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Welcome! At Signs and Wonders we sift through the World Wide Web looking for evidence of emerging religious futures. Our mission is to provide our readers -- religious futurists, ministers, and just plain spiritual people -- with a guided tour of the web, stopping wherever we see the future of faith unfolding before our eyes. We update this site every three days or so, so come back again and join us on our next trip. If you want to comment on anything you read here or discuss religious futures in general, come over to our forum. |
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June 15, 2000 [meta] -- I've been away. I'm going away again. I'll be back. by Cody Clark at 8:40 AM (EST)  editor -- I apologize for letting Signs and Wonders go for two weeks without update. I was sick. My family was sick. Cough. Ack. We're feeling much better, thanks. But now it's time to go on vacation. So I'll resume Signs and Wonders on July 1. Have a safe and blessedly carefree summer. [social] -- Sex and religion are a regular feature. by Cody Clark at 8:35 AM (EST) Bishop John Shelby Spong is at it again. This time as a regular columnist for an online sex mag. editor -- I don't always agree with him, but Spong is one of those attention-getting change-drivers that us religious futurists have to watch. Here I agree with at least the essence of what he's doing -- we religious folks need to engage our culture rather than huddle together and ignore it. Now, what I'd like to see is a more conservative, mainstream cleric offer a similar column to provide a more intelligent, compassionate, and sex-positive representation of the Christian view of sexuality. [technological] -- Religion correlates with longevity by Cody Clark at 8:23 AM (EST) An analysis of forty-two different scientific studies concludes that religious involvement and spiritual belief may be a factor in a longer, healthier life. The studies in total surveyed 125,826 people. editor -- More evidence that the medical community is taking religion seriously as an object of study. Question is, are we religious folks prepared to accept and dialogue about what science has to say about us? [feature] -- We Futurists are Evil! by Cody Clark at 8:15 AM (EST) A very long expose of the ungodly futurist movement. Don't quite know what to do with this one. This piece is museum-old (from 1982) so I figure it's not worth repsonding to. But I'll quote: "The thesis of this paper is: Humanistic futurism and the World Future Society are anti-Christian, and should be refuted and warned against by Bible-believers. Not all aspects of the futurist movement are unacceptable, but the worldviews involved are basically hostile to Christianity" editor -- Futures Studies is a tool. Yes, it can be used in an anti-Christian way. Just like any screwdriver. And definitiely, a fool with a tool is still just a fool. But our friend here goes over the line by constantly confusing the fools with the tools. As one of my math professors from college might have said, I'll leave the counterexamples and refutations as an exercise for the class. [social] -- Still Bowling Alone. by Cody Clark at 8:17 AM (EST) An update to the 1995 phenom book Bowling Alone, which tells of the lack of American civic community. Guess what? Five years later and we still have the same problem. editor -- Not an explicitly religious scan hit, but a concern for socially-aware churches anywhere. What better place to regain a sense of community than at the local church, huh? [ecological] -- Rise of Ecotheology by Cody Clark at 7:40 AM (EST) An exploration of the first tentative steps of the ecotheology movement. The article gives a good survey of the progress so far, but questions whether the different faith traditions can come together on a unified course of action soon enough to make a difference. editor -- An encouraging trend, at least in the developed world, that we're tracking [technological] -- Cyborgs one step closer? by Cody Clark at 7:34 AM (EST) A strange hybrid creature with a mechanical body controlled by the brain of a fish. It may one day allow people to be fitted with prosthetic devices that are controlled directly by their brain. editor -- And it also will bring us a little closer to having to re-define what it means to be human. Churches need to be ahead of this one so they can be proactive when it comes to defining that line between enhancing health and distorting life. |
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