LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

The "Gospel of Judas" thread has made me wonder if there might be the need for an offshoot of this community for discussions of historical Christianity. There seem to be a lot of folks here who are very knowledgeable in this subject, and if there's an interest, I might create a community for folks to discuss this very interesting and wide ranging subject.

Subjects would include: Early Christianity, history of the era, authors of the gospels, canonical and non-canon books, the various sects and schisms of Christianity including Gnostics, Coptics, Orthodox, etc., the Protestant Reformation and its offshoots, modern offshoots, heresies, inquisitions, and stuff like that. How did fundementalism as we know it get its start? What happened to the Pentecostals and AOG congregations when they moved indoors from their tents? How do offshoots like the Mormons, Moonies play into the big picture? Are Messianic Christians really Christian? Or Jewish? How about Christian Wiccans and Pagans? How did Vatican II change the Catholic Church? Is the American Catholic church eventually going to break away from Rome?

Stuff like that. Lots of deep digging, head-scratching, 'gee, I didn't know that' stuff. No flame wars, but debate would be welcome.

Any interest? Here's a poll...

[Error: Invalid poll ID 708859]

ETA: Looks like there's a reasonable interest in this idea. Now it needs a good name. LJ naming conventions say a-z, underscore and the numbers 0-9 with a 15-character limit. Submit your suggestions! I also need some folks to help me mind it- I have a lot of irons in the fire right now, and can't give it the undivided attention it will need in its early days. Volunteers? I need at least two.

ETA II: OK- it's done. Welcome to xtian_trackback! Please check it out, and if you have suggestions for the interest collection (I did it off the top of my head), improvements to the front door, a user picture, or other ideas and thoughts, go post 'em. Play nice!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Taking Back the Faith
Dan Wakefield in The Nation
24-April-2006
( Several excerpts )

From the following article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
( A new case of religiously motivated child abuse--warning, potentially triggering to walkaways )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Since there seemed to be an interest, I have created a new spinoff community, xtian_trackback. Its purpose is to explore the history and heresies of Christianity.

Go check it out! And participate in it!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

Happy Passover
Happy Easter
Happy Ostara

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ulitave) A TRIBUNE SPECIAL REPORT

SUSHI AND REV. MOON
How Americans' growing appetite for sushi helps support his controversial church

By Monica Eng, Delroy Alexander and David Jackson Tribune staff reporters
Published April 12, 2006

On a mission from their leader, five young men arrived in Chicago to open a little fish shop on Elston Avenue. Back then, in 1980, people of their faith were castigated as "Moonies" and called cult members. Yet the Japanese and American friends worked grueling hours and slept in a communal apartment as they slowly built the foundation of a commercial empire.

They were led by the vision of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who sustained their spirits as they played their part in fulfilling the global business plan he had devised.

Moon founded his controversial Unification Church six decades ago with the proclamation that he was asked by Jesus to save humanity. But he also built the empire blending his conservative politics, savvy capitalism and flair for spectacles such as mass weddings in Madison Square Garden.

In a remarkable story that has gone largely untold, Moon and his followers created an enterprise that reaped millions of dollars by dominating one of America's trendiest indulgences: sushi.

( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

"A sizeable minority of Americans feel that the apocalypse is upon us. And their president is quite likely one of them. The key difference between Bush and his supporters, sadly, is that the End Timer-in-Chief has his finger on the nuclear trigger - and seems poised to pull it. In that case, God help us all."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Looks like someone is battling Dominionism through awareness in Australia. Beware of the God is a website blogging the onslaught of Christian extremism in that country. They've even got a short little Quicktime movie that is quite interesting.

Check it out.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY obifrodo)

OK, I have never done this before with a link, so I hope this works:

http://thegreenknight.blogspot.com/2006/04/eitheror.html

This is a post by the Green Knight, a liberal/progressive Episcopal sort of guy who has a heady yet accessible blog which often deals with religion. Actually, he is linking to Slacktivist in his own post (but I like Green Knight's comments too, so I'll link to him and not straight to Slacktivist).

A snip:
Some ex-fundamentalists turn out just fine. But when you've been taught this starkly terrified world view, in which the only alternatives are fairy tales or total depravity, it's difficult to find the third option -- difficult even to conceptualize a third option.