I will now present to you the month of NO-Shave November should set the calendar for the entire year:
Monthly Archives: November 2014
NO-SHAVE NOVEMBEARD
Refuse Avenue (new poem—an homage to Dylan)
[The following poem is a Dylanesque homage, and is most certainly a nod to “Desolation Row”. But it is also intended to stand on its own.]
Refuse Avenue
I hear they’re making it into a movie
From the book based off of the trial
The pearl stilettos auctioned off
The blood run down the aisle
Enter the captive jury
On the brink of a crucial vote
To whom our hearts belong this week
And who must jump the boat
The picketers collide in the cross-hairs
The gutters are starting to brew
As the boys and I spend a penny
Down on Refuse Avenue
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“Vultures” has been published by Connotation Press
In 2011 I wrote a short, braided personal essay titled “Vultures.” The essay has now been published by Connotation Press.
You can find the essay here.
I’d like to thank Robert Clark Young, the CNF editor, for his kind words about my essay and thoughts about the art of creative non-fiction.
Is Christianity a Western Religion? (Full series)
Oh East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.”
-Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”
Is Christianity a Western religion? 
That may not strike us as a significant question, may not register as something necessary to establish as true or false. But there are two reasons why it is important to dispel the illusion that Christianity is a “Western” religion.
Is Christianity a Western Religion? Concluding Thoughts
Oh East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.”
-Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 15:Back to Jewish Roots
Is Christianity a Western religion? Is Judaism a Western religion?
Sometimes the phrase “Judeo-Christian” comes up, sometimes as a phrase meant to represent, in some way, Western religious values.
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 14: Eastern Influence in the West
Is Christianity a Western Religion?
Such a view fails to take into account how the East has signifigantly influenced the West over the years and, conversely, how much the “East” and “West” overlap one another. Much in the West that has come to be known as Western actually has an Eastern origin.
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 13: Western Orientalism
Is Christianity a Western religion? What does it mean to have a “Western” and “Eastern” world?
Ironically, The very notion of a “Western” and “Eastern” world is itself a Western invention, a relic of colonialism, and a potentially oppressive ideology. At best, it’s a shallow and arbitrary view of the world.
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 12: Pillars of Western Values
Is Christianity a Western religion? Does it share values with the West, and/or with America in particular?
If we examine founders of Western thought, and if America in particular is to be seen as a culmination or premiere epitome of Western values, then Christianity is an affront to the very country that represents Western values.
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Is Christianity a Western Religion? 11: Where in the World is It Found?
Is Christianity a Western religion? Where in the world do you find Christianity?
Christianity is the most evenly dispersed religion worldwide, and this is becoming more true in the decline of colonialism. It is still the largest religion in the world.
As this CBS article reveals, when ranking nations according to the number of Christians per capita, Ireland is 56th, while the island of Micronesia is 12th. The population of Armenia (5th place) is 97.9% Christian. Armenia is located in (or North of) the Middle-East, and was the first country to declare Christianity its state religion. 2nd place? East Timor, in Southeast Asia, whose population is 99% Christian. If you exclude the Vatican, which is really just the headquarters of the Catholic Church, East Timor would actually be the most densely Christian country per capita.
Christianity thrives where it does, not because of Western ideas, but because of something deeper and more transcendent in humans worldwide. As noted in an early post, churches are growing in restricted countries like China, while numbers in America are declining.
