I know I’m not the only one to whom this has occurred before, but the Pope thinks secularists are too materialistic (unlike the Church, of course). Some great comments on this over at Pharyngula.

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This is one of my all time favorite songs. Depeche Mode (the peach, with ice cream?) wrote a haunting offer to stand in for a missing element: [wp_youtube]KW3aEimWW10[/wp_youtube] Your own, personal, Jesus. A Jesus you don’t have to share with the rest of humanity. Someone who cares A wonderful indictment against an indifferent Jesus.

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Democracy in the US is not dead, just watch American Idol! NPR explores the parallels between the show where you choose the winner and our lost faith in our political process. Spark is a new category for sharing links. No intense commentary, just a link & a brief reason you might want to click on [...]

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The Interfaith Alliance is keeping tabs on the race for Pastor in Chief of the United States of America and sums up the top ten creeptastic moments that remind us that, and I quote, no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States Good [...]

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Yesterday was a red-letter day for flirt-with-the-geek-chick: I turned down two guys (one asked me to a D&D tournament, which was rather endearing, actually). But what really weirded me out was “You should check out our church!” This was, obviously, not a come-on…at least not a relationship come-on. I later told a co-worker, the only [...]

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You’d never think that the Beastie Boys, of all groups, could produce thoughtful, meditative/religious tunes.  This one is god-free, but does pitch some supernatural Buddhist ideas: [wp_youtube]KtKhakSmwhA[/wp_youtube] I love to blast this and focus exclusively on the deep bass chanting. The following song is all about doubt and searching.  The imagery is pretty generic, so [...]

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Sisters and brothers and everyone in between, welcome to the Church of John!  [insert organ riff] One of the great blessing of being a skeptic is that you can find your scripture anywhere. Emily Dickinson, Bad Religion, William Gibson and Joss Whedon are my prophets. When I was lost in the darkness of religious faith, [...]

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Note: This is the latest installment of “Leaving the Garden,” a weekly series in which we ask someone to reflect on their journey from religious conviction to uncertainty, from dogmatism to doubt. Religion is filled with stories of faith; here we collect narratives of unbelief. Some are lifelong atheists who have flirted with religion; others [...]

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Courtesy of icanhascheezburger. (Thanks, Joe!) Three more links, in case the “celing cat” reference went over your head. Also, we’ve messed around a bit with lolReligion in the past, here at Mind on Fire.

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Note: This is the latest installment of “Leaving the Garden,” a weekly series in which we ask someone to reflect on their journey from religious conviction to uncertainty, from dogmatism to doubt. Religion is filled with stories of faith; here we will collect narratives of unbelief. Some are lifelong atheists who have flirted with religion; [...]

[Read more →]