Glocal Christianity

What religions do you find most interesting apart from your own?

This evening I want to ask: what religions do you find most interesting apart from your own? Would you pick one of the major world religions? Say Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism or Judaism? Or would you pick something more obscure, like Wicca or Taosim or Rastafarianism or Gnosticism? Would you pick irreligion, say Atheism or Agnosticism? Or if you're not Christian, would you say Christianity?

I was thinking this could even make a good meme.

To participate, state your own religion (or irreligion) as your first preference, state the other religions that interest you most as your second and third preferences, then pass onto five others. If you're feeling brave, say why they interest you.

Here's my religious preferences:

1. Christianity (because I'm convinced Jesus really is the Christ)
2. Buddhism (because I love the philosophy, meditation, paradoxes and poetry)
3. Chaos Magic (because there's an anarchist side to me that's just drawn to a wild concept of Spirit)

And I should say, there is a serious side to this. I think it potentially reveals a lot about our personality, history, culture and spirituality (without - most important - necessarily implying you're a syncretist).

I tag Sally, Ian, Phil, Jarred, Steve

But hey, feel free to participate even if I haven't tagged you.

Parliament of World Religions

Well, the Parliament of World Religions is now underway in Melbourne. Been reading a few blogs and tweets, checking out the main speakers and stuff from afar. But you know, I think the real interfaith work begins at home. It begins when two people, who wouldn't normally talk to one another about spiritual stuff, do.

The Vampire Codex

For those who find Vampire religion as fascinating as I do, you'll be interested to learn that Michelle Belanger has donated The Vampire Codex to the Internet Sacred Text Archives. That means you can now read The Vampire Codex for free. Some of the light hearted topics you'll find therein include: feeding, manifesting and energy manipulation. Eat your heart out.

Oh, and out of interest, I did a search on what people are searching for online. Hot searches include: vampires (5327), vampire art (1570), real life vampires (1335), real vampire (1036), vampires exist (964), become a real vampire (859), spell to become a vampire (671) and edward cullen vampire (597). Compare this to Christianity (1250) and Christian music (661).

Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review

For those of you interested in the study of new religious movements, there is a new journal on the block, the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review.

The editor writes "The Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (ASRR) has been created with the ambitious goal of providing NRM scholars with a vehicle for staying up-to-date with new publications in this expanding body of literature. Modeling itself on successful review journals such as Reviews in Religion and Theology, ASRR will be an online journal that will publish book reviews, review essays, and literature surveys in the NRM field."

They promise upcoming articles on Pagan Studies, Studies of Western Esotericism, New Age Studies, Masonic Studies, and Studies of New Thought, as well as aticles on movements within traditional religions, such as the Charismatic movement in Christianity and Guru movements in Hinduism.

If you want to read more, check out Issue 1

Dumbledorism? Taking Fiction at Faith Value

My mate Simeon flicked me this article this afternoon: Struggling in life? Get guidance from Albus Dumbledore. Yes, that's right, once again we find fiction is inspiring a new faith, only this time the emerging canon is the Harry Potter series.

The above article introduces us to Slack, a self declared Harry Potter rabbi. According to Deborah Netburn, "Slack is working on his own book and inviting Potter fans to assist in its writing. It is called What Would Dumbledore Do? and he envisions it as a self-help guide to living in the world according to the tenets of Albus Dumbledore. He has asked fans to share what they’ve learnt from Dumbledore on an open blog at WhatWouldDumbledoreDo.org."

Makes me wonder what other fictional works have religious potential.

Who are the Mormons?

This video, Mormon Myths and Reality, is an introduction to Mormonism from a Mormon perspective. If I have a criticism it is that the speakers pass over many of the more controversial Mormon teachings - the authority of alternative scriptures like the Book of Mormon, the teaching that God was once a man, the teaching that Jesus travelled to America, the rejection of the Trinity. Nevertheless I think it is important to consider their side of the story.

Michael Jackson's Spirituality

I stumbled upon an interesting article, via Catholic News Blog, that was written by Michael Jackson for Beliefnet back in 2000. In it Michael Jackson discusses his spirituality, including his formative experiences as a Jehovah's Witness:

Sundays were my day for "Pioneering," the term used for the missionary work that Jehovah's Witnesses do. We would spend the day in the suburbs of Southern California, going door to door or making the rounds of a shopping mall, distributing our Watchtower magazine. I continued my pioneering work for years and years after my career had been launched.

I will leave you to read the more sensationalistic aspects of his "Pioneering" activities for yourself, I have no desire to add to the Michael Jackson media circus by printing it here, I just find it fascinating to learn that he was a practicing Jehovah's Witness. It's not a religion I find easy to come to grips with. I wonder what attracts people to it.  

 

What to do with other religions?

In a world

    ruled by grace

Other religions

    have their place

Interfaith Sydney

Saw this over at www.interfaithsydney.org.au

A Common World Conference

Date: Thursday, 28th May 2009
Time: 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start
Venue: Cathedral Hall, St Patricks Cathedral , 1 Marist Place Parramatta.
Cost: Free
Description:Issued on October 2007, and endorsed by 138 Muslim scholars & leaders, A Common Word Between Us and You is an open letter and call to Christian leaders everywhere. It is a historical and unprecedented document that has further paved the way in developing deeper and more enriching relationships between people of faith. We hope that this Conference will bring together people from different religious traditions for discussion and critical reflection on the issues raised.

RSVP: companionsindialogue@gmail.com

Hmmm, I might try and make this conference, sounds interesting. Anyone else up for it?

Random Links

Atheists for Jesus Seems these folks missed the Lord, Liar, Lunatic argument of C S Lewis somewhere along the way.

Living in a Christian Bubble Now this is what I call NeoAmish. Funny vid. Exaggerated of course, but uncomfortably close to the truth when touching on Godtube and the Christian web.

AntiChrist movie trailer New film starring William Dafoe

An Open Letter to the Atheist Ethicist An interesting dialogue illustrating how Christian understandings of faith and Atheist understandings of Christian faith are often out of sync.

Can Christianity Stand Against Norse Paganism? Not sure how many of my Pagan readers will agree with this. Probably none. But I agree the way of Jesus was a way of weakness.

Wicca: from my Christian perspective At least some Christian apologetist check out their primary sources. Interested in seeing how she concludes this series.

Forum Launch

I have been meaning to launch a forum here at Glocal Christianity for some time and the Global Interaction forum on cross cultural mission in Sydney last week has finally spurred me into action.

You'll now find a tab on the top menu bar which wll take you direct to the new Glocal Christianity forum. Its simple to join so hopefully I'll see a few of you there soon. You'll see that its highly customizable but one thing I do suggest, if you want to keep up with the conversation it is best to set the preferences for direct forwarding to your email.

The advantage of a forum like this is that its far more democratic than a blog. You get to create conversation threads around whatever topic you want. So raise questions, make statements, share stories, get to know one another. I am particularly wanting to nurture conversations on cross cultural mission and multicultural church at this point, but given the nature of this blog and its readership, I am not setting any restrictions on what topics may be raised. If people want to start conversation threads on Paganism or Christian art or even Adi Da, that's fine too. So welcome.

Technorati Religion

Just been tracking blogosphere buzz.

Tag popularity across the Blogosphere

This chart illustrates how many times blog posts across the Blogosphere were given the following tags.

christianity vs. islam vs. buddhism vs. hinduism vs. judaism

» Configure this widget for your site!

Interesting isn't it. Everyone is talking about Islam.

And in the Christian world ....

Tag popularity across the Blogosphere

This chart illustrates how many times blog posts across the Blogosphere were given the following tags.

jesus vs. christianity vs. church vs. bible vs. god

» Configure this widget for your site!

...the church is more talked about than Jesus.

Best blogs of 2008

This afternoon I wandered across to Deep Church to read his Best Blogs of 2008 and was honoured that Adele at Existential Punk listed Glocal Christianity as one of the blogs that had influenced her this year.

It got me thinking, I wonder which blogs have influenced me?

Steve Hayes at Khaya has given me many things to think about, Alan Hirsch at The Forgotten Ways has tempted me into many a missional conversations, but one of the surprises for me this year has been Hemant Mehta from Friendly Atheist. I frequently disagree with what is said on this site, Ive sometimes been annoyed, but its stretched me to look at the world from some different angles and that makes it all worthwhile.

There are many more I could mention but at this point I want to open things up and ask, who have you found inspiring or thought provoking? And in true glocal Christianity style I want to ask, have you been listening to any other pathways other than your own?

Interfaith Synchroblog

This is just a heads up that the quarterly interfaith synchroblog on 8 Jan 2009. The suggested theme is "Religion and science". If you are interested in participating see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/religionrap. Please note that pantheists, atheists, polytheist and monotheists of all stripes and colours are welcome.

Christmas Shopping with Religions

Digging around the net this afternoon I came across a blog post highlighting the syncretistic efforts of Anglican churches in the UK this Christmas. Some have been switching to politically correct versions of Christmas carols in an effort make them less "offensive". Another woman was told to take down the Christmas decorations around her home because they might be offending non-Christian neighbors. And elsewhere, Hindu snowmen and a Chinese dragon will be included in two different Christmas displays in an attempt to make Christmas more "inclusive" of other religions. If they were bowing down to Christ with alongside the magi astrologers maybe I could handle it, but the lordship of Christ does not seem to be behind this from what I've read of the news reports so far.