Some media gimmicks never go out of style. But you'd think we could have reached a conclusion during the past sixty years, since the article appeared in 1948.
In an effort to make Jesus more appealing to young audiences, the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn recently came up with a new ad campaign that identifies Jesus as "the original hipster." Maybe I don't fully understand the word 'hipster,' but I didn't think it was necessarily a compliment to call someone that. [theweek.com]
Conducted under the auspices of the famous and fabulous United House of Prayer for All People, whose founder was "Sweet Daddy Grace," as depicted below.
I heartily endorse any institution whose leaders inherit the title of "Sweet Daddy."
Back in 1959, Rev. David Allcorn mixed science and religion by conducting chemical experiments while at his pulpit in order to "enliven his sermons." He worked as a chemist at the National Biscuit Co. before becoming pastor of the Immanuel Evangelical United Brethren Church in Pittsburgh, PA.
The man depicted above is Dr. Bernard Wheatley who, after the deaths of his family, chucked a flourishing career to live as a hermit on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
In 1957 Dr. Bernard Wheatley - an African American physician from the Virgin Islands - made a pilgrimage to Kalalau Valley. Distraught after the death of his wife and son in a car accident, he kept questioning the meaning of life and other ontological problems until the answers finally came. In a remarkable religious conversion-like revelation he realized that life is eternal. He abandoned his medical practice, sold all his worldly possessions and sought a quiet, secluded place where he could earnestly seek truth without distraction. He arrived on the remote Island of Kauai and after seeing Kalalau from a ridge-top lookout in Kokee, he knew that he had found his home.... He passed on December 3, 1991 at the age of 72. His ashes were spread in Kalalau.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is in the news again. European Pastafarians are going to court for equal rights in the EU. For those who are unaware the religion, which is well loved here on WU, came about in response to intellegent design being taught in some schools. For the curious here is the wiki page on Pastafaians and their religion.
I'm always fascinated by scientists who are also bonkers about the supernatural. Even Isaac Newton dabbled in the occult, which was more understandable for his era.
But here's a twentieth-century fellow who led such a double life: Edgar Lucien Larkin.
I'm sure you will want to read all 366 pages of his masterwork to be found here.
Everybody wang chung tonight! Er, I mean, everybody rain dance! What moves! I'm sure all Native Americans are proud of this interpretation of their sacred rituals.
I love the fact that they got Darth Vader to do the spoke-word intro.
Category: Authorities and Experts, Religion, 1940's, Fictional Monsters