Weird and Religious
Ancient Romans kept household gods called Lares and Penates, small figures placed near the hearth. Families made daily offerings to them, treating the kitchen area as a religious centre rather than a purely domestic space.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2001, New York and Washington in the United States. Al-Qaeda hijackers killed thousands in coordinated attacks. Leaders issued religious political rulings portraying civilians as legitimate targets and casting violence as defensive jihad, promising martyrdom and divine reward for striking perceived enemies of Islam.
Fact
In Jainism, liberation is the ultimate goal, and Jainism describes this as freeing the soul from karmic matter and the cycle of rebirth.
Shifting from the absurd
When some stories in the scriptures were exposed as ridiculous and absurd, religion explained them by shifting from literal meaning to metaphors.This shift reveals something important. The meaning of the stories did not change because new insight was discovered; it changed because the old interpretation could no longer survive exposure. Literalism was abandoned only when it became indefensible. The authority that once demanded belief in the impossible now demanded reinterpretation of the same text, and the claim of divine clarity did not survive contact with human understanding.
Quote of the day
“The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.” Thomas Paine.
Ask the right question
If prayer works, why do large scale studies show no measurable difference in outcomes?
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.