Tuesday, November 29, 2005

ö Scientology's sacred text storage facility [Boing] These folks obviously need a visit to Colorado Springs and an extra special dose of Pastor Ted!  There are symbols in northern New Mexico that mark a Church of Scientology vault built in a mountainside. The facility contains founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings etched into stainless steel tablets that are stored in titanium capsules. [...] Former Scientologists familiar with Hubbard's teachings on reincarnation say the symbol marks a "return point" so loyal staff members know where they can find the founder's works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe.  Thumbnail from bigger Terraserver image. permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?

ö Soldiers of Christ [Harpers] Found through a Metafilter post:  Contrary Brin: Ideas For Rescuing Modernity I have spoken before of the blatant... and yet never-reported... pattern shown by more than a hundred members of the United States Congress, appointing young cadets to the US Military Academies according to one criterion above all others -- their depth of religious zealotry. This infusion of young officers who believe in a coming apocalypse is discreetly worrisome at West Point and Annapolis, but it has already had newsworthy effects at the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs. A town that is also now known as a main locus and training center for fanatics bent on dominating American civilization. (see: http://www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html )  It's the Harpers piece that's the main link. A lot of it's about "Colorado Springs, home to the greatest concentration of fundamentalist Christian activist groups in American history", and Dubya's pal Pastor Ted. He runs "The city's mightiest megachurch". It "crests silver and blue atop a gentle slope of pale yellow prairie grass on the outskirts of town. Silver and blue, as it happens, are Air Force colors. New Life Church was built far north of town in part so it would be visible from the Air Force Academy." Four full size photos here at God in America :: My Good Friend God (us-them.com) permanent link #     ^ TOP ^  what is this place?