18 Mar 2009
People with strong religious beliefs 'fight death the hardest'

Isn't this interesting? You would think that a firm belief in a (presumably happy) afterlife would have the exact opposite effect, eh? The implication here is that the studies subjects were Christian, but that's never actually said.

I know my beliefs have certainly changed my outlook on death - in fact, I have a whole essay on the topic of death, culture and religion that's currently gracing my desktop. With any luck, I'll get around to finishing it - and posting here someday.

People with strong religious beliefs appear to want doctors to do more to keep them alive

(link) [BBC News]

18:24 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

25 Feb 2009
Biologist discusses sacred nature of sustainability

Environmental concerns fit pretty neatly within the context of all Earth-based religions: it's the revealed religions that seem to have some difficulty with the idea. And the simple reason for that is that the revelations took place many hundreds of years ago, under different circumstances and conditions, yet they're supposed to be eternally relevant because "god" said it...

This is one theological thorn bush that heathenry lacks, and that's a good thing, because we have more than enough other bushes to trim.

The hot topics of global warming and environmental sustainability are concerns that fit neatly within the precepts of religious naturalism, according to Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to being a renowned cell biologist, Goodenough is a religious naturalist and the author of The Sacred Depths of Nature, a bestselling book on religious naturalism that was published in 1998.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

07:44 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

15 Feb 2009
Happy Birthday, Ravenswood!

1993 was a long time ago. And much has changed. But some things have not, and Ravenswood is one of them. There are new members, to be sure, and some of the old ones (including two of the founding members) have left. But Ravenswood itself remains. And today we gathered for the 17th time to celebrate the Feast of Vali.

And it pleases me to announce that Lorraine Haxton, my lovely wife and the love of my life, was today oathed to the Kindred of Ravenswood. Hail Ravenswood! Hail Lorraine! (And on a more secular note, Happy Valentines Day, honey!)

00:12 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link

05 Feb 2009
One-tonne 40ft snake prowled superhot prehistoric jungles

Jormungander.

Scientists say they have discovered fossil remains of a colossal prehistoric snake that once roamed the superheated Paleocene jungles of South America. The one-tonne Titanoboa cerrejonensis would have been more than 40 feet long and ten feet around at its thickest.

(link) [The Register]

21:16 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

10 Jan 2009
Who Would Jesus Smack Down?

Now here's a preacher I can root for: the more of this drivel he spews, the easier it will be for me to convince folks to give Heathenry a serious look. Predestination, indeed : give me an easier target, why don't ya?

The Seattle minister Mark Driscoll is out to transform American evangelicalism with his macho conception of Christ and neo-Calvinist belief in the total depravity of man.

(link) [New York Times]

16:14 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

03 Jan 2009
Generation Faithful: Preaching Moderate Islam

I suspect that those hopeful for the spread of a moderate version of Islam via the tube will ultimately be disappointed - electronic media lend themselves to extremism, as evidenced by the plethora of fundie Christian religious programming in the US. In fact, I can't think of any "liberal" Christian televangelists.

I've often wondered what Heathen themed video might look like. The AFA recently posted some videos covering the 12 days of Yule,but the production values are nowhere near those of the major religions. I'm sure this is due entirely to a lack of funds, but still, despite McNallen's personal charisma the message falls flat. I'm sure it would fall even flatter to the uninitiated, to those not familiar with the theology/ethics of Heathenry.

We've had Heathen radio, but that eventually died due to a lack of funds/interest as well. There are several still extant Heathen podcasts, but that's about the limit of our multimedia efforts.

I'm just thinking out loud here - I certainly don't have the funding necessary for an effort that would match Christian or Muslim media productions, and I'm not sure that Heathenry ever will. But I wonder ... what would it look like?

The religion-themed television shows of a new generation of “satellite sheiks” have helped fuel a religious revival across the Arab world.

(link) [New York Times]

10:36 /Asatru | 5 comments | permanent link

31 Dec 2008
Religion may have evolved because of its ability to help people exercise self-control

I'll bet that the notion of religions "evolving" has got some folks (like, oh, say the Christian creationists) quite in an uproar. Be that as it may be, a study that shows people behaving differently and with better motivation when they believe themselves to be in accordance with the divine is hardly news: that's kind of the whole point of religion, eh?

But what really struck me about this is the headline, with it's the underlying assumption that a priori there are no gods or eternal truths, and that the fabric of religion itself evolved out of a purely human consciousness. I don't see this in the article at all, but then again, I've just read the synopsis presented here, not the entire study. I'd be surprised if it was in there, however, as it wouldn't have hurt the authors conclusions to simply ignore the "existence of god" question. Methinks the headline was added to gin up some controversy ... and the consequent media attention.

The one assumption that is glaringly obvious from the synopsis is the emphasis on monotheistic religions: "God is watching", eternal punishment and reward, etc. Those are concepts that are almost completely alien to the worlds polytheistic (and pantheistic) faiths - but then, perhaps I expect too much, imagining that a researcher in the US would account for the Hindus, Taoists and Buddhists of the world, not to mention us Heathens.

It's an interesting read, nonetheless, and not quite a Study in Stupidity - but it does come close.

A study by a University of Miami psychologist reveals that religion facilitates the exercise of self-control and attainment of long-term goals.In his study, Michael McCullough, a psychology professor at the University of Miami, finds a strong correlation between religion and self-control, or self-regulation. He explains that religious people may have at their disposal a set of unique resources that makes them better suited to adhering to long term goals.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

08:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

30 Dec 2008
Virginity pledges don't mean much, study says

I can't say I'm surprised by this, but one little bit of the study did surprise me:

Five years after the initial survey the study subjects were aged 20 to 23. Eighty-two percent of pledge takers denied (or forgot) they had ever taken such a vow.

Heathenry holds oaths in the highest regard: if you make a vow, you're supposed to do your utmost to keep it, and if you fail, you can bet there'll be Hel to pay. Getting released from an oath is certainly possible, but only after satisfaction is offered to the oath holder. In the case of one of these silly "virginity pledges", that would be the pledge taker. What kind of satisfaction can you offer yourself? Another vow?

The net result of such things is to devalue the entire notion of an oath or a pledge: and that doesn't bode well for any society, Heathen, Christian or otherwise.

As many as one in eight teens in the United States may take a virginity pledge at some point, vowing to wait until they're married before having sex. But do such pledges work? Are pledge takers more likely than other teens to delay sexual activity?

(link) [CNN.com]

19:27 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link

03 Dec 2008
Stone Age site reveals 'extraordinary' artworks

Venus of Willendorf, move over.!

Archaeologists in Russia have discovered an "extraordinary" group of Stone Age artworks which appear to have been carefully buried in pits and covered with mammoth bones, the researchers announced this week in a newly published paper.

(link) [CNN.com]

22:34 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Visual Hallucinations Are a Normal Grief Reaction

Of course they're "hallucinations". Death is the end of everything - "ghost" and "spirit" are mere cultural catch-alls. Any connection we feel to our ancestors is mere metal generation on our part - because only "researchers" can correctly parse "reality".

Sure that's the way it is ... right.

Vaughn Bell has written an interesting essay at Scientific American about grief hallucinations. This phenomenon is a normal reaction to bereavement that is rarely discussed, although researchers now know that hallucinations are more likely during times of stress. Mourning seems to be a time when hallucinations are particularly common, to the point where feeling the presence of the deceased is the norm rather than the exception. A study by Agneta Grimby at the University of Goteborg found that over 80 percent of elderly people experience hallucinations associated with their dead partner one month after bereavement, as if their perception had yet to catch up with the knowledge of their beloved's passing. It's not unusual for people who have lost a partner to clearly see or hear the person about the house, and sometimes even converse with them at length. 'Despite the fact that hallucinations are one of the most common reactions to loss, they have barely been investigated and we know little more about them. Like sorrow itself, we seem a little uncomfortable with it, unwilling to broach the subject,' writes Bell. 'We often fall back on the cultural catch all of the "ghost" while the reality is, in many ways, more profound.'

(link) [Slashdot]

22:32 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

27 Nov 2008
The Glossy Gospel

Lest my Christian friends think this is too over the top, I'd like to remind them that this sort of thing's been done by Christians since at least the 9th century of the Common Era.

However, The Heliand is not just a translation of the Bible - it's a complete retelling of the Christ tale, in the Old Saxon language and with Old Saxon cultural motifs (i.e. the 12 apostles are 12 doughty warriors, with Jesus as the drighten of the war band). From a Heathen perspective, it can be wildly offensive, and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of Christians who'd find it irreverent as well.

Just like I'm sure there'll be complaints about these new tomes.

Should porn addicts and manga fans get special Bibles?

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

08:42 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

01 Nov 2008
Scottish link

I was wondering when somebody would notice this: the Caucasus is the Indo-European homeland, and heartland. And the folks who are still there are just the w=ones that stayed at home during the migration age. The only thing the Ossetians are missing is that, of course, they are related to the Georgians (and the Russians) as well as the Scots, the Franks and the English.

Heathenry does a lot of toponymy, the study of place names, to ascertain the extent and nature of various god-cults in the Viking Age and before. So it's no surprise to me that there are placenames all over Western Europe that can be traced back to the Caucasus.

Hundreds of years ago, Ossetians roamed all over Western Europe, from the Caucasus to Scotland. As Tim Whewell reveals, the folk memories of these wanderings have lingered down the centuries, so that it can be hard to tell where myth ends and history begins.

(link) [BBC News]

09:22 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link

13 Oct 2008
Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Flee

You have to comdemn forced conversion, of course, but I also wonder about the how and why of this particular situation:

Behind the clashes are long-simmering tensions between equally impoverished groups: the Panas and Kandhas. Both original inhabitants of the land, the two groups for ages worshiped the same gods. Over the past several decades, the Panas for the most part became Christian, as Roman Catholic and Baptist missionaries arrived here more than 60 years ago, followed more recently by Pentecostals, who have proselytized more aggressively.

Hinduism doesn't proselytize - you're either born Hindu or you're not. Perhaps a better choice of headline would have been "Unconvert or Flee". I have to wonder how much else the foreign missionaries have given their converts - there were reports after the 2004 tsunami of Christians giving Muslim survivors the choice of "Convert or starv". See the same page for the plans to replace seaside Hindu villages in India with intentional Christian communities.

Without blessing this violence, I nonetheless have to wonder how the situation would've evolved without the interference of foreign missionaries.

The forced conversions come amid widening attacks on Christians, who say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.

(link) [New York Times]

20:13 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

13 Sep 2008
Superstitions evolved to help us survive

The working definition of a superstition they use is "the tendency to falsely link cause to effect". They go on to include not only such things as religions and "lucky rabbit's feet" but alternative and homeopathic medical remedies as well. The capstone is trying to explain this as "evolutionary" behavior - claiming that even bacteria have "superstitions". Eventually they end up at "scientific superstition"!

It makes an interesting read, but I'm not sure that superstition is as "evolutionary" as described. It seems to me that for these behaviors to become a factor in biological evolution that they'd have to be pretty well reproducible, and hence have a real cause and effect relationship. The fake ones would be weeded out pretty quickly in this case.

Cultural evolution is another matter entirely, and I think that it's here that "superstition" joins myth as acts of remembrance and worship. And I think a plausible case could be made that with most superstitions, such as avoiding black cats crossing the road and not walking under ladders, the modern world is simply missing the context of the superstitious action.

Darwin never warned against crossing black cats, walking under ladders or stepping on cracks in the pavement, but his theory of natural selection explains why people believe in such nonsense.

(link) [New Scientist]

08:50 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

10 Sep 2008
White Magic

IMHO this woman deserves a high place of honor with all pagans and heathens: how many others of us can claim to have have stood up to the missionaries (both Christian and Muslim, in this case) and saved a whole native culture from destruction?

Hail Susanne Wenger!

Bent double by age, the high-priestess of Nigeria's Yoruba spirit-world shuffles forward from under the trees, reaching out a white, blotchy hand in welcome.

(link) [BBC News]

07:08 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

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