A few years ago I wrote this…
I want to know the people who are in my immediate neighborhood. In this case I’m talking about the virtual neighborhood where I blog at Catholic Bard. I took a look around and decided to look up a little something about all my neighbors who have a different world view then I do. Were just one voice in the middle of a sea of voices. So, I think it’s important to know who is raising their voices that surrounds us.
As Catholics we don’t have to just think of ourselves in our own little castle ready to attack or defend against the hordes of belief different then our own.
Here is a look around the neighborhood of Patheos in which many people with different view points and convictions write. I tried to find common and ecumenical themes found by people of all faiths. Let’s get to know them. I have (once again) compiled a collection of quotes from each section.
Who Are The Patheosi In Your Neighborhood? | Mark Wilson
November 30, 2022
The Catholic Bard
It’s good to know your neighbors and what they are up to, so here is another look around Patheos and what different people of different faiths are writing. The intro I wrote in 2022 applies to this new collection of bloggers expressing the many voices and Beliefs of Patheos writers. The interesting thing I found is that it seems as if Jesus has some influence on people of all religious persuasions.
As you meander through the bustling urban centers and serene suburbs, a striking sight unfolds: a landscape peppered with churches, each proudly perched in its own little niche. This dense constellation of religious establishments prompts a whimsical yet poignant exploration: Why are these sanctuaries as prolific as coffee shops in a gentrified neighborhood? Is there a spiritual Starbucks effect at play here? This exploration seeks to uncover the deeper, often humorous realities behind this ecclesiastical explosion and its implications for the communities bedecked with belfries and crosses.
Church Gridlock: Steeples Everywhere, Sinners Beware! | Derrick Day
March 14, 2025
Love Minus Religion
Those of us who live our religious and spiritual lives in public have a responsibility to be honest. So much of what is shared on the internet is curated, edited, and in some cases, fabricated. Less so – I think – for us in the Pagan and witchcraft communities than for entertainment celebrities and mainstream influencers, but even for us, it’s natural to emphasize our successes and minimize our failures.
Our Calvinist-influenced mainstream society has the idea that if you follow the right religion in the right way, then nothing bad will ever happen to you. Or if it does, it won’t matter because you’re so spiritual that mundane problems don’t bother you.
These are lies. Bad things happen to good people all the time, and toxic positivity (“good vibes only!”) is gaslighting made possible only by great privilege (usually financial) and the fear of confronting reality.
In contrast, good religion gives us context for understanding why life is the way it is, and what we can and can’t do to make it better. Spiritual practice gives us tools to deal with the suffering that is part of being human.
The Summer Of A Better Year | John Beckett
June 4, 2025
Under the Antient Oaks:
Musings of a Pagan, Druid and Unitarian Universalist
Both Hinduism and Catholicism recognize a single Ultimate Reality and accept the idea of divine manifestations in human form. In Catholicism, this is expressed through the Holy Trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Similarly, Hinduism presents the Divine through various forms—devis and devtas—worshipped in colorful mandirs filled with murtis (sacred images). Both traditions have strong ritualistic practices and visual symbolism in places of worship.
However, mutual understanding between the two communities is often limited. Many Hindus are only familiar with Christianity through media portrayals, such as beautiful church ceremonies in Bollywood films. Similarly, many Catholics mistakenly view Hindus as polytheists or idol-worshippers, without appreciating the deeper philosophical foundations of Hindu beliefs.
Navigating Hindu‑Catholic Interfaith Marriage Challenges | Dilip Amin
June 25, 2025
Equality For Happiness
The languages of divinity sing of realities I experience.
With that, there’s another image for the Christian trinity that I find wandering in and out of my dreams. Pointing. Inviting.
The image of the Christian trinity that has most touched my heart was an Orthodox icon created by a fourteenth century Russian artist, Andrrei Rublev. He used a story from Genesis of Abraham being visited by three angels and with that as his material creates a trinity image I find haunts my dreams. It includes languid humans sitting around a table. There are within it unseen triangles and circles that cannot be contained within the painting. Beyond that the play of images and colors that we can encounter simply seep into the preconscious heart and envisions, again, something that the mere painting cannot hold. Mere words. Mere actions. But without disdaining those mere things.
I really like that. It is what I’ve found in my Zen life.
Holy Trinities: Christian And Buddhist | James Ford
June 15, 2025
Monkey Mind/Easily Distracted
Hand Palm Skin – Free photo on Pixabay“
May the Favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us; Let the work of our hands be established.” ~Psalms 90:17
In Jewish life, working with one’s hands is deeply rooted in tradition, especially when that work enhances the lives of others. The more we grow our food and cook from scratch, the more we nourish our family, friends, and community with the labor of our hands. Gifts like freshly picked flowers from the garden or homemade baked bread are perfect ways to show kindness to others.
I often pick vegetables and herbs from my garden when preparing a meal, and I have such pride in that. I’ve taken food that I’ve grown and created something nourishing for my family. Meanwhile, the work that I put into making that meal is also a way that I honor God. It is a fabulous feeling.
How Working With Your Hands Weaves Jewish Life Into Everyday | Kelley Rouland
May 29, 2025
The Joyful Jew
Palestine has been in the limelight in the past couple of months. People don’t know very many famous Palestinians. As we approach Christmas, we are reminded of the most famous, and perhaps the Most Valuable Palestinian of them all- Jesus of Nazareth. He is in the thick of things in the interfaith circles. Obviously, the Christianity is centered around him. Muslims love him and he is one of the 5 most elite Prophets in Islam. Jewish people may feel differently but the fact remains that Jesus was an ethnic Jew.
In case we, as Americans, have forgotten, he would remind us that he too was brown. He would remind us all that as the Christmas is approaching, and people are getting ready to celebrate his birth in a big way, that the biggest birthday gift to him would be a #Ceasefire in his land to stop the killing of his people.
The question for us is : Are we going to pay attention to his pleas?
Jesus Is The MVP-Most Valuable Palestinian | Ejaz Naqvi MD
December 16, 2023
Ask a (Born Again) Muslim
Podcasts, Music, audiobooks, news reports, talk shows, and a billion streaming services and YouTube channels compete for our attention every day. I remember the old days, when there were only 4 TV channels in our home in rural Illinois. That was way back in the 1900’s. And even those turned off at midnight. Remember those days? It was a different world.
It’s too easy to let yourself listen to something or watch something almost every minute of every day. When my son was a baby, I made a goal to slow the pace of my life to match his. I turned down the volume on everything, and I made an effort to be present. I loved watching him learn new things and experience life for the first time. It was a major change.
Staying Spiritually Awake In The Last Days | Abby Christianson
June 12, 2025
Scattering Sunshine
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ~Eden Phillpotts
What if there was magic in the world that was just out of your view? What if by honing your instincts and taking the time to look at life a little more closely, it revealed itself? The magic I’m talking about here has nothing to do with sleight of hand or pulling a bunny out of a hat. It’s about the magical realization that there’s more to life than what meets the eye.
Ultimately, finding magic isn’t a trick to be performed or a secret formula to be memorized. It’s a heartfelt way to engage with everyday life. When we embrace a daily practice of contemplation, and actively participate in our lives, we sharpen our wits. We are better able to perceive the deeply enriching magic that patiently awaits—not just beyond our view, but within our grasp.
Everyday Magic: Your Role In A More Enchanted Life | Tom Rapsas
June 26, 2025
Wake Up Call
Insights and Musings to Stir Your Soul
In a world so often divided, torn apart by what seems insurmountable polarity, religion stories told from across traditions remind us to break through our own narratives, or those of “our people,” and listen for a while to the story of humanity as a whole.
Narratives, especially in the hands of quality storytellers, provide a measure of truth and a degree of significance to individual lives. They also preserve the memory of deeds across time, and thus, enable the actions of others to become sources of inspiration — for the “gap between past and future,” as German American historian Hannah Arendt put it; that is, models to be imitated, and, if possible, surpassed.
That’s why I believe good religion stories are worth our time. And by “good religion stories” I not only mean stories highlighting the best of religious resilience, inspiration, and pursuing the common good, but well-written narratives about religion and all its human adherents — their simultaneously messy, masterful and magnificent lives; their faults, foibles, and failures too.
What If Religion Was The Hero In Today’s Headlines? | Ken Chitwood
June 30, 2025
Faith & Media Initiative
Coalition for Faith and Media
As a writer, I love reading about other writers lives. There’s a language we speak when it comes to that weird and funky thing called the ever-changing publishing landscape; there’s comfort to be found in sending story ideas out into the world, only to receive a cascade of noes (or worse, and more common, in fact) or no reply at all.
But does every reader want to read about the life of a writer? Most readers, I would argue, really don’t want to hear about this side of the industry at all, nor do they want to read about another rejection, and then, another unpaid bill, and then, another reflection on the hardships of this chosen profession.
Prayer is something I don’t always know how to write about …and I’m what they call a professional Christian. In all honesty, just as my relationship to God and religion as a whole has changed over the years, so has my relationship with prayer. Prayer is no longer something I spend hours poring over in my journal or something that I spend hours skinning my knees over (this a phrase I used to wear with pride over all the praying I was doing on behalf of other people). Instead, prayer is often now a nudging, an invitation to speak blessing over when a face pops into my mind, when a situation has me worried or upset.
The Journal Keeper Tells The Story Of A Life | Cara Meredith
June 10, 2025
Coloring Outside the Lines
Dear Patheos friends, we are now in the second half of 2025! The dog days of summer are officially upon us! Summer is time when some like to try out new activities. For others, summer is a time of relaxation. And the third category of people, summer is a time for both. Whichever category you may be, enjoy your summer. Those of us in Texas had an early start to summer-like temperatures. July came like a flash and we welcomed it with open arms. I had no idea there were many foods related celebrations in July– from pecan pie day, to blueberry muffin day and pina colada day, foodies love this month. Also, lots to celebrate nationally this month- picnic month, grilling month and much more. Happy birthdays shout out to everyone celebrating this month. A July 4th shoutout- Happy Birthday America- it’s Independence Day! Let’s pray for God’s blessings on the USA, her people and her leaders!
God’s Higher Standards For His Ambassadors | God’s Higher Standards For His Ambassadors
July 2, 2025
The Thriving Life
The Peanuts characters are some of the real icons of my generation. We all know Charlie Brown and his friends–they’re cartoons. They’re not real people. Still, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Snoopy, and the others have been a part of our lives, and they have a lot to say about “real life,” even real Christian life.
To me, the Peanuts characters are like a mirror that helps us to learn about ourselves. We have all occasionally been mean and crabby like Lucy, philosophical like Linus, self-centered like Sally, dramatic like Snoopy, and child-like, well, like all of them. They are children, as we are often children in our reactions to life.
Then there is Charlie Brown, who has so often failed, but who doesn’t give up. He is often made fun of and insulted, but he doesn’t seek revenge or give up on his friendships. He faces each new day with positivity and each evening with wonder. Yes, Charlie Brown is the one we should strive to be.
You’re [Still] A Good Man, Charlie Brown | Beverly R. Green
April 13, 2025
I Chase Sunsets
I’m reminded of Mother Theresa, who dedicated her whole life to loving and serving the poor in Calcutta. Did you know that there are lots of people who think she was a terrible person? She joined the poor in their poverty when she could have spent her whole life fundraising to try to lift them out of poverty. People criticized her, saying that she should have worked harder to change the system. Instead, she changed herself. She did what we all aspire to, but also what we all fear. She became poor in order to be a sign and embodiment of God’s love and God’s presence with those people.
In doing this she was following Jesus, who became poor to be a sign and embodiment of God’s love and God’s presence with us just as we are. I’m not saying we shouldn’t address unjust systems, but before the external work comes the internal work. That’s why Jesus starts with love.
For whom is Jesus inviting you to be a sign of the love and the presence of God is a world that is full of competition, and curses, and abuses?
When we were lost in the shadow of sin and death, Jesus came himself to be the embodiment of God’s love. His love grows within us and beyond us to be a sign for those who walk in darkness, trapped in the cycles of hatred. Jesus said it is not the well who need a doctor, but the sick. It may be our enemies who are in the greatest need of the sign of God’s light in this world, and we embody the light. We are the Body of Christ, not just to those who love us. We are the Body of Christ.
Love. Do good. Bless.
Love Your Enemy: The Strength To Follow Jesus’ Hardest Call | Sarah Forti
February 25, 2025
Deeper Still
True faith is not only for show. It is not something that should make us feel more righteous than others. It should instead give us purpose and meaning, and a far greater hope than what this world can provide.
This kind of faith is the one that can make our humanity shine all the more even in the midst of the darkest times. It allows us to have compassion, to act selflessly and to believe that there is something more that awaits us aside from the material riches we can have.
Faith teaches us that there are worse things than our physical death and that sometimes, those who seem to lose more are the ones who gain the most.
In the end, faith helps us to reach our full potential and not lose sight of our God-given dignity.
In the words of Kang Sae-byeok (player 067) who saved Gi-hun (456) from the ruin of killing other people (and his own soul), “Don’t do it. That isn’t you. You are a good person at heart.”
In life, may we remember the same words whenever we are tempted to commit evil in our most desperate moments. May the light of faith bring us to a greater awareness of the “good” that we can be by the grace of God. After all, what matters most are not the possessions we get to claim, but the kind of person we become.
5 Life Lessons From Squid Game You Probably Missed | Jocelyn Soriano
June 30, 2025
Beloved
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