Memento Mori Religion in “28 Years Later”

In the 28 Days franchise, much of the world is laid to waste by an accidentally-released pathogen called the Rage Virus, which reduces human beings to almost mindless biting and eating machines. The third installment is set 28 years after the original movie and takes place in a radically re-wilded England. Nature has largely reclaimed … Read moreMemento Mori Religion in “28 Years Later”

ISM – Independent Social Ministries

The ISM.co website offers quick-n-eezy ordination in any or all of nearly 50 unusual Ministries, encompassing everything from Saganism (based upon the scientific worldview espoused by Carl Sagan) to Festivism (celebrating the nontheistic “Festivus for the rest of us” famously introduced via an episode of Seinfeld). According to the site: For centuries, religions have operated … Read moreISM – Independent Social Ministries

The Case for Religious Fictionalism: or How to Lead a Religious Life Without Faith or Belief

Rob Wheeler writes on the subject of religious fictionalism for the Spiritual Naturalist Society: A major benefit of the fictionalist approach to religion is that cuts through a host of theological conundrums and excuses us from participation in interminable debates over anomalies and inconsistencies in doctrine. For instance by treating all religious texts as fictions, … Read moreThe Case for Religious Fictionalism: or How to Lead a Religious Life Without Faith or Belief

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Mythopoetic Paganism

From the countercultural beginnings of the neoPagan movement, belief in literal gods and magic have been more nuanced, ambiguous, playful and experimental than critics, outsiders and even many insiders often assume. Entire currents of Pagan practice began not with metaphysical certainty but with immersive theatricality, deliberate mythmaking or even outright satire. Discordianism remains the clearest … Read moreSaying the Quiet Part Out Loud: Mythopoetic Paganism

American Gods

Speculations on the future of American religion in a post-United States: The fragmented, multipolar political landscape of future America will tend over time towards something like a feudal or tribal condition. As above, so below—polytheistic paganism will appeal in this cultural habitat in a way that it doesn’t under a more centralized and hierarchical social … Read moreAmerican Gods