The Seeker Award Program has been discontinued. Here are the winners of the Religious Truths Insight Seeker Award.
Founded in 2002, The Pagan Online Campus offers free classes on pagan/occult topics. Classes taught in Fall 2005 are Astral Travel, Basic Aromatherapy, Begining Druidry - Bardic Studies, Candle Magick, Celtic Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magick, Crystals, Gems and Stones, Divination, Dream Interpreatation, Egyptian Magick, Foundations of Paganism, Gods, Goddesses and Mythology, Magick Theory, Magickal Herbology, Medicinal Herbology, Shamanism: Beginners, Shamanism: Intermediate and Advanced, Western Astrology, Wicca: Introductory, Wicca: Beginners, Wicca/Witchcraft: Advanced. Instructors donate their time and expertise, having dedicated themselves to their field of interest and studied their respective courses for many years. They will not accept students from hate-based web sites. A wonderful resource.
is dedicated to helping Christians reach Jehovah's Witnesses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, enlightening current and would-be Jehovah's Witnesses and helping Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses through the recovery process. Retaining a christian faith while rejecting the JWs, their motto is "Now serving the Lord not an organization." The site has lots of testimonies and articles, support information, a discussion group, biblical study tools, and prayer requests. Worth a visit if you're an ex-JW (or a JW).
to learn to have the courage to be ridiculous before God. This sacred place in cyberspace is named after a little old dog with cataracts, who barked sideways at strangers because he couldn't see where they were. We humans relate to God in the same way, making noise in God's general direction, and expecting a reward for doing so. Hence the creed of VCBC: "We can't be right about everything we believe. Thank God, we don't have to be!" In other words, there is more to ethical monotheism than pleasing your imaginary friend. Take the fundamentalism self-quiz. Try some canned theology. Explore the Chapel, Scriptorium, School, Graveyard, DogPAC, and Restroom. There's a webforum for discussions, and plenty of controversy, humor, and (yes) piety. "You may bring your dogma, but only if it doesn't bite."
is the personal homepage of "a large but friendly Dancing Bear" concerned with peace, healing, and thinking through religious ideas and practices. Highlights of the site include a specific credo, a journey of faith, insights on queer spirituality and creation spirituality, regular articles in "Whoever" (a Christian magazine), and best of all, Bear's Journal. One entry in the latter, for example, uses the metaphor of the Coffee House to talk about blending ideas and practices from other spiritual traditions into our own primary tradition or practice. "But we may also occasionally use prayers or practices from other traditions, as the Spirit leads. These are like the coffees of the day, which may vary from day to day or from circumstance to circumstance in our lives." He imaginatively plays on the metaphor of the coffee house to discuss the neighborhood mentality as opposed to the "chain", a healthy spirituality grounded in compassion and a sense of interdependence, and a meeting-place that provides for new kinds of community. There are some real insights on this site: Highly recommended.
offers a treasure trove for bible-interested parties. Coming from the position that members of the Church of God are not neccessarily a member of any particular sect, Rene believes that "in the end we are going to be judged on what we know and what we do to what we know of the Word of God." The site offers a myriad of articles on diverse religious topics, homilies, a topical index, short thoughts, and even jokes. It is a very well-designed site, with collected works from various religious thinkers.
from Paradigm Associates asks "What Is "Spirituality," and Why Do We Need It?" What is it in human beings that seems to cry out for certainty, for God, for a force or power beyond ourselves? This site presents some evidence that religion is intimately interwoven with human biology, that changes in the human nervous system and prayer/meditation are linked in some important way, and that aspects of mind ( including prayer and meditation ) are non-local in their effects ( i.e. faster than light ). Of particular interest to me was the material on the spindrift prayer studies and the introduction to logic. Paradigm Associates is also a not-for-profit life coaching and conflict management organization. The site has inspirational multimedia, poetry, and highly useful free information on relationships, careers, parenting, health, controversial issues, and other important topics. Paradigm Associates is also a proud sponsor of The Women's Victory Network and The Spiritual Journey Network.
presents a wealth of material on issues regarding disestablishment, ethics, creationism, patriotism, and the indoctrination of children, from the perspective of a lifelong atheist woman. This site comes from the perspective that cultivating habits that question authority (whether priestly, scriptural, cultural or instinctual) leads to clearer understanding of our convictions and confidence in our judgement and power as moral agents than a faith defined as a determination to remain convinced about something, despite whatever evidence might be presented to the contrary. While this is a narrow definition of what religious truths are or could be, the site offers insightful resources, especially on an how certain ideas about religious truth can encourage antisocial behaviors toward "unbelievers." Of particular interest is Religion, à la Carte: Revelations about Religions and the Religious, but this site also gives plenty of food for thought about topics such as freedom, calamity, health, music, learning, life online, fairness, boycotts, and politics. Really a very enjoyable and informative site.
Mythos & Logos is a site dedicated to the exploration of existential-phenomenological literature, philosophy, psychology, and theology, as well as psychoanalytic theory and perennial philosophy. The religious question is explored explicitly at the "Perennial Philosophy" page, which offers a wide variety of links on diverse religious/spiritual paths. An existential-phenomenological position holds that religious and spiritual life is fundamentally a response to the ambiguity of existence -- and as such, the genuine spiritual life is one which keeps itself open to the mystery of Being.
- This site presents a series of essays that attempt to cojoin reason and spirituality. Reason: To think out all the parts as they relate to the whole, a way of thinking out what must be so, to draw conclusions from facts, to use deduction and induction. Plus Spiritual: to consider the spirit or mind separately from the body or material things. Home of the "Sites of Substance Award." Well worth a visit.
- Beliefnet is committed to helping people meet their religion, spirituality, and morality needs by providing information, inspiration, community, stimulation, and products. A great quiz section is particularly helpful for people who feel that they have lost religious grounding: What's your spiritual type, Belief-o-matic, Which bibilical hero are you - many others, all very fun and informative.
Love Ministries - The Way of Universal Love and the Ministry of Total Healing - Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical. The purpose of Love Ministries, Inc. is to provide practical applications of the vision of the spiritual world, that can be used in realistic ways in ordinary, everyday life. Richard Shiningthunder Francis offers real insights for ex-JWs and others. Very helpful books for exJWs and other religious seekers available for download include: Journey to the Center of the Soul: Mysticism Made Simple, Luminous Esctasies and Passions: Journeys into Afterlife, Jehovah lives in Brooklyn: Jehovah's Witnessess as a Model of Fundamentalism, The Mystic Gospels of Jesus the Christ, Falling in Love with Your Self: Love and the Inner Beloved. The books are insightful and a pleasure to read. This site could fall into either category of Religious Truths Insight or Compassionate Healing, but I felt that while the healing resources are certainly there, the utmost value of the site is for its insights into religious truths.
