Egypt's Muslims Act Human Shields for Coptic Christians

GopherLink! Egypt's Muslims hold up their promise an attend Coptic Christmas to show solidarity with the Coptic Christians who make up 10 % of the Egyptian population. This is second year extremist Muslims have shot-up Coptic Christmas services. Read it here.

Communion Confession

Context: I take other people's religions seriously. I am religious, I work with the religious and did my recent master's thesis on Islam. So then I am placed at my grandfather's (very Catholic) funeral. While I am baptized Catholic, I'm not confirmed and thus am ineligible for communion according to the Catechism. Thus the situation unfolded...

The French spoken at the service is not Parisian (my grandfather being an Acadian), but I can still catch a bit of it. My grandfather by the way was a Jedi Master-level Knight of Columbus. They had uniforms, swords out--everything. During the service it comes time for communion, and while not Catholic, I am aware of the Catholic tradition of the "blessing." With the "blessing," a non-Catholic can approach the priest during communion and receive his, well, blessing without taking the bread or wine. To note that you would like the blessing, you simply cross your arms. I explain this to my wife and sister.

So communion begins and I approach the priest with my arms crossed. The priest offers me the communion bread. I pat my hands against my shoulders to emphasize ("Blessing!").

The priest seems to consider that maybe I don't understand French, so in broken English: "Take...my body..."

Analysing Depictions of Faith in LOST

It’s no secret that people of faith often feel mistreated and misrepresented by a mainstream media that oversimplifies their beliefs (GetReligion: Martinez; An-Na`im; "Christians Misrepresented"). In the midst of numerous movies and television programs is a television show where the broken find redemption, the lame walk and the dead rise. This blog will analyze the ways in which LOST educates on issues of religion. Issues of faith are mainly represented in three key characters that appear on the show: Locke, a self-proclaimed “man of faith; Jack, a self-proclaimed “man of science”; and Eko”—a drug dealer turned Catholic priest. Entertainment Weekly recently noted the Biblical connections seen in LOST (Click for an 8 minute, 15 second run-down of the show):

It is safe to say that from the outset LOST has been a rare show that allows those able to pick up on its Christian symbolism to appreciate it on a deeper level than the average viewer. Some of those symbols are writ in neon and some in postscripts (ask Christian fans about the thrill they experienced when the character Charlotte Staples Lewis—ahem, C.S. Lewis—arrived on the scene), but they are an ever-present, ever-developing feature of the story (Basham).

LOST's Last Supper

The last season of LOST starts tonight and it seems worthwhile to examine the bizarre promotional pictures they put out in preparation for the show. The picture above is a very obvious recreation of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper." (Psst! Da Vinci Code readers: check out the "V" between Kate and Locke. Sacred Feminine? Is Kate Mary Magdalene?!)

For those who aren't familiar with the show, LOST is a show about err...everything. It started with a plane crash where a bunch of people of broken pasts end up on a Mysterious Island together (for Mysterious Island, read: there are Smoke Monsters/Giant Polar Bears/Weird Time Travelling Occurances/People rise from the dead/Cancer and paralysis gets healed/People have pregnancy problems/the beer is subpar). On this island, some find redemption and some become a bit more broken.

The guy center, Locke (a play on the philosopher), was a cripple who ended up walking when he reached the island. Locke, throughout the story, has been one of two or three characters with which the faith conversations take place. And similar to Locke, many of the other characters have names that reveal something of who they are, what is symbolized with them. At one point, we had a character named Charlotte S. Lewis (C.S. Lewis) and there's of course Christian Shephard (who died, but the rose from the dead? His son Jack, who is to the right of Locke, finds the coffin empty). Numerous other characters have similar intertextual references.

LOST is no stranger to religion. Throughout the show they've frequently used explicit Judeo-Christian narratives (Locke possibly rising from the dead, the empty coffin of Christian Shephard, and the frequent Faith Vs. Science arguements between Locke and Jack). The show understands faith and understands how to get people talking about faith. And here's some interesting thoughts on what can be gleaned from the photo above. This was on the MTV comments board:

There's a lot to analyze with an image like this. Few things to keep in mind: This supper was held before one of Jesus' 12 apostles in the Da Vinci painting betrayed him. This scene is also told via the Gospel of John. I'm surprised you didn't cover who they represented. From left to right: Bartholomew (Illana), James (Richard), Andrew (Miles), Judas (Sayid), Peter (Kate), John (Sawyer), Jesus (Locke or Flocke), Thomas (Jack), James the Greater (Sun), Phillip (Claire), Matthew (Ben), Jude

Thaddeus (Hurley)....wait. While searching for a higher res version of this photo...I found an ALTERNATE version. Hmm. Here is what's worth discussing: Will Sayid be the Judas to F/Locke's Jesus? Jack is in the spot of Thomas, who is known for doubting Jesus' resurrection.

It's been hard to avoid coverage of the promotional photo for the last season, which starts next week. It's a re-creation of Da Vinci's Last Supper with Lost characters substituting the 12 disciples. Some of the coverage has been a bit ignorant (Entertainment Weekly, I'm looking at you), where the author tried to explain a religious doctrine he clearly didn't understand.

An Al Khan Comic

 

From the Daily News Egypt, an independent daily newspaper in English.

Islam Viewed Disfavorably in U.S.

Surprise, surprise. American's have an unfavorable impression of Islam according to a recent Gallup poll. The feeling is fairly mutual according to a book last summer that notes that a high percentage of Muslims don't care for the United States. That book was also based on a Gallup poll. Here's the story on the new poll of Americans by the Salt Lake Tribune:

Washington » A majority of Americans have an unfavorable impression of Islam, alone among major religions, a new poll finds.

The survey by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies found 53 percent of Americans view Islam unfavorably compared with 42 percent who view the religion favorably. Majorities view other major religions favorably: 91 percent for Christianity, 71 percent for Judaism and 58 percent for Buddhism.

What Comprises Blasphemy in Islam?

I think it's difficult for Western audiences to comprehend what constitutes blasphemy in Islam. I say that fully aware that I am not completely sure. At the conference I was at on Islam and the Media, I saw several discussions of Islam in the media which caused a massive reaction. Everyone remembers the Danish cartoons, but a recent one that got less coverage (because there were no death threats), was the outrage against the Playstation 3 Game "Little Big Planet."

The controversy about the game is over the game's soundtrack. A Grammy-award winning Islamic musician included Quranic verses in one of the songs. There was such outrage in Britain that they had to recall the game, take the song out and re-release it.

Millions of copies of Little Big Planet have been withdrawn from warehouses after lines from the Koran were found to be included in the accompanying music.

The game, which was due out on Friday, will now be re-programmed without the offending song – a track by Mali-born singer Toumani Diabate that contains two lines from the Islamic holy book.

So what constitutes blasphemy in Islam and why aren't we sensitive to it? What is it about Western society that makes us numb?

GopherLink! How do Muslims interact on the internet? Dr. Gary Bunt's wildly complex diagram here.

"The Arab"

The Coverage and Representations of The Arab in Western Media

This is a street ethnography performed in late 2009 in partnership with Amy Johnson of Georgetown University's Islamic Studies Department.

Part One

Part Two

Effects of New Media on Islam

How would you like to get an e-card with a Hamas suicide bomber's biography and final video on it?

Yeah. They make those.

I'm currently at the "International Islam and the Media Conference" at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Some interesting papers were presented today on the subject of how new media affects Islam. I think it would be hard to argue, in our digital age, that new media does NOT affect religion; but the way in which it occurs is particularly fascinating.

(1) New Media allows for Islamic discourse. In a study presented by Daniela Schlicht, she examined the German Facebook equivalent "StudiVZ" for it's discussion boards on Islam. On most, she found that participants generally came from two different groups: the "hyphen" Muslims and religious Muslims.

The "hyphen" Muslims she described as secular in terms of most practices. Islam is simply how they were raised and the customs they follow. They would identify themselves with a hyphen i.e. "I'm a German-Muslim." Then of course on the other side are the religious Muslims (don't misread automatically as "conservative" Muslims--although many are).

She noted that on the discussion boards, the debates have come out for centuries in Islamic thought, are at the for front. "Is Islam compatible with secular citizenship?" and visa versa, "Is secular citizenship compatible with Islam?" Debates about Muslim education also take place here. Typically, the religious Muslims will demand that the debate take place using religious texts and religious scholars while secular Muslims will demand that the debate take place using secular texts (Freud, Kafka, etc.) This dichotomy is problematic to actually providing resolve, but what is more interesting is that this debate is perhaps less likely to have occurred without new media.

People generally fall into groups with people of matching worldviews, but StudiVZ's discussion boards allow for Muslims of different worldviews to have genuine conversation.

(2) New Media perpetuates extremism. Hamas has a website which also looks similar to Facebook. But instead of other members of society, the networking site is filled with martyrs (suicide bombers). On each martyr's page, there are: pictures of him/her usually in the typical iconic stance--in front of a Hamas flag, holding gun, staring off at the paradise that awaits them; the final video in which the martyr reasons why he/she will perform the bombing; and a praise-filled biography. And yes, you can send the pages as e-cards to friends.

What makes the site so disturbing is the degree to which it proliferates. More and more martyrs continue to be added. One in particular is a mom (totting an AK-47) holding her child (holding a grenade). The argument noted that by placing the martyr on this website he becomes immortal. The deed is always imminent.

And the story perpetuates itself. Each Hamas martyr now films the same kind of video with the same iconic pictures (flag, gun, distant gaze).

But it should also be noted that the examples mentioned here are from the Arabic site. And there is a difference between the Arabic and English site. The Arabic site shows just what was mentioned above. On the English site, the martyrs are defined as those killed by Israeli soldiers.

GopherLink! Dude! Catholics have "faults and shortcomings?" Who knew!? Thanks W Post! Note to Catholics: Please don't hit me.

Review: Phantasy Star IV (Replay)

This was recently re-released on the Sonic's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection for Playstation 3 (and it has so many games, I don't know what to do with myself). I remember this as one of my favorite games as a kid. It was lone, decent Sega Genesis RPG left to fend with the likes of Zelda, Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire on the Super Nintendo. This is an interesting take on the RPG genre. The travel and journey's on the map are done very similarly to Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire's "looking down from above" perspective. But the battle screen is done in first person, putting the player behind the characters. And that, coupled with decent battle music, makes for an exciting battle experience (and that's key in role-playing games, because you'll spend a good deal of the time in battle).

Here's the story:

Phantasy Star IV takes place in the year AW 2284 (1,000 years after the events of Phantasy Star II). It is the story of Chaz Ashley, a young bounty hunter, who along with his friends and allies, unwittingly becomes the savior of the Algol solar system. The story takes place on the planet Motavia, which has suffered through dramatic climate changes over the past 1,000 years.

After an event called the Great Collapse, much of the once-thriving ecosystem has been reduced to desert, and life has become difficult for the planet's inhabitants. To make matters worse, there has been a marked increase in the appearances of "biomonsters", strange and violent mutations of the normal plant and animal life.

Keeping these creatures under control is the job of "hunters" like Chaz and Alys, and it is during an investigation into an outbreak that the characters learn that the biomonster problem is related to the planet's ecological crisis. In truth, the planet is only reverting back to its natural desert state, which had been changed into an ecosystem more suited to human life by climate-changing technology thousands of years earlier. For reasons to be explained later, and relating back to the events of Phantasy Star II, this computer network suffers a system-wide malfunction, leading to the series of catastrophes throughout Algo.

Chaz and his allies connect the world's troubles to a man named Zio, whose aim seems to be nothing less than total annihilation - not only of Motavia but of the entire solar system. Their aim then becomes to defeat him in order to restore the computer systems maintaining Algo. However, it soon becomes clear that Zio is merely the vanguard to a much larger threat. Amidst great tragedy and struggle, Chaz and the others must eventually fight against an evil from time uncounted to restore peace to Algo once and for all.

Once again, we have a story where the people of the planet come from a fallen civilization elsewhere. In keeping with my method with Final Fantasy IV, I'll reserve judgment on the game (as my critiques would be remarkably similar with those voice in Super Mario RPG--all the RPGs back then had the same problems) and focus instead on some unique narrative features:

(1) Narrative scenes are done in an anime style- note the picture shown here. Text intermingles with multiple text boxes, making for a comic style appearance. The drawing style is also unmistakably anime. The main character Chaz, is also very nationalistic. He's dressed in his red and white like a Japanese flag.

(2) We have a Messiah- Like Final Fantasy IV, like Breath of Fire II and the Obama Candidacy, we have a "chosen one." At a certain point in the game, the characters journey to a Church of Espers ("Espere" is French for "Hope") where they worship a legendary magician (Lutz) who died 2000 years ago, but lives on in the Church to be passed on to the one "chosen" to carry the will and memory the magician. Very Calvinist. Predestination anyone?

(3) We have an absolute evil Devil, but no God- According to the story, there was a great spiritual being that split in two. For whatever reason, the good part "Le Roof" decided to leave, but left all sorts of stuff behind to kill off the evil part, "Dark Force." (This is also the same scenario seen in the Breath of Fire series and others. A true Satan, but humankind must defeat it with only the help of some weapons, etc. from God).

Oh, and the evil dude is apparently pentacostal. (a)It's a rapidly spreading church movement--there are numerous church's run by Dark Force's fall guy "Zio" but none by Le Roof. What up). And (b) these churchgoers faint in the spirit and speak in tongues.

Review: Final Fantasy IV (Replay)

I've recently been on kick of playing old (are they old enough to be called "vintage?") video games and I've come to one of the three or four games that dropped me into the role-playing game genre. In Final Fantasy IV (originally released as Final Fantasy II in the states), we several groundbreaking innovations that took place.

This is, as far as I can tell research-wise, the first game (released on Super Nintendo in 1991) that really made use of the big cast, epic storyline that would become a staple of role-playing games to this day. You also had the advent of "active" turn-based fighting. So you go to a special screen during battle and have dozens of decisions for how to fight (unlike other hack-and-slash role-playing games like Zelda, where you have only a handful but don't have a special screen), but while you're deciding, the enemy can still attack you. It doesn't sound too impressive today, but World of Warcraft, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean, Radiata Stories all owe homage to this game.

Here's a brief overview of the story:

The player takes the role of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the Kingdom of Baron, on his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. Struggling to prevent Golbez from acquiring powerful Crystals, Cecil learns of his heritage and travels through three realms to battle Golbez's minions. His lover, best friend, and other warriors join him for the adventure.

Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its "Active Time Battle" system was used in six subsequent Final Fantasy games. With its character-driven plot, use of new technologies (such as Mode 7) and critically acclaimed score by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy IV is regarded as a landmark of the series and of the role-playing genre.

And if Wikipedia says it, it must be true. I should also note that this game remains so enormously popular to this day, that his spawned three re-releases and recent sequel that I hope to do a review of shortly. I'm going to have a difficult time not being biased in terms positives and negatives, so for this game, I'm going to focus on a typography of what's key in terms of the game.

(1) Redemption is a major theme.

There's a conversion! And it's better than the one in Left Behind (not hard). It's perhaps a non-religious conversion, but it certainly redemptive. During the course of the game, the protagonist Cecil Harvey must cease being a dark knight to become a paladin (a holy knight). During his time as a dark knight, he attacks a town called Mysidia. But once realizing his king is corrupt, he turns against him and in the midst of travelling to confront him, Cecil and his party are shipwrecked. The wreck leaves Cecil back Mysidia, where he is understandably not welcomed. But the elders warn him that if he's fighting evil with evil, he will have no success. So he's sent to an ancient monument on Mt. Ordeals where he will have to "part from his past" in order to gain the power of paladin. The monument tells him he must:

"Conquer your Darkness within! If you can't overcome your past self, the sacred power of Light will not accept you."

And on the mountain, Cecil fights himself. There are several ghosts of "sin" discussed in the confrontation. He doesn't allow his friends to help him fight, saying:

"This is my own fight! I must defeat him to amend for my past guilt."

There's also a plea for pacifism as well.

"To be a real Paladin, you must not fight now. Justice is not the only right in this world."

And at the end of the story, Cecil's brother, Golbez (who is the antagonist for much of the story), tries to destroy big bad guy Zemus. But Golbez, is unfortunately, a dark knight and can't do it. Cecil the Paladin is able to destroy him, with the help of prayers from earth (they call it "wishes" but everyone is going prostrate and reciting liturgy. I'm sorry politically correct translator--that's called a "prayer").

(2) Self-Sacrifice is a major theme.

During the course of the story, there are three major incidents of self-sacrifice.

(a) Sage Tellah uses a powerful spell to fight off Golbez (antagonist) and protect his friends, revenge his daughters death. He knows using the spell will kill him, and it does.
(b) Karateman Yang Fang Leiden destroys a cannon to save those who would have been killed by it's blast. He manages to survive (?) but for the majority of game we're pretty sure he's toast.
(c) Engineer Cid Pollendina basically performs a suicide bombing to save his friends from attackers. He also manages to survive (?).

The Lunarian FuSoYa (who wins the award for weirdest name) does get a little preachy near the end:

Zemus: "I will not perish as long as there is evil in the hearts of people."
FuSoYa: "Evil in our minds will never disappear...We are all both evil and good in our minds...So long as evil exists, so does good."

(3) Creation story:

Basically, we have the case of "really-smart-aliens-come-to-earth-and-some-are-really-bad-and-some-are-really-good" story plot. You'll find the creation story in here:

The Lunarians are a race of human-like wizards who came from a world destroyed which became the asteroid belt, and are identified by a moon-shape crest on their foreheads. They created the second moon that revolves around the world the story takes place on, resting until a time they believe their kind can co-exist with humans. The only known full-blood Lunarians are Fusoya, the guardian of the Lunarians; Zemus, a restless Lunarian who plans on destroying life on Earth so his kind, alone, can inhabit the planet; and Kluya, who is believed to be the first Lunarian to interact with humans. In fact, Kluya fell in love with a human, and had at least two sons with her: Theodor, whom Zemus corrupted and renamed Golbez; and the younger brother raised by the King of Baron as Cecil.

GopherLink! Found this story an email from about a year ago. Besides the election reference, it's still a completely relevant piece on the lack of evangelicals in newsrooms. Read more here.

Sesame Street's Grover discusses what Marriage is

GopherLink! Calvary Nudist Baptist Church of Tyler, TX. Only in Texas. Is this real? Should I be able to ask that question? Website (clean) here. H/T Rod Dreher

Review: New Media, New Politics: From Satellite Television to Internet in the Arab World

This semi-famous white-paper from 1999 confronts head-on the issues of censorship just hinted at in other publications (such as here, here, here, and here). There are three essential messages of this paper:

(1) New Media is still new and confined largely to the elite. But Internet is proliferation rapidly.
(2) Governments are struggling to exert censorship over new media.
(3) "The Internet holds the promise of allowing Arabs to dip into a vast sea of information that currently lies beyond their grasp" (Alterman xi).

Alterman could be accused of being overly optimistic that the new generation of Arabs, using New Media, will overcome any ills in their society. The internet certainly provided a great source of new information in America and many new tools for overcoming the ills in our society, but it also gave tools to pedophiles. Media is both glorious and fallen as Calvin would say.

Alterman notes the grounds for censorship in the Arab world. It is fascinating enough that I will quote it at length:

"There are generally four grounds for censorship in the Arab world today. The first has to do with the bounds of political debate. Whereas every Arab country has some degree of free debate, in each there are "red lines" that cannot be crossed. These red lines often have to do with Islamist opposition forces...The second and related taboo is criticism of a country's rulers or their families. From Morocco to Iraq, rulers may not be criticized by name in the domestic media (Alterman 46)

A famous example of the second taboo (that often results in censorship) was of the Moroccan leader Hosni Mubarak's sons. After a regional newspaper advertised an upcoming issue in which they would reveal details of the sons' personal corruption, the sons successfully sued the news organization to keep them from printing it. Then to add insult to injury, they sued the paper a second time for false advertising by promising a story they never delivered to the public (Alterman 46).

The third taboo has to do with writing of a religious nature that might cause undue dissension in a country. Islam is the majority religion in every country in the Arab world, but there remains disagreement within and between countries regarding what the proper practice of Islam requires. Within the generally acceptable bounds od discussion are debates over the nature of Islamic finance, cultural conflict with Western secularism and the role of women in the family and in the workplace. What are generally barred are discussions that seek to delegitimize Muslim groups or that incite violence against religious minorities. This is often a floating line, and it is most clearly crossed when Islamist partisans start tossing around the concepts of apostasy (ridda) or disbelief (kufr) to describe groups or individuals whose views they oppose. Whereas governments in the region often try to appropriate Islam to legitimize their own rule, they are vigilant in guarding against the possibility that some would use Islam to deligitimize either the government itself or groups in the general population (Alterman 46-47).

The third taboo is interesting because it relates so closely to the second. If the leader of your country IS your religious leader (ie. Iran), then what are you doing when you publish something that challenges that leader? Are you challenging politics or religion? In practice, it's often whichever has the worse consequences for the journalist (Doha Debates). Without separation of religion and state, a statement against a corrupt leader can be twisted easily into a statement against Islam.

The forth taboo has to do with social and sexual mores....The guiding principle seems in many ways not so much toban because of the nature of the materials themselves, but rather to ban those materials that are likely to cause (or have caused) offense among domestic clergy (Alterman 47).

But Alterman notes that censorship is perhaps a dying art. Because the internet proliferates and as literacy proliferates, people will be using the internet for information. "Censorship over the internet is ...perhaps the easiest to circumvent, becuase many of those who want to circumvent restrictions are more technically savvy than those who want to keep the restrictions in place" (Alterman 47).

Alterman predicts that transnational media is the future of Arab journalism because they can do hard-hitting reporting of multiple countries without having to answer to them. Off-shore media is large area of growth, with reporters on the ground in the Arab world, but supplying information to publications based in England and France, who are exempt from censoring laws (Alterman 73-74).

APA "repudiates" gay-to-straight therapy

The coverage of the new APA report on homosexuality is interesting in that it was well covered almost everywhere I looked. I've included some highlights of this coverage.

Here's the top three graphs of Associated Press:

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

In a resolution adopted by the APA's governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of "reparative therapy" — a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain gays can change.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-4 vote. The APA said some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

The piece goes on to give fair coverage to thoughts of both liberals and conservatives on the subject. I think "repudiates" may have been too strong a word, but maybe that was in expectation that conservatives would be more frustrated with the report than they actually were. Some conservative therapists were actually pleased with the report. Take a look at The Wall Street Journal:

The men who seek help from evangelical counselor Warren Throckmorton often are deeply distressed. They have prayed, read Scripture, even married, but they haven't been able to shake sexual attractions to other men -- impulses they believe to be immoral.

Dr. Throckmorton is a psychology professor at a Christian college in Pennsylvania and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He specializes in working with clients conflicted about their sexual identity.

The first thing he tells them is this: Your attractions aren't a sign of mental illness or a punishment for insufficient faith. He tells them that he cannot turn them straight.

But he also tells them they don't have to be gay.
...
"We're not trying to encourage people to become 'ex-gay,'" said Judith Glassgold, who chaired the APA's task force on the issue. "But we have to acknowledge that, for some people, religious identity is such an important part of their lives, it may transcend everything else."

Even Baptist Press had an interesting take.

TORONTO (BP)--In a report that has resulted in widely differing interpretations, a 130-page paper from an American Psychological Association task force Wednesday concluded there is little evidence that "gay-to-straight" therapies work, but -- in a nod to Christian conservatives -- said religious individuals who desire to leave homosexuality should be assisted in doing so.

H/T Mollie Hemingway.

The Unvampiresque Vampires of Dead Until Dark

Review:

Dead Until Dark

So I just finished reading the book Dead Until Dark, by Charlene Harris. As a fantasy fiction writer, I try to keep up with the hot trends in books, movies, television etc. and True Blood (which is based on Dead Until Dark) has been getting quite a bit of press. If you've watched an episode, it's easy to see why. You've got sex, you've got murder and you've got...well, more sex.

But I have to admit, I've always liked a good vampire story. I'm the kid that grew up reading Stephen King and Anne Rice (I was actually forbidden to read Anne Rice, so I would sneak the books out of my mothers bedroom or read chapters at a time at the local bookstore). I plowed through Salem's Lot while in grade school and then Dracula while on a family trip one heart-racing summer not long after. Dead Until Dark itself isn't brilliant. It's basic pop fiction fare: lots of dialog, little description, a fast-paced plot that ends in about 300 pages. What is brilliant is the world she creates. Because Harris departs from the traditional vampire lore in some very interesting ways:

(1) Vampirism isn't demonic position, it's a virus. In the traditional Der Vampir/ Dracula story, the vampire is a human person who's been possessed by a demon. One of the key arguments for staking Dracula in the book is that by killing him, they were freeing his soul from imprisonment by a demon. The demon possession is, thus, why vampires can't stand holy water or crosses. Holy water was used in Dracula and Salem's Lot to destroy the vampires living space. The cross fended them off. In Dead Until Dark, this is not the case. Vampires can go to Church, can touch crosses, no problem. Religion is taken off the table and vampires become the new persecuted social group. They have a virus which "they can't help" and they "just live a little differently" than everyone else. In the book, the integration of vampires into mainstream life is equivalated to the early days of the civil rights and, clearly, the gay rights movement.

(2) Vampires still break cultural taboos, but just as much as humans. Its perhaps hard to understand in today's culture. But in the 19th century when Dracula was published, vampires epitomized all the taboos of 19th century life: cannibalism, sexuality, isolation (they weren't part of a local community), and anti-Christian (they couldn't go to Church and were in fact deadly afraid of Christian artifacts.) The vampires of Dead Until Dark are still cannibalistic, they need blood to survive, but they have an artificial blood they can drink: "True Blood." And many show restraint in terms of their blood-sucking habits. Humans, by comparison, burn down vampire homes, conduct kinky sex regularly and have a serial killer on the loose. The book doesn't portray vampires as morally better than humans, but they're certainly not portrayed worse. And that's the point.

(3) Vampires aren't completely animalistic and humans don't always act, well, humane. One of the key frightening points of Dracula is the understanding that a person as wise as Dracula could become a slave to animal desires, losing reason, cultural restraint (as mentioned earlier), sympathy. In Der Vampir, Dracula, and Salem's Lot that holds true. Humanity does eek into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and it certainly does in Dead Until Dark. But by putting the context of the story into a murder mystery, we get to see one of the worst sides of humanity: the serial killer. Just a brief glimpse over the bios of John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy (here), and Jeffrey Dahmer is enough to make your blood run cold at the inhuman nature of what they did. This is incredibly ironic that Harris would use that contrast, as the original medieval legends about werewolves and vampires are believed to have originated from serial killers.

What if Church worship looked like an NBA game?

Ironically, this spoof video isn't too far from some of the things I've seen. This YouTube video should have been called, "Does your worship ALREADY look like NBA game?"