BetterMost Community Blogs > Messages From The Heartland
The Vampire Thread
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: David In Indy on August 14, 2009, 09:00:19 pm ---From TampaBay.com
V is for voracious: Vampire culture unveiled
THE VAMPIRES wait outside the back door of the Ybor City nightclub. Newcomers stand on the fringes, alone. The regulars talk about school, about work, about the weather. • But not about blood-drinking. Not out here. •
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Alexandra Zayas can be reached at [email protected] or (813) 226-3354.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/v-is-for-voracious-vampire-culture-unveiled/1027763
--- End quote ---
There's a lot of good reading on the modern vampire culture around the world. I haven't read much on them (I find the vampire culture kinda gross), some do engage in blood sports, others just in being psychic vampires. I read a little of them in the below book a few years back:
Not in Kansas Anymore by Christine Wicker
Apparently vampires not only exist but are alive, well, and possibly living in your home town. It's also likely that the spirit of novelist Zora Neale Hurston is in North Carolina giving magical people very specific instructions about what to do with her grave dirt. At least this is what Wicker suggests with a lot of wit, a serious dash of journalistic curiosity, and always respect for even the strange and unbelievable characters she encountered as she journeyed across America in search of all things magical. A former religion reporter for the Dallas Morning News and author of several books including Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead, Wicker tries to sort out the difference between religion and magic, and examines the many varieties of magical experience found across America. Wicker is many things for readers—a memoirist, a reporter, a narrator of fascinating stories and well-written dialogue and, not least, a humorist. Readers will find themselves unable to put this book down, absorbed in the story Wicker has to tell that is as much filled with laugh-out-loud moments as it is with insights into a topic that continues to fascinate both Muggles and magicians alike.
Front-Ranger:
I heard an interesting interview with Anne Rice on NPR yesterday about why she is leaving Christianity, not from a loss of faith in the Trinity, but because of the Catholic church's work to defeat same-sex marriage. She is rightfully disgusted by the Church's spending money to defeat state initiatives instead of concentrating on religion and helping the poor.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on August 03, 2010, 08:47:39 am ---I heard an interesting interview with Anne Rice on NPR yesterday about why she is leaving Christianity, not from a loss of faith in the Trinity, but because of the Catholic church's work to defeat same-sex marriage. She is rightfully disgusted by the Church's spending money to defeat state initiatives instead of concentrating on religion and helping the poor.
--- End quote ---
She is, indeed, right to be disgusted by the Roman church's spending money in this way, although, if FRiend Lee has reported this accurately, and I have no reason to doubt that she has, it is disheartening once again to see the Roman church equated with all Christianity, and all Christianity tarred with the brush that Roman deserves for its hatred of gays and women. Anne Rice should know better, though I suppose the Roman indoctrination runs deep. I guess if you're raised in that tradition, you instinctively equate it to Christianity.
louisev:
It isn't like the Roman Catholic Church is alone among Christian churches condemning gays though - look at the fundamentalist churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mormons (okay maybe they aren't Christian), and the other side of the schism in the Episcopal Church.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: louisev on August 03, 2010, 10:36:28 am ---It isn't like the Roman Catholic Church is alone among Christian churches condemning gays though - look at the fundamentalist churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mormons (okay maybe they aren't Christian), and the other side of the schism in the Episcopal Church.
--- End quote ---
Sure enough, but it's grossly unfair to condemn those forward-looking real Christians who have the love of God and all God's children in their hearts who are supportive and welcoming of sexual minorities--or at least struggling to move forward. This is how I see it whenever I see the Roman Church apparently equated to "Christianity." Of course Rome sees itself as the only true Christian Church, but Rome is just wrong. ;D
"Real Episcopalians" ( ;) ) are welcoming. The United Church of Christ (the old Congregational and German Reformed churches) is famously supportive. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America now accepts partnered gay clergy. I believe the Methodists and the more liberal Presbyterians are struggling, but I don't really follow those denominations.
I guess I'm a little lacking in love in my own heart, because whenever I see all branches of Christianity condemned for the sins of Rome, I want to hit somebody. ...
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