This is Alan Watts, the great English professor and writer who did much to popularize Zen in America with some really good advice for all of us. There is also a cartoon of this video here. Watts, who died in 1973, came of age during the Beat Generation. He wrote many books about Zen Buddhism and lectured all over the U.S. You can find lots of his stuff on You Tube. Read more

As you can see in the post below, the French president and his education minister are in trouble over their support for same sex marriage. But in Cameroon, officials can put you in prison for simply texting love messages to someone of the same sex. Same sex marriage is a crime against humanity, says Roman Catholic Archbishop of Yaounde. At least 12 people have already been convicted. Read more

My colleague, Jeff Feinstein sent me the link to this This New York Times story, which reports that Catholic parochial education is in trouble. The church has closed many schools in the northeast and mid-west and suggests that their long term future is in doubt unless they make some significant changes. Read more

The church says gay clergy with partners can be appointed to the episcopate if they agree to remain celibate. Read more

France’s president, Francois Hollande , and his education minister, Vincent Peillon, are in trouble with voters and the Catholic Church because of their apparent support for same-sex marriage. In an article in Reuter’s Faith World, all France’s main religions–Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Jewish and Orthodox Christian– are opposed to the idea Read more

Interested in the healing aspects of yoga? Check out this On Being site where host, Krista Tippet interviews a variety of practitioners including Matthew Sanford, and Sean Corn. Read more

Concerned that their children lack character and need more tolerance and empathy for others, the Indonesian government has proposed to increase the amount of religious education their children get. In this New York Time article that my colleague, Jeff Feinstein, sent me, the government wants to merge the science and social studies classes in order to make room for religion. Read more

In a posting below, the Canadian Supreme Court dealt with niqabs worn in court trials. Now, according to an article in The Telegraph, a  London primary school is trying to ban the hijab head covering for a child in a London primary school. The child’s parents are fighting back and suing the school arguing that it is sinful for females to be in the presence of a male with her head uncovered. Read more

Writing for Religious Dispatches, Elizabeth Dresscher reviews what she calls “5 must reads” on the so-called “nones,” or the religiously “unaffiliated. She argues that existing books like Dianna Butler Bass’ “Christianity after Relgion” and David Kinnaman’s “You Lost Me” don’t distinguish “the finer distinctions” between the nones. You can check out the five books she reviews here. The picture above is the cover image from Leigh Eric Schmidt’s “Restless Souls.” Read more

CNN Belief Blog reports here that  Christian college students in Atlanta are attempting to make a dent in modern day slavery which involves over 27 million people.  Over 60,000 of them gathered to “shine a light on modern day slavery” on Friday, 1/4/13. Read more