Pat Robertson's ludicrous accusation last month of Satanic pacts causing the earthquake in Haiti is by far the most well known statement on the matter. In fact, however, such connections between Vodou and Satanism have been made repeatedly in the past by a variety of people for a variety of reasons, including political ones.

Religion and politics have always been intertwined in Haiti. Vodou was the religion of the slaves who made up the vast majority of Haiti's population and thus tended to be the religion of slaves who revolted, often extremely violently.

Catholicism, on the other hand, has always been the religion of the respectable. Haitians would adopt it to appear more conforming. Thus, connections to Vodou could be used to emphasize someone's lowly roots.

The Skeptical Jew's From Satanism Libel to Blood Libel: This Time it's Coming from Haitians examines in detail another similar accusation, this time waged against former Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who supposedly participated in a Vodou ritual involving the murder of a stolen newborn for a variety of political favors, including perhaps Al Gore's winning of the US presidency.

There's a lot of hearsay, as these stories often have, but no evidence, yet it keeps getting repeated. It's easy to demonize our enemies, and the accusation of ritual murder is a method that dates back thousands of years.

The Namaste Project is challenging people to find the divine light in the people they interact with in their everyday lives. Participants are welcome to then share their experiences on their website.

Sound easy? Consider this: the Namaste Project is challenging people to consider those we have only fleeting contact with... and not always positive contact at that. "To attempt, from your end, to make a human connection with that guy who just cut you off (other than flipping him the bird). To see the humanity, and all that goes into it, of the nasty person in line in front of you at Walmart. To find love and compassion for the forum troll who ticks you off."

Namaste is an Asian greeting meaning "I honor the light in you." It is not religion specific, and different people can have significantly different views of exactly what that light is. The important thing, according to this exercise, is to recognize it exists and that it provides a commonality between each and every one of us.

I have repeatedly been asked "My child is reading books about X. What should I do?"

1. Encourage learning. There is a difference between learning about and following. Information is never evil.

2. Find age-appropriate material. Just because you encourage learning doesn't mean you can't still be an appropriate parent. If a book is discussing topics that you don't think are appropriate for the person's age, help them find more appropriate sources.

3. Ask them what interests them about the religion of interest. You may discover they aren't really interested in that religion, but instead just one aspect of it: in which case they'll probably eventually figure that out on their own.

4. Don't feel like their interest makes you a bad parent. Parents often find it important for their children to have "correct" views on faith. However, just because they are considering disagreeing with you doesn't mean you didn't bring them up properly in your own religion. Lots of kids eventually come back to their original faith anyway...they just want some time to look at the options.

5. Respect their choices. Yes, you can force them to get rid of books and go to church, but that tends to encourage them to just rebel, and once they become adults and move out they can just pick up their interests anyway. Give them room to find themselves.

A US immigration judge has granted asylum to an evangelical Christian German family who wants to homeschool their children rather than enrolling them in public or private school. The family feels such schools teach things contrary to Christian values.

I can't help but look at least a little askance at such a ruling considering the number of people refused asylum in this country every year that are fleeing little things like genocide and political persecution. I understand that we cannot accommodate everyone, but is this German family really the most deserving among them? Would the judge have reached the same conclusion if the family was, say, Jewish or Muslim? (Or, heaven forbid, something not mainstream.)

These people are not being punished for being Christians. The German government simply isn't making an exception in the law for them to allow them to do as they please. The rest of us are confined by pesky laws all the time, yet most of us would never dream that makes us worthy of asylum.