John Frum

[squamous]

Cargo cult lives on in South Pacific.

This story always fascinates me, not sure why, I think it's another example of how off the wall the beliefs of a religion can sound to those outside of it. Plus wondering exactly how this came about.

Comments

[boonedog.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of Rastafarians, who worship the king of Ethiopia from the 1930's as a prophet right up there with Moses and Jesus. I wonder what it was about the 1930's.

[squiggle.livejournal.com]

i just learned about this from the richard dawkins book. he's using it as an example of how religions spring up.

[squamous.livejournal.com]

I'd like to read more about the Rastafarians... I just know a little superficial stuff. The whole Haile Selassie thing you mention, I don't understand and want to know more about the beliefs there.

[squamous.livejournal.com]

Hah I thought about that when I was posting this - I mean, I didn't know it was in the book but, I thought this was probably the type of thing somebody like Richard Dawkins might bring up.

[boonedog.livejournal.com]

You should check out this book (http://www.amazon.com/New-Religious-Movements-Documentary-Reader/dp/0814707033/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1599964-7704720?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173074219&sr=8-1) if you want to learn more about Rastafarians. And then you can be totally side-tracked reading all the other chapters about new religious movements. It's really intereting. It actually made me want to meet some people who practice Santeria because it sounds so neat. I can't really say the same for the Family of God, though.

[squiggle.livejournal.com]

oh yes. this from the article: A Christian youth worker told me how he thought the cult was childish. "It's like a baby playing games," he insisted. "Those people are holding on to a dream that will never come true," he said. is just begging for a comparison. (christianity isn't a made up dream that will never come true?)

p.s. they had a "survivor" on vanuatu recently