The review of this trendy anti-Christianity rant amused me. I wonder if my favorite gadfly has read this book. 😉
Et Tu, Buddha? Beautiful Blasphemies, Heartfelt Heresies
By Read Mercer Schuchardt
'Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible' is a weeping beauty of a book, edited by 'two religiously flippant intellectuals' who think they're swimming against the tide. But what the authors have mistaken for heresy is, in fact, electronic culture's orthodoxy.
I’m listening to the Marty Minto show right now (M – F, 3PM – 6PM on
101.5 WORD-FM in Pittsburgh) and he’s about to have a coronary because
a day care
center is teaching yoga to kids. He’s yelling for people to repent
and generally carrying on like a corner apocalyptic preacher. I called
the show and gave him an earful about the fear-monger he is. In his
eyes, there is no way anyone can practice yoga without being drawn into
Hindu. Oy!
For more about yoga and Christianity, check out this
Messy Christian post. Let me know what you think.
Just a year ago, my answer would’ve been absolutely. But the funny thing that happens when your worldview comes crashing down is that you start to question everything that you once so firmly believed in. I learnt, in the past few months, that one’s “version” of Christianity or how one practices it is largely influenced by cultural and societal pressures/factors. I even start to question the validity of the word “true Christianity” because one’s true Christianity is another’s “backslidden” Christianity.
This post is not to discuss why Yoga is B.A.D. I’ve heard them all, people. Nor is it to discuss why yoga is good.
I want to think beyond the good/bad mentality that many of us Christians have where we’re forced to choose sides. I want to get above that. One, because I’m tired of this line of reasoning. Two, because life is just not so simple!
My Protestant readers ought to find this interesting.
Protestant Majority Disappearing in U.S.
“The increasing secularization of American society has taken a particular toll on Protestant identity, presenting the prospect that after more than 200 years of history, the United States may soon no longer be a majority Protestant country, according to a new study by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago.”
“The percentage of the population that is Protestant has been falling and will likely fall below 50 percent by mid-decade and may be there already, the research reported.”
Catholic numbers steady despite rising unbelief in USA
“A survey in the United States has found that Protestant Churches have been losing numbers at an alarming rate due to an upsurge in those identifying themselves as having no specific religion, while the effect on the Catholic Church has been cushioned by the large number of Catholics among immigrants.”
“While still outnumbering Catholics roughly two to one, Protestant numbers fell from 63% in 1993 to 52% in 2002, and will drop below half in the next year or two.”
“The survey found those who said they were Catholic in 2002 remained fairly steady at about 25% of the population.”
CHURCH & STATE
by Neal Pollack
A lunatic Christian cult has the run of the White House and the ear of the president. What do they want? The end of the world. Be afraid.
I almost didn't blog this article due to it's secular silliness and lack of intelligent analysis, but the author offers the following pile of stinking feces (Ad hoc or accurate assessment? Let me know.) as a prayer. It reeks of the kind of warm, fuzzy, "I'm OK. You're OK" relativism that defeats the whole point of having faith at all.
"Dear [Higher Power of Choice], give us the will to restore religion in this country, as our Founding Fathers intended, to an abstract guiding principle, not the theologically unsound justification for a twisted foreign policy. Let us fight our enemies with peace and wisdom, not anger and indiscriminate force. Allow our country to serve as a symbol of what's good in humankind, not what's corrupt. Most of all, grant us the strength and wisdom to remove President George W. Bush from office. In your name, we say: Amen."
"abstract guiding principle"?!? Why believe in God at all? Why not just stick to secular humanism? It makes you feel like you're a good person acting on an informed, enlightened conscience without any of the nasty thankfulness, codes of conduct, or global implications and applications inherent to most religions. No fuss, no muss. "Ethos Lite: All of the Flavor, None of the Obligations"
Unfortunately, I’ve experienced some of the familial anti-Catholicism this blogger
describes. My mom is a bitter ex-Catholic and we often get into nasty arguments
over religion. Compared the following situation, I’m quite lucky, though. My mother
and I have a loving relationship filled with plenty of healthy communication. A
good friend of mine had it worse when he converted from Judaism to Evangelical Christianity
and then to Catholicism.
How discouraging it was for me to learn today that not only is my mother-in-law
displeased with our conversion to Catholicism, she honestly believes we’ll be going
to hell if we persist in it.