Peter Occhiogrosso - "The Joy of Sects" and other books on Spirituality and World Religion

Archive
of
World Religion in the News

Learning from Arab Jews
David Shasha, the founder and director of the Center for Sephardic Heritage in Brooklyn, N.Y., argues that Arab and Jew are not mutually exclusive categories. Anyone who tells you that "Jews and Arabs have been fighting for thousands of years," is speaking from ignorance. The idea of a conflict between "Jews" and "Arabs" is a development of the mid-20th century, amid the trauma that accompanied the creation of the State of Israel. Jews and Arabs had, in fact, lived together for hundreds of years in the Muslim world, and many Jews have always considered themselves Arab.
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Standing Up for Religious Freedom-for Others
Three hundred and fifty years ago, on Dec. 27, 1657, 30 inhabitants of Flushing, New Netherland (now New York), defied Gov. Peter Stuyvesant's order barring townspeople from harboring Quakers. "For our part," they protested to Stuyvesant, "we cannot condemn [the Quakers], neither can we stretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them." Today the signers of what is known as the Flushing Remonstrance are celebrated as early advocates for religious freedom. And so they were. But the historic significance of their protest is not merely their plea for religious freedom.
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Does the U.S. Tolerate Anti-Muslim Speech?
Michael Savage, a nationally syndicated radio show host, recently said that Muslims should be deported and made rude comments about what they could do with their religion. As a result, some local advertisers on WWTC, a conservative talk-radio station in Minneapolis, have started pulling their ads, along with a handful of national companies, including OfficeMax, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, and AT&T. But the comments by Savage- and previous anti-Muslim speech - have not created the furor that knocked radio icon Don Imus off of MSNBC and CBS Radio after he denigrated a black women's basketball team. That leaves many Muslims-Americans - and non-Muslims- suspicious that Americans have a double standard when it comes to Islam.
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The Dalai Lama Rethinks Ancient Succession Method
Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, announced that he might consider changing the centuries-old method of succession. "If the Tibetan people want to keep the Dalai Lama system, one of the possibilities I have been considering with my aides is to select the next Dalai Lama while I'm alive," he told the Sankei Shimbun in an interview published November 21st. That could mean either some kind of democratic election among senior Buddhist monks or a personal selection by the current Dalai Lama himself.
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Most think (erroneously) that founders wanted Christian USA
Most Americans believe the nation's founders wrote Christianity into the Constitution, and people are less likely to say freedom to worship covers religious groups they consider extreme, a recent poll finds. The survey measuring attitudes toward freedom of religion, speech and the press found that 55% believe erroneously that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. In the survey, 75% of evangelicals or Republicans believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, as opposed to about half of Democrats and independents. 58% say teachers in public schools should be allowed to lead prayers.
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Inmates Sue Over Clearing of Religious Books from Libraries
Three inmates at a federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., have filed a lawsuit over the wholesale removal of religious books from their prison library, saying their constitutional rights were violated. The policy is occurring nationwide, part of a long-delayed, post-Sept. 11 federal directive intended to prevent radical religious texts, specifically Islamic ones, from falling into the hands of violent inmates. The directive limited the number of books for all religions, including Christianity and Judaism, to between 100 and 150. The books taken out "have been ones that we used to minister to new converts when they come in here," inmate John Okon, speaking on behalf of the prison's Christian population, told a judge last week.
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British Muslims say: Put Christ back in Christmas
Muslim leaders joined Britain's equality watchdog Monday in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas without worrying about offending non-Christians. "It's time to stop being daft about Christmas. It's fine to celebrate and it's fine for Christ to be star of the show," said Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Representatives of Britain's Hindus and Sikhs also agreed that secularization has gone too far. Sikh spokesman Indarjit Singh said: "Every year I am asked 'Do I object to the celebration of Christmas?' It's an absurd question. As ever, my family and I will send out our Christmas cards to our Christian friends and others."
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Vatican Says "Permanent Vegetative State" no excuse to remove feeding tubes.
The Vatican reiterated that it considers the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states to be an immoral act. The Vatican issued the statement in response to questions from bishops in the United States in July 2005 - just months after the case of Terri Schiavo made world headlines. She died March 31, 2005, in a Florida hospice after her parents unsuccessfully battled a court order to have her feeding tube removed. "A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means," the Vatican said in a statement.
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Buddhist Nuns join Monks protesting Myanmar'a Military Dictatorship
About 100 Buddhist nuns joined more than 2000 monks in growing protests against Myanmar's ruling generals on Sunday while the U.S. denounced the military leadership as brutal. The All Burma Monks Alliance urged ordinary people for the first time "to struggle peacefully against the evil military dictatorship" until its downfall. Until now the monks, fearing reprisals against civilians and to ensure the protests in Yangon and other cities remained peaceful, have discouraged others from joining the marches. Myanmar is a devoutly Buddhist nation and the generals have been reluctant to confront or attack monks and nuns the way they did students during previous protests.
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The Jim & Tammy Faye of Brazil: Televangelists Charged with Money Laundering
Although Brazil is still predominantly Roman Catholic, its Pentecostal population has reached 30%, and with that have come corruption charges reminiscent of the PTL scandals of the 1980s. The married couple leading a "prosperity consciousness" church, replete with family members on the payroll, have been arrested in Miami for illegally smuggling cash into the U.S., including $9,000 concealed in a Bible.
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GOP House Minority Whip to Aid Group Seeking Nuclear War
US House minority whip Roy Blunt flew to San Antonio recently to pay tribute to Texas Pastor and apocalyptic nuclear war advocate John Hagee, one of several alleged religious influences on George W. Bush. Hagee is a strong proponent for a "preemptive" US and Israeli nuclear attack against Iran. In Jerusalem Countdown, Hagee's latest book, which has sold over 1 million copies, he writes that the Holocaust and historical persecution of the Jews is a divine punishment for the "disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, as is anti-Semitism... Their own rebellion [against God] had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come."
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Brazil's Indians Offended by Pope Comments
Outraged Indian leaders in Brazil were offended by Pope Benedict's "arrogant and disrespectful" comments that the Roman Catholic Church had purified them and that a revival of their religions would be a backward step. In a speech to Latin American and Caribbean bishops at the end of a visit to Brazil, the Pope said the Church had not imposed itself on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. He said that they had welcomed the arrival of European priests at the time of the conquest as they were "silently longing" for Christianity. Millions of tribal Indians are believed to have died as a result of European colonization backed by the Church since Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, through slaughter, disease or enslavement
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The Rev. Al Sharpton and atheist Christopher Hitchens debate the existence of God and the value of religion
Black political leader Rev. Al Sharpton, and author and Iraq war supporter Chris Hitchens debated the existence of God and the uses of religion at the New York Public Library, and appeared to come to a draw. Hitchens used the old argument that in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, God sanctions genocide. Sharpton refused to take the bait, saying that "And attacking the 'wicked' use of God [by some religions] does not at all address the existence of God or nonexistence of God." Although Hitchens's secularist views are well known, Sharpton's defense of theism has been less well articulated in public, and the debate made for a provocative exchange of ideas. To read in depth about the debate, click here. To join our own debate in the Forum, click here.

Are Americans Ignorant About Religion?
A Boston University professor argues that Americans, though "spiritual," know very little about the world's religions-including Christianity. An astonishingly low percentage od Americans can name even one of the four Gospels, or a single Hindu scripture. Steven Prothero's new book, Religious Literacy, proposes fixing that by teaching religion in public schools-all religions.
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Is the U.S. Ready for a Mormon President?
Mitt Romney's Mormonism is his biggest political hurdle. The Massachusetts governor, who will almost certainly seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has become a dark-horse favorite thanks to his achievements (health-care reform) and personal qualities (he's charismatic, smart, and absurdly wholesome). But in a 1999 Gallup poll, 17 percent of respondents said they wouldn't vote for a presidential candidate who's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And since the conservative evangelicals prominent in today's GOP are deeply suspicious of the LDS Church, Romney's religion could cripple him in the Republican primaries. Romney knows he needs to dispel these heebie-jeebies to win the presidency, so he's spent the past few months figuring out how to play the Mormon card.
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Army Chaplain who Converted from Pentecostal to Wiccan Is Removed
A year ago, Don Larsen was a Pentecostal Christian minister at Camp Anaconda, the largest U.S. support base in Iraq. But inwardly, he says, he was torn between Christianity's exclusive claims about salvation and a "universalist streak" in his thinking that was ignited by the Feb. 22, 2006, bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, which triggered a widening spiral of revenge attacks between Shiite and Sunni militants. Larsen's private crisis of faith might have remained just that, but for one other fateful choice. He decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots. But when he applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, his superiors not only denied his request but also withdrew him from Iraq and removed him from the chaplain corps, despite an unblemished service record.
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Nepal "Buddha Boy" sighted again
A missing Nepalese teenager popularly known as Buddha Boy has reappeared after nine months, eyewitnesses say. Thousands of people are thronging a jungle in southern Nepal to catch a glimpse of Ram Bahadur Bomjan, 17. The boy's meditation and apparent 10-month fast attracted global attention before he vanished in March 2006. Bomjan's followers say he is an incarnation of Siddartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, who was born in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal, more than 2,500 years ago. The boy attracted international attention earlier this year when he was reported to have meditated for months without food. But there has been no information about his whereabouts over the last nine months. He had originally said he planned to meditate for six year to achieve enlightenment. The original Buddha became enlightened while meditating for 49 days.
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Proposal Would Name Jesus King of Poland
Lawmakers have drawn up a resolution naming Jesus Christ as the honorary king of Poland, but have failed to win support from the country's powerful Roman Catholic church. Backing from the church in this strongly Catholic country would be crucial for building support for the proposal, but on Wednesday several bishops criticized it, and said parliament should stay out of religious affairs.
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Nation's First Muslim Congressman Will Swear his Ceremonial Oath on the Quran
When Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Democrat who was elected the first Muslim in Congress, announced he would take his oath of office on Islam's holy book, the Quran, he provoked sharp criticism from conservatives and some heated discussion on the blogosphere. The ensuing discussion has revived the debate about whether America's values and legal system are shaped only by Judeo-Christian heritage or if there is room for Islamic and other traditions.
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Catholic Vote Swings Democratic in Midterm Elections
Catholics, who compose a massive 67 million-person slice of the electorate, favored Democrats in the 2006 election by 55 percent to 45 percent, according to National Election Pool exit polls. That's a marked difference from 2004, when President Bush, a Republican United Methodist, won 52 percent of the Catholic vote and Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic, received 47 percent. Catholic voting patterns varied by state, but the overall shift helped Democrats in several big states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to John Green, a senior fellow at Washington's Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
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Making a Killing in Human Potential
What the Bleep Do We Know!?, a quirky cinematic look at the intersection of science and spirituality, has spawned worldwide study groups, a cottage "Bleep" industry and a coterie of fans who have been clamoring for a sequel since the film's release two years ago. That follow-up, What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole, is set to open in selected theaters. The first film drew gross revenues of more than $11 million, not bad for a film with no immediately identifiable audience. One of the filmmakers said he believed that "Hollywood may not have recognized the large size of the human potential movement and so they're watching this emerging consciousness-inspirational film genre very carefully."
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Islam and Christianity are Blending in Africa
Worshipers at The True Message of God Mission say it's entirely natural for Christianity and Islam to coexist, even overlap. They begin their worship by praying at the Jesus alcove and then "running their deliverance"--sprinting laps around the mosque's mosaic-tiled courtyard, praying to the one God for forgiveness and help. They say it's akin to Israelites circling the walls of Jericho-- and Muslims swirling around the Ka'ba shrine in Mecca.This group, originally called "Chris-lam-herb" for its mix-and-match approach to Christianity, Islam, and traditional medicine, is a window on an ongoing religious ferment in Africa. It's still up for debate whether this group, and others like it, could become models for Muslim-Christian unity worldwide or whether they're uniquely African. But either way, they are "part of a trend," says Dana Robert, a Boston University religion professor.
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Muslim Anger at Cartoon Highlights Deep Divisions
The publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has caused deep divisions across the world. For some, they are a transient form of entertaiment, for others, an attack on Islam. But since no-one knows what the Prophet Muhammad looked like, there seems to be a confusion between two issues: the Islamic ban on any pictorial representation and respect for the character of Muhammad. This BBC column by a Muslim journalist explores the issues.
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Muhammad's "Sword": Why did Pope Benedict utter these words in public? And why now?
Although "coercion in matters of faith" is explicitly forbidden by the Quran (2, 256), Pope Benedict XVI quoted a Byzantine Emperor's assertion that Muhammad urged his followers to convert by the sword. As this article, written by a Jewish atheist, explains, the Pope's understanding of Islam is flawed and prejudicial. History shows that Muslims have been far more tolerant of the Christians and Jews living among them than the other way around.
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Israel Smites Pat Robertson
Israel said U.S. evangelical leader Pat Robertson would not be allowed to take part in a planned Christian tourist site. A spokesman for Tourism Minister Abraham Hirchson said Wednesday that Robertson, who recently suggested that Ariel Sharon's Jan. 4 stroke was divine punishment for last summer's Gaza withdrawal, would not be allowed to take part in a planned $48 million Christian Heritage Center on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The spokesman, Jonathan Pulik, said Israel would include other Christian groups in the 125-acre project, which is expected to be complete by the end of the decade. The consortium of Christian groups had been led by Robertson, in a project that is expected to bring up to 1 million extra tourists a year--but an undeclared benefit will be the cementing of a political alliance between the Israeli rightwing and the American Christian right.
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Turn on, tune in . . . evolve?
For some time, a handful of religious scholars, including Huston Smith, have agreed that many of our earliest religions started as a result of trance states, sometimes induced by psychotropic drugs, drumming, and/or ritual ecstatic dancing. The late Terence McKenna went further and argued that psychedelic mushrooms led to extraordinary leaps in human evolution. Now in a new book entitled Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind, British writer Graham Hancock posits a theory as fascinating as it is provocative: If it's true that cave art derives from altered states of consciousness, then it constitutes a watershed moment in human history, marking the first visible encounter with the supernatural, the first expression of spiritual myth.
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President of Lithuania Is in a 'Pact with the Devil'
The Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church has accused the country's new president of making a pact with the Devil after he brought an astrologer into his inner circle to advise him on how to run the Baltic republic. Rolandas Paksas, a former stunt pilot, was sworn in as president last month. Since then, Lena Lolishvili, a Georgian who claims to be able to see the future and cure illnesses with her psychic powers, has caused outrage as her influence over government has spread – much to the dismay of the country's leading Catholic cleric.
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New Christian Church Opens in 16,000-Seat Sports Arena.
Lakewood Church, a non-denominational Christian congregation led by televangelist and best-selling author Joel Osteen, has grown so much in recent years that it is expanding into the rebuilt former home of the NBA Houston Rockets. It has become the first congregation in the country with an average weekly attendance of more than 30,000 for its services. The facility, which took 15 months and about $75 million to complete, features two waterfalls, three gargantuan television screens and a lighting system that rivals those found at rock concerts. [Read the article]

Famous Atheist Now Believes in God, Sort of
A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now believes in God - more or less - based on scientific evidence, and says so on a video released Thursday. At age 81, after decades of insisting belief is a mistake, Antony Flew has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England. Flew said he's best labeled a deist like Thomas Jefferson, whose God was not actively involved in people's lives. "I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins," he said. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose." [Read the article]

22 Questions for Cardinal Ratzinger and the Silver Lining in the Election of this first Grand Inquisitor as Pope
Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, ex-Catholic priest, now Episcopalian, author, founder of the school of Creation Spirituality

Last night I was all hooked up to be on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" to be interviewed about the new pope when they suddenly cut the line and said they did not have time for me. I said: "This is a political act." The tv man hooking me up said it was the "first time in 8 years of working in television" that he had seen anything like that happen. I think Chris Matthews' program should be renamed "Softball." When it comes to religion the American media is soft, soft, soft.

Thus I have taken it upon myself to feed journalists with some real questions about this man and his record and his intentions. Twenty two questions follow:

1. You come from Bavaria, that part of Germany that most admired Hitler and first voted for him. Did you ever denounce Hitler or fascism? If so, when? If not, why not? [Read the article]

Judge's Robe Shows Ten Commandments
Circuit Judge Ashley McKathan showed up Monday at his courtroom in southern Alabama wearing a judicial robe with the Ten Commandments embroidered on the front in gold. The commandments were described as being big enough to be read by anyone near the judge. McKathan told The Associated Press that he believes the Ten Commandments represent the truth "and you can't divorce the law from the truth. ... The Ten Commandments can help a judge know the difference between right and wrong." He said he doesn't believe the commandments on his robe would have an adverse effect on jurors. "I had a choice of several sizes of letters. I purposely chose a size that would not be in anybody's face," he said. The case raised comparisons to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery. An attorney defending a client charged with DUI filed a motion objecting to the robe and asking that the case be continued. He said McKathan denied both motions. "I feel this creates a distraction that affects my client," the attorney said. [Read the article]

Islamophobia Is on the Rise
A renowned Islamic scholar is barred from taking up a teaching post at Notre Dame. A nationwide survey discovers that nearly one-half of all respondents believe Muslim-Americans' civil liberties should be restricted. Academics, Middle East experts, and senior U.N. officials warn that "Islamophobia" is fast spreading in the United States and Western Europe. 'When a new word enters the language, it is often the result of a scientific advance or a diverting fad,' said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. ''But when the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry, that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with Islamophobia." [Read the article]

Thy Will Be Done, On Earth as It Is in Texas
Little as most Americans know about Muslims in the Middle East, liberal Americans know even less about the hundred million fundamentalist Christians who live in their own country. Writer Joe Bageant, born and raised in a fundamentalist Christian family in Virginia, provides a rare and valuable insider's view of the spiritual beliefs and political impulses of born-agains. He explains the enormous gulf between secular, New Age, even mainline Christian belief and the fundamentalist belief that has spawned "Christian Reconstructionism" and the movement to impose "Biblical Law" on all America. And yet, as the writer points out, born-again Christians are also among the most charitable and compassionate supporters of the poor, especially in Third World countries. You need to read his passionate and highly nuanced account to understand the depth of the problem their beliefs present. [Read the article]

High School Teacher Removed after Making anti-Islamic Remarks to Student
A Louisiana high school removed a social studies teacher after he forcibly pulled the hijab, or head scarf, of a Muslim student and made offensive remarks about her faith. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a press release that the 17-year-old student at West Jefferson High School in Harvey, La., said that the teacher pulled back her religiously mandated hijab during a world history class, declaring, "I hope God punishes you. No, I'm sorry, I hope Allah punishes you. I didn't know you had hair under there". The student, who is of Iraqi heritage, told CAIR that the teacher had previously made offensive remarks about other students' ethnic or religious background. [Read the article]

Reagan Speechwriter & Wall Street Journal Come Out for Religious Diversity
Conservative columnist and Roman Catholic Peggy Noonan has written a thoughtful piece about her experiences displaying a statue of Mother Mary. Her hard-won wisdom says that rather than banning prayer and religious symbols in schools and public places, we should invite the open expression of all religions, including Islam and Buddhism, along with mainstream Christian expressions. It�s a somewhat surprising stanvce given the source, and maybe an encouraging sign that a wider range of people are seeing the value of religious pluralism. [Read the article]

Religion in Politics: Social Justice or Sexual Morality?
"The United States has a long history of religious faith supporting . . . progressive causes and movements. From the abolition of slavery to women's suffrage to civil rights, religion has led the way for social change," writes Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners and the convener of Call to Renewal, a faith-inspired movement to overcome poverty. He argues that the Republicans, led by Pres. Bush, have captured the mantle of religion, even though their policies contradict "the biblical imperatives for social justice." Yet Democrats, who continue to champion the rights of the poor and to question pre-emptive wars, have allowed the other side to relegate religious standards largely to matters of sexual morality. They continue top lean toward a secular stance that de-emphasizes the role of religion in society. Wallis feels that this is a mistake. "The separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square," he says. "America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics-a dependence the founders recognized." [Read the whole article]

Theologian Says the Gap Between Rich and Poor Violates Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Beliefs
Joseph C. Hough thinks it is the duty of Christians, Jews and Muslims to join to fight growing economic inequality, and is critical of how some political pundits are using Christianity to justify their actions. Hough is president of the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and believes that the growing gap is "a definite intentional move on the part of political leadership in this country," as is "the stated intentional policy of bankrupting the government so that in the future there'll be no money for anything the federal government would decide to do" to help the needy. "I think [that policy] is not at all compatible with the prophetic tradition in Islam, Christianity, or Judaism." He has called on these three Abrahamic traditions to say, "Look, we do not countenance this sort of thing. It is not only unfair, it is immoral on the basis of our religious traditions, and we believe it's an insult to God." [Read the whole article]

Top Terrorist Hunter Casts Military, Anti-Terror Efforts in Religious Terms
A highly decorated general who is one of the leaders of a secretive new Pentagon unit formed to coordinate intelligence on terrorists and help hunt down Osama, Saddam, and other high-profile targets has a history of outspoken and divisive views on religion, Islam in particular, according to this NBC News report. Speaking to a church group in June 2003, Boykin showed slides of bin Laden and Hussein, then said neither man was the real enemy. "The enemy is a spiritual enemy," he said. "The enemy is a guy called Satan." As for why terrorists want to destroy the U.S. Boykin adds, "They're after us because we're a Christian nation."

"Boykin also routinely tells audiences that God, not the voters, chose President Bush: 'Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.'" [Read the whole article]

"No Health Benefit" from Prayer, According to World's Largest Study
After all the books by Larry Dossey, M.D., and others on the power of intercessory prayer to heal or favorably affect the health of people undergoing serious operations, now comes a study from Duke University Medical Center that finds no benefit at all from third-party prayer. The study, on the effects of prayer on 750 patients undergoing heart surgery, found that it appears to make no difference. Many theologians believe that such a trial is doomed to failure because it "puts God to the test." The Bishop of Durham, N.C., the Rt. Rev. Tom Wright, said: "Prayer is not a penny in the slot machine. You can't just put in a coin and get out a chocolate bar. This is like setting an exam for God to see if God will pass it or not." The study also leaves unresolved the value of first- and second-party prayer effects. Because Duke University is in the heart of the U.S. "Bible belt," many of the trial participants, "regardless of whether they were randomized to receive prayer during the trial, would be getting it from relatives and friends - and of course themselves." This could also have skewed the results. [Read the whole article]

Is Religion Really a Drug? And if So, What Kind?
Marx called religion "the opium of the people," but that may no longer be the appropriate drug metaphor, says British journalist Andrew Anthony in The Guardian. In this fanciful column he compares various levels of religious belief and activism to a variety of hard and soft drugs, from marijuana to crack. In passing he touches on fundamentalist religions and Mel Gibson's forthcoming film about the death of Jesus, focusing on the absurd intolerance that still dogs many religious cultures. [Read the whole article]

Whose Law Is It, Anyway?
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore installed a massive granite monument to the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the state's Supreme Court two years ago, claiming that it was "a symbol of the Judeo-Christian foundation of U.S. law." But did he mean that it was essential to the administration of that law. In this column, the editors of Mother Jones magazine take a closer look at just how enforceable the biblical Commandments actually are. For instance, does the 3rd commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, mean that it's against the law to cuss? [Read the whole article]

Seeing Islam as 'Evil' Faith, Evangelicals Seek Converts
In a forecast of what we might expect to unfold in Afghanistan and Iraq in days to come, a large number of Evangelical Christians are targeting Muslims in those countries, as well as in the U.S., for conversion. According to Laurie Goodstein's report in the New York Times, "At the grass roots of evangelical Christianity, many are now absorbing the antipathy for Islam that emerged last year with the incendiary comments of ministers. The sharp language, from religious leaders like Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Jerry Vines, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has drawn rebukes from Muslims and Christian groups alike. Mr. Graham called Islam `a very evil and wicked religion,' and Mr. Vines called Muhammad, Islam's founder and prophet, a `demon-possessed pedophile.'"

Now, lectures and books criticizing Islam and promoting strategies for Muslim conversions are gaining currency at evangelical churches and seminaries across the country. Goodstein adds that the Evangelical group called Arab International Ministry "claimsto have trained 4,500 American Christians to proselytize Muslims in the last six years, many of those since the 2001 terrorist attacks." [Read the whole article]

Conservative Alabama Governor calls for higher taxes on the wealthy-based on the Bible
What does the Bible have to do with tax policy? Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, a conservative Republican, citing his Christian faith, is calling for a $1.2 billion tax hike, largely on wealthier taxpayers, for the benefit of the poor. Not only would this be the largest increase in the state's history, it would also be the first based on the Bible. "Alabamians are a faithful people who believe that creating a better world for our children and helping our neighbors are both sacred duties," Riley wrote in explaining his tax plan. "Jesus says one of our missions is to take care of the least among us. We've got to take care of the poor."

Riley has created a fascinating conundrum for liberal and progressive Christians who feel a strong moral obligation to help the less fortunate, based on the teachings of Jesus, such as the Sermon on the Mount. Yet others fear too close an interaction of church and state, as in Pres. Bush's so-called "faith-based initiatives." What's a poor (or rich) Christian to do? [Read the whole article]

Is Mystical Experience All in the Mind?
Richard Dawkins, renowned atheist who coined the term "meme" (as in "memetics") and who refers to religion as a "virus of the mind," allowed himself to be the subject of a test that aims to link holy visions with a certain brain disorder. "Does the biological structure of our brains program us to believe in God?" asks a report on the test in the London Telegraph. "Advances in 'neurotheology' have prompted some researchers to claim they can induce the kind of holy visions prophets may have experienced - even in those who are not religious believers.

A neuroscience professor in Ontario has devised a helmet that uses electromagnetic fields to induce electrical changes in the brain's temporal lobes, which are linked with religious belief. And the BBC decided to try it out on arch-skeptic and militant atheist Richard Dawkins. [Read the whole article]

Speaking Fish Stirs Controversy
An obscure Jewish sect in New York has been gripped in awe by what it believes to be a mystical visitation by a 20 lb. carp that was heard shouting in Hebrew, in what many Jews worldwide are hailing as a modern miracle. Many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New Square, 30 miles north of Manhattan, believe God has revealed himself in fish form. According to two fish-cutters at the New Square Fish Market, the carp was about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner when it suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew. Many believe the carp was channeling the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died; others say it was God. [Read the whole article]

Evangelicals in the US Believe in Biblical Basis for Opposing the Middle East Road Map
Christian Zionists in the U.S. believe that a precondition for Armageddon is the return of Israel to its biblical borders, and so they tend to oppose any compromise that would allow Palestinians to share the land. Because of this, their support has generally been welcomed by ultraconservative Israelis. However, Christian Zionists also believe that biblical prophecy leads not only to Armageddon, but finally to the conversion of the Jews to Christ. According to the most influential Christian Zionist, Hal Lindsey--whose book The Late Great Planet Earth has sold nearly 20 million copies in English and another 30 million worldwide--the valley from Galilee to Eilat will flow with blood and "144,000 Jews would bow down before Jesus and be saved, but the rest of Jewry would perish in the mother of all holocausts." So why do many Israelis still accept the support of Christian Zionists? Find out in Giles Fraser's piece in The Guardian. [Read the whole article]

Iraq War Brings Talk of Armageddon
Islam and Christianity share an apocalyptic tradition of beliefs about the end of time. Both faiths preach about the Last Days and Final Judgment (known in Islam as "The Hour"), the Resurrection of the Dead, the rewards of Paradise and the punishments of Hell. And among the fundamentalists in both religions, talk of doomsday or Armageddon has grown rapidly in recent years. Popular authors from Tim LaHaye to Gamal El-Din have sold millions of books on the topic. "Web sites discuss end-of-time signs in the Bible and in the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad," according to this article. "Christian preachers and Muslim prayer leaders link today's headlines about war in the Garden of Eden and the birthplace of Abraham to centuries-old descriptions of humanity's final hours." [Read the whole article]

Muslims Now Outnumber Jews in Canada, As Protestants decline but Roman Catholics Increase
Canadian census figures show for the first time that Muslims outnumber Jews - a demographic that could ultimately affect this country's position toward the protracted Middle East conflict. Recently released figures show the number of people claiming to be Muslim faith increased by 128.9 percent to 579,640 in the decade beginning in 1991, making Islam the fastest growing religion in Canada. At the same time, the churches that spawned the old generation of Canada's power elite are on the wane. The number of Canadians who said they were Protestant declined during the same decade, leaving the religion with 29.2 per cent of the population, while Roman Catholics increased their ranks slightly as a result of immigration from countries like the Philippines where that faith is still strong. "It seems the biggest blow to the Protestant churches was - and continues to be - a drift away from organized religion." [Read the whole article]

Pope Warns that Iraq Invasion May Lead to "Religious Catastrophe."
Pope John Paul II has been outspoken in his condemnation of both capital punishment and the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. "In the months before the Iraq war began," reads an article in the Washington Post, "John Paul lobbied in favor of a negotiated solution. He has said there is no legal or moral justification for the military action, and has worried about how it could affect relations between Christians and Muslims. [On March 29, he] urged the faithful not to allow the Iraq conflict to stir up hatred between Christians and Muslims, saying that would transform the war into a 'religious catastrophe.' The pontiff, who strongly opposes the war, made the comments to bishops from Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country with a small Christian community." [Read the whole article]

Catholics Debate Whether to Back the President or the Pope on Iraq
"Religious leaders of nearly every denomination and faith have condemned an American attack on Iraq." According to this article in the New York Times. "Only the Southern Baptist Convention and some evangelical and Pentecostal leaders have rallied behind the president. Jewish leaders are deeply split." And apparently the nation's Roman Catholics are also split over whether to back the Bush administration's looming invasion of Iraq or to follow the lead of Pope John Paul II, and American Catholic bishops, who last week issued their third antiwar declaration of the last four months. This article tracks the tortured judgments of a group of Conservative Catholics who live and work in the Washington area. [Read the whole article]

"Why Hinduism is as Much a Political Invention as an Ancient Tradition"
In a wide-ranging, historically accurate, and intellectually challenging article, an Indian writer has thrown new light on the roots of Hindu nationalism. In 1992 the Bharatiya Janata Party, also known as the Indian People's Party or BJP, helped organize a rally that touched off deadly Hindu-Muslim riots after BJP-allied extremists destroyed a 16th-century Muslim mosque in Ayodhya. The BJP came to power four years later and its Hindu nationalist ideology, similar in many ways to Western fundamentalism, has fueled the party's harshly anti-Muslim agenda. Pankaj Mishra, a writer based in New Delhi, argues convincingly that the current nationalism is rooted in the British rule that began in the early 19th century and that sought to impose a kind of Western monotheistic ethos on the unruly panoply of Vedic Brahmanism, yogic asceticism, mysticism, sectarian worship of Shiva and Vishnu, and Vedantic philosophy that have long coexisted peaceably with Islam. Mishra even brings in the venerable Swami Vivekananda for some revisionist criticism. Please read this fascinating article and then come to the Forum to discuss it. [Read the whole article]

"What Would Jesus Drive?" Religious Group Challenges American Automakers
As part of a "grass-roots campaign linking fuel efficiency to morality," leaders of a broad coalition of religious groups are coming to Detroit to meet with the chairman and chief executive of the Ford Motor Company and executives at General Motors, according to an article in the New York Times. "We are under a commandment to be faithful stewards of God's creation," the piece quotes Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, an organization of Christian and Jewish groups. "This is a crisis in God's creation at the hands of God's children." Leaders of many groups within the partnership have signed a letter to the Big Three's chief executives asking for improvements in fuel economy. "They say they have a biblical mandate to be good stewards of God's creation and a responsibility to the poor who are especially harmed by pollution. And they decry supporting 'autocratic, corrupt and violent' governments that produce oil." They are asking for "specific pledges . . . to produce automobiles, S.U.V.'s and pickup trucks with substantially greater fuel economy." [Read the whole article]

Muslim Woman Speaks Out Against Sexual Abuse by Muslim Men in Holland
A Somali refugee has become a leading voice condemning the Dutch government's support for multiculturalism, programs costing millions of dollars a year that she considers misplaced because they help keep Muslim women isolated from Dutch society, according to a story in the New York Times. As a result of her outspokenness, Hirsi Ali, 32, has received hate mail calling her a traitor to Islam and a slut, as well as explicit death threats by telephone that have forced her to flee the Netherlands. "I had to speak up," she told the Times, "because most spokesmen for Muslims are men and they deny or belittle the enormous problems of Muslim women locked up in their Dutch homes."

Immigrants and asylum seekers now make up almost 10 percent of the Dutch population. But Ali's revelations about the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of Muslim women by their fathers and husbands in Holland-and the threats against her-"have intensified a fierce debate about what moral values and rules of behavior [Muslim] immigrants should be expected to share." [Read the whole article]

Buddhist Monks Flex Their Non-violent Muscles
On Lantau Island, Hong Kong, the high plateau of the Po Lin Monastery is topped by an 87-foot-tall bronze statue of the Buddha. A mecca for tourists and pilgrims alike, the monastery is at the center of a conflict between its Buddhist monks and the government of Hong Kong, which administers the outlying island. According to a New York Times article, it's not certain what irked the monks more, "the cable car the government proposed building to the monastery, or the plaza that was to be bulldozed at the monastery's base, or the `tourist bazaar' of shops and restaurants planned to connect the cable car and the plaza. The monks, strict vegetarians who have succeeded in persuading local vendors not to sell even seafood outside the monastery's entrance, are horrified by the thought of tourists trying to carry Big Macs and chicken legs past holy relics. At some point the monks declared that enough was enough." They threatened to bar the public from the monastery entirely for seven days.

"We didn't want to have to close the mountain, but we were forced to do it," Siu Kan, a senior monk, is quoted as saying. The monastery could even elsewhere if its tranquillity is further disrupted, "a step that would turn the whole cable-car system and tourist bazaar into a complete failure." [Read the whole article]

Falwell Calls the Prophet Muhammad a Terrorist
Apparently not wanting to be outdone by Christian hatemonger Franklin Graham, the Rev. Jerry Falwell has called Islam's founder and most sacred figure, Muhammad, "a terrorist." In a 60 Minutes interview with CBS News Correspondent Bob Simon, Falwell also affirmed the Christian Right's support for the state of Israel and hinted that right-wing religious groups are influencing U.S. government policy toward Israel. Right-wing Christians believe the turmoil in the Middle East is a harbinger of the secondcoming of Christ. The interview with Falwell was broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 6.

"I think Muhammad was a terrorist," Falwell said. "I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war. In my opinion Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses, and I think Muhammad set an opposite example." Falwell is apparently unaware that Muhammad fought mainly defensive battles against far larger armies of anti-Muslim Arabs, and that he spared the lives of those he defeated, unlike the prevalent customs of his era.

Falwell also said he believes Pres. Bush is well aware of the Christian constituency. "There are 70 million of us.[and] there's nothing that would bring the wrath of the Christian public in this country down on this government like abandoning or opposing Israel on a critical matter." [Read the whole article]

Scientists Zero in on Out-Of-Body Experience
"Swiss scientists think they have pinpointed the area of the brain where out-of-body experiences are triggered," says a Reuters story by Patricia Reaney. Out-of-body experiences have long been a subject of contention in the scientific world. There have been widespread reports by people who were clinically dead for short periods of time, during which they felt as if they were observing their own body from far above it, but there has been little or no scientific corroboration. As Olaf Blanke and his colleagues at the University Hospitals of Geneva and Lausanne were using electrodes to stimulate the brain of a female epilepsy patient during treatment, the woman "began describing feeling as though she had left her body and was floating above it." "I see myself lying in bed, from above," the 43-year-old patient told Blanke and his team, who produced the phenomenon "by stimulating an area in the right cortex of the brain called the angular gyrus, which is involved in spatial cognition," according to the report, which will appear in detail in the journal Nature. [Read the whole article]

Younger Graham Diverges from Father's Image
An excellent in-depth article by Hanna Rosin in the Washington Post explains that evangelist Billy Graham "never took sides . . . had kind words for every religion, every president," and once told his followers "that they should regard Muslims not as the enemy but as fellow believers, that they all worshiped the same God." But his son Franklin, now head of Graham's ministry, has called Islam a "wicked" and "evil" religion, "a greater threat than anyone's willing to speak." The younger Graham, who delivered the prayer at President Bush's inaugural when his father was ill, has gone out of his way to attack Islam, contrary to what President Bush himself has often said publicly in defense of Muslims. "Franklin Graham is not the lunatic fringe," the article quotes Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "He is a mainstream evangelical with millions and millions of followers who carries the weight of his father's name whenever he says something bigoted." [Read the whole article]

Baptists and Methodists at Odds over Iraq Strike
"A vigorous U.S. church debate is breaking out on Iraq policy, with the Southern Baptist Convention's chief social issues spokesman saying there is just cause to remove Saddam Hussein, and leaders in the United Methodist Church and other faiths warning against armed conflict," according to the Associated Press. While the Southern Baptist leader maintains that Saddam has become an "international outlaw beyond the reach of all international sanctions," a spokesman for the United Methodist Church has accused the Bush administration of "unprecedented disregard for democratic ideals" and "a major and dangerous change" in U.S. policy by favoring pre-emptive warfare. Other American church leaders are taking stands for and against the proposed war. [Read the whole article]

Hindu Divisions Rise to Surface in Queens, N.Y.
Tensions among Hindus in Queens, New York, flared up at a protest outside a prominent Flushing temple where about 50 protesters decried the appearance of right-wing Indian activist Sadhvi Ritambara of New Delhi, known for calling for the notorious 1992 destruction of a Muslim mosque in Ayodhya, India. According to Newsday, "Organizers of a reception for Ritambara, held Friday night at the Hindu Temple Society of North America, said the focus was on her social work in India, including an orphanage and a home for battered women. But protesters -- who held signs bearing images of charred bodies and messages such as `Real Hindus Don't Support Genocide' -- charged that the conservative activist's real cause was to foment anti-Muslim sentiment and raise money. "Sadhvi Ritambara is a prime mover of the ethnic hate speech that goes on in India," said one protester. "She preaches hatred against Muslims. She preaches violence." Critics say events such as Friday's reception are actually disguised fund-raising opportunities, with money being funneled to militants fomenting violence such as that touched off in February in the Indian state of Gujarat. [Read the whole article]

The "Wall" between Church and State May Not Have Been What Jefferson Was Thinking
New research on Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation" between church and state shows that Jefferson may not have intended it the way it is perceived today, which really derives from anti-Catholic legal views in the 1940s, argues an article in the ultra-conservative Washington Times. "What we have today is not really Jefferson's wall, but Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black's wall," said American University professor Daniel Dreisbach, whose forthcoming book explores how Jefferson coined the "wall" metaphor.

According to the story, "Dreisbach's arguments parallel those of University of Chicago law professor Philip Hamburger, whose new book also says that Justice Black's anti-Catholicism - learned in the Ku Klux Klan - influenced his 1947 ruling that the First Amendment created a `high and impregnable' wall between religion and government." [Read the whole article]

Bill Moyers Discussion of Islam Glosses Over Christian Zionism
Freelance investigative Journalist Michael Gillespie reports that "more than 30 million Christian Zionists across the United States fervently hope and pray that, in their lifetimes, the modern world will be destroyed in a final battle, Armageddon, the con flict between good and evil at the end of the world. Moreover, many of them work industriously toward that goal, putting their efforts and their money behind Israeli plans for the creation of a greater Israel."

Gillespie's comments came in a critique of Bill Moyers' July 12 PBS program featuring eight journalists and scholars, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, and agnostics, discussing the clash between Islam and the West. Their discussion focused especially on the Arab Islamic world's struggle to adjust to the modern world. Gillespie feels that the panel overlooked some obvious truths beneath the surface of this troubling situation. [Read the whole article]

Islamic coalition calls on mosques to mark Sept. 11
A coalition of American Islamic groups is calling on mosques across the country to observe an interfaith "National Day of Unity and Prayer" on the anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, reports the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The American Muslim Political Coordination Council called on the clerics who run the estimated 1,209 mosques in the United States to open their doors to Muslims and non-Muslims, and to have their members take part in special services planned for Sept. 11 at local churches and synagogues. Starting next week, mosques and Islamic centers can sign up for open houses via an online registry accessed from Web sites of the council's four Muslim organizations. [Read the whole article]

Festival brings Jews & Muslims together to pray for peace
More than 200 adults and children took part in a free event in Pembroke Pines, Florida, which brought Muslims and Jews together to share and enjoy their differences, according to an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The event was organized by Jews & Muslims & All, or JAM, a post-Sept. 11 brainchild of Moshe David Kamrat of Temple Adath Or in Fort Lauderdale. "I wanted to show the Muslims that I wanted to learn about what they do and be part of that," said Margo Mintzer, 65. "Whenever I step into a holy place, a peace comes over me -- whether it's being in my temple, church or mosque, I feel at one with God." Another participant said that she enjoyed watching the expressions on the children's faces as they prayed. "It gave me a sense of what they felt," said Trudi DeGrazia, who is in her 70s. "I bowed my head but didn't bring myself to bow down to the floor because I wanted to understand why before I did that." [Read the whole article]

Who's Afraid of "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"?
A group of Christians in the town of Cromwell, Connecticut, near Hartford, have objected to the celebrated children's books, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, and Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson, being offered at the local middle school. They would like to have such books, including the "Harry Potter" books, removed from the school system, and are also calling for a ban of things such as the annual field trip to Witch's Dungeon and Museum in Salem, Mass., and "more abstract references to witchcraft, such as the title Cast a Spell, used to introduce spelling techniques in classes in grades one through eight, as well as the practice of some faculty dressing up as witches for Halloween."

Since a report on the group's plans first appeared in The Middletown Press, the newspaper's Web site has been swamped with hundreds of communications denouncing the group and its goals. "Of those communications," the paper reports, "not a single letter or message was in support on the group's plans. Most of the messages indignantly accuse the group of censorship and ignorance, and denounce the group for associating the religion of Wicca with evil or Satan, which it has nothing to do with, the messages explain. [Read the whole article]

Protestant Clergy Wary of Faith-Based Initiatives
Support for President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Act remains "lukewarm" among Protestant clergy across the nation, according to a new study conducted by Ellison Research, a Phoenix-based marketing research company. The results of the study have led some to question whether the president's priorities have shifted. Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, said the faith-based agenda is just "swirling around" among larger issues such as corporate scandals, pedophile priests in the Catholic Church and homeland security issues.

One of the ministers' big concerns is the notion that some non-mainstream groups such as atheists, Wiccans, Druids, and practitioners of voodoo could receive funding. In particular, he noted the growing trend towards establishing atheist 'churches' in America. "If they would take the step of becoming officially recognized as a religion, you could have the government funding atheist groups to try and accomplish spiritual things," Sellers said. [Read the whole article]

Appeals Court Allows Religious Marijuana Use on Federal Lands
"If you're a Rastafarian who considers marijuana holy, it's legal to light up in Guam -- and maybe in any national park on the West Coast," according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Interpreting the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act that limits prosecutions for certain acts that are part of accepted religious rituals carried out in the "federal realm" -- a U.S. territory like Guam, or conceivably any other federal property -- a conservative three-judge federal appeals court in San Francisco said that a Rastafarian "whose Jamaica-based religion regards marijuana as a sacrament that brings believers closer to divinity could not be federally prosecuted for merely possessing marijuana." The article claims that the same reasoning would apply to drug prosecutions on other federal property, such as national parks, as long as the smoker does not import the herb.

"Rastafarianism does not require importation of a controlled substance, which increases (its) availability," the court said. Graham Boyd, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case and plans to seek review by a larger appellate panel, disagreed with the court's distinction, however. "It's equivalent to saying wine is a necessary sacrament for some Christians but you have to grow your own grapes," Boyd said. [Read the whole article]

Religious Shareholders Battle Exxon Mobile from Within
Religious institutional shareholders and environmental groups concerned about an oil industry giant's risky handling of global warming have joined socially responsible investors, public pension funds, and descendants of the individuals who helped build Exxon in an international group called Campaign ExxonMobil. With growing support from mainstream investors at a shareholder's meeting on May 29, the group saw record levels of support for their resolution urging ExxonMobil to adopt a plan for renewable energy. The resolution was supported by 20.3 percent of the overall vote, more than double the 8.9 percent vote the same resolution achieved in 2001. "This is the year that the campaign against ExxonMobil on global warming truly achieved critical mass," said Sister Patricia Daly of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible investment.

"Mainstream investors are questioning whether ExxonMobil is really protecting shareholder value with its isolated position on renewable energy and global warming," said Peter Altman, national coordinator of Campaign ExxonMobil. [Read the whole article]

12-year-old Sikh Boy's Religious Symbol Tests Canadian Tolerance
During a friendly schoolyard basketball game, 12-year-old Gurbaj Singh's 4-inch kirpan—the ceremonial curved dagger Sikh men are obliged to wear at all times, even while sleeping—fell to the ground. A startled parent noticed the blade, and reported the incident. When the principal ordered the boy to hand over his kirpan, Gurbaj, who said he has never taken it off, went home instead, igniting an on-going struggle between religious freedom and school security. In the Sikh faith, the ritual dagger symbolizes the sovereignty of humans and serves as a reminder to go to the defense of others in distress. [Read the whole article]

Impromptu Prayer Creates Fear in Boston
According to the Boston Globe (May 15, 2002), a nervous store manager "created a stir after she saw four Muslim men saying their evening prayers at the BJ's wholesale club and called authorities, fearing that the group was about to launch a terror attack." After the State Police were notified, a bomb squad was deployed to the store as it was evacuated. "Until they called the FBI in Boston," the story said, "local authorities apparently didn't know that Muslims typically pray five times a day, including once around sunset, Stoughton Police Lieutenant Francis Wohlgemuth said. [Read the whole article]

Ecuadoran Shaman Arrested in Canada
Juan Uyunkar Tituar, a Shuar shaman, has cured people of illness ranging from depression and cancer to arthritis and diabetes, in the Ecuadorian rainforest that is his home to countries as far away as Guatemala, Columbia, Italy, Spain, Egypt, the United States and Canada. Juan's methods come from the traditions of his Shuar ancestors, and his medicines from the plants that grow abundantly in the Amazon rainforest -- the same rainforest that is threatened with destruction by oil companies and cattle ranchers.

On October 19, 2001, in the midst of one of Juan’s healing ceremonies at an Ojibway Indian tribal center in Ontario, Canada, a 71-year-old woman died. The autopsy report cited death as a result of "natural causes," and Juan was neither charged nor implicated in any way. But two weeks later the Ontario Provincial Police charged Juan, his son Edgar, and their Portuguese translator with "criminal negligence leading to death" and four other charges relating to the posession of and trafficking in "noxious" and controlled substances. The substance the Uyunkars and Ventura are accused of administering during the ceremony is a mixture of South American vines called ayahuasca. Now Juan and Edgar are detained in Canada, not able to return home, not able to conduct healings. [Read the Whole Article]

Mourning Miscarriages and Abortions.
An American journalist who suffered a miscarriage while in Japan reports on local customs surrounding Jizo, "a bodhisattva, or enlightened being, who watches over miscarried and aborted fetuses." In this New York Times Magazine article, the author explains, "There is no real equivalent in Japan to our 'pro-life' movement. The Japanese tend to accept both the existence of abortion and the idea that the mizuko is a form of life." Mizuko is the Japanese word for a miscarried or aborted fetus, in a country where centuries-old roadside shrines mark "miscarriages, abortions, stillbirths and the deaths of young children." [Read the Whole Article]

Upset about Breathing Exercises
Students at South Park Elementary School in Vicksburg, Miss., are learning breathing techniques and posture through yoga. Some parents are concerned about the spiritual implications of Eastern mysticism that goes along with it. Mike Corely of WQBC radio, reporting on the issue, said that the class has not been dropped, but it "has been 'reclassified,' I believe, in the sense that now it's more of a stretching and breathing (class) and not classified as yoga, per se." [Read the Whole Article]