Christianity
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Revelation and Ragnarök
Read more: Revelation and RagnarökOne of the most misunderstood books in history, Revelation (or that third-rate misinterpretation of it, Left Behind) is often used to scare small children, and it is currently being used as a reason to attack Iran. So it seemed like a good moment to inquire into what it actually means.
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Rapping about the rapture
Read more: Rapping about the raptureI’m thankful that I was not brought up with the nonsense about the rapture, but I recognize that it is still traumatic to think about for a lot of people.
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Deprogramming with Gillian Jenkinson
Read more: Deprogramming with Gillian JenkinsonJust 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…
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Just visiting
Read more: Just visitingI’ve often referenced these posts by Annika Mongan, which present a fascinating account of what’s happening energetically at evangelical churches, and at Pagan gatherings. I also got independent confirmation of this by speaking to another Wiccan who sees energy as colours (I experience it as changes in temperature) who confirmed that she saw a lot…
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Undermining Christian hegemony
Read more: Undermining Christian hegemonyI think it’s important to challenge the hegemony of Christianity in our culture and promote tolerance of all religions that want to live in harmony with each other and with atheists. The way to get to that point is not by insisting that we should all read the Bible so we can use it to…
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Women, LGBT+ people and the churches
Read more: Women, LGBT+ people and the churchesThis is old news, but interesting nonetheless. BRIN (British Religion In Numbers) collated a number of datasets and research results from a variety of sources in 2017, including data on women and LGBT+ people in churches, both of which would go a long way towards explaining why people are leaving churches in droves.
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Still second class citizens
Read more: Still second class citizensSo the Pope has offered the blessing of same sex relationships—while still saying that same sex relationships are sinful. You can’t bless something with one hand and condemn it with the other. This is more of the same homophobia with a slightly better public relations spin on it. A turd augmented with glitter.
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Folk witches and dual faith
Read more: Folk witches and dual faithPolish Folk Witch (on instagram and Patreon) has an excellent article on dual faith practice and syncretism among folk witches: Dual Faith: the elephant in the room of the witchcraft community. The topic of dual faith keeps returning on a regular basis in the broader witchcraft community online, especially on the intersection of folk magic,…
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In The Magick Kitchen
Read more: In The Magick KitchenCheck out my conversation with the wonderful Elyse Wells (writer and podcast host) on The Magick Kitchen podcast, series 5, episode 9.
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Religions evolve
Read more: Religions evolveOh dear: the evangelicals are spouting rubbish about Paganism again — ably debunked by John Beckett. The idea of evangelicals claiming that Paganisms don’t have continuity with ancient paganisms is hilarious when you consider the lack of continuity between evangelical Christianity and early Christianity.
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Jungian dreams
Read more: Jungian dreamsChanging Paths challenge day 19 — dreams. Once I dreamed that I was walking across a rocky sandy landscape (the bedrock was reddish sandstone) and saw an old church.
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Things I don’t miss
Read more: Things I don’t missChanging Paths challenge day 12 — things I don’t miss about the traditions I have left.
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Lover of leaving
Read more: Lover of leavingChanging Paths challenge day 11 — why I left I left Unitarianism in the end because of archetypes. The archetype that fits me the best is that of the witch, and it’s an archetype that sits uncomfortably in the Unitarian path. (The combination may work for others: didn’t work for me.) I left Christianity because…
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Still friends
Read more: Still friendsChanging Paths challenge day 10 — still friends. I’m still friends with several Unitarians, either in person or on social media. Last September two of our longest-standing Unitarian friends from the UK came to visit us in Canada and we had a great time together. A quote from one of them found its way into…
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Smash that Protestant lens
Read more: Smash that Protestant lensGreat piece from John Beckett this morning which covers some really good points about how to write about different religions, why the word “religion” should not be used as a synonym for Christianity, and how not all religions fit the “Protestant lens” (the way people tend to use the Protestant paradigm as a way to…
Changing Paths 