Authentic Mystical Experiences

The Stumbling Mystic blogs about the documentary Jesus Camp, a movie on a camp that indoctrinates children into a hard-ling arch conservative Christian message:

Authentic spiritual experiences erase the “us versus them” mentality. They blur the boundaries between self and other. Emotional and vitalistic experiences like the ones portrayed in Jesus Camp by their very nature reinforce the shadow rather than transmuting it and therefore deepen the fault lines within humanity. Some of the children in the movie report feeling “disgusting” inside when they meet a non-Christian. What a terrible tragedy that such nonsense is being peddled in the name of Jesus of Nazareth!

Blog first viewed at BlogBharti.

From Cult to Religion

Violet, of the blog Reclusive Leftist, writes about religion and cults:

See, all the revealed religions pretty much start out like that. Comets, magic underwear, resurrected corpses. The key to graduating from Nutcase Cult to Respected Religion is all in the staying power. Obviously the Heaven’s Gate people fumbled the ball right off the bat with the mass suicide thing, so you’ll want to bear that in mind if you’re thinking of starting your own religion. But if your cult sticks around, maybe loses some of the weirder practices, maybe puts a little effort into blending with the rest of society, then you’ve got a shot.