Some time ago I started work on Vodou (Voodoo).  This month I've added another African Diaspora religion: Santeria.  Both religions originated in Africa and was brought to the new World by African slaves.  There the beliefs mixed with that of the natives, of Christians, and of the slave experience in general.

This might have been motivated by the fact that I'm currently teaching about World War II in my history class.  My brain is rather overloaded in horribleness at the moment.

There are a handful of symbols Westerners immediately identify as a part of Naziism.  However, these symbols generally have older origins, and these origins have very little in common with the ideology of the Nazis.  I've started a new gallery of such Nazi symbols, which includes the swastika I wrote about a couple weeks ago as well as the Black Sun article I've just added.

The swastika has a very sad history, and not just because of its association with the Nazis and the Holocaust.  Many cultures have revered the symbol for thousands of years and, indeed, still do.  In the West, however, that is culturally difficult, as the average viewer immediately connects the image to the Nazis.

Of course, there's really no playing Devil's advocate for the next topic: suicide cults.  The ultimate manifestation of a destructive cult, these rare groups convince members to take their own lives, or else they take them by force.

Blog posts are now automatically updating on my Altreligion Facebook page.  Hopefully Twitter will be set up soon as well, but to be honest, I really do not like using Twitter.  I find it very difficult to effectively communicate with other people through it.  So if you're wanting to share your views, I would suggest the blog, the Facebook page, and the forum.  The forum is very quiet right now, but the only way to make it not quiet is for people to take an interest in it.  I accept that the forum may simply not be the best medium for this particular group site.