Archive Category: Religion
Man’s Wound Looks Like The Virgin Mary
Marc Lipton was riding his motorcycle when he lost control and slid about 50 feet along the road. He believed that he lived to tell the tale because The Virgin Mary protected him from further injury.
And he’s got the wound to prove it: a bloody scrape in the shape of the Virgin Mary.
Link - via Cabinet of Wonders (Photo: Marc Lipton)
Previously on Neatorama: August: a Busy Month for Religious Sightings!
Couple Left Dead “Grandma” Decomposing on Toilet, Told Kids She’ll Come Back to Life
Juneau County sheriff’s deputy arrested Tammy D. Lewis and Alan Bushey of Necedah, Wisconsin, for two felony counts of causing mental harm to a child. See, the two left the body of a 90-year-old woman decomposing on the bathroom toilet!
The sheriff’s office was asked on Wednesday to check on Middlesworth’s welfare by the woman’s sister, Bernice Metz, because Metz had not heard from her in "some time."
When a deputy arrived at the home, Lewis initially claimed Middlesworth was on vacation, but after her body was discovered told the deputy that she had been dead for about two months.
Lewis said she had been helping Middlesworth put on an undergarment when she passed out in her arms and she had left her propped on the toilet after Bushey, whom she referred to as her "superior," said to leave her on the toilet and pray.
Lewis told the deputy that "God told her Alvina would come back to life if she prayed hard enough." Bushey told the deputy that "Lewis was obedient and served the Lord just as she should."
The 12-year-old boy later told investigators that after Middlesworth died, Bushey told him her appearance "was the result of demons attempting to make it appear that Alvina would not come back to life." The boy also reportedly said that Bushey told him that if Middlesworth’s death was discovered, he and his sister would have to go to public school and get jobs because the woman, whom the boy referred to as his "grandmother," was paying the bills.
Link - via Pharyngula
Siobhán’s Miracle
Eight years ago, Siobhán Kilfeather, who was suffering from a deadly cancer, went to Lourdes to pray to the Virgin Mary not for survival, but for more time to allow her young children to remember her.
When she returned to London, her doctors were amazed at her recovery:
Siobhán and Peter clung to each other as the radiologist continued. "Back in December we spotted a small lesion on the lungs. One month later the abnormality was the size of a walnut. By now we expected to be examining irregular cells the size of a grapefruit.
"Instead, there’s nothing to be seen. The abnormalities have disappeared."
Siobhán’s cancer returned seven years later, and this is her story as told by her mother-in-law Ellen Jameson in an upcoming book Siobhán’s Miracle:
"I finally managed: ‘How long do you think I’ve got?’He turned his face away from me and didn’t answer. My head is so full of clutter I can’t think straight.
"I should write to old friends I’ve lost touch with. Tell them I’m going to die. I can’t seem to get things into proportion. The most important considerations are obviously my children and my husband, but also my work is important to me.
"My writing, my book, my students. Should I spend the last 12 hours of my life reading Jane Austen or writing an essay or singing nursery rhymes to my children?"
The Weavers Code, a Conspiracy Theory of the Cathars
In the 11th and 12th century, a Christian sect known as the Cathars swept through France. Amongst other things, they believed that matter was intrinsically evil and that Jesus could not have been both incarnate in the (sinful) flesh and still be the son of God (they believed that he was a prophet and mortal who died on the cross).
The Catholic Church saw the Cathars as dangerously heretical and in 1209, Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade to wipe out the Cathars (in which about 1 million people were killed).
Legend has it that four Cathar priests escaped with a sacred scroll, believed to have been written by Jesus himself, and hid pieces of the scroll around the world for safekeeping. They encoded the locations of these scrolls by weaving codes into cloths (Weaving was big for the Cathars - they even called themselves The Weavers).
And now, according to conspiracy theorists, the surviving Cathars/Weavers have initiated a sinister plan that will change the future of mankind….
Here’s a short clip at History of the Cathars, which you’ll probably find quite entertaining if you like The Da Vinci Code sort of thing: Link [Flash video] - Thanks Sam Alexander!
Quote: Dave Barry on Religion
"People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them."
- Dave Barry, author and humorist
Day of Prayer in Sackcloth and Ashes in Birmingham, Alabama
Larry Langford, the mayor of the city of Birmingham, Alabama, has declared today, Friday April 25th, 2008 as a "day of prayer in sackcloth and ashes" in response to the city’s high homicide rates:
Birmingham Weekly reported two weeks ago that the mayor purchased 2,000 burlap sacks for ministers and other community leaders to wear at a Plan 10/30 summit.
To many Christians, sackcloth and ashes symbolize humility and repentance, but the mayor’s decree came dressed with the usual accoutrements - printed on fine, invitation-stock paper and wrapped in a bright silver folder, adorned by the magic hat logo Langford commissioned for the city last year.In the decree, Langford said that Birmingham’s crime problem “pails” (sic) in comparison to the biblical City of Nineveh.
The proclamation tells the Bible story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh: “Whereas Chapter 3, verse 5 & 6, of the Book of Jonah, Old Testament states, that the people of Nineveh believe God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them,” the resolution reads.
In the proclamation, the mayor puts himself parallel with the King of Nineveh (Jonah 3:7) who, wearing sackcloth and ashes, joined his citizens in prayer.
Link | Article at The Birmingham News - Thanks Charles K!
(Photo: acnatta [Flickr] - Thanks Andre!)
Brazilian priest takes to the air attached to helium party balloon, disappears
Brazilian priest Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli embarked Sunday on a 465 mile journey across Brazil using thousands of helium party balloons to lift and transport him. Unfortunately, he was blown off course and his ground crew has lost track of him, not knowing whether he has landed safely somewhere or unsafely or if his journey through the sky continues. The video above from Brazil’s Globo TV G1 television station shows the priest preparing for his flight, taking off and disappearing into an overcast sky. There are more videos (all in Portuguese) about the flight - and the subsequent search & rescue operation that is taking place now.
Update: Basically the same video [YouTube], but from the Associated Press with a voiceover in English.
Comment (21)
email
this 
+digg 
+del.icio.us 
+reddit 
+SUThe Old Testament Ways to Get a Wife
Psst, guys! Forget eHarmony - Ian McKenzie of Ian’s Messy Desk blog tells us 14 Old Testament Ways to Get a Wife. Here are the first five:
1. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she’s yours. - (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)
2. Find a prostitute and marry her. - (Hosea 1:1-3)
3. Find a man with seven daughters, and impress him by watering his flock.- Moses (Exodus 2:16-21)
4. Purchase a piece of property, and get a woman as part of the deal. - Boaz (Ruth 4:5-10)
5. Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife. - Benjaminites (Judges 21:19-25)
Link - via Locust & Honey
Funny Church Sign: Why You Should Attend the Praise Tabernacle Church
The Praise Tabernacle church in Buffalo has got the best church sign I’ve seen! Found at JB’s Warehouse and Curio Emporium
Trivia: Greyhound, the Biblical Dog
Dogs are mentioned in the Bible 14 times. Cat isn’t mentioned at all.
The only dog mentioned by breed in the Bible is the greyhound:
There be three things which go well, yea,
Which are comely in going;
A lion, which is strongest among beasts and
Turneth not away from any;
A greyhound;
A he-goat also. (Proverbs 30:29-31, King James Version)
In the Bible, dogs are considered ill-tempered scavengers that are tolerated, but not loved. (Source) (Photo: Neurodoc [wikipedia])
God saved me from the evils of… Doctor Who
This is Simon White, who is selling his Tardis for a novel reason:
Dr Who and his materialistic obsession with it represents the “greatest lie that Satan ever told” according to Mr White.
…
“I had to retire early from my job as a nurse at the Royal United Hospital in Bath in 1998 because I was suffering from bipolar disorder.
“I turned to drink and became an alcoholic and the Dr Who obsession was the only thing that kept me going. I wouldn’t have given it up if you’d have put a gun to my head.”
Having discovered Christianity Mr Smith has renounced his old life and is putting the whole collection up for sale in local trade magazines and on eBay.
He said: “God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who, materialism and alcoholism.
One man’s conversion on the road to Damascus (or Gallifrey?) is another man’s gain, as I’m sure there are plenty of Doctor Who fans that would be happy to give the Tardis a happy home.
Jedi Master Attacked by Darth Vader
Jedi Master Jonba Hehol was one of the founders of the UK Church of the Jedi. His friends and family know him as 36-year-old hairdresser Barney Jones. He was giving a TV interview in his back yard last week when a man wearing a Darth Vader helmet and a black trash bag leapt over the fence and began attacking him!
Wielding a metal crutch - his lightsaber presumably being in for repairs - the Sith Lord proceeded to lay about his opponent, whose Jedi powers proved inadequate for the task of defending himself.
After besting Master Hehol in single combat, Vader, who The Sun reports was under the influence of alcohol, went on to assault the camera crew and a hairdresser.
Police are investigating. Link -via Arbroath
Stuff Christians Like
Alex previously linked to the amusing blog Stuff White People Like, a blog about white American culture. Here’s a spinoff: Stuff Christians Like, a satirical poke at American evangelical culture. One of my favorites:
#68. Saying “I don’t even own a TV.”
When someone tells me at a party, “I don’t even own a TV,” I immediately stop, drop and roll my way into another room. It’s not the most graceful escape but it works. I am completely cool with people that don’t have televisions. I think I watch too much. I wish I didn’t know who got a really horrible angel tattoo on the show, “Biggest Loser.” I wish my Tivo didn’t know me better than some friends do. I don’t think watching a lot of television is a good thing, but I can’t stand how condescending people get when they’ve “conquered” television and want to tell you about it. Even worse is when they say, “I don’t even own a TV, I like to spend time with my kids instead.” Oh, low blow. What that sounds like is, “For me, my kids are more important than the show Lost, but then I’m not a horrible dad.” If you don’t own a TV, that is cool, seriously, but let’s talk about something else if you see me at a party. Please.
Link via Thinklings
Quote: Scott Adams on the Creator of the Universe
"The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers."
- Scott Adams, cartoonist
The Praying Dog
Meet Conan, the praying dog:
At a Zen Buddhist temple in southern Japan, even the dog prays. Mimicking his master, priest Joei Yoshikuni, a 1 1/2-year-old black-and-white Chihuahua named Conan joins in the daily prayers at Naha’s Shuri Kannondo
temple, sitting up on his hind legs and putting his front paws together before the altar. [...]"I think he saw me doing it all the time and got the idea to do it, too," Yoshikuni said.
The priest is now trying to teach him how to meditate.
Well, sort of.
"Basically, I am just trying to get him to sit still while I meditate," he explained. "It’s not like we can make him cross his legs."
What do you think the dog is praying for? Link (Photo: Itsuo Inouye / AP) - Thanks Geekazoid!
The Black Button: Would You Kill a Stranger for $10 Million if You Couldn’t Get Caught?
The Black Button is a short film by Lucas Crandles. It’s premise is simple yet intriguing: if you couldn’t get caught, would you kill a stranger for $10 million?
Mr Roberts finds himself awoken inexplicably in a white room. A man sits before him at a desk and in between them stands a black button. If Mr Roberts pushes it, he will receive a briefcase filled with millions of dollars. Or he can take the key to the door and leave penniless. The catch? Pushing the button will result in the death of a human being. What would you do?
One of the finalist of the YouTube Award 2007 for Best Short Film: Link [embedded YouTube]
//How about if I push it twice for $20 million? 
Happy Easter (Island), Everyone!
Photo: cybele [Flickr], based on Marie Tess [Flickr]
Happy Easter, everyone! More fun Happy Easter Island peeps-themed ePostcards at Candy Blog - Thanks Cybele!
Bizarro: What God Actually Said to Adam and Eve …
So that’s what God said to Adam and Eve … If they had gotten it right, it would’ve saved the civilization a lot of trouble!
See more Bizarro at Dan Piraro’s excellent website and blog. (BTW, you can see him perform live in New York on March 24, 2008 - Info here)
The Stories Behind Four Exorcisms
Maybe it’s my nature as a writer, but after I have certain experiences I have to learn I possibly can about whatever it was that I experienced. After I watch a movie I rush to IMDB to check out the trivia. After I visit someplace I find particularly intriguing, I scour the Internet and check out books and watch movies.
My point is, I was watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose the other day and got all caught up in researching the real story behind the movie. This, of course, lead to other stories of real-life exorcisms. I’m shocked at how… well… not commonplace exorcisms are, but how they’re not quite as unusual as you might think. The identities of people who have been exorcised are usually kept pretty quiet, but with just one priest claiming to have performed more than 50,000 exorcisms (granted, he is the senior exorcist of the Diocese of Rome), there are more out there than you might think. We’re going to look at a few.
Anneliese Michel
Let’s start with the exorcism of Anneliese Michel, the girl Emily Rose was based on. Anneliese was a deeply religious German Catholic woman who said she was possessed by at least six demons, including Hitler, Nero and Cain. Father Ernst Alt, a local parish priest who also happened to be a specialist in exorcism, was the first to recognize that she may need an exorcism. When medication failed to control her symptoms (including contortions, multiple personalities and the use of multiple voices) the exorcism was approved by the bishop and carried out by Pastor Arnold Renz. She died on July 1, 1976 – the day that Anneliese predicted she would be freed from the demons. Those present say she was freed moments before her death, but her official cause of death was listed as malnutrition and dehydration (she weighed just 68 pounds) resulting from the treatment she was subjected to over the 11 months of exorcism rituals. Photo from RedemptionDenied.com
Robbie Doe
Then there’s that other famous exorcism movie starring Linda Blair. That was based on a real incident too, one that took place in 1949. Robbie Doe has never been identified (at least as far as I could tell) but he was supposedly possessed after using a Ouija board. He was taken to the Georgetown Hospital where he started to receive an exorcism from Father Edward Hughes. Father Hughes was five minutes into the ritual when the boy somehow dislodged a spring from the bed and stabbed him with it. The gash required 100 stitches.
The family moved to St. Louis where the boy underwent another exorcism, this one lasting six weeks. Just like the movie, the bed would shake and objects flew across the room of their own accord. Marks would appear on Robbie’s body, including the word “Evil”. Finally, the exorcism succeeded and the boy was able to live a normal life, not remembering much about what happened.
Such a view seems contrary to the findings of the physician and psychiatrist who deemed the boy physically and mentally healthy while he was experiencing these troubles in Maryland.
Earling, Iowa, woman
Earling is less than two hours away from where I live, so of course I had to write about this one. Father Theophilus Riesinger brought a 40-year-old woman from a neighboring community to the Franciscan convent in Earling to undergo an exorcism. Despite being very religious, the woman said she was unable to enter a church or pray since she was 14. She also spoke in languages she didn’t know, was abnormally strong and couldn’t stand to be around Holy Water or anything that had been blessed.
The evening the woman arrived, a nun who prepared dinner sprinkled the meal with Holy Water to bless the food. When the woman was given her plate, she freaked out and demanded an unblessed plate.
When the exorcism started the next morning and continued for the next 23 days. According to the pamphlet that details the events of the exorcism, Begone Satan!:
“Outpourings that would fill a pitcher, yes, even a pail, full of the most obnoxious stench were most unnatural. These came in quantities that were, humanly speaking, impossible to lodge in a normal being. At that the poor creature had eaten scarcely anything for weeks, so that there had been reason to fear she would not survive. At one time the emission was a bowl full of matter resembling vomited macaroni. At another time an even greater measure, having the appearance of sliced and chewed tobacco leaves, was emitted. From ten to twenty times a day this wretched creature was forced to vomit though she had taken at the most only a teaspoonful of water or milk by way of food.”
She spoke in different languages and different voices and named sins that people in the room had committed. On the 23rd day of the ordeal, Father Theophilus sensed that the demons were weakening and blessed her. The woman started howling and screaming the names of the demons inside of her; when the last name was uttered the woman opened her eyes and was reportedly able to speak the name of Jesus again for the first time in years.
Teenager at the Vatican
Pope John Paul II reportedly performed an exorcism on a 19-year-old girl at the Vatican in 2000. Father Gabriele Amorth, the official exorcist for the Diocese of Rome, had attempted to exorcise the girl the day before and failed. Her parents brought her to Pope John Paul II’s Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square in hopes that a Papal blessing would do her some good, but apparently it just incensed her even more. Italian newspapers wrote that the girl started screaming insults at the Pope in a “cavernous voice” and struggled with guards with superhuman strength. The Pope was informed about her and spent 30 minutes with her. When the Pope left, the girl said (in a voice apparently not belonging to her), “Not even the head of the church can send me away.” Photo by Stacy Conradt
Philippine Officials: Crucifying Yourself? Get a Tetanus Shot First!
Officials in the Philippines have just issued health warnings for people to get tetanus vaccinations before they … flagellate themselves and are nailed to the cross!
That’s because on Good Friday dozens of devout Catholic Filipinos re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a very real way:
The health department has strongly advised penitents to check the condition of the whips they plan to use to lash their backs, the Manila Times newspaper reports.
They want people to have what they call "well-maintained" whips. [...] And they advise that the nails used to fix people to crosses must be properly disinfected first. Often people soak the nails in alcohol throughout the year.
In the northern city of San Fernando alone there will be three separate improvised Golgothas - the biblical name for the hill where Jesus was crucified.
Four people there have pledged to have their feet and hands nailed to wooden crosses, while others will flog themselves while walking barefoot through villages.
Previously on Neatorama: Filipino Crucifixion
A Holy Day for Half the World
Friday, March 21st is Good Friday for Christians, but it’s also a sacred date for many other religions. People are celebrating Good Friday, Purim, Narouz, Eid Milad an Nabi, Small Holi, and Magha Puja. That doesn’t happen often.
Ed Reingold and Nachum Dershowitz, co-authors of the books Calendrical Calculations and Calendrical Tabulations, determined how often in the period between 1600 and 2400 A.D. Good Friday, Purim, Narouz and the Eid would occur in the same week. The answer is nine times in 800 years. Then they tackled the odds that they would converge on a two-day period. And the total is … only once: tomorrow. And that’s not even counting Magha Puja and Small Holi.
TIME has an explantion of these holidays and how they are set in the calendar. Link -via Metafilter
(image credit: Sèbastien Dèsarmaux/Godong/Corbis)
Big Butter Jesus
I’ve recently moved to Cincinnati, and on a recent trip up I-75 exploring my new surroundings, I found Jesus. Literally.
Standing 62 feet high, with a 42-foot wing span between the hands, the Solid Rock Church’s statue of Jesus rises out of the ground in Monroe, Ohio.
The statue, erected in 2003, was the inspiration of Lawrence and Darlene Bishop, evangelical Christian pastors of the 3,400-member Solid Rock Church here, which spent $250,000 on a project that did not go smoothly.
The image’s steel frame was built in nearby Lebanon, Ohio, and the body, made of Styrofoam and fiberglass, on the beach in Jacksonville, Fla. The body was then trucked north. But when workers started installing the statue on an island in a man-made reflecting pool behind the church, they found that the head and arms were too small for the chest.
The builder, James Lynch, then spent three months ripping the fiberglass apart and recasting the outstretched arms and upturned face. The completed figure weighs 16,000 pounds and, at 62 feet, stands 20 feet taller than originally planned, though its skin is so thin that it bends to the touch of a finger.
Some congregants say the statue keeps watch over a section of freeway that was once among the most dangerous in Ohio. Twelve people died along that 15-mile stretch of I-75 in the two years before the image was erected, eight of them killed after cars jumped the median into oncoming traffic. Since the statue went up more than five years ago, there have been no such crossover deaths.
Officials at the Ohio Department of Transportation attribute the improved safety to a $1.1-million high-tension cable that the department built in the freeway’s median about the time, coincidentally, that the statue was erected. Cars have hit the cable 183 times since then, and in three of those cases, crashes have occurred within three-tenths of a mile of the church.
There is also a running disagreement over the statue’s name. Postcards for sale in the church’s gift shop refer to it as the King of Kings. Many locals call it Touchdown Jesus, since, a bit like the famed mural at the University of Notre Dame, it resembles a robed and bearded referee signaling a score at the goal line. Others call it Super Jesus, MC 62ft Jesus (for the technomusician of a similar name) or simply Big J.
( link )
Personally, I prefer the name Big Butter Jesus, because it looks like one of the butter sculptures you’d see at a state fair. Comedian Heywood Banks created a HILARIOUS song for the Big Butter Man, and I guarantee it will be stuck in your head for days. The best line is “I can’t believe it’s not Jesus, Oleo lord . . .” The video also includes a bunch of photoshopped images of the Big Man, a few of which are chuckle-worthy.
From personal experience, I can tell you the creepiness factor of this thing is off the charts! It’s worth a stop if you’re ever in the area, just to see it for yourself. The creepiness is not only a result of the giant statue, but also the layout of the entire church “complex.” I took a shot of this (awesome) statue there, too:
Finally, if your outing to see the Giant Jesus hasn’t been sacrilegious enough, be sure to get a high five with Jesus, or try to see if that’s a plane he’s looking at:
Enjoy!
The Last Supper in Balloon
That’s the Last Supper … in balloons as twisted (right?) by Mr. Bubbles and fellow balloon twisters at the Fellowship of Christian Magicians in 2004.
More Last Supper posts on Neatorama
7 New “Social” Sins - Thanks Vatican!
In case the original 7 deadly sins aren’t enough for you, the Vatican has come up with seven additional "social" sins to be wary of:
The seven social sins are:
1. “Bioethical’ violations such as birth control
2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty
Cult Worshiped Giant Teapot
Kamariah Ali, a 57-year-old former teacher in Malaysia was arrested under the strict Islamic Sharia law and jailed for joining a "heretical" Sky Kingdom cult.
Two fascinating things about this report at Telegraph:
1) A Muslim born in Malaysia can’t switch religion
2) The Sky Kingdom cult worshiped a giant teapot, which had since been demolished.
Link - Thanks Emperor! (More Info: Malaysiakini.com)
Krakelingen Festival: Drinking Live Fish
Ever heard of the late 1930s swallowing live goldfish fad that swept the nation (well, okay, colleges)? Turns out it’s a centuries-old tradition in a rural area of Belgium:
Taking a deep breath, Rudy Van Acker raises a silver chalice to his pursed lips, hesitates ever so slightly, then takes a sip before downing the contents in a couple of swift gulps.
Van Acker, the senior Roman Catholic priest in this rural area of Flanders, is undertaking one of his more unusual pastoral duties: drinking live fish, washed down with red wine.
For centuries, thousands of revelers in this part of Belgium have celebrated the Krakelingen festival - named after the bread that will be thrown to the townspeople. The pageant, commemorating the onset of spring, combines pagan and Christian symbols and culminates in the consumption of tiny live fish immersed in red wine at a ceremony presided over by three men dressed as druids.
Link (Photo: Jock Fistick/International Herald Tribune)
Throne of the Third Heaven: Masterpiece Folk Art Made From Junk
In 1950, a quiet janitor named James Hampton rented an unheated dump of a garage in Washington DC because he was "working on something" and needed a larger space than his room in a nearby boarding house.
Every night after finishing his job, the small, soft-spoken man would work in the garage for five or six hours. Hampton believed that God visited him there regularly to guide him in his project, The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millenium General Assembly. Adding to the sheer wow factor of the 180 glittering object was how Hampton did it:
An ingenious selection and use of materials and an innate feeling for design characterize Hampton’s radiant work. A poor man, he applied his imagination to the transformation of discarded materials. Merchants in the used-furniture district near the garage remember that Hampton would browse, inquire about prices, and sometimes return with a child’s wagon to carry away his purchases. All of the objects are covered with different grades of gold and aluminum foils removed from store displays, bottles, cigarette boxes, and rolls of kitchen foil. Hampton paid neighborhood indigents for the foil on their wine bottles, and he walked the streets with a croker sack in which to carry his finds. He also gathered used light bulbs, cardboard, insulation board, construction paper, desk blotters, and sheets of transparent plastic, probably from the trash of the government buildings where he worked.
Hampton’s masterpiece is now on display in the Smithsonian: Link - via Officially Awesome, thanks Kellie Bartlett (that was definitely, *officially* awesome!)
The Original Scientology
Enturbulation.org (a website dedicated to expose Scientology) user dr3k just uploaded some scans of a 1934 German book "Scientologie" that appeared to be the inspiration of L. Ron Hubbard’s Church of Scientology.
Link - via Boing Boing
Blessing of the Beer
Beer has been important in human history. So much so that the earliest known civilization in the world, the ancient Sumerians, called it "the divine drink." They even had a hymn for it (incidentally, the hymn was also a recipe to brew beer - those clever Sumerians!)
Scribal Terror blog has a neat post about the Religious History of Beer, including an official beer-blessing ritual of the Roman Catholic:
Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, that Thou hast been pleased to bring forth from the sweetness of the grain: that it might be a salutary remedy for the human race: and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name, that, whosoever drinks of it may obtain health of body and a sure safeguard for the soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Link (Photo: White Around the Collar - via Per Christum)
Fantastic Ice Churches at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral
Replica of the Ukraine Church
We’ve featured photos from the Winter 2003 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival by R. Todd King before, but the ones he took from Winter 2007 are so stunning that we just have to do another a post:
And despite its Gothic architectural style, it replicates nothing in Europe either - though it has been called “the Notre Dame of the Orient” and is of French design. The structure is actually Chinese, a Catholic church located in Hulan, about twenty miles from Harbin. Replicas of a number of Catholic churches and cathedrals local to Harbin graced the festival landscape, and they were far more complex than the ice buildings appearing at the festival just a few years ago. To get a sense of this ice church’s size, notice the horse-drawn sleigh parked out front. And just wait until the lights come on!
Not to be missed: Link - Thanks Katia!
Previously on Neatorama: World’s Largest Snow Sculpture | Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
See also: 10 Divinely Designed Churches