Meditation is powerful

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Recently a woman successfully sued a yoga retreat for triggering her childhood PTSD. It is not clear what actually happened, as there are two different versions of events. The people running the yoga retreat said the activity was optional; she says it was compulsory.

Western uses of mindfulness & meditation

There has been a trend over the last decade or more of importing spiritual techniques like meditation and mindfulness from Eastern religions (usually Buddhism) to the West. There have also been many cases where people have experienced very distressing symptoms as a result of intense meditation, often in the context of vipassana meditation.

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Discerning good theology

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It may seem that there’s no point criticizing other people’s theological beliefs because from the standpoint of atheists, all religious beliefs are equally unreasonable, but different theological beliefs are not equal, and they lead to different outcomes.

I define theology as beliefs about gods, spirits, and ethics: how we show up in the world as humans.

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Red flags

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The best dating site, in my opinion, is OKCupid, because you can ask and answer questions about your dealbreaker issues. Then you don’t need to go on a date with some idiot who believes stuff like “women should submit to their husbands” or “pregnant rape victims should carry the foetus to term”.

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Rapping about the rapture

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I’m thankful that I was not brought up with the nonsense about the rapture (which is weird because I grew up in the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren until the age of 9, and it was apparently the founder of the Plymouth Brethren, JN Darby, who popularized the concept of the rapture, along with dispensationalist theology). But I recognize that it is still traumatic to think about for a lot of people.

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Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson

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Just got an update from Gillian Jenkinson:

Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army BBC2 27 July and 3 August 9pm 

I had the privilege of being filmed delivering Post-Cult Counselling in a Recovery Workshop for a documentary “Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army” with four amazing survivors. This was filmed at my house in the Hope Valley by a wonderful team who have been very professional and supportive in every way throughout this process. 

The two-part documentary includes a history of JA and archive material, interviews and the Recovery Workshop and is being screened on Sunday 27th July and 3rd August at 9pm on BBC 2. It will be on BBC iPlayer from 27th July.  

There will also be a podcast (which I am not involved with) which will be very interesting as it will address legal issues around cults/coercive control amongst many other things. 

Watch the trailer

Gillian Jenkinson’s website

Debunking clobber verses

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Websites that unpack and de-fang religious beliefs about same-sex love and gender nonconformity come and go. I occasionally still meet people who think that all churches are homophobic, or that Christianity and homosexuality just aren’t compatible. And there are always new exvangelicals emerging blinking into the light of day and deconstructing the toxic beliefs that were foisted upon them.

So it is great to see a new series of essays from Father Nathan Monk on Facebook:

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Pagan Roots — available now

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“Pagan Roots: Reclaiming Concepts of the Sacred,” by Yvonne Aburrow.

Available now from 1000Volt Press via books2read.com/paganroots

Cover art by Lydia Knox.

“Pagan Roots: Reclaiming concepts of the sacred” will be published on 22 April 2025 and available from all online stores.

Contemporary Paganism has sought to recover some concepts that were lost or rejected in past centuries, but has ignored or rejected others that were absorbed into Christian discourse. Can we reclaim some of these terms and recover their original meanings?

Buy now