Asimov’s favorite of his short stories, and widely regarded to have an astonishing ending. It certainly is an incredible idea, and one I first encountered, personally, in Scott Adams’ ‘God’s Debris’.

Remembering the 70s/80s occult boom in NYC.

The story of Jason Rohrer’s ‘Chain World’, a customized fork of Minecraft of which there is only a single copy available on a USB stick and which is meant to be played only once, following a strict set of commandments, and then passed on to someone else. It’s meant to be a game about religion.

The history of AA and some insight on why some of its most important characteristics — no central organization, a focus on group therapy, the replacement of meetings as an obsession — are why it works so well for so many.

"Meanwhile, in Oregon, the mosque sometimes attended by Mohamud was victimized today by arson. So the FBI did not stop any actual Terrorist plots, but they may have helped inspire one."

"'I stuck her with my wang. She hit me in the balls. I grabbed her by her neck. And I bounced her off the walls. She said it was an accident and then apologised. But I still took my elbow and blackened both her eyes.' That's clearly a song about domestic violence. So your Christian message is... don't be like that man?" "Huh?" Violent J repeats, mystified.

"A historian traces the moment when Boston’s dour preachers embraced the market."

A short essay on Ghandi's faith. Intriguing. I would like to study this further at some point.

Wild and sad.

"That's some serious neanderthal action going on."

Interesting, though I do not totally agree. (Is Christianity not itself a tribe? An ideological one, at least, if not geographically contiguous.) There is the same food for thought here that I've been chewing on for years... it is a conundrum I cannot reconcile.

"2012 is claimed by some to be a great year of spiritual transformation (or apocalypse)." And no more foie gras in California.

"...the war is not what the media or the leaders of the religious right would have you think it is. It’s not Blue States vs. Red States. I think the Times has it right: The front line is within the red states"

"It is my mission to correctly re-shelve books to the appropriate section of the bookstore." Putting pseudo-scientific books about religion in the Religion section. Or Religious Fiction section. Or New Age section.

"It is important to preserve this period of American history, or more exactly, the history of our (perhaps unique, or at least extreme) American propensity to believe the strangest things, to have the strangest practices."

"Ken Ham and his organization, Answers in Genesis, have created a glossy simulacrum of a museum, a slick imitation of a scientific enterprise veneered over long disproved religious fables..."

A walk through the new museum about Creationism.

"God is all-powerful. Therefore, God can do anything, and regenerating a leg is trivial."

Keith Ellison was sworn in on the Koran, Mazie Hirono on no book at all, and VA Republican Virgil Goode was upset about it.

Make your iPod shuffle into a cross necklace. "Just toss your old cap habit, pop on the divine iBelieve and rejoice!"

"How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong." "America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior."

"This information consisted of course materials written by L. Ron Hubbard for a program to transform an individual into a Being with super-human powers, known as an Operating Thetan, or OT."

A video of Tom Cruise freaking out about Scientology on "Access Hollywood."

Cruise is an Operating Thetan Level Six. Recently: a "loopy" performance on Oprah and "allowing his devotion to Scientology to overshadow his film career."

"I told the Lord: 'Don't do this to me! You have younger and better men, who can do this work with different verve and strength.'"

"In November of '96, Vatican hardliner Cardinal Ratzinger warned that heavy metal was an 'instrument of the Devil' and endangered young people's souls."

Fighting weak and religion-infused education.

Interpretation and investigation.

"Scientology sees children as valuable personnel assets and has a history of endangering them."

"'Some people, well, if they don't like Scientology, well, then, fuck you.' He rises from the table. 'Really.' He points an angry finger at the imaginary enemy. 'Fuck you.' His face reddens. 'Period.'"

"whereas the dogma of most cults originates with some form of alleged divine revelation, the core beliefs of Scientology grew out of the business venture launched by a conniving bullshit artist."

"Tibetan Buddhist Internet Radio"