"Monkfish Abbey" - a cesspool of strangeocity

 - Unknown

"They take out their pent-up frustrations on cheap plates at the Anger Altar in the back yard and turn the broken shards into a mosaic walkway. They've created Tibetan prayer flags for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that whip in the wind from the roof and collage icons commemorating Dia de los Muertos that line the fireplace mantel. They celebrate all the Christian holidays, but they also observe Jewish holidays, the solstices and the equinox."

( Author's note: art in Fremont, for lack of a better word, looks like crap )

Now, then. Looking at this, I try to find some chunks of true devotion, you know, give credit where credit is due. The result: nuttin'. Instead of talking about God, they decide to trash every ecclesiastical institution but theirs as being to "consevative" or "closed-minded" or some other buzzword that basically means "Everybody's intolerant but us! nyah, nyah, nyah!" Which is, in itself, mighty intolerant.

Will somebody explain the "Anger Altar" in the back? Are they trying to say something like "Gee, God, I'm frustrated. So I'm going to give my feelings paramount importance, shove you to the side, beat some cheap plates to death, form a kewl mosaic walkway, and then feel really pleased with myself."??? Im namen de Himmel, Dummkopfin! Sorry.

"[Rachelle Mee-Chapman's] house is a relaxed sanctuary where humor punctuates conversation, where people can talk about Anne Rice and her conversion from goth writing to God writing. Where members can sip a bottle of brew while they have a soup supper with Communion. Where they can joke about Jesus Christ action-figures [sic] and stickers at Archie McPhee or how some people see their Day of the Dead collages as a slippery slope toward idol worship -- and not be struck down by the wrath of the righteous."

Yay. They have a "right" to change truth based on a majority vote. Not to deviate from the subject, but that doesn't make logical sense.

" 'It's really fun to stop fearing learning from other faiths and embrace the truths they carry,' [Rachelle] said. "

Righhht. Pay no attention to the fact that the said religions contradict each other more than english grammar does!

I hope that you'll read the actual article, although I don't have the time to refute every inconsistency in it. At the end, the P-I puts a multistep plan to build a "generous 'soul-care' community" basically it says to try any and everything and don't you DARE to be "rigid". The large assortments of relativists that run the place do indeed expect you to believe one spiritual truth. The truth that truth does not exist.

(author's note: the monkfishers have a website at tuesdaypm.org. It has a pretty bad layout)