Tag Archives: American religion

Despite CUUPs, Unitarians Still Aesthetically Deprived

Posted on by

Victoria Weinstein, a blogging Unitarian minister (also known for her clerical-fashion advice blog) critiques her fellow UUs for neglecting the aesthetic side of worship:

I wonder how much of our beauty-avoidance is a hangover from our iconoclastic, Puritan origins in America. If so, it’s time we got over it and started realizing that the Arts are one of the most profound ways to communicate the humanist gospel. All our clergy should have some understanding of the fine arts, the humanities, not just theology and social justice.

Nor does she think that the increased Pagan element within Unitarian Universalist congregations has improved the aesthetic poverty. From the comments:

In fact, I believe that the neo-pagan [sic] community has done more harm than good by inflicting too many embarrassingly bad rituals, dances and music on our worshiping communities.

Discuss.

Christians’ Persecution Perplex

Posted on by

So there was some kind of big evangelical Xian pep rally in Houston, headlined by Gov., Perry of Texas, a possible presidential candidate, which is why that it is getting media attention.

Jason Pitzl-Waters watches it nervously from the minority-religious-rights perspective. Kallisti works it into a post on polytheism: “Powerful images and vengeful gods.”

The thundering irony is that the evangelicals see themselves as a persecuted minority in America, although they are willing to admit that Muslims are even more disliked.

The blogger linked, Bradley R.E. Wright, notes,

Similarly, somewhere along the line we evangelical Christians have gotten it into our heads that our neighbors, peers, and most Americans don’t like us, and that they like us less every year. I’ve heard this idea stated in sermons and everyday conversation; I’ve read it in books and articles.

There’s a problem, though. It doesn’t appear to be true. Social scientists have repeatedly surveyed views of various religions and movements, and Americans consistently hold evangelical Christians in reasonably high regard. Furthermore, social science research indicates that it’s almost certain that our erroneous belief that others dislike us is actually harming our faith. (emphasis added)

Why this need to feel like victims? Is it a hankering for the good old days of the 2nd century C.E. when they were persecuted (although not as much as they think)?

The Christians’ big mistake was when they stopped being at all “countercultural” and snuggled up to the emperor Constantine, who then used his power to intervene in their squabbles (see Council of Arles, Council of Nicaea.)

Jesus had little to do with kings, but things sure did change after that.

Soon there was no turning back. The Catholics adopted the imperial table of organization: Pope = emperor. College of Cardinals = Senate. Big church = city hall (basilica, lit. “royal tribunal chamber.”) In the Eastern Roman Empire, the Orthodox prelates generally were equally cozy with kings, right up through the  end of Czarist Russia in 1917.

(Muslims, of course, did not even go through much of a countercultural period, since Mohammed led armies, negotiated treaties, etc. Yet they have a martyr complex too.)

On the principle that cornered animals are dangerous, this self-image of being a persecuted minority not only “harms their faith” but is indeed a potential seedbed of trouble for non-Christians.

Beards and Religiosity

Posted on by

Religion journalist Mark Oppenheimer begins a New York Times article on the religious significance of beards this way:

Go ahead, picture a religious Jew.

Now picture a Muslim cleric.

Now an Amish farmer.

What do they have in common? Beards. And not neatly trimmed beards, but, in the popular stereotype, long, unruly beards, which connote piety, spiritual intensity and a life so hard at study that there is no time for a shave. The scholar, the mystic, the terrorist, the holy man — they all have beards.

Now who is missing from that list?

Of course, we would not want male Druids to be viewed as in an anecdote passed along by Adnan Zulfiqar, the Muslim spiritual adviser at the University of Pennsylvania:

“I recall one gentleman who came back from a trip to Pakistan and remarked to me, ‘I learned one thing: the longer the beard, the bigger the crook.’ His anticipation was people with big beards would be really honest, but he kept meeting people lying to him.”

Home Country: A Southern Colorado Catholic Splinter Group

Posted on by

I visited Florence, Colorado, yesterday and noticed that the congregation of St. Jude the Apostle of the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ  (not to be confused with the Ecumenical Catholic Church) had apparently evaporated.

Gateway Chapel, Florence, ColoradoAt least their sign was missing from the old brick church on Second Street by which I like to park on hot summer days because of the big trees there.

(Street shade is precious. Although Florence is not a Mormon settlement, it has little street-side irrigation channels like Weber City or Vernal, Utah, that seem to cool the air.)

The ECCC website is poorly designed and graphics-heavy, but if you scroll down you you can find the building and shots of the interior. At least one wedding was celebrated while the congregation occupied that space. Maybe it was like the last wedding at Hvalsey church in Greenland, in or about 1408

Like most Catholic splinter churches, the ECCC seems to have a high ratio of bishops and priests to parishioners.

It is one of the “independent Catholic churches,” shepherded or founded by “wandering bishops,” a term I first encountered when writing for Gnosis  magazine back in the 1990s. “Congregations tend to be minuscule and sometimes even non-existent” (Wikipedia).

If you have read this far, you are probably wondering why you are reading about St. Jude’s the Ephemeral on a Pagan blog.

Reading about ambitious Pagan centers that are/are not foundering makes me think of the way in which little religious groups that are big on robes and ritual but short on cash sometimes over-extend themselves.

Idolatry 101: Kachina Dolls

Posted on by

Traditional-style kachinas by known carvers command four-figure prices.

Robert Cafazzo, antiques-and-art dealer in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, discusses the care and repair of kachina dolls, which can be simultaneously images of spiritual power and art objects made to be purchased by collectors.

(Disclaimer: I have bought a few small things at his shop, Two Graces, although not kachinas.)

He also gets into the collecting side and shares some of  his “kachina kitsch.”

Then there are the doll carvings made by other Pueblo people. Zuni carvings are some of the best (in the store here they always sell rather quickly, recently I had one for all of 3 hours!), Acoma & Laguna carvings are the simplest and to some collectors extremely desirable but really not for everyone, basically they look like a short log with a stylized face, Jemez dolls tend to be confused with ‘Boy Scout’ carvings, those from Isleta are not common but do exist. San Juan carvings, which I carry are specific to the various Northern Pueblo Dances. As a rule I do not carry Navajo Kachinas, which I refer to as PowWow Dancer Dolls. These may look great on a coffee table featured in a photo essay for Architectural Digest or some other home interiors magazine, but they are some of the worst craftsmanship of curios in the marketplace today. Navajo carvers did make traditional Route 66 Yei Dolls, and there are some amazing Navajo traditional carvings out there. It’s my personal opinion that PowWow Dancer Dolls are not your best option. All of the Pueblos in New Mexico & Arizona have their own unique carvings, some do not offer them as crafts for sale and strictly forbid the sale of wooden deity carvings. When visiting a Pueblo ask for dolls or crafts—never ask for ‘Kachinas’.

In Two Graces, you will find both fine kachina dolls and kachina salt-and-pepper shakers—Robert likes it all.

Theology Spam—Who Knew?

Posted on by

You hear the word “spam” and you probably think about Viagra, “genuine” Rolex watches, and corrupt West African government officials with bags of money to share.

But do you think about theology? I did not until yesterday, when I received a message from “Terry Denson” with the subject line “A Pagan Writer’s Blog.” Since that happens to be the subtitle of this the blog, I expected the content to be something about Paganism.

Instead, “Terry Denson” announced that he or she writes “articles for [name of site], a website dedicated to providing students with the information and tools needed in order to purse their theology degree.”

The website links mainly to obscure schools you never heard of, like Grand Canyon University, “a private Christian university.”

And then “Terry Denson” wants me to link to his or her article about creation versus evolution.

If there is one contentious topic that I have never heard Pagans discuss, it is “creation versus evolution.” All this “science versus religion” stuff seems like a non-issue in Pagandom, at least in my experience.

In yours?

 

Hoodoo You Read?

Posted on by

Hoodoo & Conjure Quarterly is a new journal on Southern magic and folklore, and you can buy it on Amazon.com (follow link above).

Contents of the first issue:

Denise Alvarado: “The Origin of the Root,” “Dirt Dauber Nests,” “Conjure Artist profile: The Georgia Mojo Man,” “A Goetic Ritual: Magickal Doll to Raise the Ghost of a Loved One”

Sharon Marino: “Bat’s Blood,” “Secrets of Sex Magick: Explore Your Sexual Fantasies with the Help of the Guede,” “St. Martha Dominadora Love Domination Candle.”

Matthew Venus: “What is Real Hoodoo?” “Bottle Spell for Prosperity”

Madrina Angelique: “Buying Cemetery Dirt”

Alyne Pustanio: “Haunted New Orleans Folklore: The Devil Baby of New Orleans: Fact or Fiction?”

Chad Balthazar, “Planetary Magick and the Venus Love Tub Lamp”

Papa Curtis, “A Short Look at Witchcraft and Self-Defense in the Diaspora”

Carolina Dean: “Shoe and Foot-Track Magick”

Dorothy Morrison,: “The Real Dirt on Visiting the Dead”

Aaron Leitch: “The Return of Psalm Magick and the Mixed Qabalah”

H. Byron Ballard: “Cove-Witches and Curanderas: Traditional Healers and Magic-Women in Modern Appalachia”

And there are several formulas for magickal oils and powders, a little lagniappe (that’s Cajun for a little something extra) magick, a free conjure doll baby template, and a historical text related to Voodoo in New Orleans by Lafcadio Hearn.

Maybe these are people who don’t worry about whether there are pentagrams on the tombstone—they are there for the graveyard dirt.