What is the Difference Between A Religion And A Cult?
I’ve been on a morbid kick lately of macabre podcast content. If you perused the favorites on my Tune-In app, you would find a list of shows that would make you question my moral sense. One of the podcast shows, Cults, dives deep into the minds of manipulative cult leaders and their misguided followers while untangling the unusual and the vile deeds that grew from twisted words.
I noticed, after listening to a few episodes of the podcast, that many of the cults that became well known enough to shock a nation grew from the misinterpretations of religious text and faith-based beliefs. I wondered, if the two are often found so intertwined together, what is the difference between a religion and a cult? (more…)
Faith and Religion: Why Are They Even A Thing?
Photo by Michael Peligro
The other day a friend of mine had brought up a her attendance of Catholic confirmation classes at her church in a group text message with me and one other friend. The other friend had chimed in with her experience of having been confirmed in the 4th grade.
The first friend voiced her confusion about her statement. “You don’t get confirmed until 10th grade in high school.”
I agreed with the statement. I remembered how my friends who had went to Catholic school with me did their confirmation their first year of high school, and asked a coworker sitting next to me, who was also raised Catholic, about when confirmation usually happens.
“Yeah, it’s usually like the first year of high school,” I responded.
I have to admit, I gave my friend a hard time about it, not necessarily because I didn’t believe that she was confirmed by the Catholic Church, but because I found it strange that everyone was okay with having a sheltered child, who had not yet learned and experienced all that was out there, commit the rest of their lives to the only religion she knew about. (more…)
Visibility in the 2015 State of the Union Address
Photo by Pete Souza, Talk Radio News Service
Last night’s State of the Union Address from President Obama has called for a lot of action form Congress. I’ve talked before about Obama attempting to make community college free for American students in the near future, and how this will ultimately benefit the nation as we aim to grow and move forward, but there is a list of other things Obama wants to get done before he leaves office which also includes expanding paid sick leave and reforming the tax code.
I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I’ve had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America. If you share the broad vision I outlined tonight, join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of it, I hope you’ll at least work with me where you do agree. And I commit to every Republican here tonight that I will not only seek out your ideas, I will seek to work with you to make this country stronger. -President Barack Obama
Come Sit on Satan’s Lap
Satan, as drawn by Gustave Doré, in John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost.’
Did the kids miss out this year on telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas? Why not sit have the children sit on Satan’s lap instead?
Apparently, there is a satanic group out there that has raised money and presented designs for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol, where a Ten Commandments monument was placed in 2012. According to the Associated Press, the drawing “depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard that’s often used as a symbol of the occult.” Satan sits a throne below a large pentagram with smiling children next to him.
The Satanic Temple spokesman, Lucien Greaves, even mentioned that “the statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.” (more…)
TIME’s Person of the Year Embraces Love
Pope Francis named TIME’s person of the year
“He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing. The first non-European pope in 1,200 years is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century” –Person of the Year | TIME picks the person who most influenced the news each year, for better or worse
Jorge Bergoglio chose his papal name, Francis, after Francis of Assisi, the 13th century patron saint of the poor, and rightly so. According to TIME, “the 13th century Francis turned to the ministry when, as legend has it, he heard a voice calling to him from a crucifix to repair God’s house. He left his prosperous silk-merchant family to live with the poor. He was a peacemaker, the first Catholic leader to travel to Egypt to try to end the Crusades. He placed mercy at the core of his life.” (more…)
