The calendar of commercialism does not reflect our spiritual rhythms

Geoffrey Rowell , Times Online

Extract: "...Christians have not always kept new year on January 1 -that was the Roman new year, and the Church was often very suspicious of it. Only in 1582 did Pope Gregory XIII's reform of the calendar mean that January 1 was generally adopted.

Jews kept the new year at the Feast of the New Moon at the end of September.

England began the new year with the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, and adopted January 1 only in 1752. Germany began with Christmas, and France and the Low Countries with Easter. The Orthodox East keeps New Year's Day on September 1. " continue reading

Faith in '08: Meet God-o-Meter

News & Blogs -- Beliefnet.com

Hillary's buoyed by Bill's Baptist banter. A hedge on abortion sends Romney tumbling. Our new and highly scientific God-o-Meter rates the candidates based on their God-talk. See Their Current Ratings"

See also on the same shelf:
Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives, by Mohamed Taher, Scarecrow Press, 2006. Check Amazon.com sample from Chapter Three:

3.23 Developing World Wide Worship Mindmaps – Survey, Tools, Responses…

• Religion Selector: An Exploration of World Belief System:

www.speakout.com/activismtools/selectors/religion
• Belief System Selector: An Exploration of World Religions
www.selectsmart.com/RELIGION
• Ten Questions for Evaluating Corporate Worship:

• “Bagley Baptist Form Mail Survey System.” (Questionnaire) www.bagleybaptist.freeuk.com/Survey.htm
• Worship Survey
http://www.cumc-wf.org/worship_survey.htm
• Jatinder Singh. “Sikh Internet Users Survey.” FormMail.to/cybersikhi or www.cybersikhi.com (2 Jan. 2004)
• “Christian Online Resource Center Survey.” (Questionnaire)
www.influencer4christ.com/survey/survey.php?opt=new (dead link 2 Jan. 2004)
• Divining America: Sharing your questions - Multifaith Issues
www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/getback/getback.htm
• WCC Worship Questionnaire
http://www.woodstockchristian.org/wccwq.html
• Daily spiritual diary Questions
http://www.thedivinelifesociety.org/download/practicekarma.htm
• How Well WORSHIP Questionnaire

Getting Religious About Street Parking

NYC

By CLYDE HABERMAN
Published: November 9, 2007, New York Times

Today is Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, celebrating the triumph of good, represented by Lord Rama, over the forces of evil. It is a holiday that thrills some of my friends. Not that they are Hindus themselves.

The three-day Islamic feasts of Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha thrill them, too. They aren’t Muslims, either.

They are, in the main, Christians and Jews. Most of them are not the sort to be found in church or synagogue every Sunday or Saturday morning. But they derive enormous satisfaction from holy days like the Feast of the Assumption or from a days-long Jewish festival like Passover.

continue reading

[info courtesy: Gail Zimmer]

See also:

Vatican greets Hindus on Diwali - Yahoo! India News

US House passes Diwali resolution

Even Athiests pray … figures don't lie!

CORRECTED: Even Atheists pray … figures don't lie!

November 4th, 2007 by Nancy Reyes
Surveys show that 52% of Americans pray every day, 57% of Catholics pray every day, 41% of those who aren’t sure of life after death pray every day, and 15% of people who aren’t sure there is a God pray every day.***

He said, with a grin, that people pray “to whom it may concern” or […] Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Nancy Reyes in All News, Society and Culture, US News, Religious News No Comments » 73 Views

See also on the same shelf:

The scandal of particular prayers, Posted by dpulliam

Comparing Muslim Beliefs and Practices

PEW Surveys

Catch Hell: Newsweek/Beliefnet poll results -- Beliefnet.com
A new poll points to growing importance of 'spirituality'; most believe people of other faiths can go to heaven

Finding Our Own Path, By Jerry Adler, Newsweek
Americans favor individual spirituality and personal empowerment--which has influenced even traditional, institutional religion. To read the entire article, click here. (C) 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

Spirituality in Action: The Road Ahead

If you don’t like the word God, substitute Nature, All Being, or Reality. If you don’t like the word “Word,” substitute something like “impulse.”

Google it

Spirituality: The Age of Aquarium:

Schools of Fish and Thought
The theists prayed and said “Amen,” while atheists said “Ahem . . .”
“There’s no such thing, you silly goofs; you haven’t any proof.”
Panentheists sought elbow room, they tried to wriggle in.
That en’s a tricky syllable; it splices God’s hair thin. continue reading @ Faithcommons

***Survey sources are listed below, courtesy Nancy Reyes:

The talk was given at a local university and reviewed in the local Catholic paper in western Massachusetts, where I am visiting my brother. They don't have a website, but the announcement is here.

But this NYTimes article refers to the same data:

This article on his website examines the belief in life after death and notes that not all atheists are "hard core" atheists. http://www.agreeley.com/articles/hardcore.html

The NORC website is here.

Presumably the research is published in journals...several of his surveys can be found at JSTOR, but since I don't have access, I can't read the hard sociological data.

Dear Diary: The Dalai Lama

As imagined by Joseph Brean, National Post Saturday, November 03, 2007

As imagined by Joseph Brean, National Post

• MONDAY: Big surprise...
  

• TUESDAY: In Canada now...
  

• WEDNESDAY: Meet Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday...

• THURSDAY: Yesterday, meet Canada opposition leader...

• FRIDAY: Flying back to my government-in-exile in India.... Continue reading the full diary
  

A worldwide convention of demons

NB. note from a Blogger: I have done search upon search to find out who wrote this (below) and came up with 'Anonymous'.

• Chrisitian side of the story
• Muslim version: Iblîs (Satan)]
• Hindustani version: SHYTAN'S MEETING
• Business-like: Satan Instructs His Workers
• "THE PLAN" by Doubting Thomas
• And the last word, skeptically: "One of those delightful emails that makes me realize the truth of the old saying: “You put garbage in, you get garbage out.”

[Info courtesy: Abdul Rawoof Sait ]