestant and Catholic households. Just as the younger generation is abandoning the Christian faith, though, non-Western religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, are growing in Canada at a surprising speed. According to new data from Project Teen Canada, more teens now identify as Muslim than Anglican, United Church of Canada and Baptist combined. As a group, the percentage who adhere to so-called “other faiths”—including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism—has grown fivefold since Project Teen began its surveys in 1984, while the percentage of teens who identify as Roman Catholic has declined by one third, and the percentage who identify as Protestant is down by almost two-thirds.

A side effect of this trend is a hollowing-out of the religious middle ground in Canada. Reginald Bibby, the University of Lethbridge sociologist who heads up Project Teen, says the grey zone of those who believe in God, but don’t regularly practise an established religion, is rapidly emptying out, leaving behind two distinct camps: teens who are very religious and actively practise their religion, and those who don’t believe in God at all. “For years I have been saying that, for all the problems of organized religion in Canada, God has continued to do well in the polls,” Bibby writes in The Emerging Millennials, a new book based on Project Teen’s latest findings. “That’s no longer the case.”

The growth in popularity of faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism can largely be attributed to immigration, Bibby says. Indeed, there are more new Canadians than ever—immigrants made up 20 per cent of the population in 2006, according to Statistics Canada, up from 16 per cent in 1981. And the majority of new Canadians now hail from the Middle East and Asia, whereas most came from Europe a decade before.

Foreign-born teens are more likely to be religious when they arrive, but whether that faith will persist over the coming generations remains to be seen. “Because these faith groups are so small, they often can’t hang on to their kids,” Bibby explains. “They have this maddening tendency to socialize with Protestant, Catholic, and ‘no religion’ friends, and marry out of their parents’ groups.” But immigration will continue to supply fresh believers, so it’s likely that their community support will grow too. That’s been Hadi’s experience. Amongst his friends, many of whom are Muslim, “we all know when it’s time to pray. If we forget, we’ll remind each other,” he says. “Community is an integral part of the equation.”

For Canada’s Christian teens, meanwhile, the community is shrinking like never before. Since 1984, the percentage of teens who call themselves Christian has almost been cut in half while the number who call themselves atheist has grown to 16 per cent, up from just six per cent in the mid-1980s. Just as the boomers shifted toward agnosticism, teens are now going a step further and rejecting religion entirely. “Belief is learned, pretty much like the multiplication table,” Bibby writes. “So is non-belief.”

Labels: belief, Buddhism, Canada, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Project Teen, religion, teenagers

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More Religious Countries, More Perceived Ethnic Intolerance

by Steve Crabtree and Brett Pelham

This is the second article in a two-part series on religiosity and community intolerance. The first article addressed religiosity and intolerance toward gays and lesbians.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup Polls conducted in 139 countries between 2006 and 2008 reveal that in countries where a higher percentage of citizens say religion is important in their daily lives people are also more likely to say that their communities are not good places for ethnic or racial minorities to live. However, this trend is not linear. Countries with average levels of religiosity -- comparatively speaking -- report about as much intolerance as the world's most religious countries.

"Religious" people in this analysis are defined as those who report that religion is important in their daily lives. Using the percentage of "religious" people in a given country, all 139 countries are divided into five groups, ranging from least to most religious.

Comparing Different Religious Groups

Despite the history of caste systems in some predominantly Hindu cultures, the Hindu American Foundation states, "While tolerance and pluralism are valued by many religions, these concepts are the very essence of Hinduism," and Gallup's findings suggest Hindus are generally true to their creed. It is also important to note that many Hindus do not consider caste to have much to do with race or ethnicity.

After Hindus, Christians are the religious group that reports the lowest level of ethnic intolerance in their communities. In fact, Christians report only slightly more ethnic and racial intolerance than do secularists. In contrast, those in other major faith traditions -- Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews -- are substantially more likely than are secularists to say that the places where they live are not good places for ethnic and racial minorities. Jews are more than twice as likely as secularists to report that their communities are not good places for ethnic and racial minorities.

Local Frictions Have Big Effects

To a great degree, differences among different faith traditions may have more to do with culture than with faith. That is, these group differences may reflect historical and political factors, such as long-standing conflict over territory, rather than religious ideology per se. A case in point involves Jews and Muslims living inside and outside Israel. A majority of Jews and nearly half of Muslims living in Israel say their neighborhoods are not good places for ethnic and racial minorities. Outside of Israel, however, only about one in three Muslims and about one in five Jews say the same thing.

Ethnic and Racial Intolerance and Individual Levels of Religiosity

It is also informative to look within each major faith tradition to compare those who do and do not say that religion is important in their daily lives. In most faith traditions, religious and less religious people report similar levels of intolerance.

The largest gap, at 10 percentage points, is among Buddhists. However, this difference is driven predominantly by the reports of Buddhists in only a few countries, most notably Vietnam and South Korea. In Japan and Cambodia, for example, it is less religious Buddhists who report more community intolerance. In short, this small average difference, even for Buddhists, varies widely across countries.

Why, then, is there a persistent belief among many that religiosity is associated with ethnic intolerance? Perhaps it's partly because there are specific religious sects in which this is more likely to be the case. For example, Gallup Polls taken in 26 countries (mostly in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union) asked respondents to say whether they thought of their religion as "the one true religion in the world," "one of a few true religions in the world," or "just one way, among many different religions." Among Christians and Muslims, those who say that their religion is the one true religion are the most likely to say their communities are not good for ethnic and racial minorities. In some cases then, exclusionary views of religion are accompanied by exclusionary views of race and ethnicity.

A Caveat: Individual Intolerance or Awareness of Discrimination?

It is a well-worn truism in research on discrimination and ethnic and racial intolerance that the answers one gets in a survey depend greatly on the precise questions one asks. This analysis focuses on a question that essentially asks people to serve as informants about their communities at large. Gallup might have observed different results if it had asked people, for instance, if they would prefer to have a member of a specific minority group as a neighbor.

A Glass of Intolerance: Mostly Empty?

Critics of religion have often noted that religion has historically played a major role in fueling and maintaining ethnic tensions. From the Crusades of the Middle Ages to the ancient tensions that flare daily in the Middle East, religion is certainly connected in some ways to ethnic tensions. This fact notwithstanding, the present findings suggest that most modern religious traditions seem to have made some progress, at least since the Middle Ages, in promoting ethnic understanding and cooperation. Although there are some connections between religiosity and ethnic and racial intolerance, these connections were generally small and inconsistent -- and certainly much smaller than the comparable effects that exist for religious intolerance of gays and lesbians.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews conducted between 2006 and 2008 with about 1,000 adults in most countries (and a sample size range of 446 to 2,006). Confidence intervals vary widely based on the sample sizes of specific groups. However, for the results involving groups of countries that vary in religiosity level, confidence intervals were always less than +1 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Labels: Brett Pelham, ethnicity, Gallup Poll, religion, religiosity, religious intolerance, Steve Crabtree

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New Television-Web Series "Global Spirit" Explores Spirituality, Religion and the Science of Belief as Practiced Worldwide, premiering April 12 on Lin

New Television-Web Series "Global Spirit" Explores Spirituality, Religion and the Science of Belief as Practiced Worldwide, premiering April 12 on Link TV

Link TV presents the premiere of "Global Spirit," a nationally broadcast, pan-cultural television and web series that explores spiritual, psychological and scientific belief systems from around the world. Episodes explore the relationships between mind and spirit, science and metaphysics, and mental and physical well-being as approached by the world's ancient wisdom traditions and by modern science. "Global Spirit" is a unique 'internal travel' series that brings to light spiritual, mental and physical practices that help us to define who we are as human beings, our relationships to others -- and to the world at large. From the ecstatic state of the Turkish Whirling Dervishes, to new scientific understandings of Oneness and the interconnectedness of the universe, to the personal journeys of American veterans who return to Vietnam in search of forgiveness, "Global Spirit" explores mankind's deepest existential questions, tracing the human quest for truth and wisdom. Watch online at LinkTV.org/GlobalSpirit.

New York, NY (Billboard Publicity Wire/PRWEB ) April 6, 2009 -- A rally cry for change has been heard from Americans and people around the globe. The intense environment of conflict, fear and cultural misunderstanding of recent years has generated a yearning for a more interconnected, just and compassionate way of co-existing with our global neighbors. At the same time, we are perhaps seeking a deeper understanding of ourselves -- both as individuals and as a nation. In the midst of this burgeoning, collective reassessment, Link TV presents "Global Spirit," a nationally broadcast, pan-cultural television and web series that explores spiritual, psychological and scientific belief systems from around the world.

"Global Spirit" premieres on Sunday, April 12 at 6:00pm PT/9:00pm ET with its first original program "The Spiritual Quest," featuring acclaimed comparative religion author Karen Armstrong and professor of Buddhist studies Dr. Robert Thurman. Each week through June 14, "Global Spirit" will present the U.S. television premiere of a new program probing the trans-cultural dynamics of human inquiry. Link TV is available on DIRECTV channel 375 and Dish Network channel 9410 and on select cable stations. Programs will also be streamed in their entirety at LinkTV.org/GlobalSpirit.

For full episode descriptions and air dates, please visit our website.

Episodes explore the relationships between mind and spirit, science and metaphysics, and mental and physical well-being as approached by the world's ancient wisdom traditions and by modern science. "Global Spirit" is a unique 'internal travel' series that brings to light spiritual, mental and physical practices that help us to define who we are as human beings, our relationships to others -- and to the world at large.

From the ecstatic state of the Turkish Whirling Dervishes, to new scientific understandings of Oneness and the interconnectedness of the universe, to the personal journeys of American veterans who return to Vietnam in search of forgiveness, "Global Spirit" explores mankind's deepest existential questions, tracing the human quest for truth and wisdom.

The belief systems of many of our global neighbors lie beyond the purview of formalized religion, yet they have guided mankind through many millennia with highly evolved principles and philosophies. In August of 2005, the cover of Newsweek magazine announced the rise of spirituality in America. The issue explores how and why many Americans choose to seek spiritual experiences outside the norms of traditional church, mosque or synagogue settings. A poll conducted by Newsweek and Beliefnet found that new forms of religious experience and expression attract many Americans each year. The poll also found that 79% of those polled described themselves as "spiritual," and 70% of those polled said it was very important to them to practice their religion in order to find happiness and peace of mind. "Global Spirit" explores the emerging longing in the American psyche to explore the depths of human consciousness and the many faces of spirituality.

Rather than approaching global traditions from a detached, voyeuristic perspective, "Global Spirit" invites the viewer to test and participate in traditions as practiced by a wide range of peoples and spiritual leaders. By connecting and cross-pollinating the core concepts from the world's wisdom traditions, "Global Spirit" offers the curious viewer an exploration of new and ancient approaches to healing, forgiveness and self-knowledge. From the mystical to the religious, and from the psychological to the spiritual, "Global Spirit" offers a rich and thoughtful exploration of the world's many approaches to personal and collective well-being.

Each "Global Spirit" episode offers compelling film segments with original, on-location footage shot by the "Global Spirit" crew, together with engaging, in-depth conversations between host Phil Cousineau and a diverse set of experts such as Karen Armstrong, Dr. Robert Thurman, Deepak Chopra, Sobonfu Somé, Chief Oren Lyons, Azim Khamisa, Rev. Alan Jones, Joanne Shenandoah, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Robert Bly, Hamza El Din and Jai Uttal. Each week, "Global Spirit" will present a spectrum of new insights for understanding ourselves, our families, our communities, our planet -- and ultimately our place in the Cosmos.

Support for this series has been generously provided by The Kalliopeia Foundation, The Fetzer Institute, The Attar Supporting Organization, The Compton Foundation and Dreamcatchers.

Journalists may screen programs in advance at this link, please email Julia Panely-Pacetti for login information: Link TV Press Screening Room.

To access full "Global Spirit" episode descriptions, air dates, photography and press materials visit the: Link TV Press Room.

ABOUT LINK TV

Link TV is the nation's largest independent broadcaster, devoted to providing diverse global perspectives on news, current events and world culture not typically available on other U.S. networks. Link TV regularly airs a robust selection of award-winning films and documentaries that explore the human condition from different multi-cultural perspectives. Through its "Cinemondo" series, Link supports the essential cultural role of world cinema by helping Americans better understand what is happening in the world.

A pioneer in news and current affairs programming, Link TV has been recognized domestically and internationally for its original news programs including the Peabody Award-winning daily broadcast "Mosaic: News from the Middle East," which monitors and airs unedited selections of news reports from more than 30 Middle-Eastern broadcasters, and "Global Pulse," which compares and contrasts news reports from around the world on critical issues. Link also offers its viewers original, innovative participatory programs promoting national and global citizen action. Most of Link's programs are available nowhere else on American television.

Link TV is a nationwide television network available in more than 31 million U.S. homes as a basic service on DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410. Select programs are shown on more than 50 urban cable systems, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Link TV's original programs, music videos, documentary clips and artist interviews are streamed on the Internet at LinkTV.org.

For complete background information, program schedule, and internet streaming, go to LinkTV.org.

Labels: belief, Global Spirit, Kalliopeia Foundation, Karen Armstrong, Link TV, religion, spirituality, web TV

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Stand up for fight for the weak, the ill, the persecuted

Wesley G. Hughes, Staff Writer
04/05/2009

I've had a hankering in the last few years to be an ethicist, not one of those ivory-tower or mountaintop kinds of guys but sort of a shade-tree, back-of-the-envelope kind of thinker on things right and wrong.

I'm not sure what impels the thinking of those other ethicists with the letters behind their names but what gets me going is the evil that men do or allow to be done to the weakest, meekest and most innocent among us.

And it's usually not something I've been thinking about for a long time. It's as though someone slapped me in the face with it like a big wet fish. It gets your attention.

A good example of that kind of attention grabber is when I learned of the festering outbreak of child prostitution going on right here in this county and just to the west in the Pomona area. It's not just there and in Ontario and Claremont. Those seem to be the only cities that have acknowledged it and are attempting to do something about it.

It seems unlikely that ethics and war go hand in hand but I promise I'm going to wage war against child prostitution and the evil merchandisers and users of these child slaves in every way I can. And I'll be talking about the enablers who allow it to go on under their noses.

Another example of one of those fishlike epiphanies occurred a couple of years ago. I remember it well, not the exact date but the moment.

It was probably a Saturday. I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking my coffee and reading the paper, looking forward to working the crossword puzzle.

I turned the page and the wet fish got me. There before me was a large photograph of a beautiful child, whose face was disfigured by a cleft palate and lip. It caught me so by surprise that it brought tears to my eyes.

The photo was in an ad placed by The Smile Train...

The Smile Train became my favorite charity and I've written about it in this space before and I wear and never remove one of those rubber wristlets - what do they call those things anyway? - bearing The Smile Train name. There's a pang of guilt that goes with that. It's been too long since I sent a contribution. It's time.

The final fish I'll use today occurred Saturday.

I don't usually stick my nose into religious issues but I'll make an exception for the story that I read in Saturday's New York Times. It was about a 17-year-old girl, who was publicly flogged by a Taliban commander in the Swat region of Pakistan. Someone caught it on video.

Why this incident affected me so, I don't really know. Over time, I've witnessed and read so many vile things done in the name of God that I should not be surprised. That includes the religions granted freedom of worship by our Constitution right here at home.

Fortunately, they don't have completely free reign here. If my neighbors dragged my daughter into the street and flogged her for missing Sunday school, they'd have more than just me to deal with.

They would be prosecuted and punished (if there was anything left after I got through but then of course, I'd be prosecuted too. We have a good system).

This final item came together in my mind Saturday with the children, who are prostituted ...They too are beaten and abused and have no power and no choices. It doesn't matter whether it's done in the name of commerce or the name of religion. It should be stopped.

It extends beyond children to women everywhere. A woman should have every right to live her life with the same freedoms as any man, no matter where on the planet, the color of her skin or the name of her religion, or if she chooses, without religion.

Those are my ethics.

Labels: children, ethics, exploitation, persecution, Wesley G. Hughes, women

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Half of Americans lack understanding of Islam: survey

Press Trust of India / Washington April 06, 2009

More than half of Americans lack a basic understanding of Islam, while a sizable number hold negative views about the world's second-largest religion.

Most Americans think President Obama's pledge to "seek a new way forward" with the Muslim world is an important goal, even as good amount of number say that even mainstream adherents to the religion encourage violence against non-Muslims, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey showed that 55 per cent of those polled said they are without a basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam, and most said they do not know anyone who is Muslim. While awareness has increased in recent years, underlying views have not improved.

About 48 per cent said they have an unfavourable view of Islam, the highest in polls since late 2001.

Nearly three in 10, or 29 per cent, said they see mainstream Islam as advocating violence against non-Muslims; although more, 58 per cent, said it is a peaceful religion.

Overall, nearly two-thirds said Obama will handle the diplomatic mission "about right". Nearly a quarter, though, said he will probably "go too far". Nine per cent said it is more likely he will not go far enough.

Republicans are also more apt than others to hold negative attitudes toward Islam, with six in 10 having unfavorable views, compared with about four in 10 for Democrats and independents.

Perceptions of Islam as a peaceful faith are the highest among non-religious Americans, with about two-thirds holding that view. Among Catholics, 60 per cent see mainstream Islam as a peaceful faith; it is 55 per cent among all Protestants, but drops to 48 per cent among white evangelical Protestants.

There are deep divisions in perceptions of Islam between younger and older Americans as well: More than six in 10 younger than 65 said Islam is a peaceful religion, but that drops to 39 per cent among seniors.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted by telephone March 26-29 among a national random sample of 1,000 adults. The results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

In his inaugural address, Obama extended an offer to leaders of unfriendly Muslim nations that the United States "will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

Labels: Americans, Islam, polling, President Obama, religion, understanding

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

Bishops: Alternative therapy 'superstition'

Some Catholics say the treatment is helpful and positive

By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff | Sunday, April 05, 2009

Defenders of Reiki expressed dismay and disappointment over criticism of the alternative health therapy by U.S. Catholic bishops, who recently called it "unscientific and inappropriate for Catholic institutions."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued guidelines March 24 that said Reiki's medical benefits are unproven by science and inappropriate for Christians because of the spiritual dangers posed. Rapid City Reiki teacher Cynthia Dumdey said she was surprised by those comments, which she called uninformed and unfortunate.

Reiki is usually described as a holistic healing technique, a form of therapeutic touch or a type of "energy medicine" in which a practitioner places hands on the body in certain positions in order to facilitate and manipulate the flow of energy. Reiki teaches that illness is caused by imbalances or disruptions of energy in a person's body.

But in its "Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy," the USCCB argued that "To use Reiki one would have to accept ... elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science. Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science."

Teresa Withee, a Reiki practitioner and baptized Catholic, said she "very much respects the religion" but disagrees with the bishops' characterization of Reiki as anti-religious or superstitious.

Dumdey is a Reiki master and clinical psychologist who has trained at least 100 people in the three levels of Reiki in the past 19 years. She also routinely gets patient referrals from medical doctors, including Mayo Clinic physicians.

"So they think it's got some medical benefits," she said. "Reiki is an option in many hospitals and hospices around the country. There's a whole field of healing called energy medicine, and a lot of doctors know that if they don't start acknowledging it, they are doing a huge disservice to their patients," she said.

The USCCB said Reiki lacks scientific credibility.

"Reputable scientific studies attesting to the efficacy of Reiki are lacking, as is a plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious," they state.

Dumdey and Sister Susan Pohl, a Benedictine nun and longtime hospital chaplain, both say the field of quantum physics suggests that Reiki may be much more scientific than anyone knows right now.

"I've been at conferences with quantum physicists who are on the same page as Reiki when it comes to new theories about energy and matter," Dumdey said.

"I think we have to continue exploring quantum physics regarding how the divine can be viewed as an essential part of the mind-body-spirit connection," Pohl said. "Reiki therapy may be one of many avenues to travel in this regard."

Those connections were highlighted by last month's announcement that French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat was awarded the 2009 Templeton Prize, a coveted religion award honoring someone who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension through insight, discovery or practical works. D'Espagnat has theorized that quantum physics could provide insights into alternate spiritual realities and has been quoted as saying that recent discoveries may be "signs providing us with some perhaps not entirely misleading glimpses of a higher reality and, therefore, that higher forms of spirituality are fully compatible with what seems to emerge from contemporary physics."

Reiki is frequently described as a form of spiritual healing, and American bishops assert there is a radical difference between Reiki therapy and the healing by divine power in which Christians believe.

Withee, owner of Divine Kneads in Rapid City, said the patient, not the practitioner, is the "healer" in Reiki. "We're just providing the space for that energy work," she said.

For Chantelle Emond, a Reiki practitioner at Integrity Massage in Rapid City, the universal energy of Reiki and the divine energy of God are the same.

"For me, Reiki is just another part of God. My experience of Reiki only amplified my experience of God," she said.

Emond considers Reiki healing and the power of prayer closely related phenomena and believes both can be sent long distances. She was amused by criticism of it as unscientific.

"Can the power of prayer be proven? Please scientifically prove God to me," she said.

Pohl has no formal training in Reiki, but she respects the therapy as a form of stress reduction and a means to enhance overall health and well-being. She's seen it offer relief from the unpleasant side effects of medical treatments. "One Catholic sister I worked with was assigned a special room in her Motherhouse to provide this type of therapy to any who wished to seek some alternative pain remedy. I think Reiki, along with yoga, tai chi, meditation and other energy therapies, have a definite place in the continuing research into the mind-body-spirit connection," Pohl said.

Reiki therapists say the best way to learn about Reiki is to experience it.

"In my experience and in my life, I have received positive benefits from Reiki," said Emond. "But just like any medical therapy, some things work for some people and not for others."

Labels: Catholicism, Mary Garrigan, quantum physics, Reiki

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Smorgasbord religion on the grow throughout United States

Smorgasbord religion on the grow throughout United States E-mail
By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service
Published: April 03, 2009

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Friday afternoons find Ann Holmes Redding at the Al-Islam Center in Seattle, reciting Muslim prayers. Come Sunday, she heads about two miles south to kneel in the pews of St. Clement’s of Rome Episcopal Church.

“My experience and my call is to continue to follow Jesus,” said Redding, an Episcopal priest for the past 25 years, “even as I practice Islam.”

Redding insists she is both Christian and Muslim, fully following both faiths.

And for that, Redding expects to be defrocked by the Episcopal Church, which has warned the 57-year-old to renounce Islam or leave the priesthood.

Some Episcopalians are urging the church to take a similar stand against Kevin Thew Forrester, who was elected bishop of the sparsely populated Diocese of Northern Michigan in February. The only candidate on the ballot, Thew Forrester, 51, has practiced Zen meditation for a decade and received lay ordination from a Buddhist community.

Conservatives are outraged at the election of this “openly Buddhist bishop,” as they call him, charging him with syncretism—blending two faiths and dishonoring both.

The bishop-elect and the Lake Superior Zendo that ordained him say the angst is misplaced. The ordination simply honors his commitment to Zen meditation, they say. He took no Buddhist vows and professed no beliefs that contradict Christianity.

While people like Redding, who claim membership in two religions, are quite rare, scholars say the number of Americans who borrow bits from various traditions is multiplying.

Current sociological surveys, with their one-size-fits-all categories, don’t tell us exactly how many Americans hybridize their spiritual lives.

Sociologist Barry Kosmin, co-author of the recent, massive American Religious Identification Survey, said “the tendency of academics and everyone else is to try to disabuse them of this syncretism.”

For sure, “syncretism” is a dirty word to many Western monotheists; in Asia, “multiple religious belonging,” as scholars call it, is common.

Kendall Harmon, an Episcopal theologian from South Carolina, argues that Thew Forrester is a greater threat to his church than the openly gay bishop whose 2003 election has led four dioceses to secede.

The store, in this metaphor, is that big ice-cream parlor in the sky.

Fewer than three in 10 Americans claim their religion is “the one, true faith leading to eternal life,” according to data from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, and 44 percent say they’ve switched religious affiliations since childhood.

At the same time, traditional religious boundaries are falling and interfaith marriages are rising, meaning Americans increasingly are likely to attend a grandmother’s church funeral and a cousin’s bar mitzvah.

It’s little surprise then, that people who pledge allegiance to two traditions are proliferating.

John Berthrong, a Boston University scholar whose book, The Divine Deli, explores multiple religious belonging, said: “While churches are still having formal discussions about religious pluralism, the laity has bolted down the street to a Buddhist temple where they’re learning meditation.”

Sometimes those temples house Catholic nuns like Sister Rose Mary Dougherty, who leads a multifaith group of Zen students in Silver Spring, Md.

A nun for 50 years, Dougherty also is a sensei in the White Plum Lineage of Zen Buddhism, meaning she is entrusted to teach meditation to others.

Like many Christians who practice Zen, she uses its meditation techniques to clear the mind and focus on the present moment, but she doesn’t consider herself a Buddhist.

Labels: Buddhism, Christian, Daniel Burke, Episcopalians, Islam, religion, syncretism

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More Than Medicine to Heal

Reported by: Liz Bonis

Researchers say what some call “The God Cure” seems to play a critical role in recovery.

Cole Jackson is an active college student now, but several years ago he needed serious surgery for condition called Chron's. It's an inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] where the immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract. It is extremely painful.

“Before surgery I lost about 30 pounds,” Cold said. Medically, he has recovered so well that he now trains to run marathons.

At that time however, he said it wasn't just about the medical recovery; he made what you might call a sort of deal with God, and in the end, he says it may have played a significant role in his recovery.

“Lying in the hospital bed the night before surgery, I prayed to God and I asked him to show me my purpose in life. I placed all my pain and all my worries in the hands of God…to this day, I believe I will never have to endure as much pain as I did.”

A medical team has just published a new study which says he may be right. When Dr. Michael Yi and health psychologist Sian Cotton studied 155 adolescents with IBD and asked them about things like--how often they attended religious services, how often they prayed, whether they considered themselves to be spiritual--sure enough, they found when it comes to health and healing, with IBD or even without: “Spirituality had the biggest impact on quality of life,” Dr. Yi said.

That was found to be true not just for physical health but for mental health too. Researchers are now following up on this research to see if it applies to common childhood illnesses such as asthma.

“In general, the higher spiritual well-being was related not only to quality of life, but better emotional feeling…so less depression, less anxiety,” Yi said.

Cole said anyone who wants a spiritual connection can have one. The new study shows it helps well being, even without a chronic disease.

Cole said, “It's basically talking to God, and talking to Him like He's your best friend, say anything that's on your mind, that's what I did, and ever since, my life has changed for the better.”

Labels: Dr. Michael Yi, God, healing, Liz Bonis, mental health, Sian Cotton, spirituality

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Meditation has health and spiritual benefits

By Kenesha Beheler

March 31, 2009

Meditation is a process of reflection, contemplation and devotional exercise that has been practiced around the world for centuries. Christians pray and Buddhists chant; even nonreligious practitioners use the techniques to improve mental and physical health.

“There have been studies done at major universities, so it’s not just a lot of anecdotal evidence. For people who are spiritually inclined or not spiritually inclined, there is a tremendous physical benefit and also a psychological benefit,” said Grace Fogle, a local resident who has practiced meditation for many years. “Some of us meditate purely for health reasons, and a lot us meditate for the combined physical and spiritual benefits that we feel we receive.

“[As for the health effect] my studies in the clinical area show that any form of meditation you might learn, and there is a wide range, [is beneficial],” she said. “But there are definitely clinical studies that show that your blood vessels relax, therefore your heart has to do less work and your blood is moved through the body in a more natural, less stressful way.

“Your pulse rate drops significantly and that has to do again with the slowing of the heart; the ease in which all your body can perform its functions comes through meditation. And there is just a healing process that seems to occur because the body has its own wisdom in terms of how to heal itself. What you are doing is really enabling yourself. So even if you are taking a medication or whatever you are doing for your health, you are enhancing that therapy.

Fogle has been practicing meditation off and on for over 40 years, but within the last five she has been steady in her practice and has seen significant improvements in her own health.

“I find in my older years that now I’m turning much more to it, and it helps me mature in age more gracefully,” she said. “I am more grateful for every day and every moment, and I know my health benefits from it. It is not that you don’t have health challenges, but you deal with them very differently. Hopefully you recover quickly and with less trauma from things that you might have to go through.”

There are many forms of meditation: mantra, yoga, Tai Chi, prayer and Chi Gong. They are usually classified into two kinds: mindfulness and concentrative.

“You can incorporate meditation into every part of your life. So you can do walking meditation, where you are grateful for every step that you take. People do this now in many ways, but they just don’t call it meditation,” said Fogle. “What do you think the monks are doing or the nuns in the convents are doing? This is all prayerful meditation. If you are following a rosary or chanting, music or prayers, you are meditating. It is all the same, except it is a different form.”

Guided meditation is another form that is used, explained Fogle, in which a leader will teach the participant to sit, close the eyes, relax and take slow breaths as the leader guides the listener through a story. This form of meditation is often practiced for healing purposes and as a way to overcome challenges.

For many years people have carried a misunderstanding of meditation, she said, thinking that one had to be of a particular faith, religion or nationality to practice the methods. However, she said, anyone with an open mind can do it.

For anyone not doing it for spiritual reasons, it helps to refocus and reorganize the mind.

Labels: health, Kenesha Beheler, meditation, spirituality, stress

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Consumerism as a Spiritual Disease

Consumerism as a Spiritual Disease

...Consumerism enables the unsettling lack of equilibrium of the contemporary workplace. People will find it easier to stay in dysfunctional jobs so that they will be able to buy what Madison Avenue says that they need to be happy. Banks, credit cards, lines of credit, and a host of other facilitators step in to make all of these things attainable more easily -- with devastating results as we have seen of late. There is another sad repercussion in this consumerist cycle. The corporation or employer becomes enabled -- to do what it wants, to demand what it wants, to behave in whatever manner it wants. This occurs at the expense (literally) of the worker. After all, where will the debt-ridden employee go? In this era, options are very limited.

There is an alternative, however, a spiritual and healthier one. Christians do not pray for abundance; we pray for "our daily bread." In the Torah it was commanded that all of produce of a field or orchard not be harvested so that some would be left for those in need. The less we think we need, the happier we can become, not only with what we do have, but also with who we are as human beings.

As possessions matter less and less, something else happens. People begin to matter more and more. Talking replaces buying. Dinners with friends become places to discuss ideas and each other's lives rather than battlegrounds to prove who has the most toys or the most "A-list" friends. Families replace corporate personnel flow charts. Business contacts are replaced with real relationships. Competition is replaced with companionship. Joy arrives not in power or things or money or portfolio increases (remember those?) but in community.

A truly spiritual person understands that justice and not possessions is what really matters (please note that many people who do not consider themselves to be spiritual also promote justice over consumerism). Justice is the antithesis of "the golden handcuffs" of consumerism. Where the latter is an end-sum game of winning with the most toys, the former is about sharing them. The consumerist fails to graduate from the kindergarten mentality that "I" matter most. What matters most is that every "I" be afforded the same chance, consideration, opportunity, and respect as any other "I." Spiritual justice is meant to reach out to everyone with everything every day. While consumerism can result in hording, justice is always concerned with sharing. And sharing is healthy.

Labels: Albert Scariato, consumerism, employment, justice, sharing, spirituality, the economy

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The Why Chromosome: are men necessary?

March 28,2009

BOOK REVEIW: "Herland" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1915.

Careful guys...this is a bit of tongue-in-cheek writing, but - what if???

What if women were to evolve the power of parthenogenesis – the ability to procreate asexually or without sex? It sounds like something out of the X-Files, right? Well, actually there are animals today, certain geckos and snakes for instance, that already have this ability. And if this ability exists in nature, then those who accept evolution should certainly accept the possibility that humans could also evolve a similar specialization – at least, it shouldn't be considered completely impossible in the grand scheme of Darwinian thought.

After all, it would only take one woman with this characteristic, a slight variation in the genetic code, to change humankind forever. In fact, when you consider that these animals with this strange gift are entirely female, and only produce female offspring with this same gift, this means that one woman with this strange ability could eventually devastate the entire male human population, making the future human race exclusively female.

The question then becomes: what use does the male of the species serve? Why are men, other than to procreate, even necessary? How would the world change without men, without male power and influence on politics, science, religion, art, philosophy, government, labor, sex, and war? Would sex, or our notion of its necessity, simply disappear as men vanish from the face of the earth?

In her polemic "utopian" novel Herland, originally published in 1915, Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates a similar scenario, addressing these questions and more. Gilman even takes it one step further by placing her exclusively female-built civilization side-by-side with the male-dominant society of her time, allowing her to criticize and satirize the male-dominant world by comparison.

Herland is the story of three scientists, sociologist Vandyck "Van" Jennings, geographer and meteorologist Terry Nicholson, and botanist and poet Dr. Jeff Margrave, who accidentally stumble upon Herland during a scientific expedition that nearly cost them their lives. Their notes, reports, and scientific data were all lost during their escape, and all that remains is Van Jenning's memory of the details collected in this one text.

As a sociologist, Van is the man best suited for the job of describing their adventures. Van's buddies, however, are the opposite sides of the same coin, each representing an extreme male personality. Handsome, rugged, adventurous, Terry Nicholson mistakenly projects his macho-masculine thoughts and expectations of the women he's more familiar with onto the women of Herland. Dr. Jeff Margrave, described as "a tender soul," is much different in thought and temperament than Terry. Jeff is interested more in the "wonders of science" than the cold, hard facts of scientific data that rule Terry's logical thinking.

It's important to note that Gilman is a socialist, which means that religion, however important to Gilman, does not include the existence of any recognizable God. Gilman will attack the masculine flaws of these foreign men using their own beloved science as well as their religion against them, in order to promote the idea of a single human consciousness without gender – a sort of feminist/socialist vision of the religion practiced in Herland, a collective mental outlook developed over the course of 2,000 years of continuous culture with no men. The men in her book, essentially held as prisoners, are taught the Herland language, culture and history. These men are unknowingly put on trial, as the open-minded women of the unisexual Garden of Eden consider the pros and cons of allowing the men to remain in their land and embracing a new bi-sexual society. What follows is a hilarious but ultimately sad portrait of a masculinity unworthy of such a union.

Perhaps Herland seems like a ridiculous utopian farce or like some creation of a science fiction writer. But have you heard of Natasha Demkina, the young woman in Russia who, according to The Discovery Channel, has been baffling scientists with her apparent ability to see through solid objects? In essence, some say this young woman has developed a kind of X-ray vision. Whether it's true or just a hoax, imagine the implications of a human being with this ability.

Either way, it's easy to see that Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland is a smart, funny, thought-provoking story worth consideration for both men and women alike. It's a fascinating book that makes one think, laugh, wonder, dream and maybe, perhaps, question his or her own views of the gender issues still plaguing Ourland.

Labels: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frank Mundo, gender, Herland, parthenogenesis, women

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