This week I've written about Why People are Suspicious of New Religious Movements, which is mart of my series on Diversity in Modern Religion.

I've also finally created a proper article discussing Unverifiable Personal Gnosis, which I have mentioned several times in blog posts over the years.

I'm working on a series of articles addressing the diversity of religions in the Western world, particularly the United States.  The first is the most general in scope, simply discussing some of the major influences that have led to such wide religious diversity.  It is entitled Diversity in Modern Religion.

I also apologize for the slow pace of the last week or so.  I have been battling a cough for weeks that has now turned into pleurisy.  I'm spending a lot of time sleeping or taking medication that is not conducive to coherent writing.  This may continue into at least the next week.

I am a skeptic when it comes to a lot of paranormal phenomena.  I've met a lot of people who try too hard to believe and accept without question any sort of evidence they can find, regardless of alternative explanations.  But the concept of crisis apparitions is one of the more intriguing and not easily explainable.

These are appearances of people shortly after their death in front of loved ones.  Often it appears the person is standing in front of them, although it can also manifest in other forms, such as telephone calls.  What makes these particularly interesting is that people frequently experience them before they know the person is dead.  That issue of timing negates the argument that the apparition is merely a figment of a grieving subconscious, since at the time the subconscious has nothing for which to grieve.

The Phoenix Goddess Temple was raided this week under accusations of being a disguised brothel, ABC News reports.  The founder has faced similar accusations in other locations as well.

The Temple has retaliated on their website, calling the investigation a witch-hunt, insisting that prosecutors don't understand Tantric practices, and  attempting to brush this under the carpet of religious freedom.

Tantric practices certainly can have very sexual aspects to them.  You can also teach about them without actually providing sex.  And the fact is if they were providing sexual services for pay, they were committing the crime of prostitution.

The Temple's website is full of vague phrasing about services, but even that offers various suspicious issues.  For example, the FAQ addresses the question of the health of the "goddesses" (i.e. employees, who have taken goddess pseudonyms).  The answers includes the response that "if health fears are up for you, we recommend that you visit with solo healers who may have a medically justified practice with up to date tests etc."  I'm not completely sure what that's even supposed to mean, but what kind of services would require such a suggestion that do not involve sex?