Weird and Religious
In ancient Rome, priests known as augurs interpreted the will of the gods by watching birds. The direction of flight, their calls, and even how chickens ate grain could influence state decisions such as whether to go to war.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2001, Gujarat, India, post earthquake tensions. Some Hindu extremist groups attacked Christian missionaries and churches. Perpetrators justified violence as protecting Hindu society from conversion and defending the nation’s religious identity.
Fact
In Sikhism, the goal of life is union with God, and Sikhism presents this as achieved through devotion, ethical conduct, and constant remembrance.
Just and merciful?
Another religious inconsistency appears in the claim that god is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. Justice demands consequences proportional to harm, while mercy demands forgiveness, but eternal punishment for finite actions satisfies neither. A god who forgives everything is not just, and a god who punishes forever is not merciful, and trying to hold both qualities simultaneously results in definitions so vague they lose all meaning. Justice becomes whatever god does, and mercy becomes irrelevant.
Quote of the day
“The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Ask the right question
If revelation is clear, why do legal and moral systems based on scripture require endless interpretation?
Religious Crooks
ESwami Premananda is a Hindu guru in India who ran an ashram and was convicted of rape and murder, with courts finding that spiritual status was used to control and abuse followers.
For more information, google the name.
Almost all of the crooks appearing in this section have their own wikipedia page.
History tells us that wherever fools gathered, there was always a religious crook to take advantage of them. The best way to stop the crooks is not to be a fool.