by Tom Gallagher
You know that when a story about faith and sacred places appears on The Weather Channel website, times have certainly changed. Apparently religion journalism is in vogue.
Over at Weather.com is "9 Strange Sacred Sites," a piece about monasteries built on cliff tops. So write the authors, Lorraine Boissoneault and Camille Mann:
From monasteries built on the side of an active volcano, to temples seemingly suspended in air on the side of mountains, religious architecture around the world has often relied on engineering feats of great ingenuity to withstand the elements and the test of time. In his book Sacred Places Around the World, author Brad Olsen describes the way sacred sites often align with other geological forms, like "fault lines, volcanoes and mountain ranges." With more than eight in ten people around the world identifying with a religious group, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, it's no surprise that sacred sites continue to be popular destinations for tourists and pilgrims alike.
