Dallas Morning News, Sep. 28, 2002

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Reviewer's Choice: Mental Floss, issue 5
Religion Section, R.P.

All the usual suspects have been rounded up for a story on "Saints and Sinners." Others are not so usual. Besides giving a primer on Catholic saints, the story names popular examples of piety from Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. The 32 "saints" include Rabe'a Al-Adawiyah, a famous Sufi holy woman who ran through the streets with a torch and a bucket of water to put out the flames of hell and burn down the gates of heaven so, she said, "people will not love God for want of paradise or fear of hell, but because He is God." Also from Islam is the poet Rumi (1207-73), who wrote "ecstatic expressions of unity with the Divine."

Writer John Green, a former hospital chaplain, says that "most saints are just regular sinful folks like us who (unlike us) happen to harness their sinfulness and lead extraordinarily pious and noble lives." Among Saintly Sinners he includes Galileo, who "never lost his faith in God or his faith in Copernican astronomy." Among Sinful Saints is St. Augustine, who prayed, "Lord, make me chaste - but not yet."

Patron saints include St. Nicholas of Myra (a.k.a. Santa Claus), patron of brewers because of a miracle involving an innkeeper/brewer; the Archangel Michael (the Winged Warrior), patron of paratroopers; and St. Fiacre, a seventh-century Irish monk who is the patron saint of hemorrhoids. Don't ask.

Also in this issue is "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Shinto," the religion of Japan. Greg Salyer explains beliefs that have blended with Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, as he touches on ancestor worship, ritual purification and the place of honor in Japanese culture.

Copyright © 2002 Dallas Morning News.