The Tearfund carbon fast asks that we give up technology and re-allocate to the poor.    The Telegraph reports that Bishops in the Church of England are calling for a technology fast during Lent:

“[The technology fast] is a statement [of solidarity] with a world that does not have that ability to communicate the way we can and a reminder to us that perhaps we may have got beyond ourselves in terms of our own consumption of technology. We have galloped forward so fast maybe we have out-run our global responsibility in doing that.” – Bishop of Oxford, Rt Rev John Pritchard

I came across “Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies” today. It’s difficult to look at any neo pagan online community without finding frequent references to Joss Whedon’s television series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” One of the most often used quotes about wicca, for example, is this exchange between the characters Willow and Buffy after Willow has attended a meeting of her college wiccan group:

Buffy: So not stellar, huh?
Willow: Talk. All talk. Blah Blah Gaia. Blah Blah Moon…menstrual life force power thingy. You know, after a coupla sessions I was hoping we could get into something real but . . .
Buffy: No actual witches in your witch group?
Willow: No. Bunch of wanna-blessed-bes. You know, nowadays every girl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she’s a sister of the Dark Ones.

The effect of films like “The Craft,” “Practical Magic,” and the television series “Charmed” and “Buffy…” is far reaching. Social networks, retail suppliers and bloggers adopt a posture either in favor of or opposed to these depictions and construct identities in line with or opposed to them. There seems to be very little terrain online that hasn’t been touched by “slayage.”

Mitch Horowitz writes about Psychiana, a “mail order” New Thought religion created by Frank B. Robinson in 1928. Robinson ran the religion from his office in Moscow, Idaho.

“Robinson was probably the first religious figure of the twentieth century to fully grasp the power of advertising and mail-order marketing. But he was more than just that. With only a deeply held conviction and a few hundred dollars in ad money, he brought attention to the neglected needs of millions of people who wanted religion to provide practical guidance in daily life.”

Read more…

I asked the writer to recount their experience of visiting a “contemporary” church in Arkansas, Easter 2009. The photograph they showed me of the coffee shop was so interesting, I wanted to know more. Here is what they sent me:

The last time I went to church it was in a bar in Brooklyn. Yesterday I went to a “contemporary” protestant “non-denominational” church in Arkansas with my mom.

This church is fairly new but the “style” is inceasingly popular in the southern United States. There is considerable debate about the goals and outcomes of such churches: “… I see a blatant capitulation to consumerism in much of this direction. Many experts in this movement do not hesitate to call their techniques “marketing methods,” but this approach breeds an unhealthy individualistic consumerism, which is already pervasive throughout the culture, when Christian leaders treat church growth as the primary activity of the Lord’s Day, and the congregational worship service as a virtual business undertaking aimed at getting consumers to “buy the product.” (John Mark Ministries)

(The “coffee shop”)

My first reaction to the physical architecture of the church is that it looks like a mall. The main entrance is a coffee shop aimed at creating a social space. I learned later in the service that new guests can trade in their comment/registration card for a hazelnut latte.

The congregation seems to be comfortable in such a mall culture. Many women have trendy, tight fitting dresses, 13 year-olds wear high heels, men and women have bleached hair and tanned skin, and the male uniform seems to be khakis and blue shirts. All of this combined to make me feel terribly uncomfortable.

The service begins with 20 minutes of rock music. The band has a drum set, an electric keyboard, a lead singer/guitarist, a bass player, a back-up singer/tambourine player, and an acoustic/electric guitarist. My grandmother regularly complains about them.

The pastor’s message included a warning to avoid “humanistic” ways that lead one to buy in excess and focus on “the flesh”. If one is “with Christ” then one will focus on internal, spiritual goals rather than the “humanistic”. During the closing prayer the keyboard player played instrumental inspiring music that increased in volume and tempo as the prayer closed. As the prayer ended the projected screen had swirling colors similar to itunes visualizer.

(Posted about Bike Blessing on Drunk and In Charge of a Bicycle.)

The pope’s vehicle is much stranger than I remember. He really looks like an artifact in a display case at a museum. An interesting blend of security and visibility.

Biblical events as if seen on Google earth.

God’s Eye View (Ark)

At the ANSWER march on the capitol Iraq war veteran Rev. Yearwood closed his remarks by saying: “The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded!”

Rev. Yearwood asked the listeners to go to youtube and watch the following video of Captiol police tackling him when he tried to enter the General BetrayUs testimony along with other activists.

The New York Times reports that prison libraries are being purged of religious books and other materials. The Bureau of Prisons is banning material that might “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

Of course this is absurd and I can’t even begin to imagine who is deciding what would “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize” and how to apply these criteria. Surely the entire Jewish and Christian Bible must be excluded – or is the Bureau of Prisons just assuming that there is no advocating or discriminatory content in the Bible. If so, they clearly haven’t read it. The Koran and the Bible both advocate violence in parts and peace in others. And so I can only conclude that this is an attempt to remove material that might inspire prisoners to rise up against the illegal and immoral system that has locked them up.

I wonder how much access to the internet prisoners have, if any. Could a case be made that access to cyberspace is a right for prisoners just as occasional access to the outdoors is?