Mythic Beasts, alive and well

Exploring the Nature of the Unnatural
A great exhibit at the AMNH in NYC, “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids” will open tomorrow and run through Jan. 6 at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street; (212) 769-5100 or amnh.org. From the NYTimes article by Edward Rothstein:

...it was a brilliant curatorial idea to devote an exhibition to them. One of the remarkable things about this exhibition...is...by the end you are convinced that these creatures should find permanent dwelling places in such halls, not because they are real but because they allow us to glean something about how humanity struggles to make sense of the natural world. Adrienne Mayor, a visiting scholar in the history of science at Stanford University, explains in an accompanying video how she studied maps where the Greeks claimed to have found the remains of fallen giants and discovered that they coincided with maps of major paleontological finds...The Greeks might have found bones belonging to ancient mastodons and mammoths, which were clearly far larger than human remains but also bore a close resemblance to them...As for the cyclops, such one-eyed giants were said to live in Sicily, where the fossilized remains of ancient elephants have been found. The cast of one Sicilian skull is on display; it contains an enormous central hole where the elephant’s trunk was attached. For the Greeks, more than two millenniums ago, that might have been an imagined creature’s single eye socket. What is left unmentioned here, but still haunts, is the human persistence in creating such creatures. Out of the unknown, out of worlds barely understood, out of glimpses of flesh or bone, in one culture after another, humanity has imagined beings whose bodies are mutant composites of incompatible animals...who violate every taboo and disrupt every sense of natural order. They arise out of our imaginings, offering seductive promises and irresistible dangers, as if they were resurrected fossils from a primal human past demanding tribute — which this fascinating exhibition begins to provide...

How true! Mythical creatures have a great deal to teach us, as this exhibit well demonstrates. After the exhibit closes in January, it moves to other museums: the Field Museum in Chicago, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta.

Rachel Carlson's Revenge!

Bird Poops on President Bush

...As President Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals involving his Attorney General, he remarked, "I've got confidence in Al Gonzales doin' the job." Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the President's sleeve, which Bush tried several times to wipe off...

Damn, if it weren't for that uppity Rachel Carlson, all those pesky birds would be dead from pesticides by now!

Silent Spring for Rachel Carlson

Republican environmental critic blocks honors for Rachel Carson

Rachel Carlson, who's groundbreaking book "Silent Spring" helped launch the environmental movement, was up for a Congressional honor until a Republican Senator got wind of it. From Raw Story:

...A Republican Senator known for his criticism of various environmental causes is single-handedly holding up two bills in the US Senate that would honor the life of Rachel Carson, author of the well-known book Silent Spring...

Just another exercise in earth-hating, brought to you by the Republican party.

Liberty U, RA! RA! RA!

Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral

Liberty University must be so proud! Dominionist Monica Goodling is testifying before Congress today on how she tried to stifle decent by ripping up the Constitution. Now, another Xtian University student is in the news:

...Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car....The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service...

Oh Liberty, your alumni must be so proud! Is this enterprising student going to get their own tribute page, like Monica got! I blogged about Monica before. I received one noteworthy comment, defending Messiah and politely asking me not to be so quick to judge. Well, I'm judging now. As CrooksandLiars points out, the thought that our government institutions are now peopled with over a 100 officials schooled in such institutions is truly frightening.

Teen Witches, at last!

Witchcraft casts spell on young: It's the feminist-friendly religion, claim its growing number of adherents.

I've known a number Xtain gays and lesbians who have struggled madly to keep faith with a religion that seems to despise them. Usually this involves spending a huge amount of spiritual energy cultivating immense levels of faith. I suppose an overdose of faith makes hanging out with homophobes, Dominionists, earth-haters, and misogynists, a lot less painful. Then again, searching for guidance in a spiritual text so out of step with modern life that it's in danger of fossilization, would try the patience of Job.

Why bother? Why not at least marginally entertain a belief system that's reflective of your life. The article above is from the Independent, and it points up the rise of Wicca, Witchcraft, and Neo-Paganism among teens:

...According to Professor Cush's report, based on interviews with witches aged 18 to 24, it is the attitude to women that most attracts them: "Paganism and witchcraft appealed because of their clear feminist credentials and absence of homophobia. A main attraction is the positive valuation of women in comparison with other religions..."

Over at WildHunt, there's an excellent post concerning this article, along with discussion of others noting the growing rise of Neo-Pagan religions. About our growing numbers, a good point is made:

...These newcomers aren't merely overzealous "Buffy" fans (as some claim), but are making serious considerations about their religious path. This seems to back up claims that Wicca, and modern Paganism in general, will continue to grow at a healthy rate and will soon become a faith category impossible to ignore within the mainstream...

Darn! I liked being a weird minority!

Dominionist Dead

As to my thoughts of Jerry Fawell, no one says it best than the late Moms Mabley:

"I thought he never would die. I shouldn't talk like that about him though. He dead. They say you shouldn't say nothing about the dead unless you can say something good. He dead. GOOD!"

Lest we ever forget, here's some of the wisdom of Falwell:

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen."

Wicca Undercover

Wiccans Keep the Faith With a Religion Under Wraps

Great NYTimes article about Wiccans who practice in secret, fearful of exposure. We've gotten some very good press lately:

...Above the woman’s fireplace hangs her wedding picture, taken in a Lutheran church years ago. Below it, on the mantelpiece, is a small Wiccan altar: two candles, a tiny cauldron, four stones to represent the elements of nature and a small amethyst representing her spirit...A pagan family’s altar. Wicca, a form of paganism, celebrates the divine in nature. But its symbols and practices elicit suspicion from outsiders. The wedding portrait is always there. But whenever someone comes to visit, the woman sweeps the altar away. Raised Southern Baptist in Virginia and now a stay-at-home mother of two in this Washington suburb, she has told almost no one — not her relatives, her friends or the other mothers in her children’s playgroups — that she is Wiccan...

Webb Telescope

Nasa unveils Hubble's successor

...The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is intended to replace the ageing Hubble telescope. It will be larger than its predecessor, sit farther from Earth and have a giant mirror to enable it to see more...

In Salem: A gathering of Christians, Wiccans, and Atheists

Christians and atheists start a calmer dialogue

I've blogged about Phil Wyman before (1,2). I really like his focus on outreach:

..."I've never understood treating a people group as [the enemy] because their belief system is different," says Phil Wyman, pastor of The Gathering, a Salem church that sponsored the conference...

More and more people are seeing the value of a 'can't we all just get along' attitude:

...a few people on both sides are finding calmer ways to engage, seeking to build bridges and even learn from one another...So both are willing to sit down together in different venues, discuss their divergent perspectives, and, in some cases, jointly visit church services across the United States. As a result, they are sparking a growing Christian-atheist dialogue on the Web...At a conference in Salem, Mass., last Saturday, for example, Christians from several states listened to atheists and neopagans talk about who they are, the origin of their ethics and beliefs, and what challenges they encounter in a society that is predominantly Christian...

The Druids, by Ronald Hutton

Ronald Hutton - Wicca and other invented traditions

Great article about Ronald Hutton's new book "The Druids":

...Hutton's kind of pagan or Druid is very up to date, online, "showing respect for the individual and responsibility to the environment", and not fearful of the modern. Paganism today, he says, is "a way of trying to get the best out of modernity, while discarding the bits that most of us hate". And while he wouldn't call himself "a spokesperson for paganism" - which, it's been said, is the "only religion England gave to the world" - he acknowledges his debt to it. "I could never have managed to write the books that I have without the welcome and the support I've received from pagans and Druids." Given that the West has been reinventing its identity since the Renaissance, that we should continue to do so today shouldn't come as a surprise. "It's part of our reclaiming ourselves as modern," Hutton says. "Of getting a sense of who we are and what we're doing here, where we've come from , and why we are who we are. It's simply thrilling..."