RSS Feed - Nest Posts - Past 48 Hours http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_thismoon.html http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21474 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21474 Citing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to civil disobedience, 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples. “We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21473 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21473 A handcuffed statue of a revered woman who exists only in Burma’s spirit world is at the center of debate and speculation among even the country’s intellectual elite. “It is very interesting and mysterious story,” said Khin Maung Kyi, a writer on cultural affairs. He and an increasing number of others interested in occult practices in Burma are following the story of a statue in Rangoon’s Bo http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21472 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21472 "Agora," Alejandro Amenabar's intellectual epic that had sat without a U.S. buyer for six months, has found a stateside home. Newmarket Films has picked up U.S. rights to the Rachel Weisz starrer and is prepping a release for the first half of 2010. The English-language "Agora" tells the story of religious conflict in Roman-governed Alexandria as the Christian and pagans battle, often violen http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21471 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21471 Moscow priest Daniil Sysoyev most likely has been killed for his missionary activity among the non-Orthodox Russian population, a source at law enforcement agencies told Interfax. "He had recently received constant death threats from some extremist organizations. Daniil Sysoyev complained about it several times to the Federal Security Service," the source said. Fr. Daniil might also have bee http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21470 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21470 A Russian Orthodox priest known for his outspoken criticism of Islam and attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity has been assassinated in his Moscow church. A masked gunman shot Father Daniil Sysoyev in the head and chest after asking for him by name, police said. The choirmaster, Vladimir Strelbinsky, was seriously wounded in the attack at St Thomas Church in southern Moscow. Father Dan http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21469 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21469 If religion really were just a metaphor, just a comforting and inspiring story that gives shape and meaning to people's lives... what might it look like? One of the most common tropes among progressive religious believers is Religion As Metaphor. "Religious beliefs don't have to be literally true," the trope says. "They're just useful metaphors: stories that give shape and meaning to our lives. http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21468 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21468 If I had to be completely honest with myself, “activist” would be pretty low on my list of preferred labels. I’m more of a lover than a fighter, the kind of person to ignore problems rather than confront them like a good Bryn Mawr student. But, after hearing about the Bath and Body Works employee fired last year because of her religion, I was surprised to discover that yes, I can play the activist http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21467 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21467 Were there vampires in Volterra? Probably not, but the Etruscans had their own brigade of gods and demons representing night, death and resurrection. 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' release fuels vampire mania around the world. While teenagers go completely nuts over the film's hunky vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) – one wrote 'bite me' on her face as she queued with 5,000 others to see him in http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21466 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21466 The heathens are coming, clad in knitwear and argyle socks. The first shot has been fired in the annual Christmas culture wars, with the American Family Association calling for a boycott of Gap for "censoring the word Christmas." The only hitch is that the clothing retailer does, in fact, call the holiday by its religious name in a TV commercial currently in heavy rotation. The AFA, having b http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21465 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21465 A woman who sued the University of Nebraska last year saying the school fired her because she is a witch has agreed to settle the case for $40,000. A letter from the woman's attorney confirms the settlement, $10,000 of which will go toward attorneys fees and legal costs. Court documents only identify the woman as Jane Doe. http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21464 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21464 Some of you may not be aware, but here in the states we have a fine Christmas tradition, of fairly recent vintage, called the war on Christmas. This war, as you might guess, is being waged by secular liberals, who insist on saying things like "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" rather than the more straightforward and American "Merry Christmas." Logically, such talk leads ineluctably to th http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21463 http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=21463 Research for a new exhibition has found that Nazi Germany tried to remove Christ from Christmas using swastika tree ornaments, "Germanic" cookies and putting a Nazi spin on holiday traditions. The Telegraph reports that the atheist Nazis tried to turn Christmas into a pagan winter solstice celebration, and many of the changes made by the Nazis are still in use in Germany today.