01: The Young Spirit series of children’s’ books by Hampton Roads Publishing Company in Charlottesville, Va., represents an interest among parents to introduce their children to spirituality outside of the structures of institutional religion.
Twenty percent of Americans are said to identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious” and many want to raise likewise “spiritual children.” Book editor Grace Pedalino says “Our books are about being kind, finding your own path and being true to yourself. It’s the kind of message people not locked into a tradition want to pass onto their children.”
(Source: Charisma News Service, Nov. 27)
02: Vissarion is a popular teacher and self-proclaimed messiah of a growing new religious movement in Russia.
The 39-year old Vissarion heads the Church of the Last Testament, which claims up to 50,000 members in Russia and abroad. The faith preaches a mixture of Neopaganism, Eastern religions, and Christianity and has attracted a large percentage of professionals. Vissarion teaches that the world will soon undergo a crisis and that the human race come to an end in its present form, although followers of Vissarion can save themselves by perfecting their own nature.
Members are gravitating to western Siberia where their leader has established a “City of the Sun,” for the elite. Their presence in increasing numbers in the region is causing concern throughout Russia, and charges have been made that the church is totalitarian, with members starving to death (they are vegans). Other observers find that ecological and pacifist issues seem to preoccupy most members.
(Source: Frontier, No. 5, 2000)