The American Psychological Association  announced this week that therapies that try to change a persons sexual orientation rarely, if ever, work and the process can cause a lot of harm by developing self-hatred in the person.

On Thursday, one of the oldest cathedrals in England was the site of the funeral for Britain's last WWI veteran.

Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago  said this week that the economic crisis is the result of a lack of business ethics and the pursuit of quick profits.  I don't often agree with a conservative Catholic bishop, but this time I do.

Spiritual Quote of the week:

But in the end all religions tend to point to the same light. In between the light and us, sometimes there are too many rules.
~Paulo Coelho

Our Strange World:

A television station in Turkey is planning a reality show in which a priest, a rabbi and a Muslim imam will try to convert atheists.  The winning convert will receive a trip to the holy land of the religion that successfully converts him.

A family in England, desperate to get back their missing dog, urinated in containers, then used it to make trails for the dog to follow back home.  It's not known at this time if the trick worked.

A poisonous copperhead snake bit the hand of a guy in Maryland several times.  This would typically result in the person bitten killing the snake, than heading for the hospital but, in this case, the snake lived to tell the story.  The biting occurred in a Buddhist temple so the Buddhist young man picked up the snake, carried it to a prayer room where he circled three times and blessed the snake before releasing it outdoors and heading for the hospital.