The Pageless Book

Image above by “reedbiotch”. Photo below by “gutter”.

In case you haven’t heard about the current internet war against Scientology, let me bring you up to speed. Since the days of the usernet in the 1980’s, The Church of Scientology has actively attempted to quiet all criticism of its actives by citing copyright laws, harassing website owners, and allegedly abusing any means possible to silence detractors. Individuals have had their computers confiscated, been sued, and slandered in opposition of Scientology. On January 16th, a four year old video of Tom Cruise ranting about Scientology surfaced on YouTube and went viral. This brought negative media attention to the Church of Scientology, which prompted them to contact YouTube and demand that they take the video down or face legal proceedings.

I guess this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. On the 21st of the month, several groups of hackers joined together and, calling themselves “Anonymous,” declared war against Scientology in a YouTube video. You can see the original video here, as well as a second video addressing the followers of Scientology in particular here, and a video listing the alleged crimes of Scientology here. So far, the war has resulted in numerous denial of server attacks against the Chuch’s websites, the various videos I link to above, and most likely several acts that I am not yet privy.

So why is this important to me? It brings up an important question about religious tolerance, or the lack there of. Is this just bigotry practiced on a large scale by the hackers of the internet or is Scientology truly a sinister organization as Anonymous would have us believe? Where do I stand as a blogger, a citizen of the internet, and a champion of religious tolerance? What should I do, if anything? These are not easy questions for me to answer, but if I am to be honest with myself, they need to be asked.

Let’s assume for a moment that the accusations of illegal activities made against Scientology are all false and consider only the verifiable facts of how this organization has conducted itself in the past. The organization is heavily reliant on litigation as its means of defending itself and is not interested in open dialogue. They charge an incredible amount of money for access to their teachings and openly prevents the sharing of those teachings by others. Scientology rejects the importance of psychological and psychiatric medicine and offer their own scientifically unproved methods as means of overcoming mental illness… Even without mentioning the rumored illegal activities, I have to question the motives of this organization.

I have come to the conclusion that if even a quarter of what Anonymous has said is true, than Scientology is a detriment to society. The thing is, we don’t have to rely on the word of Anonymous to come to this decision; Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, and the United Kingdom refuse to recognize Scientology as a religion. Germany has even considered a ban on Scientology, and the government of Belgium is currently in the process of prosecuting the Church. You could even read the opinions of the judges who have ruled against the Church in the past, including this ruling from the California Supreme Court in the case of Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology:

“Substantial evidence supports the conclusion Scientology leaders made the deliberate decision to ruin Wollersheim economically and possible psychologically….We do not mean to suggest Scientology’s retributive program… represented a full scale modern day ‘inquisition.’ Nevertheless there are some parallels in purpose and effect. ‘Fair game,’ like the ‘inquisition,’ targeted heretics.

“Other testimony established Scientology is a hierarchal organization which exhibits near paranoid attitudes toward certain institutions and individuals — in particular the government, mental health professionals, disaffected members, and others who criticize the organization or its leadership… During trial, Wollersheim’s experts testified Scientology’s ‘auditing’ and ‘disconnect’ practices constituted ‘brainwashing’ and ‘thought reform’ akin to what the Chinese and North Koreans practiced on American prisoners of war…

“Using its position as religious leader, the church and its agents coerced Wollersheim into continuing auditing even though his sanity was repeatedly threatened by this practice… Thus there is adequate proof the religious practice in this instance caused real harm to the individual and the appellant’s outrageous conduct caused that harm… Church practices conducted in a coercive environment are not qualified to be voluntary religious practices entitled to first amendment religious freedom guarantees…

“We hold that the state has a compelling interest in allowing its citizens to recover for serious emotional injuries they suffer through religious practices they are coerced into accepting. Such conduct is too outrageous to be protected under the constitution and too unworthy to be privileged under the law of torts.”

-California appellate court, 2nd district, 7th division, Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Civ. No. B023193 Cal. Super. (1986)

So are the actions of Anonymous religious intolerance? Regardless of whether I believe the Church of Scientology to be a religion or not, no person or organization should be allowed to abuse the rights of others. No, Anonymous acts not out of religious intolerance, but instead of outrage at injustice. They seek only to work against a corrupt organization, not against the beliefs of others. Despite the fact that I do not agree with their methods, I have a great deal of respect for their purpose and will support them in the one way I can - by adding my voice to their choir.

ARTICLE 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
~The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in Paris.

Above photo by Bruno Girin. Photo below of Tara Hunt.

Have I been Digging you? Oh yeah, baby, I’ve been Digging you. All of you, in fact. I’ve found that submitting posts to Digg can be somewhat of a chore, though, as there are so many steps in submitting content. The good thing, however, is that I’ve found out Digg allows you to submit your own content if you want. Hrm. Looks like I have a new project on my hands.

In terms of support in promoting Liberal Religion Blogs, I’ve got two more allies. Shelby, whom I’ve mentioned several times before, took the initiative and wrote an entry about the four reasons why Unitarian Universalists should use social media. I highly suggest reading this inspirational piece of literature! Er, well, uhm, perhaps calling it ‘inspirational’ and ‘literature’ is a bit much - after all it is still just a blog post… Read it anyway! After all, we know the fifth reason to use social media is because John Pageless said so!

Actually, the fifth reason to use social media is to make friends. Nneka from Balanced Life Center, stumbled one of my articles in response to me stumbling one of her articles. I received a traffic spike of about two hundred and some-odd visitors as a result of her stumble. Am I thankful? Oh, heck yes. I only knew of Nneka peripherally before she had stumbled me, and now I’m even more interested in getting to know her and continue to read her blog. That’s how social media is supposed to work - it’s social.

I’m going to continue to Stumble and Digg for another week before introducing any new social media services to my networking regiment. If you have been stumbled or dugg this past week and had good results due to social media, I’d love to hear from you. Or, if you are a reader who has been trying new social media websites with me and have some suggestions or comments to make, by all means drop me a line.

Photo by Buck Blues

Two weeks I’ve been attempting to use StumbleUpon to help improve traffic to the liberal religion blogging community and I’ve learned a few things. First thing I have come to realize is that StumbleUpon is extremely addictive in the same way TV channel surfing is addictive. If you don’t grab their attention immediately, stumblers will bounce away from your website without a second thought. Another thing I’ve learned is that the more often you use StumbleUpon, the more authority your particular suggestions will have. This is important because now I know that I can’t really expect consistent positive results in two weeks.

Regardless, I want to hear your stories about how StumbleUpon is working for you and what you’ve learned from the experience. If you’ve been Stumbled, what was the traffic that you received from StumbleUpon like, and would you want to be Stumbled again? I plan on continuing using StumbleUpon to promote my fellow bloggers and hope that you are thinking about doing the same.

Digg It!

Much like StumbleUpon, Digg.com provides you with an up or down vote on news articles that have been submitted to their website. The difference is that, unlike StumbleUpon, your readers will not come upon your page at random, but will have to look for you. This means the visitors you gain from Digg are going to be expressly interested in the content you are providing.

For more information about digg, see the following articles:

• Beginner’s Guide to Digg
• How to Use Digg Like a Pro
• How to Digg Content

I’m going to start using Digg.com this week to promote the websites of fellow UUs and religious liberals, and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Give it a shot and tell me what you think. The more of us on the bandwagon, the stronger we are together. If you own a blog, write an entry to encourage your readers to join us and let me know about it so I mention your article in the next update.

This morning, I went to check my stats for the Pageless Book, and saw that Santa Claus came a bit early. The number of RSS subscribers to my feed increased by five fold over the course of one day. I now have a serious case of the warm fuzzies for my readers; thank you for showing that you care. I’ll be busy for the next couple of days, but I’ll be sure to keep you all in my thoughts. Have a Happy Holiday

Namaste.

Photo by Sharon Mollerus

Is this yet another regular feature on The Pageless Book? Oh, yes it is. “Friday Vibes” is commentary on three or four blog posts that I feel my readers may be interested in. For this first edition of “Friday Vibes,” I have decided to get into the holiday spirit. I do not know what it is, but I no longer feel as grinch-ish. I am sure it’s just a temporary condition and I’ll be back to my old self soon - heart size and all. Until then, I’d like to point out three excellent articles concerning Christmas that fellow bloggers published this week.

The Holiday Season… How to make it Authentic

If you are like me, and despise the materialistic or commercial elements of the holiday season, then perhaps you would like to look at the article “The Holiday Season…. How to Make it Authentic.” Jennifer, from Goodness Gracious, confronts the inherent problems with Old Saint Nick and gift giving. By suggesting alternative solutions and asking her readers to think about what is truly important to their Christmas, she provides us with tools with which we can rewrite our holiday traditions.

I like this article not only because it appeals to adult sensibilities, but also to my inner child as well. Jennifer shows that Christmas does not need to be all about the gifts, yet shows how we can keep the childlike spirit of Christmas alive. All you have to do is ask what it is about Christmas that is important and down play elements that are not as important. It just takes a little imagination.

Coming Home for Christmas (after de-conversion)

Richard, from De-Conversion, wrote an excellent essay about what Christmas means from an Atheist’s point of view. “Coming Home for Christmas (after de-conversion)” evokes images and impressions of childhood, drawing a sharp comparison between the understanding of the world as an adult with the beliefs we hold as a child. His musings on the subject of Christmas are bitter-sweet, deeply personal, and not exactly what some religious folks might expect from an Atheist.

I have to admit to identifying strongly with this article. Feeling regularly at odds with this holiday myself, I appreciate how hard it is to participate in Christmas without accepting it’s full meaning. Reading this article gave me some perspective and insight into my own feelings regarding Christmas.

A Yule Ritual

Finally, I want to offer something a little bit *different* concerning the holiday season. Posted over at The Sacred Paths is a Wiccan Yule Ritual, and I urge you to take a moment to read it. I really enjoy the Wiccan take on the holidays; something about the rituals and the symbols they associate with the Solstices and Equinoxes speaks to me in a way that the Christian celebrations never have. I might even have to suggest incorporating some Wiccan elements into my own holiday celebration. If you are looking into new traditions for your family, this is a great place to start.

Photo by Javier Cruz Barranco

In the entire history of the world, there has not been a civilization as successful as Western Civilization - except maybe the Roman Empire, but please let’s over look that. And perhaps the Ottoman Empire… and can we ignore the Chinese Celestial Empire as well? Well, our society may not be unique in terms of successfulness, but there’s no arguing that our civilization is pretty spiffy, in the grand scheme of things, and worth the time and effort to understand.

For better or for worse, the origins of our civilization are rooted deeply into the historical soil of Christianity. By extension the religions that it has came from or have come from Christianity are also important us. Trying to understand the origins of this religion, as well as how this religion has evolved over time, gives us a better understanding of where we have been and where we are going. With this perspective upon our own history, we can better grasp our identity as a civilization, and come to terms with the problems facing us today.

Given this, I present to you a time line of holy texts that have been influential to, or influenced by, Western Civilization. By no means is this a complete list of texts. Although I have tried to include all the major influences on our culture, I may have left a few out. Nor can I claim that all the information is completely accurate. The information I present here is a brief summary and may miss important details. If you find that I have inadvertently excluded something that you believe to be important, feel free to let me know.

• The Zend Avesta - c. 1200 BCE.

This is the Holy Book of Zoroastrianism, the first prophetic and monotheistic religion. This religion became prominent between 560 BCE and 650 CE, and shares many similarities to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Like these religions, Zoroastrianism professes the existence of a heaven and hell, the belief in one God, and in the belief that this holy text is the word of God. You can find the text of The Zend Avesta here.

• The Torah - c. 1200 BCE Authorship, c. 450 BCE Canonized.

Also called the Pentateuch, these five books are considered the word of God as written by Moses in traditional Judaism. The Torah itself has undergone several revisions throughout history. When Israel split from Judah, the two priesthoods began to support slightly different copies of the text. Originally, the Torah was four books, but would later became five books in c. 625 BCE, when the priesthood of Judah claimed to have discovered Deuteronomy. In c. 450 BCE after the exile in Babylon, these two text were combined with other versions of the Torah as well as Deuteronomy and finalized into the book we have today. You can find the text of The Torah here.

• The Tanakh - c. 1000 - 100 BCE Authorship, c. 75 CE Canonized.

Better known to Christian readers as the Old Testament, this holy text includes the Torah along with nineteen other texts which form the core of the Hebrew Religion. It includes the writings of prophets, the poetry of kings, and the histories of the Hebrew people. You can find the text of The Tanakh here.

• New Testament (KJV) - c. 50 - 75 CE Authorship, c. 400 CE Canonized.

Twenty seven books make up this text, and form the corner stone of the Christian faith. Although there are several inconsistencies in the text and mistakes made in the scribing of them, it is believed to be an historically accurate account of Jesus’s life and death. In 1611 CE, the most popular English Translation of the Bible, both New Testament and Old Testament, was published as The King James Bible. You can find the text of the Christian Bible here.

• The Gnostic Gospels - c. 75 - 150 CE.

The core of the Gnostic Gospels are the books found in the Nag Hammadi Library in 1945 CE. Gnosticism is one of the many minor off shoots of early Christianity that were suppressed and became extinct. Gnosticism became the foundation of Hermeticism, which then gave root to Occult practices in Medieval Europe. You can find some of the texts of The Gnostic Gospels here.

• The Kebra Negast - c. 300 CE.

This text was presented at the First Council of Nicaea for possible inclusion into the Christian Bible. It later became the Holy Book of the Rastafari movement, which began c. 1930 CE. The book is an account of the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Ethiopia. You can find the text of The Kebra Negast here.

• The Qur’an - c. 600 CE.

As the sacred book of Islam, the Qur’an is believed by Muslims to be the final revelation to humanity. The book was first written by followers of Muhammad as recited by Muhammad the prophet over the course of 23 years. The text itself is poetic in nature and often alludes to stories of the Tanakh and the New Testament. You can find the text of The Quran here.

• The Adi Granth - c. 1600 CE.

The Adi Granth is the holy book of the Sikh religion. The text itself is a collection of the poetry, spiritual insights, and songs of the first five Gurus of the Sikh religion. Because the Sikh religion is a blending of both Islam and Hinduism, it also recognizes and included information from a number of Muslim and Hindu saints. You can find the text of The Adi Granth here.

• The Book of Mormon - 1830 CE First Publication.

Found and allegedly translated from golden plates by Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon is the sacred text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Copies are often given for free by missionaries, and who could probably give a better review of the text then I can here. You can find the text of The Book of Mormon here.

• The Kitab-i-Aqdas - c. 1840 CE.

Written by Bahá’u'lláh, the founder of the Bahai faith, this book claims to be the next revelation of the God of Abraham. The Kitab-i-Aqdas accepts of the account of Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha, and Abraham as revelations of God, and also asserts that there will be yet other messengers of God in the future. The Bahai faith is often described as a blended religion, combining the teachings of several earlier religions. You can find the text of The Kitab-i-Aqdas here.

• The Urantia Book - 1935 CE.

This text is a compilation of papers that were collected by a group known as the Forum. The members of this Forum claim that the papers materialized as a response to questions they have asked between 1925 and 1935. Although The Urantia Book shares several teachings that are similar to Christian beliefs, it also diverts from Christianity in regards to the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. It also delves into the study of the universe, presenting several theories on the makeup of reality. Currently, no single religion is associated with this text, although it is popular in New Age circles. You can find the text of The Urantia Book here.

“Some find God at church on Sundays, but where does God bubble up in our lives the Other 6 days of the week?” - Other 6, Welcoming.

Photo by Jeff Kubina

Spirituality is a social experience for many. There is something uniquely spiritual about sharing your feelings with another person and having those feelings accepted. Other 6 is a website designed to facilitate that social aspect of spirituality, creating a online community geared towards shared hopes and joys.

When you first enter this flash-based website, a burst of blue bubbles emerges from the center of the screen. Some of these bubbles are dark blue, while others are light blue; this is to determine what type of post the bubble represents. Darker bubbles are comments on where an individual poster had found God today - whether it was in a child’s smile, or in a friends laughter - while lighter bubbles are comments from individuals who feel a need for God to be in a particular aspect of their life. Move your cursor over one of the bubbles and a message box will appear, displaying the comment left by that bubble’s creator. Move to another bubble, a new comment will appear in place of the previous.

While it may be tempting to remain a voyeur, peaking in to see other people’s thoughts, the real purpose of the website is within the interaction. Double click on any one bubble, and a larger message box will appear on the right hand side of your screen and display a number of options. You can view comments left by other readers concerning that bubble or add your own comment.

When you get tired of reading the messages of the bubbles in front of you, there is an option just under the mass of bubbles that allows you to view a new set of messages. As you do this, you may notice that some bubbles are actually larger then others. This represents the number of comments left for that message. This tends to make the visitors gravitate towards the bubbles that have been commented on, so the website designers wisely chose to expose only messages that have not been commented on when you first enter the site.

If you want one of those message bubbles to be your own, you have a choice to make; do you want to talk about where you’ve found the Divine in your life, or do you need to express where you need the Divine in your life? By dividing the messages up into those two categories, the administrators of Other 6 can make sure that every visitor is exposed to a fair mix of both positive and negative. I think this is another good feature that deserves to be mentioned, because without it, you might be tempted to cycle through the bubbles until you only can see one type or another.

Other 6 also keeps your identity private; you only need to provide your city and state, as well as initials with which to identify yourself if you wish to post your own bubble. This allows for users to share deeper feeling and issues that you might not want to share publically. I find this to be a good feature as well; it’s hard to be truly spiritual when you have guard your words.

This website is the brain-child of Loyola Communications, a division of Loyola Press, which is the publishing arm of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (a.k.a the Jesuits). While this means that this site is Catholic owned and operated, Other 6 is not geared towards one particular religion or another. They claim to push no particular agenda and welcome all “who seek God with a sincere heart.” I’ve tested the limits of what that means myself and believe that their open invitation is honest. That being said, Other 6 is mainly Christian, and you will encounter a few messages and comments that reflect the site’s Christian leanings.

I find Other 6 to be a refreshingly simple web page that achieves what its purpose through thoughtful design. I hope you give it a try… and while you are there, see if you can find my bubbles.

Photo by Pétursey

If you are a Buddhist, and you are on-line, you’ve probably already bounced around this website more then a few times. Perhaps, however, you are like me and are interested in Buddhism in addition to your other spiritual pursuits, in which case you may not know about this website. It’s worth a good long look.

Buddhanet is the central hub for everything related to Buddhism. Whether your interest in Buddhism is curiosity or serious study, you will find that this website can provide you with the information you need. Buddhanet began as a dial-in bulletin board and slowly evolved into the website we see today. It proudly proclaims itself to be “a non-sectarian organisation, offering its services to all Buddhist traditions. It aims to facilitate a significant Buddhist presence in the ever-expanding realm of computer communications technology, applying this technology to helping make the Buddha’s teachings freely available to all.”

If you are new to Buddhism, a good place to start would be under the Buddhist Studies link. They not only have a general over-view of what Buddhism is, but also provide a complete course study in Buddhism. If you are a teacher, the website also provides lessons for your students, as well as a guideline on how to teach Buddhism.

The next thing I would recommend checking out would be the Buddhazine Online Magazine. Most people prefer to casually browse online articles and this section of the website is custom made just for that purpose. Not only does it provide articles on Buddhist traditions, meditation, art, and wisdom, but it also boasts a section devoted to women in Buddhism as well as a section devoted to children.

The website is thorough, as well. Buddhanet provides you an entire library of Buddhist texts. In addition to this, they feature multimedia such as audio files, photos and artwork.  And what if you want to visit a temple? No matter were you might live, Buddhanet can find local Buddhist temples and schools for you. The only thing that I have found this site to be lacking is a sufficient discussion forum, which is ironic seeing as it began as BBS. Seeing as they have just about every Buddhist website available in their suggested links, wouldn’t be too hard to find a good Buddhism Discussion Forum.

Whether you have a full day to waste on one website or just a few moments, I would suggest spending your time on Buddhanet. With so much information and so much to do, it’s hard to get bored. Even if you are like me and can only find time to browse websites occasionally, it still does a soul good to be infused with the wisdom of the Buddha.

Note: While originally I started doing a website review series called “Religious Tolerance Website Death Match,” I’ve decided that avenue might be a touch too silly for my blog’s subject matter. As such, I am starting a new series today called “Site in Focus”, to review websites that deal with religious tolerance and spirituality that my readership might be interested in. Silliness and humor is very much apart of my personality, however, so don’t expect that to disappear completely from my website. I’m not above poking fun at myself, religion, or even the Divine itself… as I suspect the Divine has quite a time doing the same to us.

World Prayers.Org is one of those websites that everyone should bookmark and visit for occasional inspiration. The objective of the website is straight forward enough: “to gather the great prayers written by the spiritual visionaries of our planet into an online database representing all life affirming traditions.” The beauty of the website, however, is in its usefulness and easy navigation.

World Prayers.Org features a randomized “prayer wheel” as well as a standard search option and categories. While it may seem a little hard to find the standard search option, I feel that this might be a feature of the website, rather then a flaw. The website seeks to promote religious tolerance through exposure to the prayers of different faith traditions. If the prayer wheel option was not more accessible than the standard search option, it would be easier to avoid reading the prayers of other faiths, defeating the purpose.

The prayers are divided up into four distinct groupings:

• Adorations: Prayers of devotion, surrender, love, praise and offering.
• Celebrations: Prayers of thanksgiving, initiation, affirmation and blessing.
• Invocations: Prayers of petition, supplication, calling forth and healing.
• Meditations: Prayers of reflection, contemplation, being and teaching.

World Prayers.Org is a non-profit organization, so it does make requests for donations. However, the requests for donations are not intrusive, leaving the website with a simple and pleasing design. And monetary donations are not the only methods of contributing to the website - you may also volunteer to help program the site, or suggest a prayer to be included on the website. Unlike many for-profit websites, there are no ads, scrolling texts, or flash elements to get in the way of enjoying it.

I do hope you give World Prayers.Org a try and tell me what you think. Below is a prayer I found, and I’m including it to give you a taste of what is available. Namaste.

When someone is full of Love and Compassion,
he cannot draw a line between
two countries, two faiths, or two religions.

- amma

Previously on Religious Tolerance Website Death Match:
Belief.Net took on ReligiousTolerance.Org in a brawl that left bodies broken and kept a blood-soaked audience on the edge of their seat. When the dust had settled, Belief.Net had managed barely to scrape together a victory by using toothpicks made from Christ’s Cross to reattach her arm and then using boiling hot holy oil to destroy ReligiousTolerance.Org’s zombified remains…

Second Match:
Religious Education Forums vs. Interfaith Forums

Deciding which forum is better cannot be easy when you have two class-acts such as the Religious Education Forums and the Interfaith Forums. Both forums have the advantage of easy navigation, large active member-base, and a over abundance of discussions. In terms of which of these two forums are the largest, the Religious Education Forums have three times the number of members and seven times the number of threads. Larger, however, doesn’t always mean better. Many of the members of Religious Education Forums are also members of Interfaith Forums, so we can’t claim that it is the members that make one forum better then the other. The rules are a little more relaxed in the Religious Education Forums, but that can be construed as a possible negative as much as it could be a positive.

The deciding factor in regards to this matter is the members’ intention. If you want to join one of these forums to get to know people of different religious beliefs on a closer level, you will want to join the Interfaith Forums. With it’s smaller size, you are more likely to be seen by and engage with other regular posters. As a result of it’s stricter rules, you can be assured that your time will not be wasted by advertising and proselytizing. However, if you are looking for a good argument & want challenging discussion, the Religious Education Forums will more likely be your style. Debate is welcomed in this forum and has areas set up especially for debating.

Oh, who am I kidding by trying to be “fair and balanced”? I honestly feel that the Religious Education Forums are better all around. Interfaith Forums frown upon links to other sites being posted, even if you are adding to the conversation. That strictness chaffs my buttocks, and I don’t like it! Forums are one avenue where bigger is actually better; more opinions, more discussions, and more people make for more possible blog readers - and that’s really why we’re there, isn’t it?

Erm… Well, that’s just my opinion.