| Category | Score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Work | 43% | Really, you don't have a Calvinistic working ethos. You mainly work for yourself, and you don't see a reason to work much harder |
| Strictness | 20% | You know how to enjoy life. You don't always spend your time in a useful way. Mind the balance! |
| Sobriety | 33% | You were not born to be a Calvinist. Catholicism suits you better - slightly hedonistic, loose and emotional. |
| Relationships | 0% | In your relationships you are not very reserved. One might say: uncalvinistic. You let yourself go too easily to be a Calvinist. |
| Beliefs | 0% | You are an unconcerned believer, who doesn't worry too much. |
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
39% Calvinist? Surely some mistake
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Naomi and Ruth in art
And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.
Ruth 1:16-17
There's also a sort of quasi-Classicist depiction of them by Thomas Williams Rooke, entitled "Naomi, Ruth and Obed" (1876):
There's a nice modern drawing, unattributed, with Hebrew text:
This next one, from a blogpost entitled Ruth and Naomi: The Bible on Lesbians, is nice (and I like the pinky desert landscape). It looks as if they are just going to kiss...Police raid gay bar on anniversary of Stonewall
Source: Soulforce newsletter, 1 July 2009.Police Raid Gay Bar in Fort Worth, Texas
on the 40th Anniversary of StonewallLate last Saturday night, June 27, Fort Worth Police Officers and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) officers entered the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth and arrested seven (7) people. One was critically injured during the raid.
The story quickly spread to major news outlets such as the Metroplex, CNN, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Michaelangelo Signorile Show, The Daily KOSS, and The Huffington Post.
Video of the raid.
Our friends at Equality Texas are encouraging LGBTQ supporters to contact Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief to demand a full investigation.
This raid is yet another stark reminder that there is still so much work to be done to end bigotry and prejudice in America and around the world. Soulforce remains committed in our efforts to end the political and religious oppression of LGBTQ people that leads to such violence.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Is this discrimination?
They didn't know it was a Catholic social club when they tried to book it, and they were completely honest that the booking was for a group of witches (the event was called the Witches' Ball). The man who initially took the booking said that the social club was a business and only tenuously attached to the Catholic Church. He was then overruled by the diocesan authorities.
The comments on the article in the Stockport Express explain what went on:
When I called to book the venue which had been recommended and which I had used many times I new it as The Flint Street Social Club, I never knew it was run or attached to the Catholic church and when the Gentleman, who was very nice by the way, answered with Our Lady's I then told him who I was, what we wanted and who were were, totally up front and said that I did not want to compromise them in any way. he assured me that this was a totally separate Buisness venture and that anyone could book the room and then 'do what we want in it' . I would not have continued with the booking had he said any different. I required a room large enough to take in excess of 150 people plus a stage where the nights entertainment Abba Fusion an Abba Tribute Duo could perform in complete safety with all there stage equipment.I guess they have a right to veto certain events (like arms' dealers conferences, BNP meetings and the like) but it's not as if the Wiccans were planning anything other than a family party at the venue.
The Witch's Ball is a family event with dancing, games etc just like any other party. The difference being that some of us Walk the well worn path of The Old Ways, ordinary people, with ordinary lives.
It is such a shame that all religions cannot accept each others ways as we respect every other religion.
The man who had to also tell me that we couldnt have the room was very apologetic and said embarrased at having to tell me they wouldnt let us have the venue.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
What's so great about Gerald?
Doreen Valiente had to argue with him when he tried to get her to step down as High Priestess because she was "too old".
Also, according to Lois Bourne, Gardner was deeply homophobic (though this is perhaps surprising given his interest in alternative practices such as naturism).
Of course, we have to remember that he was a man of his time, and make allowances for some of his attitudes. He also had many fine qualities - wit, charm, originality, etc. And there are several things I am eternally grateful to him for:
- he did not insist on being reverenced as Our Glorious Founder, and would make adjustments when people argued with him.
- he gave out different Books of Shadows to different High Priestesses, so there could not be a canonical version of the BoS (no matter how much some people want to turn it into the Wiccan equivalent of the Bible).
- he encouraged his covenors to use the bits of ritual they liked and not bother with the rest
Saturday, June 13, 2009
metaphors for religion
Christianity is an irregular verb par excellence (as too, of course, are all the other world religions). To speak it and understand its hopeful message you simply have to learn them, live them, always use them in the context of the world in which you find yourself. They are never reducible to a set of simple unifying, rational rules.
[Wicca] complains about your “kablahblah” and rolls her eyes while mumbling about patriarchal power schemes. She can’t stop talking about Roman Catholicism and how wrong she was for you… in fact, she seems pretty obsessed with her sometimes.Religions as explanatory tools for various situations - like why shit happens (surprisingly accurate); why your web page cannot be found; and of course, how many adherents it takes to change a lightbulb (there are Christian lightbulb jokes, Pagan lightbulb jokes, Jewish lightbulb jokes, Buddhist lightbulb jokes, and there may be many others that haven't been discovered).
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A theophany
It is one of the first rules of interfaith dialogue to listen carefully to what others say they believe, rather than telling them what they believe.
This creator and creation thing is a bit of an old chestnut and not really true (it may be so in terms of some Christian theological systems, but it doesn't translate into ours).
In other words, Mu. (A Japanase word meaning, "your question is irrelevant in my paradigm"; kind of like "meh".)
Most Pagans see the Divine as immanent in the Universe, not necessarily as identical with it (and yes, don't tend to pay much attention to the unknowable, or believe in the transcendent aspect) so the categories of creator and creature are a bit meaningless, really... in fact I personally find the idea of an external supernatural creator offensive, because to me the Universe was born, not made. It is a theophany: a manifestation of the Divine.
As Sam Webster wrote in his 2007 article, How Close the Gods? Transcendence, Immanence and Immediacy in Pagan Religion (given at Pantheacon 2007):
Immediacy is a more modern term for wrestling with this problem, although one can find the idea discussed in the deep past. It is a subtle idea but its implications are vast. Here we would say, "the Goddess made the Tree and is present AS the Tree (not just IN the Tree)." To touch the Tree is to touch the Goddess. She is immediately present. Nothing is between us and Her. The whole World IS Her, made BY Her and OF Her, and by implication, there is Nothing BUT Her.In this way of looking at it, it is not that we are focussed on the creation instead of the creator / creatrix: the two are identical, and so making a distinction between them is meaningless.



