Eastern Orthodox Easter

Easter ended on Sunday for Protestants and Roman Catholics, but it falls on this Sunday, April 19, for the world's 200,000+ Eastern Orthodox. And for this version of Easter, red eggs are better than chocolate bunnies.

Start with Fact Monster. It's a surprisingly lucid yet accurate explanation of why the Greek, Russian and other Orthodox churches don’t celebrate Easter along with their Catholic and Protestant counterparts. If you do want a more detailed explanation, you can get it here.

Of course, there’s no substitute for the original sources. For that, there’s the Orthodox Christian Network, with Podcasts and streaming videos. They're produced by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, Fort Lauderdale, which has a production studio onsite.

Also click this link, from a newspaper in southern California, for a rundown of Easter that takes in several Orthodox branches -- including Russian, Serbian, Antiochian and others. The story is also handy for the pop-up notes for terms like "subdeacon" and "Holy Saturday."

A heartfelt article by actress Rita Wilson, wife of Tom Hanks, tells of Easter preparations growing up in her Greek household: the blood-red eggs, the braided cookies called koulorakia, the funeral procession as worshipers follow the Epitaphio, a stylized casket for a Christ icon.

Along the way, you’ll learn some fascinating lore. Like how Russian jeweler Peter Carl Faberge created those incredibly ornate eggs that bear his name. And how a priest reads the Gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection on Easter in as many languages as he can manage.

Finally, click this link for an Orthodox Church in Anaheim, Calif., and see all the translations -- "Christos Anesti," "Chrestos Voskrese," "Al Massi eh Kam," "Kristo Ame Fu Fuka," "Ua Ala Hou 'O Kristo," " Ha Ri Su To' Su Fuc Katsu" -- that mean "Christ is Risen." That will give you a taste of how universal the Eastern Orthodox Communion is.

DVD review: 'Jerusalem: Center of the World'

More blood and tears must have been shed over Jerusalem than any other city in history. Rather ironic for a city whose name means "City of Peace." But perhaps not for the literal touchstone of three enormously influential religions.

Its history is beautifully retold in Jerusalem: Center of the World, which premiered on PBS on April 1 and was released as a DVD shortly thereafter. Handsomely shot and diplomatically written, it is a rarity among documentaries -- a film on the Holy Land that's well done, but doesn’t graft someone's pet theory onto the topic.

The two-hour show traces the historical reasons -- still visible today in the holy sites -- why those few acres have grabbed and held our attention for four millennia.

With the sure, steady hand of PBS newsman Ray Suarez, Jerusalem: Center of the World plays it straight with biblical history. It tells of Abraham's call to move to the land, and how God tested his loyalty by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac. It tells of the magnificent Temple built on the spot centuries later by his descendant Solomon. And it tells the grief over losing the land when the Romans scattered the Jews.

The documentary continues with the story of Christianity, and Jesus' final days in Jerusalem. It shows the Via Dolorosa, the winding street said to mark the 14 events between his arrest and his burial. It also ventures into the cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditional site of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

But it moves on to tell of the importance of the city to Muslims as the "Farthest Mosque," or al-Masjid al-Aqsa, mentioned in the Quran. There’s an awe-inspiring walk through the Dome of the Rock, the golden-domed shrine that dominates nearly every photo of Jerusalem.

Not that the special swallows all the legends whole. It acknowledges that non-biblical evidence is scant for people like David, and for events like Muhammad's nighttime visit to Jerusalem. But it doesn’t air historical gossip or shifting archaeological fads.

Jerusalem: Center of the World tells how the Romans put down a Jewish revolt, then destroyed and rebuilt Jerusalem after 70 A.D. The film also covers -- perhaps a bit too lightly -- its rebuilding as a Roman city, then a Byzantine pilgrimage site, then the Ottoman period, heading into the 20th century.

The documentary producer, Two Cats Productions, clearly found a soulmate in the Muslim family entrusted with the key to the front door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The head of the family is given considerable camera time explaining the complexities of caring for such a sensitive holy place.

Jerusalem: Center of the World also skirts controversy in saying that scholars agree the Temple once stood on Mount Moriah, but all evidence for the structure is gone. Left unmentioned are the arguments of Asher Kaufman and others that the Waqf, the Arab authority governing the mountain, has purposefully destroyed such evidence.

But it seems to lean toward the Muslim side in dealing with the Crusades. It relates the the brutality of the First Crusade, but stays silent on the destruction of all churches and synagogues in Jerusalem by the Muslim ruler Hakim a century earlier.

Still, Jerusalem: Center of the World is a welcome tone of moderation about a city so given to extremes. When PBS makes the DVD available, it will likely get bought up by a lot of libraries -- and by families who want more light than heat.

Film review: 'One Day You'll Understand'

What if you thought your father might be a Nazi? How deep into public records would you dig? How far would you push your mother to divulge the facts?

Those questions plague Victor, a usually calm businessman at the center of One Day You'll Understand. In Paris in 1987, he listens with growing tension to media reports of the trial of Klaus Barbie, an accused Gestapo police chief in Nazi-era France.

Why is he anxious? Because his mother, Rivka, is a Jew, and his father may have been a collaborator with the Vichy government, a French version of the Third Reich. (Pictured: Hyppolyte Girardot as Victor and Jeanne Moreau as Rivka. Photo Courtesy of Kino International. )

How else to explain the father's SS dagger? Why else did he sign a document certifying Victor's sister as an "Aryan"? Why Rivka's silence about her parents, who died at Auschwitz? Was the father another Klaus Barbie?

Victor learns of a small village hotel where his grandparents hid out, and he drives there for answers. There he finds the room where they lived -- and he has a mysterious vision of that night when the Nazis finally found them.

The film is very un-American; it's low-key and talky -- in French, yet, with English subtitles. The film is short on the sex and blood and exploding helicopters that U.S. directors seem to consider vital ingredients. Yet One Day You'll Understand has its own neck-snapping suspense. The more Rivka deflects, the more you want to scream: "DAMMIT, JUST TELL HIM! GET IT OUT IN THE OPEN!"

But of course, she can't. Not after locking up secrets for four decades. And the film title comes true. When Victor finally grasps what she went through -- and what knowledge she protected him from -- he does understand.

The film troubles the conscience on several levels. One is the conflict of needs in a family: the need for truth versus the simple need to go on living, whatever the past may hold. Another is personal responsibility: How would we face a massive, genocidal force like Nazism? Would we flee? Join some guerrilla group? Lie to save our families? Or, as many did, collaborate?

Why do people act as they do? Or speak as they do? Or, sometimes, keep silent? We can only hope one day to understand.

A Noble Sanctuary for Muslims

Explore the 35-acre quad in Jerusalem known to Muslims as The Noble Sanctuary via this attractive, fact-filled site. From the Dome of the Rock to Al-Aqsa Mosque to the Islamic Museum, you'll gain a glimpse of why this is considered the third-holiest site in the Islamic world.

You'll get a little history, starting with Muhammad's legendary ascension to heaven from the mountain. You'll see some closeups of the stunning Dome of the Rock, with its golden dome and its blue-and-white calligraphic tiles added by Suleiman the Magnificent. You'll learn how informal centers of discussion at Al-Aqsa Mosque gradually grew into the four main schools of religious thought.

You'll also see the vaulted underground prayer room sometimes called Solomon's Stables. This is the structure that drew much controversy a decade ago, when it was being excavated by the Waqf, the Muslim trust that administers the area. Some Israeli observers said the Muslims were dumping truckloads of valuable archaeological materials. As this site says, Muslims counter that it was actually built during an eighth-century caliphate.

The writing is fairly lucid and direct, with only a few of those pious expressions like "peace be upon him." Surprisingly, the site acknowledges that many people believe the mountain was the site of Solomon's Temple. Some Muslim leaders deny that a temple ever stood there, loathe to concede any Jewish claim on the land.

One quibble: The siderail with the crosslinks is blue text on a field of green, making it hard to read. Green is supposed to have been Muhammad's favorite color. But I suspect that unlike the designers of this site, he would have opted for function over form.

The Noble Sanctuary is a fairly complex Web site, and not all the sections are linked from the homepage. Fortunately, there's a Contents page, which works as a site map for the 21 main sections.

Christian yoga: Too much of a stretch?

Yoga: Hindu implant or useful import? Christians don't agree on the answer. But there is a coterie of believers who try to merge the two, and their case in Christians Practicing Yoga is about as good as it gets.

"Christians connect instinctively with an embodied spiritual practice that inclines toward deeper prayer," the homepage says. "It is embedded in our spiritual DNA to go to God the way God came to us -- in and through the body."

The site offers a variety of approaches. There's the ancient devotional method called Lectio Divina. Contributor Lori Smith suggests chanting, a practice it shares with Christianity -- and with Sufism and native American religions.

Writer Bernadette Latin goes into satisfying, lucid detail about yogic values, such as Brahmacharya (moderation) and Ishvara Pranidhana (devotion to God). She draws some parallels between eastern and western beliefs, likening, for instance, the Sanskrit prana (life energy) to the Hebrew ruach (spirit).

Many Bible verses are offered, including Acts 17:28: "In Him we live and move and have our being." There's even a mini-directory of schools for face time with practitioners.

Much of the site is rather defensive. Latin, who seems to be the main ideologue, argues that yoga is a mere discipline that has been used by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and can be adapted to Christianity as well.

Father Tom Ryan, another site maven, supplies a helpful FAQ file for questions about mantras, Kundalini, and invoking Hindu deities. He even takes the offensive, saying that "incarnational faith" must include actions -- not just yoga but benevolence, human rights and social justice.

And the bleat goes on

Sheeple, Churchianity, herd mentality -- churchgoing Christians often get accused of being meek, bland and mindless. But instead of rebuking or repeating the snark, Sheep Comics turns it into satire.

The strip starts with Lionel, a youngish sheep who feels disaffected when his church doesn't match what he reads in the Bible. When the pastor rebukes Lionel for questioning him -- and even threatens to excommunicate him -- Lionel concludes the church is designed to control access to the Great Shepherd.

Sheep Comics has gone on for 87 episodes like that, ever since it premiered in 1999. Various episodes skewer tithing, guilt, coercion, prayer meetings, denominational rivalries, theological quarrels, trite praise and worship music, "responsive bleatings," even Thomas Kinkade's "inspirational" paintings.

It's a clever, subversive idea to take a common criticism of Christians and make it the theme of a comic strip. But the site's unnamed Web Shepherd often blunts the effect with long "editorials" after the cartoons -- 4,788 words in the very first installment. How ironic that some of his strips rant against boring sermons.

Still, so little cartoon satire is even attempted in religious circles, it's worth your time to look through Sheep Comics. After all, to err is human; to forgive is ovine. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Helping you find the way, maybe

Explore dozens of faith-based topics -- meditation, tribal beliefs, prophecies, etc. -- on the ambitious All Things Spiritual. The 25 main categories on the homepage index the usual world religions, plus a few surprises: Enlightenment, Mind-Body beliefs, even Sikh, Confucian and Zoroastrian groups. But those are just the start.

Click "More" and you'll definitely get it: angels, ghosts, Nordic gods, Rosicrucians, African myths, benevolent "cosmic people." There's a collection of prophecies -- biblical, Mayan, Hopi, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Our Lady of Fatima. There's some nice poetry from a variety of people, from William Blake to Omar Khayyam to Thich Nhat Hanh.

One site tries to show how England's Rosslyn Chapel -- featured in the movie The Da Vinci Code -- links the Masons with the Knights Templar. Another link offers a book titled Am I Crazy or Just Haunted? The free, downloadable book offers guidance on living with the paranormal.

As with any superdirectory, some of the classifications are up for debate. Yes, it's smart to put meditation and shamanism in their own categories; they bridge many faith traditions. But why is there a separate link for Sufism, a branch of Sunni Islam? Or for Veda, one of the Hindu scriptures? And why is native European spirituality separate from paganism?

It's also not great to see a lot of links that aren't so much resources as online catalogs. Sites like Cross Pendants Online, or the Bodyelement Yoga Studio, or the Eye of Horus Myth & Ritual Store.

Finally, although it may not need saying, "Buyer Beware." Just because it's on a Web site, doesn't mean it's accurate. An example: messianic groups -- i.e., Jews who became Christians -- are grouped under Judaism. Jewish communities object strongly to such mixing. The folks at All Things Spiritual should have known that.

The facts on evolution

Before you have one more quarrel with a creationist -- or an evolutionist, if you're on that side -- click The Debate Over Evolution. This extensive story gallery, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, may not settle all arguments. But it will equip you for more intelligent ones.

The seven articles give an overview, then a rundown on social and legal dimensions of the debate. There's a piece on Charles Darwin and his theory. There's a timeline on developments and counter-developments -- such as the creation of the Institute for Creation Research in 1970, and the National Center for Science Education 11 years later.

A graph shows the percentage of people in 11 religious groups who believe evolution is the best explanation for the origins of life. Another article summarizes the religious standpoints -- and, in a true reader service, provides links to the denominational Web sites for you to see for yourself.

If you're in America, you can see how the controversy shakes out in your home state. Finally, you can read some fascinating findings and opinions on evolution and related topics. You'll find the famous (notorious?) cases like the Scopes Trial and the battle over Intelligent Design in Dover, Pa.

Also click the refreshing Q&A interview with Francis Collins, former head of the Human Genome Project. An evangelical Christian as well as a first-class scientist, Collins argues both for faith and evolution. His is a rare voice for theistic evolution, and for respectful discussion.

A mis-directory?

All Things Spiritual shows both the beauties and pitfalls of creating a religious supersite. Meant to fill "the need of the time for greater connection to God," the site is easy to understand. It's also not well maintained -- and, in places, a little misleading.

First, the good. The unadorned design has fast-loading links. And you can hardly ask for more variety: Christian mysticism, Bible-themed museums, Hinduism-related toys, Tibetan singing bowls, Celtic flutes, a Virtual I Ching, Feng Shui tips, prophecies from Nostradamus and a host of others.

There's also meaty material like ancient Chinese texts, and historic Christian leaders like Francis Asbury. You can learn Carl Jung's beliefs on how personality affects spirituality. You can check out an intriguing mix of Judaic art and philosophy called Decoupage for the Soul.

The bad? Well, for one, many of the links are broken. Worse, some are misclassified. A site on yoga is grouped under Taoism. Soka Gakkai, a form of Japanese Buddhism, is under Shintoism. Sufism, a branch of Sunni Islam, is listed separately from that faith. And there's a link under Christianity to A Course in Miracles -- a metaphysical book supposedly dictated by Jesus.

The site's unnamed founders clearly take an interest in the stew of therapy, mysticism and esoterica that is often called the New Age. There's a subhead by that name here. But there are also several others -- Enlightenment, Mind-Body, Meditation, Shamanism, Spiritualism, Psychism, the Paranormal, Out-of-Body Experiences -- that are synonyms or subgroups.

Is that good or bad? Welllllll, I guess it depends on your own tastes.

The Halloween you didn't hear about

As Halloween looms, you'll no doubt hear the usual crossfire: conservative Christians and Orthodox Jews damning the "satanic" holiday, while pagans and secularists rant at "intolerant" fundies. But there are other viewpoints.

For religious opponents, surprising support comes from American Atheists. The article notes that Christmas nativity scenes are often banned from public property, but Halloween decorations are allowed. Yet Wiccans and pagans say Halloween is a holy day for them. "What does this say about the First Amendment aspects?" the article asks.

Last year, Halloween themes became all too real for theologian Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite when she heard of lynching nooses appearing on American campuses, and news of torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. She saw no use for a day of make-believe evil when real horrors haunt us every day.

More general ethical issues pop up on the Santa Clara University site. University fellow Rob Elder asks: Should Americans spend $6.9 billion on a holiday that promotes greed, vandalism and stomach aches?

Then there are the ecological evils of the holiday, according to MSNBC's Marisa Belger. You know, all those plastic costumes and pitchforks and candy wrappers. Belger suggests some ways to celebrate a green Halloween.

The day does have its defenders, such as psychologist Richard Beck. His blog says Halloween helps us "collectively process our eventual death and mortality" and "work through our fears of the uncanny."

Meanwhile, blogger and mother Diane Laney Fitzpatrick figures "if you can't beat 'em . . ." -- so she offers a Catholic activity for Halloween. She suggests religious education teachers actually set up graveyards for their students to walk through, shining flashlights on the headstones. There, they would read epitaphs of departed saints like Francis of Assisi.

A little weird, maybe, but still in the "spirit" of the original All Hallows Day.

Woodsy Buddhists

For tonight's Buddhist Web site, we go old school with . . .

Forest Meditation

Tibetan Buddhists may get more media, with their dancing monks and their multicolored sand mandalas -- and, of course, the humble yet flamboyant Dalai Lama. But forest monks, from the ancient Thai Theravada tradition, have their own deep spirituality and supple thought.

Forest Meditation follows a familiar track in telling the story of the Buddha, though it leans heavily on direct quotes from the Pali Canon. But the emphasis seems to be practical teaching rather than tradition. There's lots of help on meditation: chants, breath control, historical background, suggested positions.

The articles can be long -- "Buddhism in a Nutshell" alone is nearly 17,000 words -- but internal hyperlinks mark the 11 chapters. That allows you to read a unit, take time to digest it, then return to where you left off.

Included are various chants and blessings in Pali, stored as mp3 sound files and sometimes text. But don't hop around the site, as you can do with some others. If, for instance, you skip the "Basics" unit, you'll miss definitions of oft-used terms like Dhamma and Vinaya.

Fortunately, footnotes in "Buddhism in a Nutshell" explain those and other concepts. A link to another Theravada site, Access to Insight, is another big help.

Oddly, though, an explanation of Forest Meditation itself -- history, development, its very reason -- is missing. That would have been easy to add, as shown on the Web site of the Abhayagiri Monastery, another Forest Meditation retreat.

Lotus pray

Whoops, a bit late on the promised weeklong series on Buddhist sites. Without further delay, let's look at:

BuddhaNet

Here's a perfect example of what be accomplished with the Internet and one determined person -- in this case, Venerable Pannyavaro of Sydney, Australia. The Theravada monk started in 1993 with an old-school Bulletin Board Service. Now, BuddhaNet is a world-class publisher of text and music.

The site includes chants, hymns, mantras -- even whole albums of Buddhist pop music, both for adults and for children. It has scriptures of several traditions, including Pali, Chinese and Tibetan. A map-linked directory locates Buddhist centers almost anywhere, from Bolivia to Bahrain to Botswana.

A multi-level course deals with the life of the Buddha, as well as karma, reincarnation and meditation. Some content takes pdf, ebook or RealAudio form.

One refreshing article names 27 distinctiveness of Buddhism; for instance, that it acknowledges no supreme being. So many leaders these days pretend that all religions are basically the same.

And don't miss the site's BuddhaZine. It's full of mind-tickling content: computer art, crossword puzzles, cartoons, articles on psychotherapy and Buddhist architecture, photos from Bhutan, and those hand gestures known as mudras. It also has more traditional art, like the thangka of Buddha Shakyamuni above.

This otherwise lavish site does have a hole: an apparent lack of a FAQ file for western readers (yeah, like me). Such a file might deal, for example, with the clash between the western ideal of self-fulfillment and the Buddhist ideal of self-annihilation.

Some sites do address such issues. We'll look at one tomorrow night.

Happy Hindu New Year

The Hindu Festival of Lights, starting this year on Oct. 28, is like Christmas and New Year combined. And it's celebrated not only in India, but wherever Indians have settled: the U.S., the U.K., Africa and South America.

Learning about Divali online, though, can be a problem. Most Web sites for the holiday are either 1) laden with Sanskrit terms, assuming you already know the stories being taught, or 2) glitzy online catalogs for holiday sweets, jewelry, artifacts, incense and the like.

But there are exceptions.

Start with this bare-bones site, from the University of Kansas Medical School. Part of a list of holidays, it has a nice, simple description -- no Flash, no pictures -- of each of the five days of the Divali observance. It also links to a Hindu site that explains why Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune shown above, is honored on Divali.

Now you may be ready for the holiday site by Rangoli. VGreets has a concise explanaton of these seasonal designs sometimes called visual prayers. You can also find Rangoli galleries here, here and here.

Want more depth? India Travelogue provides a lengthy, 1,900-word essay on the festival, how it varies around India, and the three stories associated with the time.

United we sing, and maybe dance

Sure, the world is awash in ignorance and prejudice, but what can one person do?

Ask Jack Bloomfield. In 2004 he founded One Planet United, an organization that brings together people as varied as Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Pentecostal Christians -- all in the simmering melting pot of South Florida.

What does he get them to do? Talk out differences. Cool down tensions. Understand people different from themselves. And sing and dance together -- with choirs and soloists joining in annual concerts called Faith in Music.
Even better, you can do it, too -- with model plans, called "templates," on this Web site.

Like "Unity in our Community," a program using music, dance and drama in community celebrations. Like "Looking Glass Theater," a series of eight sketches with morals of acceptance. "Like OPU Clubs," where middle and high school students can promote dialogue and mediate intergroup problems.

The free documents, 150k to 300k long, don't take any expertise. Each project is broken down into committees, time requirements, press releases, program outlines. There are even suggested theme songs, like Where is the Love? by the Black-Eyed Peas.

A list of OPU-endorsed speakers is a bit heavy on the New Age, with the likes of Gary Zukav, Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch. But it also has a few conventional folks like Della Reese and Harold Kushner.

But that's the beauty of the templates. Whether you share all of Bloomfield's beliefs or not, the plans will still work for you. Imagine: trusting his tools with people he's never seen. That goes even beyond interfaith work.

Grace: Amazing, and unfair

Fog rolls in on a coastline, toward a lone figure on a rock. Philip Yancey's bearded, gray-haired face silently invites us to sit awhile and consider who God is to us -- and, perhaps, who we are to God.

Over three decades, Yancey has made an enduring impact in evangelical circles, with 12 books selling more than 14 million copies. This site hints at his insights and gift for words.

In an interview: "I can't think of any argument against God that isn't already included in the Bible."

In his travel notes: "I cannot claim that grace is fair. By definition, it's unfair: We get the opposite of what we deserve."

Sadly, Yancey has stopped adding to his notes. The last was in January 2005. At least we can still browse the site for photos, interviews, a biography and a book list.

The standout is the subsite for his book What's So Amazing About Grace? It opens with a synth treatment of the hymn Amazing Grace, with a photo montage of ... well, so many people. Bill and Hillary. Bill Gates. Mother Teresa. Timothy McVeigh. Mao Zedong.

Then the window moves to anecdotes from readers who have experienced grace in their own lives -- set to a soundtrack of howling wind and flapping shutters. The clear message: In a cold, uncaring world, we need a God who cares about us.

Many of the book thumbnails are broken; geez, where is that Webmaster? Use this link instead. It'll list all the books, in all their versions -- hardcover, softcover, audio, DVD, and several kinds of ebook.

Unearthing beliefs

Archaeology is more than stones and bones, you know. It's also about raging arguments and clashing worldviews. And Biblical Archaeology Review has been in the thick of it since 1975.

The editors naturally want you to subscribe (for $13.97), but their Web site has fascinating freebies.

One article is on a signet thought to have belonged to nasty ol' Queen Jezebel of the Bible. Another is "Gabriel's Revelation," an apocalyptic message on a 3-foot-tall block carved before the birth of Jesus. Still another is on a cave in Jordan that may have sheltered a church before 70 A.D.

A caveat: BAR sometimes enters the debates itself. Editor Hershel Shanks protested the 2007 Muslim digging under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, saying it could damage ancient Hebrew artifacts. BAR also maintains a blog on the flimsy pseudo-documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which flamed out on The Discovery Channel last year.

One of BAR's own buried treasures is a collection of picture galleries, three levels down and not linked from the homepage. Among the 17 galleries are artifacts from Greece and Masada, gold and turquoise jewelry from Afghanistan, and drawings of the Middle East from 1838.

Still another freebie: downloadable booklets, on things like the 2,700-year-long roots of the Olympic games. You have to sign onto BAR's e-mail list to fetch them, but that's free, too. And the list has news clips from other publications as well.

Faith made sight

Evangelicals are not known for artistry. Or so I thought. Then I came across Christians in the Visual Arts -- founded way back in 1979.

CIVA is Christian at heart, housed as it is at Gordon College. It also encourages refined artworks: sensitive, intelligent, skillfully rendered.

Appropriately, its Web site does little talking and much showing, with several online galleries. Media include photography, acrylic, collage, metal sculpture, even a mixed-media work of music with sound and light sensors.

Some of the pictures are religiously explicit, like an oil painting of the Annunciation to Mary. Some are enigmatic, like a wall hanging of woven teabags. Some explore general human themes -- like Mystical Marriage by Tanja Butler, shown here. One gallery experiments with the medieval triptych motif.

A minor gripe: The galleries could be easier to navigate. They're numbered but have no thumbnails, and there's no "Next" button on each picture. So you'll have to remember which number picture you're on.

CIVA acknowledges the hazard of visual art: People may see a variety of messages, and not necessarily what the artist meant. They're willing to take that risk, says Sandra Bowden of the group, to "lead the audience to a place of introspection."

Environmental spirituality

Church groups were once scorned by environmentalists as part of the problem; now they're valued as allies. Born way back in 1992, Earth Ministry is a veteran in creation care.

Unlike some environmental groups, Earth Ministry doesn't just rant about pollution and energy. It also looks at humans and the need to make a living. The group also helps people appreciate nature -- via stream cleanups, hiking and kayaking trips, and a music festival called the Celebration of St. Francis. And its think pieces come from real thinkers, like Bill Moyers, Calvin DeWitt and Frederick Buechner.

Earth Ministry still seems centered on Washington State, its birthplace. But it has a lot of resources that anyone can use. There's a handbook for "greening" a congregation. There's a book on agriculture, called Food and Faith. There are teaching materials for kids, from Catholic, Presbyterian and Christian Reform groups.

Take a long, careful look at the "Pattern Map": a sprawling organizational chart that interlinks the social, natural and economic realms into an ideal whole. It bristles with big ideas, like "ecosystem services" and "bioregional economies." But each is explained and may even sound workable. See what you think.

Also click the online pdf of the quarterly Earth Letter. It's nice-looking, but the posted sample is from winter 2006-7. (A cynic might suggest that it was chosen for its article from Barack Obama.) A subscription comes with a $35 membership fee.

Clicking a prayer?

Web-enhanced serenity may sound oxymoronic: Can one withdraw from the world by "plugging into it"? But the Irish Jesuits of Sacred Space claim that anyone can learn to pray -- even in front of a computer -- by following a few steps.

Those steps include the presence of God, freedom, consciousness, scripture, conversation and a conclusion. Click on each step and read each section -- a prayer or reflection or a biblical passage -- then click "Next" when you're ready. You can also backtrack and repeat steps.

The whole presentation is meant to impart peace and calm: simple language, mild mottled backgrounds, a pastoral picture on the homepage. Even the steps of prayer fade in and out as you click them, rather than switching abruptly.

Nor are you just a passive consumer. In a section called the Chapel of Intentions, you can post prayers of your own, for yourself or others. The list is sent to prayer communities, and some prayers are posted online.

If you don't know what to pray for, the Jesuits suggest sharing Pope Benedict XVI's current prayer concerns, or saying a novena (nine-day prayer series) for peace. The sample prayers come not only from Pope John XXIII, but also from Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Bahai sources.

Good stuff, with a caveat

As a superdirectory, the Christian Web Site is well worth a bookmark. Starting in 1995 as Best of the Christian Web, the site now lists more than 81,000 sites, one of the largest such directories.

But you'll have to take some of it with a grain of salt. More on that shortly.

The lively, well-organized homepage starts with founder Jeff White's recommendations, including software reviews, blogging tips and a free e-mail service. But the heart of the site is the directory of links in 24 categories -- from Apologetics to Chat Rooms to News to Software.

You can look up churches nationwide. You can learn Christian answers to questions from atheists, Muslims and others. You can see who is into paintings or films, dance or drama. It's a mountain of information, but the directory helps in several ways.

Each site is rated by users on a 10-point scale, and there-s a separate list of the top-rated ones. There's also a list of "Cool Links," the top 1 percent. Finally, you can use a search window.

Some of the sites, in fact, are better than White’s own essays. A recent article notes, disapprovingly, Coca-Cola’s plan to include the crescent and star on products for sale in Muslim countries during Ramadan. Then White rants that Coke is "targeting the terrorist market." Not a great show of Christian love or discernment, Jeff.

Another question mark: "Holy Land oil lamps" for sale. White says these old-looking lamps date from 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. He doesn’t say how he knows that, or why he would sell such artifacts for $69 each.

Christian Web site also has a large forum of message boards, with themes like movies, music, sports and politics. You have to register to write comments, but it's free.