{Aleister Crowley. Diary of a Drug Fiends. Weiser Books 2010. 368 pages. $18.95} Review by Star Foster Why on earth should you read this book? I know I asked myself that question. What moral, spiritual or religious value could be found within? It is the story of a couple who ride the highs of heroin and cocaine until they find themselves addicted, degraded and enslaved to their habit. Through Thelema they find salvation from the demands of heroin. The book... Read more
When it comes to gender, Paganism has the advantage of not being saddled with an allegedly infallible, unalterable book. This means that we are not doomed to be stuck trying to define ourselves by or adhere to laws written down millenia ago, before the advent of germ theory, toothpaste and cable. Not only are we liberated from first-century middle-eastern views on gender roles, we have the advantage of more than one deity, so none of that “God only has one... Read more
“Lâ ilâha illallâh, wa Muḥammadur rasûlullâh.” The young hijabi woman said the words again in English, and I looked down the terraced auditorium desks to stare at the blank wall behind her. She said, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” She was a convert to Islam. The Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Chicago, the university I attend, was holding their annual Muslim Awareness week and I was sitting in on a... Read more
911 Ritual for Tolerance and Remembrance Many in our community have expressed shock and dismay at the trend towards religious intolerance that has developed as the anniversary of 911 approaches. As a response, the following short ritual is provided as a way that we can express our collective intent for a peaceful and tolerant world on September 11, 2010. In calling the quarters and inviting the Lord and the Lady care should be taken to summon deities and energies that... Read more
(Warning: some of the descriptions below are graphic and may be disturbing for some readers.) It’s the aftermath of 9/11 I remember the most: people wandering like ghosts through silent streets for days after the towers fell; the echoing silence everywhere, a silence so profound it was nearly palpable; the scorched and smoky smell that permeated everyplace Downtown, that made the heart jump and the throat close up with remembered horror; the open-hearted camaraderie that reached across race, class, and... Read more
Islam is going to be a tough one for this series. While I have spoken to Muslims through the wonder of the interwebs, I can’t really say I know any Muslims and couldn’t point you even roughly in the direction of the nearest mosque or halal deli. A lot of the things I hear about Islam are negative, so finding 13 positive things will be both a challenge and adventure. 13. Algebra So maybe I don’t like algebra but I... Read more
I’m sure by now many of you have heard of the Christian pastor, Terry Jones, of a small Florida church who plans and is encouraging people to burn copies of the Quran, Islam’s holy text, on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the United States. In the scheme of history, it is always the small-minded who burn books. It has not yet been a hundred years since the famous Berlin book burning of 1933, when Hitler’s trusted Propaganda Minister... Read more
We want to keep doing mini-series here on the Pagan portal and we’re following up our theology series with Paganism and Gender. Are you female? Male? Transgendered? Genderqueer? Do you practice gender polarity? How do concepts of gender affect your spiritual practice? What is the relationship between gender and the Divine? If you’re interested in contributing just send your article and a short bio to sfoster at patheos.com Read more
I am no fan of monotheism, whether it be Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. I could write at length on why I believe monotheisms are ill-considered however I’m not going to do that. For the purpose of this article, it simply isn’t important. What is however, and what I’m going to focus on here is the idea of respect across religious traditions because in the end, I don’t have to agree with someone to acknowledge their right to worship their own... Read more
So as I work my way through the major faith traditions I come to Catholicism. In a way this may be one of the more difficult “13 things” because although I do know Catholics I’ve never set foot in a Catholic church and most of my knowledge of it comes from movies, books and television. Yet even though my knowledge of the tradition is so very second hand, it is such a broad, intricate and old tradition that finding only... Read more
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