Category Archives: Religion

A Dummies’-Style Guide to Becoming a Cult Leader

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Bob Shepherd

These guidelines will help people to recognize such scam artists when encountering them. Just about all cults include most or all of these elements. Make a Promise that gets at something people really want and don’t have, such as community, … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Brief Explanation of Everything. You’re Welcome.

Posted on February 8, 2020 by Bob Shepherd

NB: The following is a story. It is not fact. It is based in facts, yes, but it is entirely speculative. This was an exercise I set myself to create a myth that is completely consistent with current scientific understandings. … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Existentialism, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Short Stories | 3 Comments

School Vouchers, or, Coming Soon: Bob’s Real Good Flor-uh-duh Skool and Bob’s Ayahuasca School for Little Cosmic Voyagers

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Bob Shepherd

ALERT!!!! PLEASE SHARE. In his 2020 State of the Disunion Address, Don the Con gave Ditzy DeVoid, his Secretary of the Department for the Privatization of U.S. Education, formerly the Department of Education, everything her little walnut-hard heart could have … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Reform, Humor, Religion, Trump (Don the Con) | 1 Comment

Espinoza v. Montana

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Bob Shepherd

So, the Supreme Court is hearing a case called Espinoa v. Montana Department of Revenue. It’s about whether a state can refuse to provide religious schools with the same per pupil support (typically, seven or eight thousand per student, though … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Reform, Religion, Trump (Don the Con) | 3 Comments

History of Ideas: Background to Puritan and Pilgrim Protestantism in North America

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Bob Shepherd

For some 1,300 years, from roughly 300 to 1600 CE, the Catholic Church, headquartered for most of this time in the city of Rome, was the most powerful institution in the Western world. It was the ultimate spiritual and temporal … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Teaching Literature and Writing | 4 Comments

How to Change a Lightbulb, an Ecumenical Guide | Bob Shepherd

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Bob Shepherd

Amish: What’s a lightbulb? Buddhist: The brokenness of the bulb is in the nature of things. By renouncing the desire for fixing the bulb, you can release yourself from the endless cycle of changing bulbs only to have them break, … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Religion | 1 Comment

Anachronism, Historical Fakes, Cults, and Scriptures

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Bob Shepherd

An anachronism is something inappropriate to the time and place being described. A momentarily famous recent example is the Starbucks coffee cup accidentally left on a table in a scene from Game of Thrones. Here are a couple others: In … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Bobu and the Missionaries

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Bob Shepherd

Three Mormon missionaries came to the hermitage of the monk Bobu. They wore clean white shirts and $10.00 ties from Walmart. Each was extremely earnest and exceedingly well scrubbed. Though no more than nineteen or twenty years old, they referred … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Religion, Short Stories | Leave a comment

The True Gospel of Thomas the Apostle | by Bob Shepherd

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Bob Shepherd

Prologos This is the true book of Thomas the Apostle as spoken unto his scribe regarding those events to which he was witness in his youth. Let none be tempted by some fleeting end to take away from the words … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Short Stories | Leave a comment

Ideas Matter, Exhibit 1: The Horrific Legacy of Christian Neo-Platonism

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Bob Shepherd

The Christian Church grew up mired like a fly in treacle in the utter darkness that was Platonism–the sick, world-and-life-denying doctrine of Plato, who split the universe down the middle, into an airy-fairy spirit world “up there” and a contemptible … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized | Leave a comment