namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Dr. Harvey Cox on modern Christianity, Hare Krishnas, and consumer capitalism.

What Is A Cult? from the Christian Research Institute

. . .a cult is a religious or semi-religious sect whose members are controlled almost entirely by a single individual or by an organization.

One devotee, Bhakta Leon Prabhu, recently moved here from London. Upon his arrival he gave me a very thoughtful gift, a book, "The little Flowers of St. Francis" translated by Raphael Brown. The book was written by a monk in the order of St. Francis about 100 years after he disappeared from this world, and it was a compilation of many different stories and anecdotes about the life and teachings of St. Francis

A while back I posted the original comic as it appeared in Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them. Since the topic came up in a discussion of Christianity with a couple of students yesterday I wanted to check it out again, and when I googled it this video came up. If you want to see the original post you can check it out here, but the video is even cooler.

Here's a nice summary of Christ's teachings from Vasu Murti Prabhu who posted this a comment on my Who's Stealing Jesus post.

I just finished reading an interesting book, Stealing Jesus: How fundamentalism betrays Christianity, by Bruce Bawer.

"The costumes and the chanting and the shaved heads appeared a little strange, a little bizarre to me.

"It is not a fact that the Lord appears only on Indian soil. He can manifest Himself anywhere and everywhere, and whenever He desires to appear.

To Lose Faith in God Is To Lose Faith in Humanity
By Jonathan Sacks for The Times of London on 29 Feb 2008