Religion
Community members, law enforcement officials and politicians alike reached across church aisles Thursday night to hold hands, literally, and pledge commitment to ending gun violence in Oakland.
The first few minutes of a fourth period World History class in room 237 at Oakland Technical High School Monday were spent discussing the question “How did the attacks on 9/11/2001 affect you or your family?”
When Fruitvale Presbyterian Church was first established 123 years ago, the area it ministered to–with its fruit-bearing orchards–was not yet part of urban Oakland. Faced with a diminished congregation, the church will hold its last service Sunday.
California was once home to over 300 Native American dialects and as many as 90 languages. Today, only about half of those languages are still with us and many are working to revive them.
Waves of incense wafts out of Ancient Ways, a metaphysical and pagan store on Telegraph Avenue and 41st Street, and the sweet smell mixes with the aroma of Eritrean food simmering at the Café Eritrea D’Afrique restaurant next door. Much of the window space of the shop is covered up by white posters from Occupy Oakland, advertising the general strike in November and Move-in Day in the spring. The inside of Ancient Ways is still visible through white metal bars, though—rows of wooden bookshelves with spell books and books relating to Celtic, Qabalah and tarot. There’s a long counter where different varieties of spice are stacked, and a rotating display of incense near the door, with a lit stick usually nearby.
St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland helps some of the 71,000 seniors in Alameda County who do not have enough money to meet their basic needs; that is half of the people in Alameda County who are 65 and over. But the center is just one node in the complex and incomplete web of aid for seniors who do not have enough money to live on. “Forget the issue of any kind of dementia, long-term chronic mental health issues, substance abuse issues—just be homeless and experience the trauma of that and then figure this out,” said Carol Johnson, the director of St. Mary’s.
Through a nationwide marketing campaign and the Family Radio media platform, Oakland-based preacher Harold Camping convinced thousands of people that the world would end on May 21, 2011. As we approach the one-year anniversary of his failed prediction, reporter Megan Molteni takes look at the psychology of Camping’s doomsaying and why so many people fell for it.
The sleepy Rockridge district was an unlikely home for scandal. But in 1927, it came to light that a small Rockridge bungalow had become the international headquarters of a mystical society called the “Great White Brotherhood.”
Until April 2, when a shooter killed seven and injured three students and staff members at Oikos University, few in Oakland had even heard of the school. Now, reports about the school’s future are mixed. University officials have signaled that they may begin holding classes off-campus, and state officials have raised concerns about Oikos students’ pass rate on a national nursing exam.