This Week in "God"

This week: old carvings, a druid fraternity, the Middle East, "God's fossil," and St. Patrick. Let's start with this "rocking" Roman god...

Carving of 'northern god' found BBC News Last Updated: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 16:00 GMT A 2000-year-old carving of a so-called "northern god", adopted by the Romans for protection and good luck, has been uncovered in Northumberland. The image is thought to be that of Cocidius The 40cm high figure, holding a shield in one hand and spear or sword in the other, was discovered near Chesters Fort on Hadrian's Wall. Experts say the find is exciting as it helps shed light on how people used local idols for protection. The carving is thought to be that of Cocidius, a Romano-British warrior god... [ Full Story ]

A fraternity for Druid's celebrates its first anniversary...

Student organizes his own alternative fraternity By JULIA O'MALLEY Anchorage Daily News Published: March 13, 2006 John Wilcox, a 'super senior' at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), was denied membership in Sigma Epsilon last year. And so, Phi Omicron Delta -- UAA's first and only local fraternity -- began and will celebrate its one year birthday in the fall. ...The fraternity, now officially a corporation, has about 13 active members, a secret handshake, and a raucous tradition of attending UAA sporting events with body parts painted green and gold. The brothers are seeking recognition from the university, which doesn't have provisions for a local fraternity. Wilcox explained the idea was to create kind of an anti-fraternity, eschewing flowery secret oaths and partying in favor of a stripped-down brotherhood concept almost like a support group... [ Full Story ]

Security, Religion, and Politics of two tribal peoples with equal claims on ancestral lands...

Two Narratives: Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian Present Speaking of Faith by American Public Media March 9, 2006: An Israeli Perspective March 16, 2006: A Palestinian Perspective As Israel prepares for a critical election and Hamas forms a Palestinian cabinet, we explore the difficulty of reaching resolution in a land that its inhabitants, on both sides of the conflict, consider holy. Our guests in this two-part series, Israeli and Palestinian, identify deeply with the story and suffering of their own people. They are also individuals who from across tumultuous recent history have reached out to the other side. They find themselves embittered at the failure of the Oslo peace process, reeling from recent events, and uncertain about the future. We explore their unresolved questions and despair, and probe the deep longing for peace that remains within each of them and how they are imagining a future within new political realities. Israeli View Download (mp3, 53:18) | » Stream (RealAudio, 53:00) Palestinian View Download (mp3, 53:18) | » Stream (RealAudio, 53:00) [Podcast Help]

Evolutionary psychologists in the God-killing business (sort of)...

The God Fossil By Julia Reischel Article Published Mar 9, 2006 (Posted by Science & Theology News March 16, 2006 Most Americans who accept evolution think God created it. These scientists think they can prove the opposite. Since the 2004 publication of their experiments, Bering and Bjorklund have been ignored by all but a small group of theorists and experimental psychologists. And talking to Bjorklund, the more cautious of the two, you'd never think that their findings are any threat at all to traditional religion. "Humans have evolved this tendency to look for explanations, to look for causes," he says in a characteristically dispassionate way. "This ends up giving meaning to life. It forms how we think about the world. Religion and spirituality emanate from it." But Bering, now a professor in his own right at the University of Arkansas, sounds ready to burn down a cathedral. His hunger for the answers to his mother's questions barely sated, his goal is nothing less than to prove to the world, once and for all, that God is a "cognitive illusion" — a figment of our imaginations... "We've got God by the throat, and I'm not going to stop until one of us is dead." [ Full Story ]

And in honor of St. Patty's Day, read about the real St. Patrick. Oh, but maybe you should try your hand at the Beliefnet St. Patrick's Day quiz first, and see how much you already know...

The Real Saint Patrick Author Maire B. de Paor Interviewed by Manya Brachear Posted Mar 17, 2006 @ Beliefnet.com Though shamrocks and snakes weren't part of his ministry, the saint touched hearts across a spectrum of beliefs. Kidnapped as a teenager, Patrick was smuggled to Ireland and enslaved. He became a shepherd and prayed for his release for six years. Once freed, he returned to evangelize his pagan captors. Until recently, many believed Patrick was a barely literate rustic. In her book, Paor seeks to uncover the true "poet and apostle" Patrick as revealed through his two major literary works, the Confessio and the Epistola. During her first visit to the U.S., Paor talked with Beliefnet's Manya Brachear about the life behind the legend... [ The Interview ]

Thanks for stopping by. I have not had much feedback on the This Week in "God" feature, so I don't know if my regular readers (all two or three of you) like it at all. Does it take up too much space? Would you prefer to see each story in a separate post, if only to make it easier to comment on them individually? Let me know your thoughts. I would like to make this a regular thing here, and I am interested in dialogue about the stories.