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February 04, 2010

Today in Bad Faith

Welcome to another edition of "Today in Bad Faith", where we examine that strange beast called Religion and see how 21st Century American culture has turned it into a spiritual version of the It's Alive baby.

All Rosary'd up? Good. Here we go.

1. We Know Worship When We See It, and That Looks More Like Sk8ing.

(via) The Oregon Tax Court has decided that The Truck Stop, an indoor skating park in Bend, can't have a tax exemption as a church because … well, because it's a skate park. Check out the PDF of the decision here. If you don't have the time for it, then the nut of it, at least to me, is page 2, where the court recorded that even though they wish to be considered a church for tax purposes, there's not mention one of that anywhere on the website, and as I looked at their current website (http://truckstopskatepark.com/) no mention of religious outreach or ministry, no mention of even a regular youth-group meeting.

Sure, maybe you want to have kids come in and have church in a "cool, non-churchy" environment, but you still have to have some church in there. Call me an old-fashioned, inside-the-box thinker, but that's the way I roll.

Otherwise, bunkie, you're just a business trying to weasel out of paying your taxes, as far as I'm concerned.

2. Another Plastic Shaman Faces The Music

You may recall some months ago when Newage (rhymes with sewage) self-help guru and motivational speaker James Arthur Ray (there are so many of them these days I missed this schmoe coming up) staged a retreat in Sedona, AZ, complete with a "sweat lodge" that made a bunch of people sick and actually self-helped three people off this mortal coil.

Well, James Arthur Ray, spritual warrior and plastic shaman, has recieved his comeuppance. The LA Times (complete with cool mug shot):

Ray was taken into custody at his attorney's office in Prescott, Ariz., a sheriff's spokesman said, and taken to the Yavapai County jail in Camp Verde. Bond has been set at $5 million. He is to appear in court Thursday.

The charges are linked to the last day of Ray's five-day $9,695-a-person "Spiritual Warrior" retreat near Sedona, where he assembled about 50 people in a makeshift, sauna-like sweat lodge for about two hours.

When it was over, three people were dying. Eighteen others suffered burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest or kidney failure.

He claimed to have searched out the techniques taught at the retreat in the jungles of the Amazon and in Peru.

You bet. And my Granny's apple basket is an Inca relic from Macchu Picchu. Be it noted that, after the sweat lodge deaths, Ray went right back to work promoting himself and, presumably, dispensing advice about self-actualization to anyone who would pony up the cash.

Even I know the only thing shameless cultural appropriation is supposed to do is make white people look like fools. It's not supposed to kill people.

Well, that's it for another edition of "Today in Bad Faith", our irregular feature designed, apparently, to make you lose all hope. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pray to whatever gods there be. Maybe I have a skateboard around the garage somewhere.

Posted by The Chinuk at February 4, 2010 04:00 AM