The Victorian Charm of the Protong. Part 1

David Sivier
Magonia 88, May 2005

One of the strangest responses to the furore surrounding the release of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in 2004 was that of veteran fringe writer, Stan Gooch. Other writers and academics feared the graphic depiction of Christ’s suffering would provoke a rise in violent anti-Semitism amid a resurgence of extreme right-wing political groups in Europe, and the renewed intifada in the Arab world, Gooch took the opportunity of the film’s release to expound his own theory that Christianity owed its origins to a secret lunar cult.

The Victorian Charm of the Protong. Part 2

David Sivier

Magonia 88, May 2005

Apart from the demonstrably erroneous nature of the claim that the Passion narrative represents human sacrifice in a real, historic lunar cult, is the highly questionable nature of the proof adduced for it. The theory takes as proof facts, or rather factoids, widely separated in space and time from the centre of the Passion narrative in first century Palestine. For example, there is the statement that Christ was crucified on Friday 13th.

The Case of the Vanishing X-15 Pilot

Curtis Peebles

Magonia 88, May 2005

The publication of Ann Druffel’s book, Firestorm: Dr. James M. McDonald’s Fight For UFO Science, was met with a mixed reception among believers and sceptics alike. The book gave an inside account of the highly respected atmospheric physicist’s involvement with UFOs. At the same time, many readers objected to Druffel’s attempts to include Roswell and MJ-12 in the account, as well as the book’s technical and historical errors.