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The commandments of post-christian paganism (A satirical note by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, on the occasion of the opening of the World Council of Churches Assembly) It is the time to become honest: today many Christian circles in fact believe in post-Christian paganism. Alright, why should’t we formulate its creed? It can be even proclaimed solemnly at the Porto Alegre Assembly (at least by the Western European delegates), just to mark the final victory over the darkness of fundamentalism! First of all, the Ten Commandments: I am the Basically Unknown Supreme...

Jurate Cannara knew her daughter Laura was different when, as a toddler, she would stand out in the rain, her tiny hands outstretched toward the lightning. "Mama, I need energy," the little girl would tell her. As Laura Mikuseviciuje grew from toddler to child to teen to young woman, Cannara noticed that her daughter's eccentricities only increased with age. "I didn't understand my daughter," said Cannara, who lives in Verona, of her daughter's early expressions of intuition and odd, energetic behavior. According to some, Laura's tendencies are not odd at all; they even have a name. She and others like...

The San Antonio Current for August 21-27, 2003 has an unsettling article describing the Lilith Fund, a 501c3 and so-called 'reproductive equity' group, and their efforts to train abortion assistants. Lilith is a prominent figure in demonology and Jewish folklore. Is it demons and witches presiding over child sacrifices, or the 'right to choose', or both? The San Antonio Current for August 21-27, 2003 article stated, "The Lilith Fund, a non-profit, abortion assistance organization is holding volunteer training for its hotline today from 1-3pm and August 26 from 6:30-8:30pm at San Antonio Reproductive Services, 5838 Joiner Ave. Prospective volunteers need...

Hilary Karnda, a holistic healer and herbalist, told her friend Nov. 2 she was going to a send-off at Wildcat Mountain State Park and she needed a ride. She didn't tell her friend she was going away to die. Pagan symbols found with her were the only clues investigators had to who she was when hunters found her body in the woods off Highway 131, in the park but not along a trail, on Thanksgiving Day. Karnda, 64, died of exposure to the Wisconsin November cold, Vernon County Sheriff Gene Cary said Friday. "There was no indication of fatal illness,...

According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion. In doing so, many of the old pagan customs crept into the Christian celebration. But this view is apparently a historical myth—like the stories of a church council debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or that medieval folks believed the earth is flat—often repeated, even in classrooms, but not true. William J. Tighe, a history professor at Muhlenberg College, gives a different account in his article "Calculating Christmas," published in the...

Oxford, England--A senior vicar and key advisor to the Bishop of Oxford has been accused of a string of child porn offenses. A bespectacled Richard Thomas, 55, and a married priest, was arraigned in court on Monday and charged with eight counts of making and eight counts of possessing indecent pictures of children, according to the INS News Agency. Thomas neither admitted nor denied the charges during the short hearing at Didcot Magistrates' Court, Oxford. Thomas, who is Director of Communications for the Diocese of Oxford, advising Bishop Richard Harries said he would defend himself "vigorously" against the charges, which...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, NOV. 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Witchcraft is moving into the mainstream in the Netherlands. A Dutch court has ruled that the costs of witchcraft lessons can be tax-deductible, the Associated Press reported Oct. 31. The previous month, the Leeuwarden District Court confirmed the legal right to write off the costs of schooling -- including in witchcraft -- against tax bills. The costs can be substantial, according to one witch interviewed for the article. Margarita Rongen runs the "Witches Homestead" in a northern province. Her workshops cost more than $200 a weekend, or more than $2,600 for a full course....

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, NOV. 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Witchcraft is moving into the mainstream in the Netherlands. A Dutch court has ruled that the costs of witchcraft lessons can be tax-deductible, the Associated Press reported Oct. 31. The previous month, the Leeuwarden District Court confirmed the legal right to write off the costs of schooling -- including in witchcraft -- against tax bills. The costs can be substantial, according to one witch interviewed for the article. Margarita Rongen runs the "Witches Homestead" in a northern province. Her workshops cost more than $200 a weekend, or more than $2,600 for a full course....

Bible references to Mary are few in the New Testament. To demonstrate how far removed traditions are from the Bible, we want to contrast the Bible teaching and the present-day traditional Catholic view of Mary. In so doing, we can better appreciate why Jesus rejected the very concept of traditionalism

An Ellettsville family whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil. Dalene Gully told Indianapolis television station WRTV that she took offense to the flier, which was placed outside her home by the House of Prayer Church of Bloomington. "I started reading it, and I was very, very upset by it. I found it very accusatory and very threatening," Gully said. The church's pastor, Larry Mitchell, said the people who left the flier would have preferred to talk with Gully, but she wasn't there. Mitchell said...

Shaded by a grove of mopane trees, the village cemetery was strewn with fresh graves, most filled by victims of Africa's Aids epidemic who never reached the age of 30.Fanny Mbewe knelt in silent prayer beside her husband's unmarked resting place.   Fanny Mbewe [right] was forced to submit to ritual ‘cleansing’ Anyone who wonders why Aids has spread faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world needs only to consider her experience.With millions of other women, Mrs Mbewe fell victim to a tradition known as "kulowakufa" which dictates that any woman whose husband dies must submit to sex...

For over three hundred years the rulers of the Roman Empire worshipped the god Mithras. Known throughout Europe and Asia by the names Mithra, Mitra, Meitros, Mihr, Mehr, and Meher, the veneration of this god began some 4000 years ago in Persia, where it was soon imbedded with Babylonian doctrines. The faith spread east through India to China, and reached west throughout the entire length of the Roman frontier; from Scotland to the Sahara Desert, and from Spain to the Black Sea. Sites of Mithraic worship have been found in Britain, Italy, Romania, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Persia, Armenia, Syria,...

From Pagan resurgence to Pagan global culture - Interview with Selena FoxReligioscope 9 Aug 2005 In the original edition (1979) of her standard book on contemporary Paganism in the United States, "Drawing Down the Moon", Margot Adler wrote: “In the last ten years, alongside the often noted resurgence of 'occult' and 'magical' groups, a diverse and decentralized religious movement has sprung up that remains comparatively unnoticed, and when recognized, is generally misunderstood.” Those were people describing themselves as Pagans or Neo-Pagans. “The modern Pagan resurgence includes the new feminist goddess-worshipping groups, certain new religions based on the visions of...

A remake of the old TV show "Bewitched" will be in theaters Friday, a Hollywood version of that lovable sitcom from the '60s and '70s, where Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha cast spells and twitched her nose to get her husband, Darren, out of jams. Ever wonder if witches really exist? Ever wonder if one lives next door? Pearl Essence and Syren Star are two suburban witches who have come out of the broom closet. A year ago, the pair started Gypsy Wagon, a pagan-friendly online group. "We do not worship any sort of god or goddess, we focus on the elemental...

It is almost impossible to overstate how radically different Old Testament thought was from the thought of the rest of its contemporary world. And it continues to be, given how few societies affirm Judeo-Christian values and how much opposition to them exists in American society, the society that has most incorporated these values. Among the most radical of these differences was the incredible declaration that God is outside of nature and is its creator. In every society on earth, people venerated nature and worshipped nature gods. There were gods of thunder and gods of rain. Mountains were worshipped, as were...

Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests. Children are being beaten and even murdered after being labelled as witches by pastors, the report leaked to BBC Radio 4's Today programme said. Police face a "wall of silence" in investigations because of fear and mistrust among the groups involved. It follows the case of a girl tortured by her guardians for being a witch. Three people, including the girl's aunt, were convicted of trying to "beat the devil out of" the un-named 10-year-old - originally from...

For those of you who don't know Johnny, he's doing fine. He's at Camp Anaconda, but they call it Mortar-itaville."About 20 people laugh and listen to an update on their friend's second tour in Iraq. A few young men have military haircuts and some of the women have graying hair. Children yell and run past the classroom and down the hallways of the recreation center. Despite the periodic ruckus, all eyes are on Christine Ahrens, who will discuss how to prepare a basic ritual in time for Litha, the pagan celebration of the summer solstice. Litha occurs on June 21...

While browsing through the ancient Persian history, I was struck and fascinated by another subject Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism has not only made a major contribution to the ancient philosophical thought but has also had a deep imprint on the Persian history and culture. Since ages, man has been striving to search for the meaning and purpose of life. Two ancient philosophies threw up answers to this eternal quest. One came out of the Vedic thought of re-incarnation (samsara) which believed in perpetual cycles of life, death and re-birth. It believed that soul (atma) finally got liberated (moksha) based on man's good...

INDIANAPOLIS — A Wiccan activist and his ex-wife are challenging a court order that they must protect their 9-year-old son from what the divorce decree terms their "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." Thomas E. Jones and Tammy Bristol of Indianapolis are fighting a Marion Superior Court stipulation that they shelter the boy from their religion. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union has taken on the case, appealing the December decree to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Jones, a Wiccan activist who has coordinated Pagan Pride Day in Indianapolis for the past six years, said he and his ex-wife were stunned when...

Marion County Superior Court Judge, Cale J. Bradford, put a provision in a couple's divorce decree that prohibits the couple from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." Both parents practice Wicca, a pagan belief usually associated with witchcraft. The Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights, appears to have gotten the ball rolling on the religious interference by the State of Indiana. The child attends a parochial Catholic school. (It's not clear whether that school is Bishop Chatard, but the article mentions that the father had attended that...

CBS head Leslie Moonves declared this week: "I think talking to ghosts will skew younger than talking to God." Moonves made the starling comments during a breakfast with reporters where he announced his new fall schedule. "The Ghost Whisperer," a supernatural drama about a woman who communicates with the spirit world, will replace "Joan of Arcadia," which features a young woman who speaks to God. "They called us the geezer network," Moonves explained. Developing...

"It is difficult to resist the conclusion that there is a death wish at work at the heart of our civilization... our theologians dismantle the structure of belief they exist to expound and promote."  –Malcolm Muggeridge, Eternity, April 1972 Muggeridge, a world-famous English journalist who became a Christian late in his life, was prophetic as he saw the coming remaking of the core of the Christian faith by its very leaders. We might wonder if he could have imagined how far the faith could be taken apart!The problem is this: many of our modern theologians, clergy and seminaries are remaking...

A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god," said Heyman. He was referring...

There are good people on both sides of the Terri Schiavo tragedy, but chances are that if you affirm Judeo-Christian values, you have opposed pulling the feeding tube from the severely brain damaged woman's body. Why? Because if there is anything that Judeo-Christian values stand for, it is choosing life and rejecting death. As the Torah puts it, "I have put before you today life and death, and you shall choose life." Even believing Jews and Christians are not fully aware of how much the rejection of death-oriented Egypt underlies the values and practices of the Torah, the first five...

As our society grows more pagan, turning away from christian principles of sanctity of life, it becomes more important than ever that christians marry people of like mind. If you don't, you're not just setting yourself up for disagreements and disputes over value issues throughout your life, you're potentially signing a death warrant for yourself in old age or in the event of incapacity. A spouse who doesn't believe in the sanctity of life isn't necessarily going to stand by you if you're in a bad way. LOOK NO FURTHER TO MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S TREATMENT OF TERRI. She was raised a...

On Good Friday, after night has fallen on the medieval Umbrian town of Alviano, the crowds flock to a spellbinding re-enactment of the Passion of Christ. From the ancient piazza they watch as the bare-chested actor playing Jesus, head crowned with thorns, is tied to a cross 35ft above the ground, fixed to the ramparts of the 15th-century castle. This year, however, the figure spotlit on the cross will be a woman - a 29-year-old ballerina named Elena Angeli - who was cast by the play's director, Corrado Sorbara, to show the "other, feminine side of Christ". His controversial decision...

Harry Potter and the Paganization of Children's Culture The realm of human imagination is a God-given gift, a faculty of the mind that is intended to expand our understanding by enabling us to visualize invisible truths. In the modern era this zone of man's interior life has moved to the forefront of his experience. With the advent of film, television, and now the near-virtual reality of special-effects videos and other electronic entertainment, the screen of the imagination is stimulated to a degree (both in quantity and in kind) more than at any other period in history. This has prompted a...

This week we’re talking with two distinguished international guests, one of whom is the American author and Kabbalah scholar, Rabbi David Cooper, and we’ll be hearing from him a little later in the program. The other guest is a pioneer in the study of women and religion. Her name is Dr Carol Christ; she’s originally from the US, having taught at Harvard Divinity School and Columbia University. But these days she lives in Greece, where she’s Director of the Ariadne Institute for Myth and Ritual. Carol Christ’s first book Womanspirit Rising , was a key text in the emerging field...

The Christian Underground --- Science, frauds trigger a decline in atheism By Uwe Siemon-Netto March 4, 2005 GURAT, France -- Godlessness is in trouble, according to a growing consensus among philosophers, intellectuals and scholars. "Atheism as a theoretical position is in decline worldwide," Munich theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg said in an interview. His Oxford colleague Alister McGrath agrees. Atheism's "future seems increasingly to lie in the private beliefs of individuals rather than in the great public domain it once regarded as its habitat," Mr. McGrath wrote in the U.S. magazine, Christianity Today. Two developments are plaguing atheism these days. One is...

Blending Christianity with American Indian spirituality, Father Ed Cook made a cross mark on the foreheads of people at the Congregation of the Great Spirit on Wednesday after dipping his thumb into ashes made by burning more than just the palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday. "Turn away from sin, and follow the Gospel," Cook said to each person as members of the intertribal, predominantly American Indian congregation came forward to participate in a centuries-old Christian ritual. In their Roman Catholic congregation, however, the palm ashes are mixed in advance with ashes from a large, clay firepot where...

"A suicidal mom, despondent over her divorce and struggling with her teenage daughter, beat the 14-year-old to death with a hammer and shovel...Friends said Lynn Giovanni had written a book, 'Judicial System Loopholes,' last year that slammed the court's treatment of domestic violence. Giovanni used the nom de plume 'Faith Hope.'"

Are American Christian evangelists using the devastation wreaked by the tsunami to spread the word of God—their God? Disturbing stories from the region and fund-raising appeals from religious leaders in the US who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the orphans of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India have raised profound questions about proselytisation of vulnerable people in times of tragedy. Some groups send help along with Bibles—in Bhojpuri—to increase the fold in affected countries, making it harder for others to provide relief. By lacing help with questions of faith, however delicately, evangelical groups can deepen religious...

Christmas is for most of us a time for a break from work, for family and friends, for presents, turkey and crackers. But we should not lose sight of the fact that these are traditional celebrations around a great religious festival, one of the most important in the Christian year. Religion and culture are much in the news these days, usually as sources of difference and conflict, rather than for bringing people together. But the irony is that every religion has something to say about tolerance and respecting others. For me as a Christian one of the most important of...

More than 40 expensive houses under construction in Charles County were burned early yesterday in a development that has drawn criticism from environmentalists because it is next to a nature preserve. In recent years, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), a loosely structured group that opposes commercialism and industry in the name of preserving the environment, has taken responsibility for many similar incidents nationwide. ELF did not respond to an e-mail sent by The Washington Times to its spokesman yesterday.

Teacher Sues School For Religious Reference Ban POSTED: 3:11 pm EST November 29, 2004 UPDATED: 3:19 pm EST November 29, 2004 CUPERTINO, Calif. -- A public school teacher is suing his district and principal for barring him from using the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents in class because they contain references to God and Christianity.

Fahrenheit 815 “Have you ever tasted the rain before?” Clarisse interrupted, as she stopped abruptly at the street corner. The clouds above had darkened threateningly, and the first few drops of rain had begun to stain the sidewalk. “Sometimes I like to tip my head back, open my mouth and let it fill with the glorious rain!” Rev. Montag laughed quietly. “You are a strange girl.” “You know, it tastes like wine…” By now Rev. Montag had become accustomed to Clarisse’s tangents, as strange and wonderful as they were. “You were asking about priests…” “Yes, of course, I’m sorry,” Clarisse...

America's domestic shortage of natural gas is, as Alan Greenspan has observed, "a very serious problem." Fortunately, there is a proven technology that could enable Americans to access plentiful natural gas stores from overseas: Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)--natural gas cooled and condensed into a portable liquid, 1/600th its original volume. Given these facts, one might expect energy-short state governments to eagerly approve corporations' proposals for new LNG facilities; instead, bowing to pressure from environmentalists, they are repeatedly rejecting them. [...] The environmentalists' proclamations of danger and doom are not honest errors based on an overzealous concern for human safety and...

The collapse of the Western tradition in the United States, seen in the hostility to Christianity in government and education, and the elimination of "traditional" or "canon" learning from our institutions of middle and higher learning, provides a crisis and an opportunity for serious believers at the beginning of the third millennium. These essays are an invitation to think squarely and forthrightly about what the Christian agenda should be. I submit that so far too great a degree of Bible-believing Christians are allowing Roman Catholics and secular conservatives to do their thinking for them. Both of these groups advocate a...

NEW YORK (AP) - Touting tofu chowder and vegetarian sushi as alternatives, animal-rights activists have launched a novel campaign arguing that fish - contrary to stereotype - are intelligent, sensitive animals no more deserving of being eaten than a pet dog or cat. Called the Fish Empathy Project, the campaign reflects a strategy shift by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as it challenges a diet component widely viewed as nutritious and uncontroversial. "No one would ever put a hook through a dog's or cat's mouth," said Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan outreach. "Once people start to understand...

Subj: Kerry Scolds Vatican Over Gay Marriage Date: 10/31/2004 8:37:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: "Fr. Peter West" To: Kerry Scolds Vatican Over Gay Marriage Associated Press BOSTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry scolded the Vatican Friday for saying Catholic politicians like himself have a "moral duty" to oppose laws granting legal rights to gay couples. "I believe in the church and I care about it enormously," said the Massachusetts senator. "But I think that it's important to not have the church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line in America." The Vatican had urged Catholics...

What we don't know can hurt us What the press teaches about Islam and other religions is not nearly as important as what it leaves out of its reportingBy Marvin Olasky Last year WORLD examined the treatment of Christian conservatives in the press. This year, with the war in Iraq, the slant of stories about Saddam Hussein and the effort to stop him is significant. But it's even more important over the long run that our press educators alert us to the warlike propensities of a large chunk of Islam, not just an extremist faction. Christianity has had its...

Beyond the Episcopal Church's Pagan Eucharist Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 10/27/2004 Guess what's no longer linked on the Episcopal Church USA's page for Women's Worship Resources? Both items highlighted in yesterday's Weblog: "A Women's Eucharist: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine" and the "Liturgy for Divorce." You can actually still read both, but they're now orphan pages, apparently unlinked from within the Episcopal Church website. (Though Weblog should add that they're now linked from just about every conservative Anglican weblog in the country.) One of those liturgies remaining is a "Station of the Cross," which includes these lines...

Pressure Groups Impede Church's Voice, Says Cardinal Vatican Official Sees "New Inquisitions, Full of Money" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2004 (Zenit.org).- If John Paul II and the Church is little heard today, it is partly due to "powerful cultural, economic and political pressure groups," says Cardinal Renato Martino. The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace expressed this concern Monday at the Vatican press office when presenting the book "Pope John Paul II and The Challenges of Papal Diplomacy -- Anthology (1978-2003), a collection of papal texts. According to the cardinal, there are today "new holy inquisitions full...

Burning Man, infamous for its drug-fueled debauchery in the wind- whipped Nevada desert, may seem like the last place to haul the kids for a family vacation. But the annual experiment in radical self-expression, communal living and massive interactive art is becoming something of a counterculture Disneyland as increasing numbers of Burners from the Bay Area and beyond are bringing their young ones to Black Rock City. To the uninitiated, a dry lakebed in the middle of nowhere -- plagued by dust storms and extreme temperatures and inhabited by no small number of naked people -- sounds like no place...

Enigmatic circular stone formations reminiscent of those in Europe are found on remote hilltops and valleys throughout Saudi Arabia. The rings are 5 to 100 meters in diameter and are surrounded by stone walls a foot or two tall. Some of the rings have "tails" that stretch out for hundreds of meters. From the air, the patterns have a striking resemblance to designs etched in Peru's Nazca plateau. Little is known about the circles and virtually nothing about their purpose.

A Decisive Turn to Paganism Has the nation finally abandoned its Judeo-Christian heritage, or is there still hope? By Harold O.J. Brown | posted 08/05/2004 8:30 a.m. Recent events have left Christians wondering how they stand in American society. In the last year, we at Christianity Today have received several manuscripts by prominent Christian intellectuals suggesting that the United States has become definitively and irreversibly anti-God. Other Christians continue to urge us to do good with the hope that we can make a difference. Each side can marshal compelling arguments and strong evidence. Yesterday and today we publish two views...

The Rise of True Marriage: A New Missionary Moment Has Come By: Deacon Keith A Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC On May 17, 2004, in my home State of Massachusetts the power of an unbridled Judiciary and the thorough lack of authentic Christian influence on the culture of contemporary America converged in the first volley of the Cultural Revolution. Seven “couples” of the same sex were “married” in an act of “legal alchemy”. The alchemists of old maintained they could change one metal into another. Their claim was a lie. So too, those who under the authority of the State...

The Rise of True Marriage: A New Missionary Moment Has Come By: Deacon Keith A Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC On May 17, 2004, in my home State of Massachusetts the power of an unbridled Judiciary and the thorough lack of authentic Christian influence on the culture of contemporary America converged in the first volley of the Cultural Revolution. Seven “couples” of the same sex were “married” in an act of “legal alchemy”. The alchemists of old maintained they could change one metal into another. Their claim was a lie. So too, those who under the authority of the State...

<p>My duties as a religion writer forced me to watch Mel Gibson's Jesus movie, "The Passion of the Christ," two times in three days, an assignment that also interrupted my reading of "God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism."</p>

Witchcraft and Capitalism Thrive in Mexican Town Mar 6, 2004 By Jo Tuckman / Associated Press Writer CATEMACO, Mexico - The witchcraft business is thriving like never before in this town in southeastern Mexico, as Internet marketing and media-savvy shamans hitch centuries-old tradition to modern commercialism. As the traditional March witching season beings, visitors from across the country are descending on Catemaco to find "brujos" - witches - to help them secure lovers, bring down enemies and even cement pacts with the devil. The first Friday in March marks the most potent day of the year for performing black and...