Brian Griffith's Blog - Posts Tagged "religion"

In Sunday school as a child, I heard that the ancient Egyptians “worshiped the beast,” which sounded absolutely evil, even though I loved my dog far more than I cared about the church. I accepted this contradiction without much thought, and only years later did I wonder how animals got such a Satanic reputation. War and Peace with the Beasts: A History of Our Relationships with Animals

Thanks to Yowann Byghan for his kind words about my book on the cultures and religions of Chinese women. It's great to hear from a scholar of world mythology, animal lore, goddesses, and Druidism.
He wrote,
"I’ve just finished reading A Galaxy of Immortal Women. It’s a superb book. The content is extremely interesting and very authoritative, but at the same time very readable. Again, you carry your learning very lightly, and the book is organised and structured very cleverly. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I will be going through it again with a fine-toothed comb as I continue working on my encyclopedia of goddesses." A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization

As popular religion revived in modern China, it mainly grew from the grassroots up, very commonly led by local women. Their home-brewed versions of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, or Christianity offered healing, vitality, harmonious relationships, good fortune, goddess worship, spirit mediumship, or inner peace. No doubt most of these “new religions” involved beliefs in afterlives, deities, spirits, and bonds of loyalty. But in general, these religions were less about meeting sets of requirements than pursuing options for better living. If a spiritual practice made for better relationships in this life, then that spiritual journey might continue beyond death. Michael Saso tried to summarize Daoist common sense about mutual loyalty: “The person who is filled with respect and benevolence for others and compassion for all living things, and who lives in close harmony with nature, lives long and is filled with inner peace and blessing.” Perhaps that would describe modern China’s “popular religion,” however much people still believe in authoritarian order and patriotic solidarity. A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization