Swimming the Sacred River

There are already plenty of good overviews of religious naturalism, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have one more. It certainly doesn’t stack up to the work of Jerome Stone [PDF], and I’ll probably update it over time, but I think it’s healthy to have multiple viewpoints that address a core set of ideas. Of course, I am no expert on religious naturalism, so I hope I can be forgiven a certain lack of unique insight or academic sophistication. For me, however, it is exactly this kind of exercise that helps develop a clear articulation of values and beliefs, an exercise that I consider to be central to my own personal progress. And you, dear reader, are naturally invited to comment and make suggestions.

It has been recommended to me to give a site update, to let readers know some of the things that have been added recently to Sacred River. I’ve been working hard on the site in my spare time (which has been dwindling lately) and I want to share what I’ve come up with.

• Sacred River Bookstore. Sacred River now has an Amazon Affiliate account. You can browse and purchase titles through this site, and we will earn a small commission for every item sold. So, if you are in the market for a new book, this is a great way to get your read on and support Sacred River at the same time.

• Photo Gallery. You might have noticed that photos have started to appear on Sacred River. My brilliant partner Janet, herself a talented photographer, suggested that images might liven up the place. She was right! Most of the pics are from my camera, but I plan on using more of her photos in the future. The Gallery is simply a page that puts all the images in one place for you to enjoy. Eventually I hope to add a nice slideshow app, but that is on the back-burner for now.

• Lots-’o-Links. I’ve added a fair number of links to our new Links page. I want to strike a balance by listing a fair number of useful and related sites without becoming a link repository. That said, if you have any suggestions, or would like to offer a link exchange, just let us know.

• Communications. Speaking of which, there are a couple of communication additions. After much coding toil, I have finally got threaded comments to work. You (yes YOU) are invited to add your thoughts and start conversations in the individual posts. No registration is required. Also, I have added a contact form to the site, which you can get to from the bottom of every page in the footer. Questions, comments, and suggestions are strongly encouraged.

There are many plans for this site, which is only now in its version 1.0 phase. However, you are invited to add your voice to what we are building here. If there is something that you would like to see here at Sacred River, by all means let us know. Although the site is essentially a blog at the moment, eventually we want the site to become a thriving online community, ideally evolving into real-world groups and activities. We are excited by this vision and want you to feel welcome and inspired to volunteer your own efforts to Sacred River.

If you have noticed a dearth of new posts in the last few days, that is because a lot of effort has been going into the site’s plumbing. Images really spice things up on a blog, so I’ve been adding photos from my own collection as well as from Janet’s, my partner. She’s the better photographer, so you’ll likely be treated to more of her pics. I also got threaded comments to work finally, so a reminder that you are invited to add your thoughts or questions. This site will be undergoing major changes in the future as Sacred River grows, but I think it’s nearly settled in to its present configuration.