Uploaded on January 13, 2008 by Great Beyond on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 GenericOne evening some weeks ago I was slimed. Baha'i Views was visited by an Internet presence whose comment posts are noteworthy for their unusual content, namely, vulgar sexual phrases and, in this instance, mockery of the name of a Central Figure of the Faith.
We played what could be termed a little game for about a half hour. He'd drop his vulgar comment on one or another of my top posts, and I'd delete them. Back and forth we went, until finally he got tired. It takes some effort to post a comment on Blogger because of the spam protection. He came back a day or so later to drop another little note, which I deleted, but that was it. I haven't heard from him since.
Apparently, this guy is famous on the 'net for the way he expresses his opposition to the Baha'i Faith. I'll admit, it was exciting. I actually felt honored to have been visited, as he must have found content on my site worthy of his attention, but I was also keenly aware that there must be some mental health issues involved. I felt sorry for the guy. What kind of person comes to a blog site and spews sexual and religious profanities? I'd been slimed, but there was still something sad about it. -gw{Bottom photo: "Ghostbusters!" uploaded on May 27, 2006 by multisonic on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic}
Bart Campolo is a veteran urban minister and activist who speaks, writes, and blogs 
Today, the documentary "Surfwise" releases, a film about a family with nine children, all-raised in a 24 foot camper, hippie-commune-style, parked along the best California surfing beaches. In the New York Times review, "
For me, it's always been hard to picture the divine. Yeah, in Jewish tradition, there's the story of Jacob wrestling hand-to-hand with a purported angel in the Book of Genesis. And, in Islam, the angel Gabriel visits Mohammed on more than one occasion, flying with him to Jerusalem, discussing life with him, and delivering the Qur'an to (or through) him. Christianity, too, has an angel visit young Mary and tell her of her future role as the mother of Christ.
So, angels, ok. I guess I can somewhat see angels. Vaguely. But God? Am I even supposed to picture God? And what about lowercase-g gods, such as those in Chinese traditions or African tribal religions? Or Hinduism? How do I wrap my mind around their acts, their existences, or their stories?
Well, when it comes to that last case, Hinduism, I've discovered a terrific entry point into this issue--visualizing a tradition's divinities--and a really entertaining introduction to its great myths: A comic book. Specifically, a comic book series from Virgin Comics, "Deepak Chopra Presents India Authentic" written by Saurav Mohapatra and illustrated by a large team of artists. Overseen and prefaced by the renown Chopra, India Authentic, with its rising sales, is the visual version of Hindu Myths for Dummies made for and by rather sharp people.
Technically, "India Authentic" is an anthology with each story focused on a particular divinity or cultural hero. Whereas the first collected volume featued notables like Shiva or Kali, the new second volume still has a wealth of characters to address: Vishnu the Preserver, Yama the God of Death, and Parashuam the Avatar among others. These are in no way "secondary characters" in the Hindu pantheons nor are their stories sketchy outlines of their biographies. (Can a god have a biography?) Instead, Mohapatra frames each story as a crucial vignette in the overall narrative of the character--a particular interaction with another legendary being or a singular conflict that is so pivotal is takes place somewhat outside of traditional space or time. It happened, but it's always happening.
What makes all of this so effective and impressive is that these gods and near-immortals exhibit very human concerns. In fact, many of the stories allow the pictures to "breathe"--to dominate the space of the page--as the reader is exposed to the protagonists' thoughts. Inner monologue is not something I commonly associate with sacred stories; we never get inside either Moses' head as he leads Isaac up to the sacrifice or Jesus' thoughts on Judas or Mary Magdelene. "India Authentic" takes readers inside the super-humans who still seem identifiably human-like.
Nevertheless, each story operates in a sort of god-logic (or, maybe more precisely, Hindu theo-logic), where devotion, will, or ethic leads to a transcendent resolution. These are not Aesop's Fables with some simple moral to convey. Instead, "India Authentic" demonstrates universal themes refracted through Hinduism--both pictorial introductions and everyday reminders.
--By A. David Lewis
The following is an interview with Abigail Disney, producer of the documentary 
Becky Garrison was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of "four evangelicals with fresh views," alongside Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, and Ron Sider.
The economy is big news these days. The rising gas prices and increasing number of foreclosures are important stories throughout the Midwest. When Indiana became a key state in the Democratic primary a few weeks ago, religion and the culture war issues took a back seat to economic plans, job growth issues and ideas about how to lower gas prices. Even Barack Obama’s Rev. Wright issues seemed to drop off the radar in the days before Tuesday’s election.
