Occasionally, I quote from one religious text or another. Usually this is the Bible, in which case it will usually* be the New Revised Standard Edition unless otherwise noted. However, I also have copies of the Koran (the Penguin Classics edition, translated and occasionally updated by N. J. Dawood), the Upanishads (the "Sacred Wisdom" series as published by the Duncan Baird Publishers), the Bhagavad Gita (from the same series), Starhawk's "The Spiral Dance" and various other Neopagan texts, and even a copy of Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion". Although I haven't quoted from them yet in any published post, I do plan to use them as sources in some posts I'm working on for future posting.
I think it bears saying that although I can hardly believe absolutely everything that's in these books, particularly that last one, I do think that there's wisdom of one kind or another to be found in them. And if I only stuck to texts that reinforce what I believe in, I'd hardly be able to quote from anything at all, because each and every one of these texts also contains ideas that I do not agree with! Besides which, only sticking to sources that confirm one's prior beliefs is hardly a way to learn, and part of what keeps me writing this blog is my continued need to learn more not just about myself and my own spiritual life, but about the spiritual lives (or lack thereof, in some cases) of other people.
Oh, and although this hasn't happened yet, I suspect that if I do directly quote from any book that isn't a religious text of some kind or other, I might cite the quotation in MLA format. It's a habit I picked up when I was working on my B.A. in English. It may not be entirely necessary, given that this is a blog and not a research paper, but at least the citation should be reasonably clear...
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*I first published this page over a year after I started writing this blog. While I think I've identified all the Bible versions I've used when I've used them, I may have missed a post or two which contains a passage from the Bible. If you notice any post in which I've neglected to identify the translation I used—or any other source material, for that matter—please let me know and I'll make the necessary correction(s).
