Weird and Religious
In Tibet, sky burials involve placing bodies on mountaintops to be eaten by vultures. The body is seen as an empty vessel after death, and feeding other living beings is considered an act of generosity rather than disrespect.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1915, Ottoman Empire, Armenian regions. Armenian Christians were deported and killed in mass atrocities. Perpetrators portrayed Armenians as traitors and outsiders, using Muslim identity politics and wartime religious division to justify removal of a Christian minority.
Fact
In Shinto, respect, sincerity, and gratitude are key attitudes, and Shinto links these qualities to proper relationship with kami and people.
Sacred error
Truth must remain open to revision because evidence accumulates and understanding improves. A claim that cannot be questioned cannot be corrected. Science advances because it treats truth as provisional and revisable. Religion resists this because its authority depends on permanence. A clear example is the resistance to the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun. When early astronomers presented observations that contradicted long held scriptural interpretations placing Earth at the centre, religious authorities treated the claim as a threat to doctrine rather than a scientific question. Evidence from telescopes and planetary motion kept accumulating, yet acceptance was delayed because preserving theological certainty was given priority over adjusting beliefs to match observable reality.
When belief is frozen, error becomes sacred.
Quote of the day
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Karl Marx.
Ask the right question
If morality comes only from god, why do moral standards change over time even within the same religion?
Religious Crooks
Kirtanananda Swami, a leader in the Hare Krishna movement in the United States, oversaw a large commune that generated income through businesses staffed by devotees, later convicted in connection with racketeering and other crimes linked to the community.
For more information, google the name.
Almost all of the crooks appearing in this section have their own wikipedia page.
Throughout history and still to this day, there has never been a shortage of religious leaders who were not always following their own spiritual advice.