In a not too distant future, a Plastic Bag goes on an epic journey in search of its lost Maker, wondering if there is any point to life without her. The Bag encounters strange creatures, brief love in the sky, a colony of prophetic torn bags on a fence and the unknown. To be with its own kind, the Bag goes deep under the oceans into 500 nautical miles of spinning garbage known as the North Pacific Trash Vortex. Will our Plastic Bag be able to forget its Maker there?

I have a feeling this priest would rather have faced Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris as opposed to this kid.

Lately, I’ve found myself listening to a lot of old Cat Stevens music. Stevens, the 70s pop superstar who abandoned his music career to devote his life to the faith of Islam, now goes by the name of Yusuf Islam.

After converting to Islam, he didn’t record or perform music for over 2 decades, during which he devoted his time to study of Islam, as well as humanitarian and philanthropic efforts. In the past few years though, he has released several albums. According to Yusuf, he had to figure out how “music could fit in with his new faith.”

While browsing YouTube, I came across this beautiful song he wrote for his baby daughter to teach her the Arabic alphabet. Enjoy.

Gay Penguins Tale Tops List of ‘Challenged’ Books for 3rd Year
And Tango Makes Three, released in 2005 and written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, remained at the top of the latest report by American Library Association (ALA) that identifies which books have received the most complaints challenging its content. Coming in second on ALA’s most challenged books list was Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials , a trilogy of fantasy novels which tells the story of a young heroine and her battle against a dominant religious authority called the Magisterium. Read the article here.

Pope Benedict names 5 new saints
Among the newly canonized are Portugal’s 14th century independence leader and a priest who ministered to factory workers at the dawn of the industrial era. Read the story here.
FYI: Beatification is the first step to possible sainthood. The Vatican must certify one miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession for beatification, and a second miracle that occurred after beatification for the candidate to be declared a saint.

Move over Dalai Lama, the Dalai Camel has arrived
A new self-proclaimed Messiah, The Dalai Camel, announced his new parody religion and coming out party via his new website. Visit his website, and read the article.

Studies find children of gay parents are…normal kids
Sociologists published an analysis in 2001 in the American Sociological Review of 21 studies of children raised by homosexual parents and found that, overall, they were no more likely to suffer from psychological problems than kids raised in conventional homes. Their findings were generally endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and other mainstream organizations. Read more here.

Massive Christian celebration allowed in Vietnam
In what religious freedom advocates regarded as a breakthrough in Vietnam, authorities granted rare permission to unregistered house church groups to hold a large, public Easter-related service. Read more here.

Mimes for Jesus
Enough said. Now watch the video at the Friendly Atheist blog.

The Facebook Bible
You new it was coming. It was inevitable. Currently it’s only Genesis 1 and 2. But more is on the way. Here it is.

Four things to consider before you join the Amish.
From boingboing: “I know, I know. The recession blows. The job you may soon lose is stressful and unpleasant. And beards are more popular these days. But before you abandon your fast-paced lifestyle for a quieter, more-cow-filled one, there are a few things you need to think about.”

Joel Osteen, the blue-eyed, soft-spoken mega-pastor, is preaching to a sold out Yankee Stadium crowd tonight for “A Historic Night of Hope with Joel & Victoria.” I don’t know a whole lot about the guy, so I had to find out what was being said in the Twitter world.

There are literally thousands of tweets mentioning Osteen in the last 2 days. Here are a few interesting ones I came across:

LeviticusJewel: @cyananana Joel Osteen is one of the only people that I can immediately think of that I would love to taser…. Over and over again.

JillAlexandra: I just found a place to dl Joel Osteen’s sermons. Made my day!

Jesus preached from atop hills, in boats, in marketplaces, and anywhere else where people would listen. The venue wasn’t important. It was his message that was. It was his “good news” that drew the crowds. Since then, it takes a bit more than good news to pack a Christian church.

Photographer Joe Johnson has shot a series of images from the inside of empty mega-churches, currently on display at Gallery Kayafas in Boston. Cate McQuaid reviewed the exhibit for the Boston Globe, writing:

Johnson visited Southern and Midwestern places of worship that welcome at least 2,000 parishioners. He went when they were mostly empty. His stunning and provocative images of the mammoth churches lay bare the cogs and gears that create their spectacle-driven services. With all the sets, smoke machines, light effects, and huge plasma screens, the churchgoing experience has ironically turned, in places like this, into something resembling a heavy-metal concert or a Las Vegas stage show, complete with stadium seating.

Photo: Joe Johnson, courtesy of Gallery Kayafas

Johnson’s photos capture the modern mega-church in all of it’s high-tech, visually spectacular, goose bump inducing glory. In one photo, a video camera, pointed upward, stand below as a brilliant flash of lighting is projected onto the ceiling. Another shows a control desk, with a slew of production gear, overlooking the huge fuchsia-carpeted stage and three mega-tron monitors.

The relatively new phenomenon of the mega-church, with it’s ‘stimulate the senses to pack the seats’ approach, isn’t really all that new. Churches have been using eye-candy to supplement, or even create, the religious experience for hundreds of years.

St. Michael's Church, Luxemborg, 1688

San Augustn Church, Manilla, 1570

Impressive, beautiful, stunning, even awe-inspiring – but is it necessary? Could the money that it takes to build these churches be used for other things? Sure, it enhances the experience of the congregation, but if the “life-saving message of the gospel” that is preached in these churches is so powerful, the venue should be secondary.

It makes you think: would mega-pastors like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes draw 20,000 congregants each week if they preached in an abandoned warehouse?

Philosopher, public speaker and secular humanist David Staume proposes that an afterlife can exist without God.

His new book, The Atheist Afterlife: The odds of an afterlife – Reasonable. The odds of meeting God there – Nil, describes a non-religious afterlife that requires nothing more than physics and therefore no supernatural realm, and supports its argument with an original and testable support for mind-body dualism. It argues that if you can rationally describe such a context and provide testable support, doesn’t the “God of the Gaps’ disappear completely?

Staume is offering readers of Not About Religion a chance to obtain a copy of the book for free (it retails at Amazon for $18.85).

In an email from Staume:

The first twelve readers who make contact (mentioning NotAboutReligion) will be sent the book. The offer is being made to get feedback from people who are interested in reading about and perhaps commenting on an original argument for the existence of an afterlife. The claim made is quite specific: ‘IF an afterlife exists … THIS is its mechanism’. I’m hoping that this provides a benefit to your readership and an opportunity for debate, feedback, and maybe some reviews on a fascinating question.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy and are willing to provide sincere feedback to the author:

1. Visit ModernPhilosophy.com and read the introduction to the book.
2. Confirm that this is topic you would like to read about.
3. Click the Contact button, mention “Not About Religion Magazine” and provide your Name and Address.
4. Then post a comment on this page saying that you have claimed your copy.

Staume will send you a copy directly from Amazon. But remember, only the first 12 people to contact him will receive the book.

Perhaps you remember a video we posted a few months ago of Jared Sawyer, the 10 year old preacher? Well, here is another young “preacher” who might give reverend Sawyer a run for his money.
Wait, is he preaching, or he throwing a fit because he’s hungry? Maybe he’s speaking in tongues? I think he possessed by the devil personally.

All the other kids are doin’ it. So, if you are inclined to swing that way, feel free to follow us, friend us, or add us to your favorite social network.

Not About Religion on Twitter
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“The faith in God around our globe
Is just bad magic, just a joke
Rabbis, priests and muftis, too
Are “naked apes” like me and you
Only, they see floating ghosts
And wear quite funny caps and clothes”

The excerpt above is from a German children’s book called Wo bitte geht’s zu Gott?, fragte das kleine Ferkel, translated: “Which is the way to God please?, little Piglet asked.” Germany’s Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth the book placed on a list of literature deemed dangerous for children.

The book that tells the story of a piglet and a hedgehog, who discover a poster attached to their house that says: “He who knows not God, is missing something.”

The two young animals thought their lives were perfect. “Couldn’t be any better,” said Hedgehog. But after seeing the poster they got scared. They didn’t know they were missing anything. So they set out to find God.

First, they meet a rabbi standing in front of a Jewish temple.” Piglet asked to come inside so that they might meet God. “Only Jews are allowed to enter the temple,” the rabbi says. “And little piglets can never enter!”

Next, they meet a Catholic Bishop. They enter the church. “It was quite dark inside and it also smelled kind of weird.” Piglet and Hedgehop get exited when they see cookies and start stuffing them in their faces. The bishop yelled at them, saying they are not cookies but the body of Christ, which make the animals sick. “These are cannibals!” cried Piglet. “Away here immediately!”

Finally, the two come across a mufti and are invited into the mosque. The mufti explains that in order to meet Allah, the two animals must wash thoroughly and pray five times a day. Hedgehop rolls his eyes at this. “I will certainly not pray five times a day!” he says. To which to mufti yells, “If you don’t obey the Lord, you will end in hell and roast in hell’s fire forever!”

The two run scared outside, only to be chased by the angry Muslim. Outside waiting for them are the angry bishop and the angry rabbi. Hedgehog and Piglet sneak away when the three clergymen start fighting amongst themselves.

The story ends with Piglets realization: “I believe there actually is no God! And if there were, he certainly wouldn’t be living in these ghost castles!”

Is the book too subversive for kids to read?

“In the book, the three great world religions Christianity, Islam and Judaism are scorned,” the German ministry said in its application for putting the book on the danger list. “The distinctive characteristics of each religion are ridiculed. Especially the Jewish faith is slurred by the portrayal and characterization of the rabbi.”

The book’s author Michael Schmidt-Salomon rejects the criticism. “I don’t ridicule religions, they are ridiculous all by themselves.” As for the charge of anti-Semitism, he says: ”Since 1994, I Michael Schmidt-Salomon have regularly been cursed as a ‘Jewish pig’ and threatened massively because of my Jewish-sounding name. So I claim the right for myself to openly criticize those Orthodox Jews, as well as fundamentalist Christians and Muslims, who are struck by divine madness. This naturally has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.”

Considering the amount of religious children’s story books, each biased according the author’s own beliefs, one might think that an atheist children’s story is a refreshing alternative for Godless parents.

“Children also have a right to enlightenment,” Schmidt-Salomon wrote on a website dedicated to the book. “They should not be left defenseless to the scientifically untenable and ethically problematic stories of religion.”

Sources for this story: Reuters Faith World, and Deutsche Welle.