Daily Blog

US appeals court: Pa. prison can ban Muslim scarf

August 3, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Only a religion would force an appellate court to explain why it’s a bad idea to disguise your identity while working in a prison. As a Muslim woman I know once said, “God gave you a face. Use it.”

US appeals court: Pa. prison can ban Muslim scarf
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 2, 5:32 pm ET
PHILADELPHIA – Prison officials can ban employees from wearing religious headscarves out of concerns they pose a safety risk, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Monday in a split 2-1 decision.Prison officials have legitimate concerns the headscarves can hide drugs or other contraband, or be used by an inmate to strangle someone, the majority said. <MORE> Read More →

News

Anne Rice is being wooed by the United Church of Christ, and by Catholics

July 31, 2010 · 1 Comment 

I suppose I like vampires well enough. I was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she can kick real high), and True Blood, and I admit to having read Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire.” Okay, fine, I admit I also watched the movie version of it with that Tom Cruise, the Scientologist and Brad Pitt, whose religion, as near as I can make out, is Jolie-ism (who can blame him?).

Anne Rice re-popularized vampires with her series of novels, and probably did her part to popularize Wicca. But Rice was a Catholic. Recently, she left the Catholic Church in a bit of a huff. You see, she was upset about the sex scandals and the tepid response by the Church. She was upset by a lot more besides... [Read the full story]

History Bits

THE EVOLUTION OF THE HEATHEN

January 17, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Quoted from “The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions.”

In the beginning, we humans lived in the wild and ate whatever was slower or stupider than we were. At this time, we invented a thing called a “god.” The god was made from the mightiest elements mankind could see: fire, thunder, lightning… all the big, scary stuff we didn’t understand but knew was powerful. As there were so damn many things we thought were powerful, we found we couldn’t settle for just one god, so we made a whole slew of them, each god representing a different big, scary thing. We understood little about these gods, except for the simple fact that in their Infinite Wisdom they had decided they didn’t need to eat us. As we found this good, we honored and worshiped these gods.

As time passed and humans prospered on Earth, we learned much about the way the planet actually worked... [Read the full story]

Western Religions

Anne Rice is being wooed by the United Church of Christ, and by Catholics

July 31, 2010 · 1 Comment 

I suppose I like vampires well enough. I was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she can kick real high), and True Blood, and I admit to having read Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire.” Okay, fine, I admit I also watched the movie version of it with that Tom Cruise, the Scientologist and Brad Pitt, whose religion, as near as I can make out, is Jolie-ism (who can blame him?).

Anne Rice re-popularized vampires with her series of novels, and probably did her part to popularize Wicca. But Rice was a Catholic. Recently, she left the Catholic Church in a bit of a huff. You see, she was upset about the sex scandals and the tepid response by the Church. She was upset by a lot more besides... [Read the full story]

Fringe Religions

Anne Rice is being wooed by the United Church of Christ, and by Catholics

July 31, 2010 · 1 Comment 

I suppose I like vampires well enough. I was a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she can kick real high), and True Blood, and I admit to having read Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire.” Okay, fine, I admit I also watched the movie version of it with that Tom Cruise, the Scientologist and Brad Pitt, whose religion, as near as I can make out, is Jolie-ism (who can blame him?).

Anne Rice re-popularized vampires with her series of novels, and probably did her part to popularize Wicca. But Rice was a Catholic. Recently, she left the Catholic Church in a bit of a huff. You see, she was upset about the sex scandals and the tepid response by the Church. She was upset by a lot more besides... [Read the full story]

Welcome

Welcome to The Heathen’s Guide

January 17, 2010 · 4 Comments 

From the Author. Welcome to the new HeathensGuide.com, complete with a forum, news, sales, video, Q&A, and all things web related.

While most of my posts are either fun or furious, I thought I should start off the Welcome screen with a bit of background on The Heathen’s Guide and how it came to be.

I spent most of the 1980’s and early 1990’s wandering about North and Central America, actively involving myself in as many faiths as I could. For the most part, what I found in every religion were decent people with good hearts that wanted to serve their god. From the Mormon Temple in Utah, to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, to the Harmonic Convergence on the shores of Vancouver, the people I met really, really wanted to be and do “good”... [Read the full story]