http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics The Heretics Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:49:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As of now, this blog is formally closed and will not be updated.  Before explaining further, let me express my profound gratitude to those who have shared their thoughts here, to Mirabai Starr, Pat Moore, Bill Glenn, and Jim Huffman, and to all of you who have commented on our ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=209 Why don’t people behave as they are supposed to? I grew up well trained: not just about right and wrong, or about history, math, and literature, but about abstract things. I learned how the world is organized, what the “natural” order of things should be, and where people fit in that ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=208 Where shoulders once shrugged, fists now shake.  Evangelical, moderate and liberal Christians are mad as hell at Fox TV host, Glenn Beck. His recent comparison of social justice Christians with Nazis and Communists crossed a line. Among other things, it is a reminder that deep down, Glenn Beck is ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=207 For many years, I compiled an annual list of books of matters soulful or spiritual for those who might want to explore new writers or re-visit old ones in the ongoing work of tending a spiritual life. Some of you have asked me to do that again, after a ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=206 The headlines scream about extremists who seek to cause suffering in the lives of ordinary people in order to create a climate of fear and instability. We read and watch daily reports of extremist groups like Al Qaeda or the Taliban. The Southern Poverty Law Center monitors extremist activity in the USA, especially threats from the Ku Klux Klan.Extremist ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=205 The latest story of the failed "underwear suicide bomber" is one more example that homeland security requires something deeper than a revealing image  from some full body scanner. Full body scanners can't penetrate body cavities or see under flabby folds of skin. The latest technology has its limits.  This recent kerfuffle reminds us that when it comes to the monster of ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=204 When I was a very young man, maybe a very old boy, during my freshman year at Creighton Prep, I was assigned a very young Jesuit, Tom Shanahan, as my homeroom teacher. He engaged me unlike any teacher before, and over the next few years, we became friends, a ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=203 I nearly floated as I walked home from dinner on the small Pacific island of Miyake a few weeks ago. The location was special: an island of stunning black beaches, gentle temperatures, and ragged cliffs, towered over by one of earth’s liveliest volcanoes. The food had been superb: thinly sliced meats ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=202 Things have been quiet lately.  I have been quiet lately.  Sometimes I begin to wonder whether or not I am being too quiet, or perhaps have entered a state of apathy.  When I start to think this, I begin to realize that I have entered into a state of detachment.  ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=201 By now, the news about the three deaths at a "sweat lodge" in Sedona is growing stale.  In a quest to become "Spiritual Warriors", too many people entered a structure that may or may not have been built properly, apparently spent too much time in intense heat, and as the ... http://avoluptuousgod.com/heretics/?p=200