Signs & Portents
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Pagan News Beagle: Faithful Friday, March 4
We take a look at the pre-Christian beliefs of the Mari people in Russia. A progressive Christian discusses their feelings about the afterlife. And Buddhist writer Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche explains the conversion process for his religion. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly news segment about religious communities and faiths around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Most people in Russia today are either members of the Eastern Orthodox Churches or irreligious. But some pre-Christian beliefs in the vast Eurasian country survive. One of those religions is the indigenous beliefs of the Mari, a Uralic-speaking people from the Volga region.
There are many different ways to worship across the world. Some do it privately in their own homes. Some attend massive religious gatherings. Others, like the underprivileged Vaghari of India's Gujarat province, do so with portable shrines, embellished with religious art. You can read more about this centuries-old tradition at The Indian Express.
Many people throughout the United States and the world more generally believe in some form of afterlife. Many believe in something akin to the Abrahamic conception of "heaven." But what would heaven be like if you have to share it with people who dislike or even hate you? That's the question progressive Christian Ed Taylor ponders here.
What's involved in converting to Buddhism? And why do people do it? Writer and Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche describes the decision to convert to Buddhism and why people make it.
News was made late last month when Iran held elections for both its parliament and the so-called Assembly of Experts, a clerical council charged with overseeing the implementation of Islamic law and the selection of Iran's Supreme Leader. To the establishment's dismay, the elections were a major boon for reformists, putting the Assembly of Experts under the control of reformist President Hassan Rouhani's allies.
Top image by Alberto Fernandez Fernandez
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