We had a very good discussion group under the trees in Gabriel Park yesterday for the “Sharing Our Texts” interfaith event. Represented were Islam, Paganism, Judaism, Universalism and Agnosticism/Atheism. It looks like we may be planning an Interfaith Picnic for the spring!
One of the resources I brought to the conversation was an interfaith reading list I’d put together in August 2001 for one of the courses on religious diversity I led in Richmond, Virginia. A request was made to share this online, so in addition to e-mailing the original document, I figured I’d share this here as well.
This is not [...]
It’s unclear now as to whether Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, intends to proceed with his earlier plans to burn copies of the Qur’an on September 11th.
Regardless of what decision Jones makes — nor why he makes it — we’re continuing with our plans to meet at Gabriel Park in SW Portland on Sunday afternoon (1 – 3 p.m.), to share texts from a variety of faith traditions and to simply sit down and talk to one another.
I’ve gotten lots of emails and phone calls about this event. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able [...]
Do you know what you believe? Really?
I thought I knew what my beliefs were. But as I related in my essay/review on Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s “Fingerprints of God,” I’ve found all too often that I don’t have ready answers for tough questions.
The easy challenges I can handle — such as, when a friend or family member points to the recent East Coast blizzards as evidence against global warming. I just try to explain that the term “global warming” is often misunderstood, because it refers to the warming of ocean temperatures (which impact weather patterns, resulting in more severe and catastrophic [...]
Taking a cue from a good friend, I decided to start the day by drawing a Tarot card — something I’ve not done in ages, but that’s another discussion.
I was hoping for something light and airy, inspirational. A card that would stimulate my creativity and help me launch into a particularly productive and joyful week. But that’s not the card I drew. Instead, the card that came into my hands was Judgement (20).
Yeah, I never have been one to start with the easy stuff.
The Judgment card is about a day of reckoning. It speaks to self-judgment, and how our own [...]
Yesterday’s new moon — 8:11 a.m. EDT / 5:11 a.m. PDT — is in the sign of Gemini.
As an air sign, Gemini is concerned with all things intellectual. Symbolized by the twins, Gemini is associated with dualities and pairs of opposites. The Gemini moon is a time of sociability and curiosity but can also be marked by distracted superficiality and nervousness.
Any New Moon is a time for new beginnings. Productive magic — building toward an intended goal — is worked during the waxing moon, and this New Moon in Gemini offers an opportunity to let go of rigid thinking that [...]
We had some unusual weather here in the metro Portland area this past weekend. Some friends of mine were holding a Beltane potluck party on Sunday, the day after a freak windstorm blew through town. This morning, I received an e-mail from the host:
There were a lot of people “praying” for good weather for the gathering. If, “pray-tell” those prayers worked, the result of holding off the bad weather predicted, may have lead to the current weather extremes. But even more interesting, what about the weird, violent, and untypical weather phenomena that occurred the day before? This was a kind [...]
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