I've written before about the oxymoronic (take that any way you'd like) dogma of fundamentalist Christians (Can the Not Crazy Christians Please Speak Up?!), that unhappy mix of God-devotion, Bible-loyalty and cultural/secular intolerance and bigotry.
He is sure, he says, that God rewards devotion, that trust can bridge religious differences and, perhaps most important, that if you spend much time with another person, you can see into the heart.
Post-its on the red threads labeled their destinations — Hanuman, the monkey god, representing devotion; Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, playing a lute-like instrument called a veena, and half a dozen others.
They then take a dip in the water and pray to the Sun god with pure devotion.
On Long Island, where the lawn god demands total devotion, most of the day jobs were in grass and shrubs.
For others the need to dress and behave modestly can define a person's relationship with God, their religious devotion or even their politics.
In response to this devotion, God will extend his grace to his votaries, enabling them to overcome the bonds of this world.
Out of his reading of the Bible, he preaches with equal passion about God's continuing devotion to the Jewish people.
Country music is a storytelling genre, to be sure, but really it enjoys telling stories about itself — about its pillars of tradition, about its commitment to family and personal responsibility and God, about its devotion to its stars, keeping them around as long as they wish to stay.
If God only exacts devotion from us, we are reduced to being his subjects.
Moreover, monkeys are considered an incarnation of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god of valor, devotion and strength.
