Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox (the one inspired to create the Techno Cosmic Mass that I did my last blog on) is a priest and theologian who is the main component of Creation Spirituality. He is known for his belief in Original Blessing, rather than Original Sin, and his teachings have feminist, ecological undertones. He is also very accepting of homosexuality. He used to belong to the Roman Catholic Church but was soon expelled because of his controversial teachings (also because he referred to God as "Mother", didn't condemn homosexuality, worked with Native American spiritual practices, and taught the four paths of creation spirituality (via positiva, via negativa, via creativa, and via transformativa)).

After he was dismissed from the Roman Catholic Church, he became inspired to start the Techno Cosmic Mass and he founded the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland in 1996 (this was later renamed Wisdom University). In 1999, he created and ran the Naropa Institute's (in Boulder, CO) masters degree program. Now, Fox still writes books and continues to teach the youth and the elderly about creation spirituality, while also instructing them in meditation and tai chi.

I hope for my next blog to do a little research on the Naropa Institute!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Techno Cosmic Mass

I was especially intrigued by the video we watched in class today that featured a short bit on Matthew Fox and his series of Techno Cosmic Masses. These dance raves aim to connect our breath with the spirit and the Earth while meanwhile creating community and incorporating pop culture to keep the services fresh and invigorating. These Techno Cosmic Masses consist of three parts: First, there is the positive period in which participants take place in a dance of Joy and Delight. Then is the dance via negativa which features a grieving period, in which members grieve and lament the suffering in the world and in their hearts and are therefore able to accept it so they can access their creativity.
The service is ended with a transformative dance which prepares each person to enter the world as healers and defenders of compassion. The members also take part in Communion.

These spiritual raves incorporate all religious backgrounds (Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Pagan) and musical tastes and a variety of ages are welcome. I am so fascinated by this whole concept, and I hope we can learn more about Matthew Fox and Creation Spirituality!

Here is the link to the homepage for the cosmic mass:
Cosmic Mass

And here is the video we watched in class on Cosmic Mass:



Monday, February 25, 2013

The Christian Oscars

As most of us know, the Oscars were last night. But what some of us may not know, is that there also exists such a thing as the "Christian Oscars" (or more formally known as MovieGuide) in which filmmakers and actors are honored for their role in spiritually uplifting and inspirational films that convey Christian values. These family friendly movies average $40.7 per movie, whereas the most obscene and violent anti-family movies average about $19.8 million per movie, according to the article.

The article throws out a bunch of statistics about how more patriotic, Christian movies tend to make more money than movies with immoral or atheist world views. The article also contends that the United States is viewed unfavorable among other countries, and this is solely because our vulgar movies portray American's as the "Great Satan." It's not perhaps because we consume 26% of the worlds energy even though we make up only 5% of the total population, or because we meddle in other countries affairs. It is because of our movies.

Either way, the "Christian Oscars" make the statement that more movies need to be family-friendly and portray good, Christian values.

Here is the list of the top 10 Best Movies for Mature Audiences honorably mentioned by MovieGuide from 2012 (They are in alphabetical order, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" coming in first):

  •  ”The Artist”
  •  ”Captain America: The First Avenger”
  • “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
  • “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
  • “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
  • “Sarah’s Key”
  • “Seven Days in Utopia”
  • “Thor”
  • “The Tree of Life”
  • “The Way”
Check out the article here!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Blindness, Bibles, Braille, Oh My!

Well. Since we haven't had class in over a week, I'm running low on ideas here. So don't get upset if my blogs take a turn for the random...

In other news, a complete version of a Braille Bible has finally been completed! Shockingly, there has never been one until now. When it came to Braille Bibles, certain books and chapters were always left out but now the blind can finally foster their spirituality without the help of eyes. Since Braille is usually in large print, this Braille Bible consists of many different books. They together fill about 7 boxes!

"Let me just go get my Bible real quick" may now take on new meaning as the blind struggle to lug 7 boxes into the room. (Sorry, too far?)

The Bible Society hopes this will lead to a surge in churches for the blind and they predict more blind people will minister the word of God.

That's it for randomness this week. Peace until Monday!

Read for yourself about blindness, Bibles, Braille and more:

Blindness, Bibles, Braille, Oh My! This is the article I accessed my stuff from


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

St. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church

Last night, we visited the St. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church and it was fascinating! I loved seeing all the icons and hearing their individual stories. I looked up the church on the internet and found its website:

St. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church

The website features a message from Fr. George about the installation of new icons in the dome this summer. The church takes pride in it's beauty, as the Kingdom of God should be as beautiful as possible, and therefore the icons are a major addition to this beautiful church. And, let me tell you, the church was nothing less of beautiful. The pale blue walls and small interior create a sense of calmness, serenity, and comfort upon entering. The smell of incense seeped in the walls and again gave a feeling of coziness and welcome. The icons no doubt added color and fascination to this little church. They were bold and simple, which made them not too heavy on detail and easier for the eyes to linger on. Overall, the church visit was a great experience and I encourage you to check out their website! 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Sex Scandals in Catholic Church

So as promised, I decided to do my blog today on sex scandals in the Catholic Church. Since I'm still reading my book "When Women Were Priests," this topic of sexuality in Christianity ties in nicely with what I'm reading.

Every now and then, we hear stories about little boys who were sexually assaulted by their Priests in the Church but these stories are often suppressed and don't resurface until years later. Often by then, the young boy who experienced it is now a man and able to make sense of what happened. I can't even begin to think about the psychological trauma that they were put through and how this may have translated into their adult life.

I ran across an article that interviews the Catholic Priest Father Benedict Groeschel, who believes that Priests are, in fact, "tempted" by young boys and even seduced. He refers to a convicted pedofile as a "poor guy" and he also says:

"Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster -- 14, 16, 18 -- is the seducer," he told an interviewer.

I am in disbelief about all of this. In my "When Women Were Priests" book, a lot of discussion goes on between ancient theologians who believe that women can't seperate themselves from their sexuality, and any woman who asserts herself in public is basically a whore. I'm not kidding. Even Paul believed that women should wear a veil at all times to express her chastity and shame. But I'm making sense of all this now:

Men (and homosexuals/ pedofiles) may feel tempted by women (or little boys, etc) because, by nature, they have a more powerful sex drive. Instead of recognizing this, they blame the woman (or boy) for seducing them. Perhaps homosexuals or pedofiles are also confused or ashamed of their sexuality and therefore think that they may "cure" themselves by becoming celibate Priests in the Catholic Church. Obviously, that's not a solution. These sex scandals need to be recognized and addressed before more victims get hurt or blamed for them.

Here is the article about Father Benedict Groeschel:

 Father Benedict Groeschel  

Monday, February 18, 2013

"Love Wins"

"Love Wins" was the book we discussed in class last Thursday, and I thought it sounded like a pretty interesting book!

From the reviews I read online, apparently the book centers around trying to get people to rethink their prior held convictions about heaven, hell, and Christianity. It addresses people who feel they have been wronged (exploited, assaulted) by people who claim to be Christians (this reminded me of sex scandals you hear about from Priests in the Catholic churches. Maybe I will do my next blog on this topic...) and Bell aims to correct those views.

The book explores the concept of heaven, which Bell views as an expression of God's love and constant incentive that what we do with our lives matters. Bell also reviews the concept of hell as a reality that consists of all the evils we see and experience.

The whole book review was pretty lengthy so I didn't get a chance to read it all, but here's the link:

"Love Wins" book Review

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentines Day everybody! As we speak, I'm nibbling on some candy hearts and a Chocolove chocolate bar as most people all over the United States have probably done at some point today. But do you know where this tradition stems from? We watched a short video in class about Valentine's Day, but I thought I'd do some of my own research to inform the rest of the blogging world.

There are lots of different stories about who St. Valentine was, but one particularly interesting one caught my attention. The Catholic Church recognizes a Priest named Valentine who served during the 3rd century in Rome. Apparently, during this time the Emperor of Rome realized that married men made bad soldiers, so he did the only reasonable thing, he outlawed marriage (as if that would keep men from pursuing women). Valentine was outraged by this decree and continued to preform marriages for young lovers. When the Emperor found out about this, he put Valentine to death.

In the video we watched in class, it was a different story. They made Valentine out to be a prisoner who fell in love with the jailor's daughter. He sent her the first valentine, and at the end it was signed "From your Valentine." Aww. He was put to death, too.

Either way, St. Valentine sounds like quite the romantic figure and we still celebrate his martyrdom today by stuffing our faces with chocolate and sometimes crying about our sad lives (for those of us (like me) who are single). Well. Go out and treat yourself to some candy and roses. And don't feel guilty for the extra carbs, it's all in honor of St. Valentine. Cheers!<3

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

W.W.J.D. Fad

We talked a little in class about the W.W.J.D. fad and I decided to do some follow-up on it.

W.W.J.D. stands for "What Would Jesus Do" and it is a way that people find ethical guidance when they are faced with life's many dilemmas. 

However, it has become more of a fashion fad than anything else. It's now a popular trend to don W.W.J.D. wrist bands and many athletes even wear them to their competitions.

Apparently this idea originated with the book In His Steps by Charles Sheldon in which many characters face moral dilemmas and are forced to think "what would Jesus do?" The shocker is this: Sheldon was in fact a liberal who believed in evolution, accepted criticism of the bible, and didn't observe many essential doctrines of Christianity.

Interesting, huh? I bet not many people knew that! To learn more about how the W.W.J.D. bracelets are not true evangelism, click here to read the article I got my info from!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Father Guido Sarducci

So obviously the big buzz right now is about Pope Benedict XVI's resignation. Apparently a resignation from a Pope hasn't happened for about 600 years! (I think that was the number we discussed in class...).

Anyways, Dr. Valeta recommended we watch the SNL skit from the 80's with Father Guido Sarducci, who is an Italian, chain-smoking priest. He is a gossip columnist and a rock critic for the Vatican Enquirer. He is known for his "shrinemobiles" where he takes the shrines to people.

A little tidbit of interesting information I gathered from Wikipedia: The actor who plays Guido Sarducci actually went to the Vatican in his priest costume for a photoshoot with Time magazine. Unfortunately, they took photographs in a section that was prohibited for photography, and the Swiss Guards arrested him for impersonating a priest. Guess those guards really don't have a sense of humor! The charges were later dropped.

The skit I've included below is pretty funny, it profiles the Secret of Life according to Sarducci. Check it out :)


Monday, February 11, 2013

Purity Ball

I've been doing a lot of research on female roles in Christianity lately (my book report is on "When Women Were Priests") and my roommate is taking a Gender Studies class, so she introduced me to this short YouTube Video.

Basically it profiles a Christian family with 6 daughters and a baby boy who are all home schooled by the mom. The family believes in abstinence and purity before marriage, and they believe that the relationship between the father and daughter is most important. The dad takes the girls on "dates" and gave the eldest one (who is 15) a purity ring.

The daughter says she won't take the ring off until she is married, in which case she'll replace the ring with her wedding ring. The mom believes that "females were created to feel accepted by men" and the daughter hopes that she never partakes in any impure behaviors, like kissing, or she will pray for forgiveness from God. It seems like the daughter is being passed from one man to the next (from father to husband) and her finger is never without a ring. Seems to me that she can never belong to herself and she always needs a man's approval. 

Check out the video of the "Purity Ball" that the husband takes his daughters to, it is pretty fascinating to have a look into these people's lives!


Thursday, February 7, 2013

More on Mack

I did some more research on Macklemore and how he views religion and I found his stuff very interesting!

I found a blog by John Weirick that nicely sums up Macklemore's views on Church.  Here is the link to the blog:

John Weirick Blog

Basically, I took it all to mean that Macklemore sees God in all human beings- a philosophy I'd like to say I believe myself. The blog is very insightful and includes lyrics from Macklemore's song "Church." Check it out some time!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Controversy in "Same Love"

My last blog was on Macklemore's song "Same Love" (watch the music video I posted if you haven't already!) and now I would like to address the religious undertones and therefore the religious controversies that accompany it.

In his lyrics, Macklemore says


"Playing god, aw nah here we go
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago"

This section refers to the fact that we think we can "play God" and change homosexuals into heterosexuals. Some argue that homosexuality is a choice that can be forced out of people. He also references the fact that America fears homesexuality and change/ progression as a whole. He reminds us that "God loves all his children," but then why do certain people preach that "God hates fags"? He brings it into perspective when he says that "we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago" and that people pick and choose what they want to believe in the Bible. The Old Testament itself condemns homosexuality, whereas the New Testament promotes God's love for all his children. Macklemore is making the point that it's interesting that we choose which parts to believe/follow.

Next, he says:


"It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion,"

indicating that by failing to accept people's differences and ways of life, we create wars and destruction. War is all about hating people who are different from you.

He goes on to say:


"When I was in church
They taught me something else
If you preach hate at the service
Those words aren't anointed
And that Holy Water
That you soak in
Is then poisoned"

Churches outwardly say that hate is poisonous and wrong, but then they go on to instill prejudices in people with their hate rants against homosexuals. Isn't that then poisoning their own meanings?

Macklemore ends his song with:


"Whatever god you believe in
We come from the same one"

This implies that we are all human, whether we are gay, straight, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. We need to recognize our interconnectedness with everyone in order to bring the judgement, hate, and suffering to an end. He ends the song with the verse from I Corinthian 13:1-13: "Love is patient; Love is kind."

Here is the link to the lyrics:

After I watched the YouTube video, I scrolled down to read some of the comments. Even after the bold message that Macklemore makes that we should be accepting and loving towards everyone, people still posted some interesting comments:


"Fags aren't human nor will I ever acknowledge them as human beings they are garbage that spread disease and immorality and the word of evil and corrupt what is meant to be normal ( man and woman )."

"everyone it born innocent and pure. people have to take responsibility for them selves and make the right decisions in life. I could care less what the mass majority would say because they are all brain washed sheep thinking sick things like fags are ok."

I guess the message didn't really resound with these people. To each his own! I just hope someday these people will realize that their hate and judgement isn't making the world a better place. Nor is it living up to the idea that God loves all his children.


 




Same Love

My new favorite song is "Same Love" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Featuring Mary Lambert. The song speaks out against discriminating among gays and homosexuals and it fights for the fact that all love is the same. The main purpose of the song is to advocate for gay rights and gay marriage, but unfortunately this is what makes the song so controversial for many Christians.

In the music video, it profiles a gay man from birth to death. It shows him playing with friends in elementary school, facing the confusion and struggles of addressing his sexuality as a teenager, and finally finding love as an adult and being forced to accept the prejudices and slander that accompanies it.

The final scene shows him as an old man dying in the hospital while his partner holds his hand. The verse from I Corinthians 13:1-13 is repeated: "Love is patient; love is kind." It's interesting that we just read this passage in class and now it has so much more meaning to me. All love is the same. All love is patient. All love is kind.
"Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  I Corinthians 13:1-13.

It is a beautiful video and I definitely did my share of crying!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Women Priests

I just received the book "When Women Were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity" in the mail and so far it's fascinating! We have to do a book report for my Christian Traditions class, and I definitely think this book was a good choice.

A couple interesting quotes:

"A woman, unlike a man, is perceived to be inseperable from her sexual nature, and as a priest she would bring sexuality into the realm of the sacred" (3).

Why has society imprinted this notion into our psyches? Why are women a sex symbol and not men?

"Now comfortable with their presence at the altar, over 75% of American Catholics favor women priests" (3).

Again, very interesting! Is it the woman's more compassionate, nurturing side that makes her favorable as a priest? What sparked this paradigm shift?

I will keep you posted with what I learn as I read more!