religion

Chris Knight's avatar

EDIT  10/09/2026 12:55 AM EST:  Why not?

I think that taking a stand against antisemitism certainly counts toward doing good.

Here is the post that I had taken down a few days ago:

 

I debated about whether to post this.  Truth be told apart from some mad comment left on a previous post I’d forgotten about Connor Heggie, the owner of Facebook group The SW Geek Hub and the extremist LGBT stalker who accused me of bigotry because of my convictions about the homosexual lifestyle and how it is not only wrong, but it’s dangerous.

There have been too many great things in my life lately than to be concerned about a twit and his fellow goons on Facebook.  Things like new friendship, well-paying new job, new car, my book selling well and I’ve begun writing another… God has been very good to me in the past ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

I am somewhat in a state of flux at the moment.  See, I’ve been living in the Spartanburg, South Carolina area for going on eight years now.  But I don’t know if it can truly be called that I’ve “set down roots” here.  This is one of the fastest-growing areas in the entire country, there are people coming to live here in mega droves (the constant residential developing is something that’s irking longtime members of the community) but even so, there’s not been a peace on my heart about staying here.  If I can swing it I’d love to relocate to the Greenville area.  I have a lot of friends and family there, it would be nice to be closer to them.

One of the things that has suffered because of that “lack of peace” is my spiritual life.  I’ve been here for the better part of a decade and
...
Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This is… I mean, just… HOLY CRAP!  This is NOT a good thing.

And it even looks like a Cylon, too.

 

That’s “Gabi”.  He… I mean, IT… is in Seoul, South Korea.  It just took vows to be a Buddhist monk at a special ordination ceremony.

Here’s the story from UPI about the Cylon Buddhist monk.

And here is video of Gabi going through the paces of being a holy droid:

 

As good friend of this blog Geoff Gentry pointed out, at least the Cylons from the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica  were monotheistic.  That is true.  But for such a construct it’s only going to be a matter of time before the leap is taken from programmed zen to actively believing in a singular God.  And when the things start assuming through their AI superiority that THEY are closer to God than frail and fallen humanity ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This may or may not be a fun time to share this.  But there’s been a lot of good humor about the papacy in the past couple of days (I think the best joke I’ve heard is that Chicago’s NBA team is changing its name to the Papal Bulls) so why not?

Inspired by Steve Jobs (who had tried impersonating Henry Kissinger), in the spring of 1996 I attempted to telephone Pope John Paul the Second.  I had managed to find the number to the Vatican switchboard and so I called it.  I disguised my voice to sound like that of President Bill Clinton.  I told the operator who “I” was and that I had to speak with His Holiness.

Several minutes after being put on hold a gruff-sounding man picked up the line.  He said something in a thick accent and then demanded “Who is this??”

“Sir, I ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced a little while ago to be the next pope, Leo XIV. 

He’s the first American to become pope.  He is also likely the very first person from Chicago elected to office who will end his term without going to jail.

(Oh come on, nothing wrong with a little humor!)

Although I am not a Catholic, I will be praying that Pope Leo XIV will lead his church with wisdom, humbleness, and courage to do right in all things.

...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

This is one of my favorite scenes in motion picture history.  From the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.  Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has just freed Subotai (Gerry Lopez) from certain death.  Here we see them having dinner together.

I’ll let the scene speak for itself.

It’s two fast friends, enjoying a meal in each other’s company.  And the conversation turns to religion.

There is no bitterness or anger.  Not an iota of hatred between the two men.  They are simply discussing their respective faiths: Subotai’s in the Four Winds, and Conan’s belief in Crom.

I like to think that Conan and Subotai each give the other something to think about.  Conan certainly seems impressed by the point Subotai is making about “the everlasting sky”.

Conan the Barbarian is a fantasy movie.  It is very tragic that people in real life can not speak to one another about their differing beliefs ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar
When four people write in over the course of a month, asking the same question, maybe that’s a signal to address something.

Let’s set the Wayback Machine(tm) all the way to fifteen or so years ago.  I used to work at WGSR, a television station in Reidsville, North Carolina.  That was where my school board campaign – and those wacky campaign commercials – began in 2006.  I did a few things at WGSR: master control operator mostly, but also prepping the studio for broadcasts, changing the tapes (including many Betamax cassettes) of the programs for their broadcast.  It was a job that lasted a little less than a year but I learned a lot about the broadcast industry while I was there.

During my time at the station and afterward, I began taking notice of a religious program that aired live twice a week.  It was by a group of ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

In searching around for churches in this area, obviously I’m looking at their websites.  I’m studying a few things, particularly their various statements of belief.  In that regard I’ll simply say this: there are already a number of places of worship which I regrettably cannot enter.  It would be like bringing a blowtorch aboard the Hindenburg.

No disrespect to those places is meant.  I believe they and I worship the same God.  We differ however in aspects of that which while ultimately meaningless, are as unavoidable in this carnal realm as they are indicative of the imperfect nature of the church as the body of Christ upon this earth.

As I was saying, I’m perusing the websites of places of worship.  Looking for certain qualities.  And with the advent of streaming video I’m now able to watch and listen to recent sermons.  Sort-of like the Esper machine: getting to ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

The church I visited today had a baptismal ceremony.

And as I’ve thought for a very long time now about the sacrament and is often the case, it was WAY too brief.

It was three people being baptised (I prefer that word with a lovely “s” rather than a jagged “z”) and the entire ceremony lasted less than a minute and a half.

Were I a stranger to seeing such things… and there are MANY for whom the act of baptism WOULD be an alien spectacle… I would be absolutely bewildered at the brevity of so mystifying a ritual.  Clearly, some context is in order.  WHY would one subject himself or herself to being immersed in a vessel of water, before a cloud of witnesses?

I think we are depriving ourselves as the body of Christ when we reduce baptism to so few fleeting moments.

A baptism should be much ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Obviously the notion entered my mind that maybe this could be an installment of the Being Bipolar series (which there may be much more material for coming soon).  But Being Bipolar is more about the disease itself, and is intended to be a resource for those looking for insight and information from someone who lives with that condition.

What I’m sharing now, on the other hand, has less to do with that aspect of my life than it does with others.  Although mental illness is certainly the precipitant.

It was twenty-four years ago this month that the symptoms of manic depression, or bipolar disorder, first began to manifest themselves in me.  At first it was wildly intoxicating, all the boundless energy and creativity that came seemingly out of nowhere.  I was still looking for a job post-college and failing in that but other opportunities were coming to the fore (like ...

Read more