At last night's opening of Superman Returns in New York, Superman himself (or a reasonable facsimile) handed out Christopher Reeve Foundation dog tags & key chains.  Why picture them on the site?  Well, not only is the Foundation the very model of a Good Cause, but the film itself draws heavily on spiritual archetypes.

Superman's resonance with Judeo-Christian themes has not been lost on religious leaders.  Below:  an excerpt from a Christian blog praising the film's . . . marketing campaign!

Having suffered financially in recent years, Hollywood seems eager to win the evangelical market with family-friendly, wholesome, biblically illustrative films. This looks like a job for Superman! But, strangely, Warner Brothers has chosen to ignore churches and pastors in their marketing campaign for "Superman Returns." And for this I say to Warner Brothers, Brian Singer, and everyone responsible for creating and distributing the movie, THANK YOU!

Thank you for not using the church as a money-making vehicle.

Thank you for not hijacking my church’s mission to make disciples by using it to make consumers.

Thank you for not replacing Christian art, symbols, and icons with movie posters and advertisements.

Thank you for not trying to interfere with the ministry of preaching God’s Word by offering pastors rewards for mentioning your film in a sermon.

Thank you for not filling our children’s ministry with Superman plush toys and kryptonite bracelets.

Thank you for not telling me "Superman Returns" is the greatest outreach opportunity in the galaxy.

Thank you for not asking me to rent an entire theater so our members can invite non-Christians to see the film.

Thank you for respecting the integrity of my faith.

And thank you for letting me enjoy "Superman Returns" simply for what it is—a good night at the movies.

Posted by jat at 02:50 AM | Permalink

By the time I realized that the '80s were actually the decade of greed, it was too late--I had declared my college major to be classical Greek.  This may not have helped me get a gig on Wall Street, but it still pays dividends today.  For example, it means that the Orthodox phos-zoe cross pictured below is not, um, Greek to me. 

Click the pic for an explanation of what this ornament means; AltReligion also has a lot more on the Greek cross.

Posted by jat at 12:23 AM | Permalink

Embroidered samplers have long been a popular means for communicating spiritual and moral messages, not least of all to the young.  My childhood room sported no less than three embroideries on the wall, featuring such patterns as 

• the "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer, whose line "if I should die before I wake" practically scared me to death every night I read it;
  
• the Lord's Supper, in which the gender of certain apostles was even less apparent than in the Da Vinci painting on which it was based; and
  
• Neil Armstrong walking onto the moon--which might explain why my earliest childhood ambition was to be a minister and an astronaut.

The Vogue Sampler pictured below is a consciously postmodern pastiche of the spiritual & the pop, crafted by London-based artist Kate Westerholt as part of the "Fashion Fantasies" pictorial in the July, 2006 issue of British Vogue.  

Posted by jat at 12:23 AM | Permalink

Brit girls school bans Christian chastity rings.  (HT: Jennifer Emick)

(Why is Jesus giving the nun a wedding ring?  Click here for an inside look.)

Posted by jat at 08:56 AM | Permalink

Summer solstice, originally uploaded by Newsblogpicture.

Reports say around 17,000 people went to Stonehenge to mark the summer solstice. In the following excerpt from the AP news wire, a colorfully dressed participant explains why:

''This is the nearest thing I've got to religion,'' said Ray Meadows, 34, of Bristol, England. The solstice ''is a way of giving thanks to the earth and the universe.''

Meadows, wearing a wreath of pink carnations over long pink hair-wrapped braids, identified herself as a fairy of the Tribe of Frog.

Posted by jat at 04:53 PM | Permalink

Elle magazine is launching a Middle East edition.  As the article notes,

Clothing customs vary widely throughout the region. In some countries like Lebanon, many of the clothes shown in Elle might be worn on the street. In others, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, they'd be reserved for private gatherings of women. Accessories, from designer shoes to handbags, scarves, sunglasses and jewelry, are permitted almost everywhere.

For a fascinating look at Islamic fashion, click around HilalPlaza.com, which offers a range of colorful ways to accessorize a burqa.

Posted by jat at 09:58 AM | Permalink

Bollywood.  Cricket.  Weddings? 

Click here for more on Hindu wedding ritual, which the reporter describes as "the third greatest passion of Indians around the world."

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The woman wearing this cross t-shirt is Claudia de Castro, part of a high-end brothel that has just been broken up by New York police.  The madam asserts that her brothel enabled otherwise disadvantaged Brazilian girls to afford buying houses back home.

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Religious blingmaster to the stars, Jacob the Jeweler, has just been arrested on charges of money laundering for a narcotics ring.

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This week the ever-engaging Inquisitores Generales of Coutorture have been conducting a lively discussion of the morality of wearing fur.  The ethics of fur is, of course, a relatively recent problem in mainstream Western culture.  Until the rise of efficient indoor heating systems & heat-retaining fabrics we were too preoccupied with fighting the cold to think about fur as a moral issue.  

Which isn't to say that fur was entirely unproblematic.  Centuries ago everyone wore fur to keep warm, from the poorest parishioner to the parish priest, which meant that in winter the priests were covering up their distinct liturgical garb.  The line between clergy and congregation was blurred, and as medieval theologians savvily intuited, from there it would be just a short hop to folk guitars and interpretive dance. 

What was a high churchman to do?

Here's your answer.  The white garment above is a surplice, derived from the Latin super pellicium, literally, "over a garment made of skins."  As you can see, although priests (Catholic and otherwise) no longer have to wear fur to keep warm during services, the surplice continues to live on in liturgical garb . . .

And women's wear!

In a semantic evolution that some would decry as further evidence of the collapse of meaning in today's secularized society, the word "surplice" has come to refer generally to "a neckline which is formed when two pieces of fabric wrap around each other to create a V-neck opening."  Not only is the surplice no longer placed on top of fur coats--you can even find it on the beach!

Posted by jat at 11:46 AM | Permalink

A couple days ago, someone came to the Blingdom of God seeking the answer to one of the defining spiritual questions of our time: 

"Is Paris Hilton's God Allah?" 

Of course not.  However, I can understand the mistake, since her deity does have a connection to the Middle East.  As anyone can see from looking at the publicity pic below, she's clearly a devotee of Anubis!   

Posted by jat at 11:43 AM | Permalink

"Ending child slavery with beads and clay"--a compelling look at a new exhibit of children's art in Montreal, in which sale proceeds go to helping impoverished kids in India.  For more on the nonprofit organization behind this effort, check out http://www.aipe-cci.org./

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June 14 is Flag Day in the United States, and it's also my mother's birthday.  So what better way to mark it here than with this Miraculous Mother Mary Flag Pin & Medal set?

HT:  Jennifer Emick

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"Superstition is ubiquitous in football," so it should come as no surprise that this official World Cup voodoo cup has been one of the event's hottest selling tie-ins.  The "FooTooKit" makes it simple for fans to curse their team's opponent in any given game--just dress the doll with a shirt bearing the opposition's national symbol, stick in a bunch of pins and you'll help secure a victory for your team.

And now you know the real reason why the fifth-ranked U.S. team mysteriously choked to lose 3-0 in its opening game. 

(Click here for more World Cup marketing fun!)       

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The first tropical storm of the season is moving toward the Florida coast.  Pictured above, to mark the occasion:  a hurricane pendant from Florida's Sanibel Island Goldsmith.

Storms have long loomed large in spiritual imagery.  Even today, people link hurricanes to the wrath of God or Nature on our sins (whatever they may be).  In fact, the appearance of God in the storm goes back as far as the Garden of Eden.

After Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, they hear the voice of God l'ruach hayyom--in ancient Hebrew, "in the wind of the storm." The image in this passage is of God thundering out of a raging wind; no longer will Adam and Eve converse with their creator as of old, in the calm of an Eden at peace.  (Wanna impress your friends with your knowledge of linguistic arcana?  Tell them you, unlike the King James Bible translators, recognize that "yom" in context here is not "day," but an archaic cognate of the Akkadian umu, or "storm.")

The association of God with swirling storms points to an even deeper resonance between our perception of the divine and recurring patterns in nature.  Benoit Mandelbrot, for example, has described how the topology of turbulence can be explained using fractal geometry, an analysis that has shaped how meteorologists predict the course of storms.  We won't go into the math here--yet!  For now, here's another look at our old fractal friend, the spiral, itself a common image in spiritual adornment.  On the left, a spiral galaxy, and on the right, a hurricane--and for an accessible look at the underlying science, click the pic to visit [censored]. 

Posted by jat at 11:19 PM | Permalink

sandie dressed in traditional Indian attire, originally uploaded by ldyroadking01.

Embodying the religion's ethic of mutual respect, Sandie chose to dress in Indian attire for a friend's Sikh wedding. For more on ;Sikhs and their efforts to teach Americans about the meaning of their faith (and dress), check out from the Richmond Times Dispatch.

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Do you think this would make a nice jewelry box?  If so, don't tell a priest.  It's actually a tabernacle used to store the consecrated host, which in Roman Catholic theology has been transubstantiated into the body of Christ. 

As this article in today's New York Times points out, it's becoming relatively easy to buy liturgical items de-accessioned from deconsecrated churches.  Just beware of admonitions from offended faithful:

The altar was old. It was ornate. And it was on the gambling floor of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The Rev. James Lang was startled when he saw it there. Father Lang, vicar of parishes for the Roman Catholic diocese of Syracuse, had a chat with the manager. The altar eventually was removed.

"They thought it looked cool," Father Lang said.

It was also part of a growing phenomenon: religious artifacts are migrating as America's shifting population leaves empty churches across the Midwest and Northeast. This March, New York City's archdiocese recommended shutting 31 metro parishes, and Boston has closed almost 60 in three years.

So, chalices appear in antique shop windows. A confessional turns up in an Italian cafe. A stained-glass window of St. Patrick lands in a pub.

People who deal in such artifacts say interest in them is growing. . . .

The Rev. Pat Butler, a priest from Albany, wishes there were a national clearinghouse for religious artifacts. He worries about how much is being lost or desecrated.

He recalled once visiting a Missouri home furnished with an altar and church candlesticks bought at an auction. The owner explained how she had also wanted a certain gold box for her jewelry.

"I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up," Father Butler says. He asked her to describe it. The box was a tabernacle, the enclosure for consecrated hosts, often kept at the center of the altar.

Posted by jat at 01:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Tattoo Nation--the U.S. is getting inked.  Below:  an excerpt, including a discussion of new tattoo technology that promises to make a tattoo as easy to remove as a piece of jewelry.

So why has body art become so popular?

Laumann and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage. The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.

"It's a very easy way to express something that you think represents part of your identity -- that you don't have to tell someone but you can just have seen," said Chelsea Farrell, 21, an American University senior from Albany, New York Farrell has a tattooed fish on each hip and a Celtic knot on the small of her back.

. . .

Freedom-2 LLC, a Philadelphia company co-founded by Anderson, hopes to launch the first of two lines of not-so-permanent tattoo inks next year, though without FDA approval. . . .

A second ink, to be available in 2008, would rely on the same technology, except the capsules would dissolve on their own. Depending on the version, the tattoos would naturally vanish after six months, 12 months or 24 months.

"It will be like wearing a tattoo like it's jewelry, where you will be able to take it off. It will just fade on its own," Schmieg said.

Posted by jat at 11:06 PM | Permalink

"With this--necklace?--I thee wed."  That's the headline of this USA Today article discussing a recent engagement and wedding trend:  forsaking the traditional rings in favor of more personally meaningful jewelry.  Above is one such item--the Double Face Unity Medallion, with the couple echoing the yin and yang of the tao.

The article doesn't go into spiritual adornment in depth, but I can't resist mentioning this quote regarding a woman who chose to memorialize her marriage with a necklace:

"She was married in a choker," Delaney says. "On their 20th anniversary, she'll just wrap it around and around."

The big question is, whose neck?

Hat tip:  the divine Ms. Emick

Posted by jat at 11:32 PM | Permalink

In commemoration of tonight's U.S. broadcast of the Series One finale of Doctor Who, today we have Who Shop International's TARDIS key pendant--which, should you buy it, brings with it a certificate of authencity.  That means, I guess, you're guaranteed to have no problem getting into a TARDIS should you ever come across one.

What does this have to do with the Blingdom of God?

Glad you asked!

The key pictured above first appeared (sans the fractal origami & network images printed on the sides) in the serial Planet of the Spiders, in which the Third Doctor, John Pertwee, regenerated into the Fourth.  While previous regenerations had been tacked onto the end of a mostly unrelated adventure, the director of Planet used it to present Buddhist teachings on death and life.

Really.  The director, Barry Letts, himself a Buddhist, set the adventure in a Buddhist monastery presided over by a monk who, like the Doctor, was a Time Lord, albeit one who left the Planet Gallifrey to explore the inner worlds of the soul.  The monk counsels our Doctor on the need to face his fear and to accept that true life can come only from total self-negation.  It is no coincidence, it seems, that this examination of the spiritual key to life is the first in which the audience sees the physical key to Time And Relative Dimension in Space.

Thirty years later, Barry Letts is still using Doctor Who as a medium for spiritual themes--here, for instance, is a link The Tao Connection, a recent audio adventure of everyone's favorite Doctor companion, Sarah Jane Smith.

ERUDITION EXTRA:

The good folks at Oxford English Dictionary recognize "Tardis" as a real word, along with "Jedi" and "Klingon."

BELOW THE FOLD EXTRA:

Origami is also used as a metaphor for the nature of time in Grant Morrison's Invisibles.

BAD JOKE EXTRA:

Q:  Why do all the aliens on Doctor Who speak with a British accent?

A:  Because the suns never set on the British empire!

Posted by jat at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Allah's Apostle said, 'The evil eye is a fact,' and he forbade tattooing."  At least that's what it says in the Hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammed, which also contain several other anecdotes suggesting that tattoos are forbidden in Islam.  

Were you to ask Usama bin Laden, this might help explain why Allah allowed Iraqi insurgent Abu al-Zarqawi to be killed.  As noted in this month's Atlantic (HT:  AS) when bin Laden and al-Zarqawi met, UBL did not look too kindly upon al-Zarqawi's indulgence in tinted flesh:

According to several different accounts of the meeting, bin Laden distrusted and disliked al-Zarqawi immediately. . . . [He] disliked al-Zarqawi's swagger and the green tattoos on his left hand, which he reportedly considered un-Islamic.

Why the apparent stricture on tattoos?  One reason is evident from the verse quoted above:  the association of tattoos with paganism.  Another lies more generally in Muhammed's prohibition of any mutilation or maiming of the human body--a precept that al-Zarqawi seemed to interpret rather liberally, at least when it came to beheading infidels.  

Perhaps, then, it is only appropriate that "tattoos and scars helped U.S. troops identify al-Zarqawi's body."

Posted by jat at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Gospels tell how Jesus fought for the sanctity of the temple by overthrowing the tables of merchants and moneychangers.  Two thousand years later, people are using religious jewelry to circumvent legal limits on commercial activity in public space. 

Case in point:  Union Square in New York City.  Over the past few years, the southern end has gradually become an arts and crafts market.  And if you look more closely, you'll notice that a good portion of the vendors sell religious jewelry and other art, as well as items with political slogans. 

This article from a local community paper explains how sellers are trying to use the First Amendment to get around vending restrictions.  Below:  an excerpt that illustrates the key issues.

Vending near the Two Susans by the Gandhi statue on a recent Wednesday afternoon, Miriam W. also hasn’t had it easy selling her miniartwork, which are made of her own paintings and photos, shrunken to fit inside metal miniframes. She declined to give her last name, noting, “They’re already after me.”

“They” are the Park Enforcement Patrol officers, one of whom gave her a $250 ticket for hawking her stamp-size art, feeling it was jewelry, which isn’t protected as expressive content under the First Amendment that can be sold on streets or in parks.

“I told him it was artwork. He said, ‘Artwork I don’t see — I only see pins,’ ” Miriam recalled. The Environmental Control Board judge who reviewed her ticket also saw things differently from her.

“The judge admitted it was artwork — but said because it has a loop on it, it’s jewelry,” Miriam said. But Miriam says the loop is so people can hang the miniart on the wall — or, yes, even wear it if they choose on a necklace or pinned to their shirt or blouse. “Even if this was jewelry, it has artwork in it,” Miriam explained. “I’m seeing it as my artwork first, jewelry second, and the judge is seeing it as jewelry first and artwork second.”

She’s contesting the ticket in court. Meanwhile, hoping to get the PEP’s off her back, she’s added framed, normal-size prints of her own photos and art to her table and also miniartworks of a political nature — with anti-Bush and antiwar logos, for example — and with religious content, such as a portrait of Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed god, and Judeo-Christian symbols, that she hopes will more clearly be recognized as First Amendment protected.

Posted by jat at 10:23 AM | Permalink

Because all the cool kids are doing it, today I'm posting from a train.  Like too many things in the material real this costs a fair amount of shekels, so it looks like I'm going to have to break into this Jesus Loves Me Inspirational Piggy Bank. 

Posted by jat at 08:26 AM | Permalink

Newsweek defines Lohasians for the uninitiated.  Take the LOHAS quiz to see if you're a true believer, or take a ride on the mothership.  Just be sure not to confuse them with another quickly growing religious movement:  the Lohanians.

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This is a vibrational prayer box from Rudrakasha.com.  The wearer places a small written copy of a prayer into the prayer box and clips it to a piece of jewelry.  The intended result:  the prayer's positive vibrations influence the wearer's life.

The Rudrakasha site explains more.   It also has a blog devoted to yoga and the Hindu Lord Ganesha--which, among other things, explains just what an enlightened soul should do when someone brings a "gooey yummy pastry" into the break room!

Posted by jat at 11:28 PM | Permalink

"We want our house to be designed as per Vaastu Shastra guidelines . . . "

And what are those?  Click here for an overview, or check out the sites of these VS consultants. 

Not surprisingly, the pursuit of spiritual harmony in design has given rise to disputes between conflicting beliefs; here's how one group tries to create a happy Oneness from the rivalry between Vaastu Shastra and Feng Shui. 

Posted by jat at 11:10 AM | Permalink

"It came straight from the Bible that Jesus had a glass of wine.  Actually, I don't know if it says he actually drank it, but whatever."

--Kelly Clarkson

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An international boycott has left the new Hamas government in Palestine with a serious budgetary shortfall.  Above, Palestinian women donate their jewelry to help make up for the lack of funds.

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