Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
Wearing skulls and dressing in black will get you killed - at least in Iraq, where dozens of teenagers have been stoned recently for wearing black and channeling Emo. "Emo" is a Western subculture that follows the revival of gothic and horror trends in society and literature, and also parallels closely the attraction to vampirism, witchcraft and magic. Skulls and crossbones have become super cool symbols in international pop culture; even hello kitty is on board. As ...
Take the two most sensitive conversational topics in the world - religion and sexuality - and throw them together. Not an easy topic to discuss, but as Bill Maher pointed out in a recent interview, doesn't the fact that as soon as they caught Libyan dictator Gadhafi, they stuck something up his ass, say something about sexuality in that culture? The other panelists say "Well, they do really violent things to all tyrants" (Mussolini got hung ...
I've come across this fascinating list on The Divining Blog: "25 myths about religions around the world." A list like this, debunking common misconceptions about religions, is much needed - but the list from the Divining Blog mixes some blatantly obvious truths with some much more subtle. It should really be called "25 silly things Christians believe about religion that aren't true." I would go so far, in some cases, as to argue in favor of ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can go buy it on Amazon.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Be Social