Blog

Mary, Isis, and the Goddesses of the Via Egnatia

| Past

The Via Egnatia, which ran from Constantinople in the east to Dyrrachium, Albania, in the west, was one portion of the more than 50,000 miles of well-built roads of the Roman Empire. It was along the Via Egnatia, in part, that St. Paul and his companions spread the Christian message, visiting friends and family, preaching […]

Where Are We with Abolishing the Electoral College?

| Present

After the 2016 presidential election, when candidate Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Donald Trump became President because of the Electoral College (EC), the issue of the EC was thrust again into the forefront. Recent polls show that 63-65 percent of American adults want the EC abolished. As we have noted before, no other […]

The World Happiness and “Shorter Lives” Reports: Important Warnings to Americans

| Present

We have commented earlier on the World Happiness Reports, published since 2012 by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In the 2022 report, the US ranks 15th, just ahead of Germany and behind eight European Union nations, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand, and Switzerland. In March 2023, NPR reported that life expectancy in the US […]

Science Meets Religion: NASA’s Community Anchor Program and a New Orleans Church

| Present

The notion that religion and science do not mix is belied in our day by the Informal Education Community Anchor award through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. The Anchor designation, located within the NASA’s Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) competitive funding program, was created in 2021 “in recognition that local institutions […]

Celebrating Women’s History Month: A Reading List

| Future,Past,Present

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we offer here an updated list of our blog posts about women,  goddesses, goddess worship and female imagery. Enjoy! Posts since late March 2021: Rounding Out Women’s History Month: Current Women Leaders around the World Current Research on Pompeii, Part I: Archaeology Current Research on Pompeii, Part II: Paul’s […]

The Reduced US Child Tax Credit: Paltry and Shameful

| Present

The site VERIFYthis.com, whose mission is to “provide trustworthy, transparent information to prove or disprove” stories or claims, gives us the bad news for American families regarding the Child Tax Credit: “The American Rescue Plan only expanded the child tax credit for the 2021 tax year. That means the credit has returned to its pre-pandemic […]

The Cult of the Thracian Horseman in the Early Christian Era

| Past

As we have seen in past posts, the early Jesus movement – which ultimately became Christianity – originated in a polytheistic environment: people of the Roman Empire worshiped multiple female and male deities. This means that Jesus himself, his earliest followers and those who later identified as Christians lived and worked among devotees of Aphrodite/Venus, […]

Resources and Some Good News For Black History Month 2023

| Present

There are movements afoot in our country – by those on the political right, including many elected officials at all levels of government – to reverse social, racial and economic progress that most Americans acknowledge has been made over the past 40-50 years. “Progress,” however, is not how those Americans on the right characterize certain […]

Guardian Angels: With Us, Helping Us

| Future

In the Roman Catholic tradition, there is a simple and common prayer to one’s Guardian Angel: Angel of God My guardian dear To Whom His love Commits me here Ever this day Be at my side To light and guard To rule and guide. Amen The paranormal evidence supports the existence of guardian angels for […]

Praying the Psalms: Age-Old Jewish Poetry in a Christian Context

| Past,Present

Most Sundays, and in many contexts around the world on weekdays as well, Christian worshipers read, sing or chant portions of a Psalm, an entire Psalm or even several Psalms during a service. The standard collection of Psalms, the Psalter, found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) portion of the Bible, is “an anthology of […]