MetaFilter posts tagged with christianity

Making it easier to swim the Tiber

Bulgaroktonos — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:52:47 -0800

The Vatican announced today that it would create a new structure that would allow former Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church while preserving elements of Anglican spirituality and liturgy. The decision has been met hostilty by some Anglicans. Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams's reaction, however, was more circumspect.

Can you find Satan?

Rhaomi — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:29:52 -0800

"This may truly be the most important new painting of the twenty first century." The McNaughton Fine Art Company presents "One Nation Under God" [cache], an... interesting take on American history in a nifty zoom interface. Artist John McNaughton, who calls himself "the only living artist in the world today" to practice the Barbizon School of French Impressionism, has an extensive body of less opinionated work for you to admire. Interview. Character list.

Rifqa Speaks (NSFW)

scalefree — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:28:08 -0800

Rifqa Bary, the Ohio teen who ran away from her Muslim parents because she believed they would kill her for converting to Christianity, has appeared on a weekly anti-Islam conference call hosted by the National Day of Prayer Task Force (headed by the wife of Focus on the Family's James Dobson, Lou Engle of The Call & Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council). Rifqa, who is in custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families and was not authorized to be on the call, shared some of her story and then launched into an extended passionate prayer. DCF officials are investigating how she came to be on the call.

"This is a little different of a rebellion."

soelo — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:30:42 -0800

Max Blumenthal writes about Matthew Murray in the Nation article 'The Nightmare of Christianity'. The article summarizes his upbringing and goes into detail about his life leading up to December 8th, 2007 when he shot four people (two at a Christian organization and two at New Life Church, formerly led by Ted Haggard) in Colorado Springs before killing himself. A woman who was authorized to carry a concealed weapon shot him in the leg and then he shot himself, Previously. The article goes on to describe how the Christian community explained Murray's violent act to itself and the outside world. From the article: "By failing to explore the roots of Murray's violence, the mainstream media allowed the far right to seize the narrative."

as a thief in the night

plexi — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:42:21 -0800

You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind?
Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

Speaking in tongue

mippy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:07:38 -0800

The Alpha Course has been a widely popular - and controversial - initiative by the Church of England to get people more interested in the Church. In 2000, the Jewish journalist Jon Ronson attended a course to see what was going on.

Genesis Revisited

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:00:41 -0800

Genesis Revisited scientifically summarises the scientific field of Creation Science (warning: science) [transcript]

Without Paul

bigmusic — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:42:57 -0800

We declare the man Paul of Tarsus [non-ebonite link], the false teacher against the mark of Covenant and God's Torah, to be outside of the Way taught by Yeshua, the anointed, son of Maria and Yosef.

"Greetings from Idiot America"

zarq — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:20:20 -0800

Charles Pierce, author of the 2005 essay "Greetings from Idiot America" decrying the rise of faith-based anti-intellectualism, has expanded his rant into a full length book: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. (via) Previously on MeFi. (link on that post is defunct) Anti-intellectualism has been around for ages, and has not been restricted to the US. But the American cultural divide was thrust further into the national spotlight during the last election cycle. Further reading: Susan Jacoby's book: The Age of American Unreason (interview on left-wing blog Alternet here,) and 1964's Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter. Pierce appears regularly on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!, and is a feature writer for Esquire, Slate, The American Prospect and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, usually on sports. He's also the author of several books, including Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer's Story.

Iconodule website

Kattullus — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:47:22 -0800

The Temple Gallery in London has more than 200 items of Eastern Orthodox religious art, principally icons, on its website, both from the current exhibit as well as older pieces. Icons have been a part of Orthodox Christianity for centuries and they are loaded with meaning. The theology is elaborated upon in this essay on the history, principles and function of icons by iconographer Dr. George Kordis. One of the subjects of the essay is the Byzantine iconoclasm, a central event of which was the Seventh Ecumenical Council, depicted here in an icon. Here are some other icons I like: The Forty Martyrs of Sebasteia, St. Alypius the Stylite, Synaxis of the Archangels, Dormition of the Virgin and Presentation of Christ in the Temple. [Click on any image for a larger view]

"The Unlikely Disciple" - a closer look at living in religion

mdn — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:49:09 -0800

Kevin Roose leaves Brown for Falwell's Liberty U, for one semester - to take a "term abroad" in an alternate America. Possibly reminiscent of Jesus Camp, in that it manages to share the fundamentalist experience without judgment. Just intriguing anthropology, for anyone not familiar...

Saving Sin City

zarq — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:50:46 -0800

Two Christian ministries, Hookers for Jesus and JC's Girls aim to "save" Las Vegas sex workers from their professions by introducing them to Christianity. Their founders, Annie Lobert and Heather Veitch (respectively,) both ex-sex workers, have been the focus of various interviews & documentaries, and have produced an outreach video series on YouTube: "Saving Sex City: 1, 2, 3, 4. (The series has a MySpace page, as well.) Also see XXXChurch, which targets porn addiction and has been featured previously on MeFi. Lobert recently participated in a rather surreal ABC Nightline "Faceoff" debate regarding the existence of Satan. Predictably, not everyone is thrilled with the groups' names or methods.

Jesus who?

Brandon Blatcher — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:02:29 -0800

The End of Christian America. The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.

Hobson's choice, Dobson's choice... what's the difference?!

markkraft — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:21:44 -0800

FoxNews copy-n-pastes Focus on the Family propaganda as news. Longtime MeFi user owillis caught the fact that FoxNews took the press release of a supposedly independent student pro-life group called Live Action/Live Action Films and essentially reprinted it verbatim. Bad journalism, sure... but how does this little student group afford to send its people across the country to try to entrap Planned Parenthood workers, and how do they get big-name attention on FoxNews and other major conservative media sources? Well, it turns out that Live Action was rather quietly founded by Stephen Reed, who is a key surrogate of James Dobson/ Focus on the Family/ the Family Research Council... and the media sources in question have close ties to Dobson and a longstanding history of parroting his talking points.

Unholier than thou

WPW — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 07:27:41 -0800

"The debaptism certificate started out as a kind of satirical comment on the idea that you could be enrolled in a church before you could talk, but it seems to have taken off from there. People are beginning to take it seriously."

Pareidolia 2008

finite — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:46:11 -0800

And finally tonight, Jesus...

Congregational Copulation.

gman — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:13:48 -0800

Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives among his flock of 20,000 to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex (perhaps FF to 2:15 on either video). Their site has a comment section.

He was recently on The Colbert Report (Canadian version). But if you make the time to have sex, it will bring you closer to your spouse and to God, he has said. You will perform better at work, leave a loving legacy for your children to follow and may even prevent an extramarital affair.

Religious takes on the global financial crisis

desjardins — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:04:30 -0800

The Dalai Lama blames the financial crisis on a decline in spirituality. Hindus blame it on greed. Saudi Grand Mufti, Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, blames the crisis on ignoring God's rules. Jewish scholars say we could have avoided a crisis by following Talmudic traditions. Pope Benedict sees the global financial system as "self-centred, short-sighted and lacking in concern for the destitute." Is it right to pray for the economy? (a Christian perspective). A Malaysian conference brings together Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and Sikhs to discuss the crisis.

Jesus: Not Just Some Chickified Dude

Parallax.Error — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:08:34 -0800

Who knew Calvinism was so Indie-Rock?

Liberal Guilt

Hands of Manos — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:11:31 -0800

"Church was not part of my family life, and I don't think I ever expected to find myself being a Christian or, as I used to think of it, a 'religious nut.'" Sara Miles grew up an atheist. One day she went into a church, took communion and had a moment with God. She's now a Christian that has made it her mission in life to feed the homeless. She's started a food pantry in the slums of San Francisco that feeds over 450 hungry families every week. She's also a lesbian who is outspoken for gay marriage and considers herself a liberal but doesn't really care for liberal guilt.

The lotus-cross

homunculus — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:20:47 -0800

When Jesus met Buddha. "Something remarkable happened when evangelists for two great religions crossed paths more than 1,000 years ago: they got along." [Via]

Christians AGAINST Cartoons!

defenestration — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:19:34 -0800

Christians AGAINST Cartoons!

Sarah Palin's Church: Prayer Warriors, Spirit Mapping & FEMA

scalefree — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:42:30 -0800

Thomas Muthee, the witch-hunting prayer warrior who anointed Sarah Palin, is part of a much larger movement called the New Apostolic Reformation. Researchers at religious watchdog site Talk2Action have released a 36 page report on the NAR (part 1, part 2, part 3 & PDF). Learn about Palin confidant Mary Glazier, the Queen of Heaven, the Christian Emergency Network and much, much more.

The Light and the Truth

kimdog — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:29:03 -0800

Urim and Thummim were a mystical medium used by ancient Israelites to divine God's will and, according to some interpretations, to distinguish sinners from non-sinners. Todd Walker believes he has found the Urim and Thummim (in a Goodwill Superstore in Nashville, TN). He would like to share this miracle with you. Quicktime trailer

Constantine's Sword

empath — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:56:25 -0800

Constantine's Sword (google video) A former priest's personal journey through the tangled and sometimes violent history between Christians and Jews.