A Call to Religious Unity — The Baha'i Faith — An early internet introduction to Baha'i theology, presenting Abdu'l-Baha's teachings on the search for truth and the unity of religion, posted to net.religion in November 1984 by Verbus M. Counts of AT&T Bell Labs.
Adventure in Freedom — An ECK Poem — A short devotional poem by Grant Rostig (Fortune Systems) on the ECK path — soul travel, the MAHANTA, Light and Sound, and SUGMAD. Companion to his prose introduction to ECKANKAR. September 1984.
Deities and the Divine — Buddhism, Taoism, and the Pagan Way — Ellen Perlman's 1985 theological reflection on non-theistic traditions and the Pagan understanding of the divine as immanent — a direct challenge to the Western assumption that religion requires a supreme external deity.
God and His Manifestations — The Baha'i Doctrine of Progressive Revelation — Verbus Counts explains the Baha'i principle of progressive revelation, presenting Baha'u'llah's teachings on the unity of divine messengers from Krishna to the Bab, with scripture passages on the oneness of God's revelators.
Introduction to net.religion — A source-critical introduction to the net.religion Usenet shelf: a curated doorway into early general online religious argument, pluralist self-presentation, minority-tradition explanation, philosophy, testimony, and esoteric practice.
Islamic Mystics — The Sufi — A practitioner's introduction to Sufism — the mystical tradition of Islam — with aphorisms and poems by Ibn el-Arabi, Rumi, Attar, Saadi, Hakim Jami, and Abdul-Qadir of Gilan.
Other Spiritual Paths — Paganism and the Case for Religious Diversity — A UCLA computer scientist and feminist practitioner reflects on her journey through Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and yoga before finding a home in Paganism — a 1984 argument for spiritual pluralism in net.religion.
Pagan and Wiccan Books — An Annotated Reading List — An October 1984 annotated bibliography of Pagan and Wiccan books, compiled by Ellen (UCLA CS Dept.) and posted to net.religion before alt.pagan existed.
Some Personal Thoughts on Coming to Know God — A personal account of spiritual transformation — from Catholic childhood trauma, through breakdown and pastoral counseling, to a faith rooted in love rather than fear — posted by a DEC employee to Usenet in 1985.
The New Witchcraft — A Defense of Contemporary Paganism — A November 1984 defense of modern Witchcraft by UCLA computer scientist and practitioner Ellen, responding to charges of fraud and revisionism with historical argument and personal testimony.
The Oneness of Mankind — A Baha'i Teaching — Verbus M. Counts presents Baha'u'llah's vision of human unity and 'Abdu'l-Baha's second principle from Paris Talks — early internet Baha'i teaching from AT&T Bell Labs, January 1985.
The Resurrection of Christ — A Baha'i Interpretation — Verbus M. Counts shares 'Abdu'l-Baha's answer from Some Answered Questions on the spiritual meaning of Christ's resurrection — neither body nor tomb, but the revival of a living Cause among steadfast disciples.
The Song of the Reed — Three Poems by Rumi — Three poems by Jalaluddin Rumi, shared on net.religion in August 1985 by a University of Vermont student: The Song of the Reed, Mystics Know, and No Monkery In Islam.
The Ten Oxherding Verses — A 12th-century Zen Buddhist teaching sequence on the path to enlightenment, posted to net.religion in November 1984 by Steven L. Aldrich of AT&T Bell Labs.
The Way of Zen Druidism — On Syncretistic Faith — Chuq Von Rospach describes his personal syncretistic path — Zen, Celtic Druidism, Taoism — and the philosophy of non-striving that transformed his life.
The Yezidees — A People Between Satan and Paradise — Laura Creighton's 1985 account of Yazidi theology from the UTZOO archive — the worship of Melek Taus, the name taboo, and the Gnostic connections of a persecuted Near Eastern people.