THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: Christianity

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Christianity

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Dreams about Christianity and Christians. A thorny subject for your poor editor! Early on, my own dreams forced me to face intense spiritual issues, without the help of organized religion. Probably that's why I'm such a fan of disorganized religions--paganism, Goddess worship, Wicca, and expecially shamanism, where you have to find your own path. Admittedly, you're always comfortable with the familiar, and the chaotic Left Coast of American religion is what I know best. But in my experience, mainstream Christians really are less tolerant and empirical, and not just about religion.

That's a roundabout warning. I wanted to explain to orthodox Christians why my dreams have, overall, such a critical view of your faith. It's simple enough: America has such a huge and aggressive Christian population that you increasingly cause problems for us non-Christians.

Problematic doctrine--: The sexism; The bigotry against other religions; The obsession with the end of the world--millennarianism!; The denial of scientific fact, evolution being only the most obvious case; The dogma that other species lack souls, minds, and rights. Uh... isn't pride a sin for you guys?; The obsession with sin and evil--you foster what you obsess on, people!; The reliance on books and rules and authorities, not direct spiritual experience
Problematic politics--: Blocking sex education, and generally censoring discourse on sex; The hierarchies--the money, the arrogance, the out-of-touch policies; The astonishing tolerance for militarism! C'mon, people--Jesus never bombed.; The equally astonishing tolerance for capitalist profiteering and general greed; Backing Israel no matter how brutal the wars get, just because of some old prophecies; The assassination of birth control clinicians and abortionists. Call Muslims terrorist? Your own hands are dirty!; Blocking gay marriage! Call it a sin in your church if you like--but when you try to make the law sanction your sect's marriages but not others, that's theocracy. And that's a fightin' word.

Given that list, it's a miracle I have as many positive images of Christian spirituality as I do. But given my email, people only see the negative ones. That's fine. Just don't call me prejudiced. I'm not. I'm wary--for sound historical reasons.

RELATED TOPICS: religions - Jesus (personal appearances, etc) - fundamentalists and fanatics - politics - Islam - Judaism - Buddhism - Hinduism - Paganism and Goddess worship- See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

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	ALP VARK: by Wayan; 100K, 1983/11/24, an epic, intense, psychic dream. I'm kissed by the Holy Aardvark, but my bond with my dad is strained by ESP he can't accept...
	ANNUNCIATION TO THE SPHINX: by Wayan; 1995, digital painting of nondream vision. I think Yeats was wrong to use the Sphinx to symbolize the brutal post-Christian era he foresaw...
	ASTRALNAUT: by Wayan; 1994/7/30, a reverse ghost dream. I have amnesia. Plus, I'm dead. On the other hand, I have this great NASA job! Only there's a saboteur... CAUTION: SNOTTY ABOUT CHRISTIANS AGAIN
	THE BIBLE REDUCED TO FLOWERS: by Wayan; 1994/9/8, a dream of the future. In the future, books morph as they crawl round the web, till just the popular bits are left... CAUTION: YOU TOO COULD BE CENSORED
	BLACK MAGIC: by Wayan; 1986/11/10, a dream of love and rage; Chapter 8 of UNICORN TAG, though it can stand alone. A packet of magic soup mix transports me to the secret wizards' lab in our attic. They're trouble enough, but they've called up a demon they can't handle: the furious Black Unicorn...
	CAPITOL REEF: by Wayan; 277K, 1996. Cartooned daydream of a mid-air (or is it mid-water?) orgy News of a new national park fused with a science show on cleaner-fish spur a fantasy of dolphins, cats and... CAUTION: FISH ORGY; MOCKS THE ANGEL MORONI, TOO
	THE CARDINAL: by Wayan; 1994/9/4, a grouchy little dream. A Holy Cardinal enters my bedroom and demands I kiss his ring. I suggest something he can kiss, and... CAUTION: CHRISTIAN MEGALOMANIA, PAGAN RUDENESS
	CAT-SNAKE: by Wayan; 1993/3/6, a short dream fable. I glue cat-legs on my snaky friend, despite the warnings of Christians who don't like snakes evolving...
	CHEETAH: by Wayan; 110K, 1978-86, a poem on turning dreams into art. I'm a cheetah working as a baker in Coconino County, Arizona, haunted by Krazy Kat...
	A DEAL WITH GOD: by Wayan; 1987/10/21, a heretic dream. Evangelists pester me until I get so mad I make an on-the-spot deal with... CAUTION: MAD AT CHRISTIANS AGAIN
	DEER JESUS: by Wayan; 1988/12/25, a revisionist Christmas dream. The Three Wise Men are a centaur, a lion-man, and a doe-girl. But there's no Christ in the manger, so... CAUTION: NUDITY
	A DIFFICULT PATH: by Anna Kingsford; 1877/11/3, an advisory dream. I lead my daughter up a thorny path, but she’s getting badly scratched. Shall I leave her in that fishing village? She wants to...
	THE DYE-HOUSE RECORDS: by a Christian secretary, before 1961, a prayer-induced intuition Our archivist had had a stroke. When an engine failed, my boss said "Find its records if it takes two weeks!" Five minutes later...
	FAMILIARS: by Wayan; 1986/4/2, a dreamtale on the dark side of reading. In ancient Britain, as Christianity moves in, I'm a slave--sailing through centuries, but never free...
	FEVER DREAMS: by Wayan; 1993/9/8, a set of wild feverdreams. While my body expels a kidney stone, weird scenes happen on the astral plane. At least I get to dip the pope. CAUTION: PAIN, PEE, POPE
	FIGHT GOD!: by Wayan; 1979/12/25, a Christmas fight dream. I'm in Heaven, but... it's full of Christians! I fight 30,000 angels, but I wanna go right to the top, and... CAUTION: PAGANISM AND PUGILISM
	GOSPEL GIRL: by Wayan; 1986/11/17, a stubborn dream. I'm a girl in a desert who God tells to preach a new gospel. But the locals, unlike ancient Rome, have guns... CAUTION: VIOLENT MARTYRDOM AND A KID WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT
	HAUNTED BUT HAPPY: by Wayan; 1990/9/13, a labyrinthine dream. Some Christian oneirologists barge into the Haunted Firehouse. But I pose for nude unicorn photos, and... CAUTION: DUMB CHRISTIANS, EXHIBITIONIST UNICORNS, ETC.
	HELL HALL: by Anonymous #3; c.1920?, a dream of initiatory cannibalism A revival meeting goes bad--hell gapes, suicides jump, mutton turns out not to be. If you sup with the devil, carry a long fork...
	I FIGHT FOR BEAUTY: by Wayan; 125K, 6 illus, 1990/1/1, an incubated dream within a dream within a dream. From Hawaii to Wyoming, I fight for beauty, always waking to find I'm someone new...
	I TURNED OFF JESUS: by Chris Baker; 2011/2/18; an "oops!" dream Playing Mario Kart, I stray into a darkness where Earth floats, burning. And then Jesus speaks up! But I carelessly hit the OFF button...
	THE LAST MASS: by E.M. Martin; 1914/11/23, a dream of war invading a peaceful dreamland For years Martin's dreams were all set in a peaceful parallel world. He hoped it was immune from WWI, but...
	LYNN HALL'S "FLYAWAY": by Wayan; 1997/7/6, a journal extract on religious abuse A book that kept me up late. Ariel and Robin get abused as subtly, as deniably as me and my sisters... CAUTION: RELIGIOUS/PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE
	MIRYAM'S THEFT: by Wayan; 1996/9/24, a psychic dream on being used I'm a ghost dwarf in love with a Lady trapped in a magic Arabian castle. But our love is being used... CAUTION: SEX, BETRAYAL, SACRILEGE
	NAIAD AND GOD-DOG: by Wayan; 1980/11/7, a manipulative dream-tragedy. I love a Naiad who's lost her God. Tragedy strikes us. I'm devastated till I meet the aliens who explain...
	NATALIUS' WELTS: by Natalius the Confessor, ca. 155 AD, a dream leaving physical traces. Natalius dreamed that angels whipped him for joining a heretic cult, and woke to find welts on his back...
	AN OUTGROWN BED: by Wayan; 1990/10/14, a dream of growth and time. I'm a girl in a Catholic school. But a chance photo and the length of my bed combine to change my life... CAUTION: QUEER-POSITIVE, CHRISTIAN-NEGATIVE
	PANIC ATTACK IN MY SLEEP; 2012/1/11 by Rainier Mathee; a nightmare on every level No work, no friends, no lover. People power-drill their own skulls. My uncle's going insane. And when I call 911... CAUTION: BLEAK
	PAUL AND THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS: by Anna Kingsford; 1877/7/17, a dream of channeled indignation Jesus's disciples kvetch that Paul, who never knew Jesus, perverted his clean simplicity into a religion... CAUTION: JARGON, HERESY (on one side or other)
	THE PEN: by Elector Frederick of Saxony; 1517/10/30, a predictive political dream. Frederick dreams a monk writes words on the door of Wittenburg’s church with a pen so big it pokes the Pope. The next day...
	THE PERFECT MUSICAL GENIUS: by "Agnes"; before 1922, a Romantic romantic dream. I'm to be martyred. I ask if the man I love can strangle me. Yes! I say farewell to our hermaphroditic genius baby...
	PERPETUA'S LAST DREAM: by St Perpetua; 203 A.D., a flying, sex-changing, defiant dream. Facing death the next day in a Roman arena, Perpetua dreams of the spiritual duel behind the physical one...
	PRAYER (WE SHALL BE REBORN): by Wayan; 640 x 480, 1997-2000 Digital picture-poem. Be a web junkie. Instead of driving around in a gas-hog, you'll save the planet by staying in, passive... CAUTION: NUDITY; MOCKS GOD, CARS, AND WEB-PORN--IS NOTHING SACRED?
	(WHY) PROGRESS IS SLOW: by Wayan; 1991/1/26 and 2/16, a sociological dreamtale. Time-hopping through centuries, I learn how slow deep social change is. How we cling to our worldviews!
	RAISE YOURSELF!: by Wayan; 1998, 17" mixed media sculpture; nondream . Why wait for the Rapture when you can use a chinup machine and raise yourself off that cross?... CAUTION: NUDE PSEUDO-CRUCIFIXION, SACRILEGIOUS SELF-HELP
	RECONCILIATION: by Martha Sherwood; 2003/6/19, a dream-parable Even after the Resurrection, a mother and daughter still have issues to clean up...
	SATANAGRAM: by Wayan; 1998/8/1, a Christmas song lyric. A hard-hitting rap on Satan's dumbest disguise. Yet he's gotten away with it! The shocking truth... CAUTION: LANGUAGE! SACRILEGE! MUCILAGE! (FOR THE BIG WHITE BEARD)
	THE SHRINKING POPE: by Sorcha; 2005/4/1, a Jane Bond dream I’m the only one who can stop the plot to kill the Pope--but if he keeps shrinking like that, will it matter? CAUTION: RECOVERING CATHOLIC
	THE STUTTER: by Wayan; 1995/9/7, a religious dreamtale. Half our religion-founders were just one guy coming back till he got it right. Well, practice makes perfect...
	SWORD IN MY BACK: by Franz Kafka; 1915/1/19, a surreal but un-Kafkaesque dream. I slept late and felt a bit stiff, but until my friends pulled it out of my neck I had no idea...
	TALL UNICORN: by Wayan; 1990. Digital nondream picture-poem. Since I've been seeking out, talking with, and turning into unicorns a lot in the last few years... CAUTION: ANTI-FUNDAMENTALIST
	TAROT: CARING or THE PIETA: by Wayan; Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1979. The card of caring, caregiving, and compassion...
	TAROT: GUILT TRIP: by Wayan; Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1979. When the card CARING comes up reversed, you wake up with this crucified guy floating over your bed...
	TWO BISHOP APPLICANTS: by Wayan; 1984/11/21, a dreamtale. My mind and my soul both apply for a job in Stanford Cathedral. Their rivalry grows to a shamanic duel...
	UNKNOWING: by Wayan, 640 x 480, 1995. Digital picture of a nondream delusion. "I believe, O lord/ Help thou mine unbelief"--as a kid I thought this meant "God, keep me skeptical"...
	A USED POPE: by Wayan; 1983/12/25, a Christmas dream. A friend buys a frozen used Pope, to navigate her starship with Papal infallibility. Call me a Luddite, but.. CAUTION: SACRILEGIOUS PUN
	VIEWPOINT: by Wayan; 1991/6/9, a dream on pastlife amnesia. I ask to see my past lives, and dream of a viewpoint where I can--but this Mormon ranger...
	VRILLASSA’S ONLY PRIEST: by Jo; 2007/2/10, a dream of meeting God A job as the only priest on an island colony sounded perfect, only I’m the wrong religion... CAUTION: DOGMATISTS AND DEAD BIRDS TALKING
	THE WIND FROM HELL: by Wayan; 1981/4/21, a brief dream fable. Hot air rises, right? So there's a monsoon from Hell, lifting souls. Lucky for us that gravity balances it...