you can take the people outta africa...

my atr folks can appreciate this one. watch the woman in white.

they might be hollerin "thank ya jesus", but we know the deal...

randomly found blog...

not nearly as pagan or queer-friendly as i'd like, but definitely a step in the right direction.

i do, however, love the comment on how christians need to do more work towards envisioning mother/father divinity.

i may elaborate on this later...

love the lord, but keep your common sense

i've been having some really interesting conversations lately...

one thing that came up today was the notion of calling folks on the jeezus train** "stupid".

while i saw his point, i hesitate to call anyone "stupid" for their faith. i could easily be called a lot of things for killing a chicken.

but...i'd definitely call it "misinformed".

it's my firm opinion that any time your god has you suffering on the planet s/he supposedly put you on, something's wrong. something's also wrong when just about any and everything that feels good/right is arbitrarily forbidden. for everyone. (e.g., premarital sex is WRONG, even if you're not a sex addict, even if you're in love and monogamous, even if it's a mutual source of comfort and connection, etc.)

bottom line: i could care less if you pray by standing on your head and shouting "shabadoo!" 10 times a day...but you better have food on your table and your kids better have a future.

if you're more worried about what's going to happen after you die than how you're living right now, that's just plain anti-common sense.

but it's a damned good way to keep "the people" down and out.



**there was reference to another convo about the difference between baby jesus and grown ass man jesus.

baby jesus is a good way to make folks take all the crap you throw at them...meek and mild and rosy cheeked and all that. christmas stories in hushed tones. but folks who can look grown jesus in the face understand that he was a man who was a political prisoner, revolutionary, sorcerer (let's be real), and--word to sarah palin--a community organizer.

followers of baby jesus tend to be, well, a lot more binary in their thinking. everything's black and white. all the social justice/liberally minded christians i've known have had a lot more to say about GAM jesus.

the magdalene

...and jesus had a wife (c) saul williams

...peter added:
"how is it possible that the teacher talked in this manner with a woman about secrets of which we ourselves are ignorant? must we change our customs, and listen to this woman? did he really choos her, and prefer her to us?"

then mary wept, and answered him:
"my brother peter, what can you be thinking? do you believe that this is just my own imagination, that i invented this vision? or do you believe that i would lie about our teacher?"

at this, levi spoke up:
"peter, you have always been hot-tempered, and now we see you repudiating a woman, just as our adversaries do. yet if the teacher held her worthy, who are you to reject her?

~the gospel of mary magdalene, p.17, v. 14-20; p.18, v.1-12

white texan conservative xtians turning to islam...

...'cause the church is just too liberal!

wow.

the video & the pre-printed description are below.

Please Visit http://www.turntoislam.com for more documentaries. For this video Please Link to our webSite. http://www.turntoislam.com The documentary explores the lives of several Texan families. Muslim and Non Muslim, and their views about Islam and life in the West. George W Bush may be backed by Christian fundamentalists but in his home state of Texas, Islam is the latest big draw. The Bible belt is transferring its allegiance to the Quran because, for many erstwhile Christians, believe it or not, the church is too liberal. Eric was a Baptist preacher before he became a Muslim 14 years ago. Now he prays five times a day and even in the middle of watching a football game. His wife, Karen, also a convert, is covered from head to toe in the traditional Muslim burka. Islam, says Eric, is everything I wanted Christianity to be. His mother has found it hard to come to terms with her sons conversion and believes he will return to the Christian faith: Then he will be a dynamic preacher. Eric says: "Maybe some day she will embrace Islam."