Discussing Esotericism and Spirituality in Germany By Kocku von Stuckrad [For the German version of this blog post, click here | Zur deutschen Version dieses Textes geht es hier entlang] Today, the German public-service television broadcaster ZDF launched another episode of the show “13 Fragen” (“13 Questions”). This is a Read more
The Delusion that Only Individuals are Real By John Thatamanil Am I responsible for America’s racist past, even though I myself immigrated to the US from India when I was just eight years old? My parents had arrived two years before. What do my family and I owe to Read more
King Charles: Pagan Green Man? By Bron Taylor On 4 April 2023, at its official website, the British Royal Family revealed the design of the invitation to the Coronation of King Charles. Hand-painted by heraldry artist Andrew Jamieson, the invitation incorporated wildflowers and wildlife, including a unicorn, and symbols representing Read more
Kindness as a Political Virtue that Could Save Us from Ruin By Dion Forster For some years I have been thinking about the importance of recognizing and cultivating political virtues for the sake of a better future. By that I mean that I have been thinking about the kind of Read more
Crocodiles are Our Twins: Recognizing Animals as Persons By Andi Alfian In 2020, a group of Bugis people in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, discovered a crocodile emerging from the Tallo River, which they believed was their collective relative, and the incarnation of their ancestors. In the Bugis community we Read more
The Bible and “Homosexuality”: An Invitation to Encounter, Risk, and Collective Curiosity By Charlene van der Walt The biblical text is often used in contemporary African faith communities to condemn LGBTIQA+ people as an abomination before God and to label same-sex love as unnatural, un-Christian, and un-African. The recent passage Read more
“No One Does Anything!”: Hegemonic Knowledge and Everyday Oppression By Marcelo Kuna Half the stories of the world are left unwritten, Half the stories of the world are kept unread, And so the people of the world will never notice What disasters unprevented lie ahead. Jason Robert Brown’s lyrics for Read more
The Devil’s Parade By Rudolf von Sinner I confess, I am not a true follower of the Rio carnival—too many people, too late at night until too early in the morning, too loud, and too long. At most, I watch the highlights on TV. I do appreciate, however, the enormous Read more
on SHAME By Insa Verbeck I’ve always wondered how the words SHAME and SHAMAN sound so terribly similar. My name is Insa. I am an academic and a shaman. I read the news, I read scientific papers, and I read Tarot. I observe my Instagram feed as passionately as I Read more
Afrikanerdom and Its Lessons for Other Religious Nationalists By Retief Müller Is religion a blessing or a curse when it comes to political identities and their underpinning belief systems? The answer to this depends in part on whether your think religion should underpin your preferred political identity or not. That Read more