Some 10,000 people descended on the Knock Shrine a few months ago to see a Marian Apparition, promised by "clairvoyant" Joe Coleman to appear in the sun. Mary Kenny of the Irish Independent asks "What harm if people derive comfort from what they believe to be a spiritual experience?" while an Irish opthalmic surgeon now reports that he has treated no fewer than five people already, claiming it "monstrous" to mislead people into thinking that altered vision and effects, such as seeing the sun dance, were a religious apparition when they were classic symptoms of solar retinopathy. [more inside]
posted by disillusioned on Dec 3, 2009 - 44 comments

Bible Fight [Flash game]
posted by thirteenkiller on May 7, 2007 - 24 comments

Nearly Half of Americans want to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do liquor and gambling.
Zogby International will pimp there services to just about anyone these days, including NORML for a poll on American's attitudes towards pot. According to the poll 65% of 18-29 year olds and 50% of 50-64 year-olds are cool with weed being legal and controlled like booze. The former slackers of Generation X, 30-49 year-olds, oppose it by 58% and the geezers over 65 oppose it by only 52%.

The pool shows some interesting generational attitudes. Is the 30-49 age group still following Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" mantra or is this the attitude of parents worried about their kids? I thought these folks were supposed to be the slacker generation, and now they're the strongest opponents to legalization.
posted by DragonBoy on Mar 17, 2006 - 130 comments

Holy Mother Of God appears to ebayer and commands her to put her up for sale on eBay for $900 -- Buy it Now -- no reserve price. Ed, a bidder whose 24-year-old daughter suffers from chronic endometriosis hopes to acquire the statue for her. Let's hope he gets there before Golden Palace Casino (sorry, no links for that one) snipes it.
posted by VMC on Feb 1, 2006 - 45 comments

To the Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Holy See. As much fun as I get from reading the blog of Jesus' General "an 11 on the manly scale of absolute gender" nothing beats the confused raving of Vernoica Lueken and her Virgin Mary's End-Times Prohphecies. Concerned about TERRORISM? Worried about the ominous spread of Red Chinese Tentacles? Heaven's Home Protection Packet is what you need. Caught away from home without your sacramentals? Heaven's Personal Protection Packet will surround you with the "aura of purity" you need in these troubled times. Vernoica's even posted a letter proving she's not nutters.
posted by three blind mice on Aug 23, 2005 - 9 comments

Mary, quite contrary The Christianity Today weblog offers a fabulously dense post (pegged to this recent UK news story) about the Protestant embrace of Mary. Lots of fascinating links - including one from the blog of the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary - will bring you up to speed on "the 'Protestants and Mary' deluge of the last three years." Hours of provocative reading for anyone interested in Christian sects.
posted by mediareport on May 23, 2005 - 25 comments

Dinner With Typhoid Mary Meet the woman behind the name - she's not the monster you think she was, she didn't kill as many as you thought and learn about her 26 years of exile.
posted by Dome-O-Rama on Sep 18, 2003 - 10 comments

Virgin Mary lurks in Boston hospital. Or something.
posted by xmutex on Jun 19, 2003 - 25 comments

Tonight, the BBC took the controversial decision to screen a documentary which investigated the plausability of the life of The Virgin Mary as it appears in The Bible. As someone who's spiritual without commiting to any one religion, it was a fascinating look at a people and a time. But I can understand why Christians would be offended, especially since the programme suggested that Mary (or Miriam) wasn't a virgin at all, that she was a 'mother bringing up a wayward son under difficult circumstances'. Was this the kind of programme which should be shown at Christmas time?
posted by feelinglistless on Dec 22, 2002 - 26 comments