A heretic and proud of it

Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Pelagianism You are a Pelagian. You reject ideas about man's fallen human nature and believe that as a result we are able to fully obey God. You are the first Briton to contribute significantly to Christian thought, but you're still excommunicated in 417. Pelagianism 83% Socinianism 75% Monarchianism 58% Nestorianism 58% Arianism 50% Chalcedon compliant 42% Monophysitism 42% Modalism 33% Apollanarian 33% Adoptionist 33% Docetism 25% Albigensianism 17% Gnosticism 17% Donatism 0%

As a person who doesn't believe in the Trinity, and believes that all human beings are the children of the Divine (which is both one and many) and that we all carry the divine spark within (though I don't reject matter as the Gnostics did), it was very difficult to answer most of the questions.

a victory for good sense

I am delighted to see that this employment tribunal made the correct decision in upholding the rights of LGBT people against someone distributing hate literature (mistranslated and taken out of context from the Bible) against them:

Sexual orientation and religion or belief cases
A significant Employment Tribunal case on the overlap between religion or belief and sexual orientation discrimination law is Mr T Apelogun-Gabriels v London Borough of Lambeth (2301976/05 (5016/62) Feb 2006): The complainant, a Christian, was dismissed for distributing ‘Biblical extracts’ to members of work-based prayer group and ‘interested parties’. He used a search mechanism on a CD of the Bible to locate, download and printout a range of quotes which his employers, the London Borough of Lambeth, considered homophobic, and distributed the literature across the workplace. The Tribunal said that the “material … on any view was totally hostile to those of a homosexual sexual orientation” and the fact that the employer provided a prayer room showed that it did not seek to discriminate on grounds of religion or belief.

The tribunal concluded that a non-Christian who distributed similar literature would have been treated in a similar fashion and that it was the complainant’s conduct in distributing homophobic literature which was the reason for his dismissal, not his religious beliefs.

This is an important case on the dividing line between religion or belief and sexual orientation discrimination. It makes clear that tribunals will be reluctant to give latitude to homophobic actions apparently based on the religious beliefs of the perpetrators. It is an example of the delicate balancing act between religion or belief and sexual orientation discrimination. Equal opportunities policies should take account of both. However, clashes between the two will cause difficulties. Many trade union representatives and employers will be inclined to treat any homophobic behaviour with the utmost seriousness and will examine with scepticism claims that it is protected by the religion or belief Regulations. The outcome of Apelogun-Gabriels should encourage them that that is the right approach, but situations may arise in which the finding the right balance between the two is more difficult.

The full report is available at http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/SORBreport.pdf

~ from UCU Equality and Employment Rights newsletter

Kitt's on the radio

Rev. Kittredge Cherry will be interviewed LIVE ON NATIONAL RADIO tonight about the Senator Larry Craig gay sex scandal!

The Alan Colmes Show: 8 p.m. Pacific (11 p.m. Eastern) Thurs., Aug. 30

You can call in with questions at 1-877-FOR-ALAN (1-877-367-2526).

Colmes contacted Kitt today about her offer to send Senators a free copy of her book "Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide."

You can hear "The Alan Colmes Show" on 80 radio stations nationwide and online at:
AlanColmesRadio.com

Colmes is best known as the moderate liberal half of the Fox News Channel's political debate program "Hannity and Colmes."

For more info, visit Kitt's new blog:
http://jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Rev. Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian author who was at the forefront of the international debate on sexuality and spirituality as National Ecumenical Officer for Metropolitan Community Churches. She offers gay-friendly spiritual resources at JesusInLove.org.

Her books include "Equal Rites," "Jesus in Love" and "Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More."

Aspects of the Divine Feminine in Christianity

Robert Graves wrote that there were three aspects of the Goddess (Divine Feminine). Contemporary Wiccans would also add the sexual aspect of the feminine.

They would also criticise the apparent lack of a crone (wisdom) and the sexual aspect in conventional Christianity.

However, in Orthodoxy, they have the festival of the Myrrh-Bearing Women - the women who anointed the body of Christ after his death; and they have the Holy Wisdom herself, Hagia Sophia, an energy of God, I think. They also have Salome (one of the Myrrh-Bearing Women), who I think was a midwife according to tradition. And of course they have a deep reverence for the Theotokos.

One of the functions of the midwife is also as layer-out - the one who tends the body after death. That's the role that the Myrrh-Bearing Women were performing - and is associated with the Crone in Wicca.

Add to that Mary Magdalene as the Bride - the sexual aspect - and you have the full set.

Maiden - young Virgin Mary
Bride - Mary Magdalene
Mother - Mary Theotokos
Midwife - Salome
Layer-out - The Myrrh-Bearing Women
Wisdom - Sophia

Update 5-3-2008: the Pope has just slammed the door in the face of feminist Catholics

Coptic art

Did anyone else see the fabulous Art of Eternity programme with Andrew Graham-Dixon? There was some beautiful Coptic art - very geometric and happy-looking saints. You could see the connection with the art of Celtic Christianity as well (the Coptic Church was allegedly the first to evangelise Britain). Wonderful stuff.

CHAT 2007

Joint paper by me & Nick at CHAT 2007.

Archaeology & Paganisms: a clash of cultures?
Nick Hanks & Yvonne Aburrow, English Heritage & Bath Spa University.

Both science and religion involve a form of faith; the former involves faith in reason and the scientific method; the latter involves faith in the unseen or spiritual realm.
However, the purview of science extends only to the material realm, as science chooses to exclude the spiritual realm from consideration.

Archaeology is sometimes claimed to be a science, sometimes an art, and perhaps even a craft. Its practitioners range from rationalist scientific materialists to postmodern theorists. Both ends of the spectrum look down on the other.

Paganisms are sometimes thought of as religions, sometimes as spirituality, art or craft. Pagans range from counter-cultural festival-goers (the ones most visibly encountered by the heritage sector) to academics and professionals (including archaeologists) attracted by the intellectual and spiritual heritage of ancient paganisms, and the post-modern attitude of contemporary Pagans, who acknowledge
the multivalency of truths. There is sometimes conflict between the two ends of the
spectrum in Paganisms.

Both archaeology and contemporary Paganisms have their origins in the modern and
post-modern discourses of the last three hundred years. Both are misrepresented
by the media (as explored in "Archaeology is a Brand", Holtorf 2007). Despite this,
both are proving to be highly popular. Both Archaeology and Paganisms have an
institutional, organised aspect (IFA and Pagan Federation). Both have an experimental aspect which is often misunderstood (the recent excavation of the Ford Transit, and Chaos Magicians who perform Tellytubbies rituals). Both have a maverick anti-establishment fringe from which they seek to disassociate themselves (metal detectorists and Stonehenge protesters), but which those outside the discourse regard as the same group.

Ironically, the two extremes (hardened rationalists among archaeologists and
counter-cultural holists among Pagans) have more in common with each other than
they do with the rest of their respective discourses, in that they are disinclined to
listen to others’ perspectives. Sadly it is these who generally get the media attention.

The more moderate in both discourses are inclined towards compromise and
dialogue – an example of hope and charity.

There has sometimes been conflict between archaeologists and Pagans (in the areas
of human remains and access to sacred sites), but due to their shared origins, there
has more often been considerable mutual influence between Paganisms and
archaeology; for example landscape archaeology drew on the earth mysteries
tradition for ideas of phenomenology; and contemporary Pagans have revised their
foundational myths in response to developments in archaeological and historical
theories. This paper developed from the research and personal experience of the
two authors in both Paganism and Archaeology. Both practice Wicca and Druidry.

light and water

One of my favourite poems:

Water

If I were called in
To construct a religion
I should make use of water.

Going to church
Would entail a fording
To dry, different clothes;

My liturgy would employ
Images of sousing,
A furious devout drench,

And I should raise in the east
A glass of water
Where any-angled light
Would congregate endlessly.

From Philip Larkin's The Whitsun Weddings, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1964. Reproduced without permission.

two-spirit

Interesting article in The New York Times about two-spirit people:

The bias that many gay Indians say they have experienced from other Indians is a legacy of the encounter between Indians and white European colonizers, according to Brian J. Gilley, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Vermont, who is the author of “Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country.”

Historically, in many tribes, individuals who entered into same-sex relationships were considered holy and treated with utmost respect and acceptance, said Dr. Gilley. “Prior to European contact, sexuality was not a determining factor in someone’s identity,” he said. “It was the role in the community. Gender was tied to that role. Who you had sex with was not a concern. The Europeans come, Native American societies are thrust in rapid change, and some societies incorporate European ideals quickly.”

The group have their own website/blog: North East Two Spirit Society.

queer Wicca article

My article is now online at the GLBTQ Encyclopedia!
Wicca - http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/wicca.html

Primarily a nature religion that seeks to commune with the divine through the contemplation and celebration of nature and its mysteries, Wicca and other contemporary pagan traditions celebrate
our existence in this world.

Queer Wicca talk

In other news, I will be giving a talk on Queer Wicca at the Cardiff LGB Mardi Gras on 1st September. They're having a faith tent, and there will be Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Pagans, all showing that you don't have to be homophobic if you are religious or spiritual. In fact, of course, I'd say being a homophobe automatically disqualifies you from the label 'spiritual'.

All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals

An exploration of Queer themes and traditions in contemporary Paganism: the tribe; gender-bending and androgyny; themes of darkness, nature, and vulnerability; finding the queer in the divine, and the divine in the queer; subject-SUBJECT consciousness.

What do we mean by "respect"?

The text of the talk I gave at the APT conference (26 May 2007: Gods and Sacred Places) is up at my other blog.

What does "respect" mean? A discussion of responses to the reburial question
Yvonne Aburrow

Abstract
Not all Pagans feel strongly that ancient human remains should be reburied. Yet those who do not feel that way do not lack respect for their ancestors, they just show that respect differently. This paper will examine what different groups mean by respect, and look at the discourses from which these meanings emerge; on the one hand, a 'timeless' and holistic concept of landscape and a view of archaeologists as rationalist scientists, and on the other, a sense of landscape as a historical construct, and of archaeologists as restoring connections with our ancestors, and a range of positions in between. Further, it will suggest a selection of possible compromises on the treatment of human remains.

Topics

• What happens to the body and consciousness after death?
• What is the ontological status of human remains?
• How did Ancient Britons treat their dead?
• Whose ancestors?
• Respect as reburial - the 'holistic' / animist discourse
• Respect as remembering - the 'memory' discourse
• The Hávamál and the Popol Vuh
• The discourse of scientific materialism
• Implications for ancient human remains
• Compromise options

pride symbols

Symbols of gay pride such as the lambda, the rainbow flag, the pink triangle and help to make glbtq people more visible and also act as a good substitute if your gaydar is at a low ebb. There are also a couple of monuments in Amsterdam and New York.

Symbols of glbtq pride are diverse in origin and meaning, but they serve the crucial purpose of rendering visible communities that have been erased or marginalized.

glbtq-specific dialect and other folk customs are also a fascinating manifestation of gay culture.

Folklore consists of traditional aspects of culture generally passed on by example or observation rather than in writing--jokes, stories, personal experience narratives, folk speech, songs, customs, various arts and crafts, and numerous other genres.

Within the gay and lesbian subculture, one of the primary functions of folklore is to aid in acculturation. No one is brought up to be homosexual; lesbians and gay men must somehow learn to function successfully with other people of their own kind. Folklore helps them in this learning process, aiding in identifying and communicating with other homosexual people, fostering subcultural cohesion, and helping to cope with conflict.