Photo by Glennhopper

A pastor in Carlisle, PA is planning to bring a team of chaplains to a local bar to hear help patrons confess their sins. There will be no preaching against drinking while listening; instead, the chaplains will be there just to lend an ear to those who need someone to listen.

The chaplains will work in teams, one male and one female. They intend to go where the people are.

Although it might seem odd to see chaplains patronizing a bar to hear confessions, it's a good place to find people who might want to unburden themselves.

Confessionals are opening up all over the place. An article in Time magazine (9/27/07) reports that "some priests are even hearing confessions in venues likes shopping malls".

In the article, Rev. Adam Park in Rockville, MD is quoted as saying, "I think folks rediscovered that getting rid of that weight in a confidential setting can be a freeing experience".

Unburdening oneself in a supportive and anonymous environment can be a cathartic experience, but going to an online site, such as YouReveal.com has the added benefit of providing a window into what other people are revealing. It's comforting to know that we are not alone. The more one reveals, the easier it becomes to peel back the layers of our core being.

 
                                                                            Photo by dcJohn  

A documentary called Secrecy premieres this month at the Sundance Film Festival. "Secrecy" is "a film about the vast, invisible world of government secrecy". "Secrecy" revolves around U.S. government secrecy and more specifically, the use of classification to hide mistakes and embarassing truths from its citizens.  Quoted on the offical "Secrecy" website,  "In a single recent year the U.S. classified about five times the number of pages added to the Library of Congress."

 Just how far should the government be allowed to go in hiding information from it's citizens? How much of the truth is necessary to report, and how much would divulging it put national security at risk?

One of the interviewees in the documentary says that "secrecy suffocates democracy" and "even if it is sometimes necessary, it is always a necessary evil." Another says that "you need to keep your enemy confused" and if you give away your strategies, you will give away your game. To be sure it is a balancing act, but just how far is too far? "Secrecy" examines the need for secrecy to keep our nation safe and our capacity for operating as a democracy.

The filmmakers, two Harvard professors, Peter Galison and Robb Moss, deserve to be noticed for opening up a debate about the profound topic on whether classification of information is helpful or destructive.

                                      
                                      Photo by RBerteig

Fox has announced its new reality TV show called "Moment of Truth" which premiered on Wednesday, January 23 at 9PM ET/PT. Winning contestants will be paid $500,000 not to lie on 21 questions.

Each question becomes increasingly harder, and friends and family members watch from the studio audience, making it harder for the contestant to tell the truth. In order to determine whether a contestant is lying, each person will be wired to a lie detector.

With the current fascination on hearing the truth, it seems befitting in one way at least for this show to take root. Shedding the light on the truth is alluring, because we all have secrets and we want to feel that we're not alone.

From reality tv to the internet, secrets, confessions and the truth are becoming hot commodities.

                                                                                Photo by ulybug

Everyone has secrets, and this website can be a tool to evaluate whether or not your neighbor is hiding something that you want to avoid.

Whether you are afraid of drug dealers, nosy neighbors, or just neighbors with strange or bizarre quirks, Rottenneighbor.com can help you ferret out the secrets people are hiding.

Likely the first thing you'll do after visiting this site is to see if anyone is tattling on you. It's like being given a window into what others think about you.

It's human nature. We all have secrets and we all want to know what other's secrets are.

  
                                                                       Photo by Alan Light

One of the most recent examples is Georgia Frontiere, the Rams owner, who died at 80 of breast cancer. Family members and team officials kept her illness a secret according to her wishes.

Battling disease can be difficult enough without having to worry about the extra attention and unwanted press that this kind of news can bring. Deciding to reveal an illness or a deeply personal issue is not only scary, it can leave us feeling vulnerable.

It might seem obvious why a celebrity or public figure would choose not to reveal a major illness. For one, they likely don't want anyone to see them as sick. They want people to see their work, not their disease. In addition, going public with an illness can be a career-ender, so many choose to keep their battles private.

It should be said however, that despite the difficulties in mentioning a serious illness to the public, great good can come from revealing it.

In the case of breast cancer, speaking about it publicly can help to raise awareness of the disease and encourage others who might be at risk to get screened.

Another example: Lance Armstrong, who just won his 7th Tour de France race, shed light on testicular cancer, even while his cancer had spread to his lungs and brain.

Why do these celebrities reveal their illnesses? I suspect it's because the act of revealing is cathartic. The end result is often clarity and a new purpose.