Find your own beliefs

Don't know where your inner compass points? Try Belief-O-Matic, part of the incredible Beliefnet cosmos.

This cosmic version of 20 Questions asks what you think of things like the nature of God, the origins of life, morality, the afterlife, social ethics, eternal rewards and punishments, etc.

A nice touch: The answers are multiple choice, with six to eight options (didn't you love those in college?). Also nice: You don't have to answer all the questions. Nice touch 3: You can weight each answer with one of three grades of importance.

Questionnaires like this often have some weakness. With this one, some of the multiple choices overlap. Take the question, "Why is there terrible wrongdoing in the world?" One answer is original sin; another is "God-given free will plus a weak side." Some people would choose both.

Soooooo, will you divine your divinity by question 20? Wellllll, you may come close, but not necessarily a bulls-eye. I tested as a 100-percent "Orthodox Quaker" (I'm not). Another reply is at the start of the quiz: "Belief-O-Matic assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul."

Beliefnet has a lot of other quizzes, too. They examine topics as questing as "spiritual intelligence," as earthy as your level of lustfulness, as silly as the spirituality of Britney Spears.

Pictures worth a thousand prayers

Traditions are one thing; seeing the spots that inspired them is another. Christus Rex brings them together, with photos and text put together by a Marian priest.

Bearing a distinctly Italian Catholic feel, Christus Rex has a lot of virtual pilgrimages, guiding you around holy sites with devotional as well as historical comments. A nice clickable map shows biblical highlights of Jerusalem, such as St. Stephen Gate and Hezekiah's Tunnel.

An evocative section shows the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, retracing Jesus' steps on the day of his crucifixion. But it does need some updating. The webmaster's idea of a standard page width is a mere 700 pixels.

Check out the Pater Noster Convent on the Mount of Olives. The convent houses plaques with the Lord's Prayer in 1,444 languages. (Pictured: Farsi and Sanskrit.)

Vatican City is shown in a lush collection of photos -- not only the familiar St. Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel, but also the little-seen apartments of the pope.

There's more: a Catholic calendar, an online lectionary, a celebration of the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome (see why I said the site has an Italian Catholic feel?). Two other sections, though, seem out of place.

One section is on the 1989 student uprising in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and the military repression that ended it. The other is on the medieval Khazar Empire, which converted to Judaism in 740 A.D. The section accepts the controversial theory of author Arthur Koestler that the Khazars became Europe's Ashkenazic Jews.

Honest to godless

Herewith the loyal opposition: American Atheists, founded by the notorious late Madelyn Murray O'Hair. The group has largely dropped the nasty persona that O'Hair cultivated, but stands just as ready to defend godlessness.

Instead, the American Atheists give themselves labels like "positive," "independent," "happy," and science minded. They do some deep though pejorative probing, like on whether Jesus existed, or his disciples, or even some of the New Testament towns like Nazareth. They also list alleged contradictions between Bible verses.

But some of Murray's old venom survives. In a reprinted address at Memphis State University, she calls the Judeo-Christian heritage a "disease." She also says that before creating the universe, "God was sitting on his ass in Nowhere . . . picking his nose and farting." (Pictured: Madalyn Murray O'Hair in 1983. From Alan Light on Flickr.)

The attitude carries over into the site's news section. One article snickers at an un-baptism ritual using a hair dryer. Another calls Sarah Palin a "fundamentalist right-wing Christian," although the cited article doesn't use such language.

Christianity, in fact, seems the main fixation. The main other target seems to be Islam. Spinoff Christian groups like the Mormon Church and Christian Science also get some pokes. But there's little on Buddhists or Hindus or Taoists or native Americans. The atheists say this is because Christians are the main culprits in trying to limit the rights of others.

To be fair, the site also has some self-criticism. It questions the scientific dogmatism of Richard Dawkins and the mysticism of Sam Harris. And there's some lively give-and-take on the often-updated NoGodBlog.

Messianic messing

Barack Obama as Christ? That's one surprise on Jesus of the Week. This site, published by the Village Voice, seemingly has hundreds of images sent by readers.

As you can imagine, the pictures range from the classic to the classically stupid. Examples:

Slam-dunking a goal in a yellow Los Angeles Lakers uniform.

A reverent painting of Jesus offering bread and wine.

Twin faces of Christ as earrings, his hair studded with diamonds.

A Rasta-locked Lord on a shoulder tattoo.

A cartoon Jesus surfing on a cross.

And assorted Jesus faces on light switches, bandages, sticky notes, black velvet, and of course airbrushed onto vans and motorcycles. And on and on.

You submit the picture -- or someone out there does -- and the Village Voice editors add what they consider witty comments. Like the suggestion that a sitting statue, with hand to the side of his head, looks like he's talking on an iPhone. Tee-hee.

What to make of this site? One lesson: Culture can get pretty silly, even with revered figures. Two: Ridiculing the sacred is funny, at least for some mentalities.

Conclusion three: Ignorance is no handicap online. Whoever wrote the snickering paragraph for a crucifixion painting totally missed that the artist was Salvador Dali.

Thanksgiving on the Web

Thanksgiving holds a peculiar status as a hybrid religious-secular holiday. It combines history, heritage, religious ideals, family values and an opportunity to reach out to people different from yourself.

The day is even more American than July 4, says rabbi-journalist Marc Gellman.

"On Thanksgiving we have it all: football and the Macy's parade, family gatherings combined with an atmosphere of civic virtue that effortlessly morphs into secular thankfulness for the nonreligious and thankfulness to God for the pious among us," his 2007 article in Newsweek says. "Thanksgiving Day embraces us all."

Mary Fairchild of About.com has a fairly crisp report on the purpose and origins of the day, with some interesting trivia thrown in. Example: Seven other nations -- Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, Liberia, and Switzerland -- have their own Thanksgiving days.

The Pilgrim Hall Museum in modern Plymouth, Mass., has valuable information on the Pilgrims and how their faith affected their Thanksgiving observance. Among the museum's religious treasures is the Bible of Pilgrim leader William Bradford (shown below).

More info is at Plimouth Plantation, a reconstruction of the 17th century Pilgrim settlement. Its Web site has historical background on Thanksgiving, both on the Christian settlers' side and that of the native Wampanoag tribe. But it also questions how religious the 1621 harvest festival was.

Interfaith services are a large and growing Thanksgiving tradition, when people of various religious gather to voice gratitude together.
Here are some suggestions for planning an interfaith Thanksgiving service, from an official of the United Methodist Church.

Some tips: Talk with other faith communities on the meaning of giving thanks; discuss the look of the venue; plan food and drink afterward, so people can mix. The nice thing is that the plans also work for other occasions besides Thanksgiving.

Not that the spiritual facet is unchallenged. Even a year ago, Slate magazine carried a report on a cultural war brewing around Thanksgiving, something like that over religious themes in Christmas. Writer Andrew Santella wrote in somewhat snarky terms about the religious right alarmists who wanted to make everyone thank the same God as they did.

But Santella ultimately lands on the side of thankfulness: "Do we really have to choose between the extremes of calling Thanksgiving a religious holiday or a civic celebration? Can't we assume that the holiday has evolved as some more subtle mix of the secular and the spiritual, one that each of us can adjust according to our own values?"

Quite a lot to digest with our turkey and pumpkin pie.

The U.S. election: The U.K. view

Did the presidential election help or hurt U.S. religion? Five columnists weigh in at The Guardian -- and draw more than 130 reader opinions.

The exchange is part of a large religion page produced by the venerable, century-old newspaper in London. The many columns there reveal some fresh, Brit-style thinking.

An atheist art columnist acknowledges the power and beauty of religious images, though he rejects their theology. A religious affairs correspondent files a video from her recent pilgrimage to Mecca. Another writer says sermons are a good idea -- just not in stodgy church services.

The choice of items reveals what has The Guardian's attention. Anglicans, Catholics, Muslims and atheists get lots of content. Jews, Hindus and Buddhists get less. But Christianity in general, including evangelicals and mainline Protestants, gets a whole separate page.

There's also a bit of weighting. In a special report on Christmas, the Guardian cites several views of Jesus: as Son of God, as a prophet, or just a man who was close to God. No such diversity touches the reports on the Hajj and Ramadan.

Not all the thinking at The Guardian is equally sharp, of course. A liberal rabbi predicts the demise of faith in a supernatural God within 30 years. That funeral has been said for more than a century -- and there are more believers, and more religions, than ever.

Just the facts on religion

Why do Hindus use a swastika? Why is the Cross of St. Peter upside down? And why do Scientologists weave an "S" through two triangles?

Those and more answers are on Religion Facts, which fittingly has the slogan, "Religion is interesting; knowledge is good." The anonymous religion student behind this site has kept his promise: straight facts, no manipulation.

And the 37 featured groups go beyond the usual world religions. It's also Aladura of west Nigeria and Cao Dai from Vietnam. It's the Druze of the Middle East and Zoroastrianism, which has one of its fire temples in Yazd, Iran (pictured here).

Each section has a short intro, then bulleted Fast Facts. Then comes a history of the religion, then beliefs and practices. Footnotes are plentiful and often lead to offline articles.

Better yet are the comparisons. A "Big Religion Chart" gives a quick rundown on each group. Other charts parse out differences among various types of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Although the information is generally objective, the very choices inevitably raise questions. Is Deepak Chopra's center a distinct religion? Are ancient Greek Stoicism and Epicureanism religious? And should you put atheists, who attack the very idea of faith, on a list of faiths?

The author does urge us to continue our own studies. For those, he provides glossaries and book lists, some of them linking to eBay or Amazon.

Media well-done

Are theme parks part of the media? They are at Understanding Evangelical Media. Not only obvious ones like Walt Disney World, but also Creation Museum, Holy Land Experience, even Silver Dollar City.

Other Christian media? Comics, videogames, drama, robotic dinosaurs, even advertising and retail sales. They're all explored -- along with the usual TV, books and radio -- in this sweeping study co-edited by Quentin Schultze of Calvin College, a longtime sharp eye on religious media, along with Robert H. Woods Jr. of Spring Arbor College.

The site and book (IVP, 347 pp., $22) muster 40-plus specialists to examine 19 forms of media, with text, video clips and music samples. The site also posts much outside commentary on how well the Christian communicators are communicating -- or not.

As elaborate as it is, the site has a few flaws. Worship is listed as a type of media, but the fine arts are not, despite groups like Christians in Visual Arts. Three links are supposed to list chapters, topics and sources, but they all lead to the same Web page. Each topic also lacks a summary or introductory paragraph, although a few have sound-file commentaries.

But the links are so plentiful, the site is great for anyone who wants to explore this big topic of a burgeoning religious movement. For friends, enemies, or just the curious, Understanding Evangelical Media is well worth a bookmark.

Judaic wisdom

Simple to Remember is a study of Judaism that turned into a Web-based hobby. In the process, the author has amassed a treasury of wisdom.

The site covers some general questions, like "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and "Why don't the Jews believe in Jesus?" -- and interesting paradoxes like "Life is about pleasure, not comfort." It digs into spirituality and philosophy and "The Meaning of Life."

The writer -- who, as far as I can tell, never reveals his name -- stings our conscience with a long discussion of TV, calling it mostly a way to deliver audiences to advertisers. He also shows great concern for anti-Semitism, the cultural assimilation of Jews and the need for Jews to marry one another.

He cleverly alternates cute tricks with serious thoughts. On a page dealing with life and death, a clock made of words and numbers follows your mouse pointer like a spiral spring. But the article itself deals with a literally grave issue: Living a worthwhile life by remembering that one day you'll lose it.

Make sure to click Famous Jewish People, from the Web site of the Orthodox Union. That link actually starts before the people were called Jews, listing Abraham and Moses. It also includes luminaries like Hillel, Maimonides (called RAMBA"M here) and David ben-Gurion.

Many of the links point to the Web site of Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox Jewish educational organization. It's a good choice. Aish is an ace at couching ancient wisdom in modern words and trendy graphics.

You're a believer? You're dead

When a judge in Iran sentenced a man to death for the "crime" of converting from Islam to Christianity, Bishop Haik Hovsepian raised an international outcry. The convert was released, but Hovsepian vanished -- and his corpse was found later, with 26 stab wounds.

And the persecution isn't just in Iran. It's also in China, Eritrea, Kosovo, Cuba, Vietnam, Indonesia and elsewhere. Hence The Persecuted Church, which will sponsor its annual prayer day on Nov. 9 this year.

The site is an umbrella for 10 watchdog groups, including International Christian Concern, which lays out a table of the 35 countries where it says persecution or discrimination is worst.

Hovsepian's 1994 murder is remembered in A Cry From Iran, a documentary making the rounds in the U.S. Also poignant is Gospel for Asia, which has been monitoring the wave of brutal attacks on Christians in India.

What about others? Well, Persecuted Church says the plight of Christians dwarfs that of other faiths. But if you want a broader view, try Forum 18 News Service. Although it's a Christian organization, Forum 18 also sounds the alarm for other religions -- as in Azerbaijan, where a mosque was bombed, then kept closed by government order.

Also exemplary is the work of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. The commission monitors religious rights worldwide, marking 11 nations -- including Sudan, Burma, Uzbekistan and North Korea -- as "countries of particular concern."

Finally, have a look at persecution of Baha'is, especially heinous in Iran and Egypt. As of this writing, Iran has jailed 53 of them on charges of "illegally" teaching their religion, although the Baha'is say their main activities were teaching reading and hygiene to poor children.

The faith-based vote

Faith and religion permeated this U.S. presidential election perhaps more than any other -- and was probably scrutinized more systematically than ever, too. Here were three of the best studies.

The exceedingly sharp Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life went beyond blogging to actual numbers. Its poll on How the faithful voted looked at seven faith groups. Among the surprises: Most Catholics voted for Barack Obama, although they favored George W. Bush in 2004.

More tools are available on ReligionLink, a resource site for reporters but free for anyone. Its article Barack Obama and the future of religion and politics glitters with various facets of the election. One is the fascinating CNN exit poll, which teases out religious motives as well as others.

The ReligionLink article also looks religious-moral issues: poverty, the economy, gay marriage, the environment, the war in Iraq and the future Supreme Court. One segment even assesses Sarah Palin's chances for president in 2012.

Jay Toalson of U.S. News & World Report sounds like a prophet in his indepth study of religion and the election, way back in June. He accurately said that religious blocs were too complex to land snugly in either candidate's back pocket. And he said foreign policy statements wouldn't win religious votes any more than non-religious ones.

Ethicist David Gushee may raise your eyebrows with his opinion that not enough religion came up in the campaign. He wanted to hear more on "how a candidate's personal faith informs their moral values and, in turn, their policy choices." What he heard was "guilt by association" -- Obama's former attendance at Jeremiah Wright's church, Palin for having once been a Pentecostal.

Helping them help themselves

When governments talk about billions of dollars, it's hard to imagine that a few bucks can turn a life around. But Opportunity International does it for more than a million people in 28 nations each year.

The Christian-oriented group has mastered the art of of microenterprise: lending tiny amounts for individuals to support themselves. It also provides training and financial advice, and helps form community trust groups.

And yes. The organization, which holds the top four-star rating from Charity Navigator, supplies success stories.

A woman and her mother in the Philippines (left) support themselves by weaving colorful baskets, instead of scavenging at a nearby garbage dump.

A subsistence farmer in Indonesia borrowed $500 to dig 17 fish ponds, eventually harvesting 18 tons of carp per year.

In Honduras, a shoemaker stopped paying ruinous fees to loan sharks. He now employs six other fulltime workers.

A woman in Uganda used loans to buy bananas in bulk and sell them in Kampala. She not only supports eight children -- four of them for university educations -- but three AIDS orphans as well.

As you can see, the clients often use their success to help their neighbors. And 98 percent of trust group loans are repaid, Opportunity International says.

Is all this Christian? In answer, the group quotes Jesus: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Remembering G. K. Chesterton

Some people compress wit, word skills and insights into sparkling jewels of wisdom. One was G. K. Chesterton, an English Catholic writer whose life straddled the 19th and 20th centuries -- and influenced other writers like C. S. Lewis.

The Minneapolis-based American Chesterton Society has done a great job of gathering his quotes and other works. A sampling:

• "The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right."
  
  
• "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."
  
  
• "Progress is Providence without God. That is, it is a theory that everything has always perpetually gone right by accident."
  
  
• "There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions."
  


• "The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say."

There's more to Chesterton than quips, of course. He wrote a hundred books and hundreds of poems. He also wrote plays, novels, short stories and newspaper columns.

The Chesterton Society offers some of these, plus "nuggets," or digests, of some of his beliefs. It also publishes Gilbert magazine, with some thought-provoking sample articles by and about him.