When several hundred Lutherans in Bavaria, Germany, attended a service on June 9, 2023, designed by ChatGPT, the program not only selected hymns and prayers, but also composed and delivered a sermon, delivered by an avatar on a big screen. Indeed, programs like ChatGPT, that can produce a sermon in seconds, might seem attractive to Read more
Recently, a mayor in Mexico participated in a traditional ceremony where he married a female reptile resembling an alligator. The reptile, named Alicia Adriana, is a caiman and the marriage is believed to bring good fortune to the local community. During the ceremony, Victor Hugo Sosa re-enacted an ancestral ritual. He expressed his love and Read more
There’s no shortage of controversy regarding so-called ritual slaughter, ie, the Kosher and Halal requirements that animals be alive when their throats are cut. Such religious practices have traditionally been exempt from the oversight of civil government Animal welfare activists have embraced the thinly disguised anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiments rising across Western Europe as a Read more
About 200 people packed into Christchurch’s Te Hapua: Halswell Centre on Saturday to witness a sand mandala dissolution ceremony, performed by visiting Tibetan monks. Crushed marble-coloured sand was sprinkled to form a “cosmogram”, representing a world in perfect harmony. Continue reading
Recently I viewed a YouTube video by Australian performance poetry artist, Joel McKerrow. “God Rid Me of God’ it was called. The poem explores the constraints we put on the nature of God; the shackles we use to confine God. Joel entreats that we stop shaping God in our own image: “God, rid me of Read more
In Tonga, the ancient ritual of “Uiui Tevolo” which means “calling up the dead” or more literally “calling up the devil”, has been regarded as something of pagan origin unacceptable to churches and Christians in general. However, in recent weeks there has been a sort of revival of this ancient ritual among some villagers in Read more