Alternative Religions

Spreading the faith is so important in Christianity that many people presume all religions work that way.  After all, if you've found something deeply meaningful, why would you NOT share it?  In fact, most religions don't really care about non-believers.  Their beliefs and expectations are only applicable to believers, and there generally isn't any punishment expected for non-believers.  Check out more reasons why many religions do not proselytize.

The axis mundi in religion is a real world center point of the faith.  Sometimes this point has historical significance.  Often times it is a specific location, although some axis mundi are temporary, established through ritual or construction.  The axis mundi is also a connection point between the physical realm and other realms.

The Axis Mundi in Alternative Religions gives examples of the axis mundi in multiple faiths such as Vodou and Shinto.  I have already provided an article on the Axis Mundi within Judeo-Christian Religion as a comparison.

Ten days ago my 62 year old mother had a stroke. She is largely unable to communicate, and the right side of her body is paralyzed. While we are hopeful rehab will eventually correct much of her limitation, it will be taking months to accomplish it.

As such, I'm out of town helping my family get through this time, and part of that experience is dealing with my mom's church, which she is active in. I attended as a child but left in my early teens. Still, I thought it important Mom's minister be notified early. It didn't matter to me, but I know it would matter to Mom. I think people miss that point in religion too often. It's not about my belief here, it's about hers. I can see value in it from her perspective, even though mine are different.

I hear a lot of people saying that Christians are mean-spirited. They hear about people like the Westboro Baptist Church in the news and presume all Christians behave that way, particularly since Christianity does have a fairly exclusive theology. People presume I left because I found them mean, and I most certainly didn't. I just don't believe the same things as them. This church has held a prayer vigil for my mom. Relatives have informed their churches, and *those* churches are praying for her, even though their members have never even met my mom. They don't even specifically know she's a Christian, and she's certainly not the same denomination as these other churches. These people understand the concept of community and caring for those who need care. They've volunteered by the dozen to help my entire family, even though Mom is the only church member.

Religion doesn't make people horrible. People choose to be horrible and do it in the name of their religion. Or, as my mom's church has done, people can choose to be kind and decent.

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.

It was national news in 1997 when 39 members of Heaven's Gate committed suicide.  Most people believed the group vanished at that point.  After all, the members were dead.  In fact, not all members committed suicide, and the survivors continue to spread their message of an approaching apocalypse and salvation through separation from earthly ties.  For them, the spiritual world is an alien one.  The destroyers and the saviors alike are advanced aliens.

I've been reading Aliens Adored recently, a sociologist's perspective on the Raelian movement.  As such, I'll be putting out a few more articles on the topic, which I have started in the past few weeks.  This week was an analysis of how Raelians measure up as a dangerous cult, of which they are sometimes labeled by critics.

Then there was Fact, Fallacy, or Hoax? This article addresses the various potential sources of religious revelation and understanding, going beyond the simple Boolean thought of an experience either being literally true or being a lie.

Finally, there is an article on Plastic Shamans: those people who claim knowledge of Native American traditions, often to sell them at substantial profit.  These people have no rightful claim to the titles they give themselves, and their information and practices are frequently grossly erroneous.

Naw-Ruz is the traditional date of New Years for Persians, which coincides with the spring equinox (March 21).  As such, it continues to be celebrated by Zoroastrians and Baha'i, both faiths that developed in Persia (roughly modern-day Iran).

As a New Year's celebration it is a celebration of renewal, of the ending of old things and the beginning of new things.  This fits well into other celebrations commonly associated with the spring equinox, when winter is subsiding and the world is reblooming.

For the Baha'i, Naw-Ruz follows a 19 day period of fasting.  This further emphasizes the putting away of old things and the preparation of new things, particularly on a spiritual level.