Weird and Religious
The Zoroastrian religion traditionally avoided burying or burning bodies because both earth and fire were sacred. Corpses were placed in stone towers where birds consumed them, to avoid polluting the natural elements.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1995, Tokyo in Japan. Members of Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the subway, killing and injuring commuters. The cult blended apocalyptic beliefs and claimed spiritual necessity. Leaders justified violence as purifying the world, protecting followers, and fulfilling a divine end times mission.
Fact
In Christianity, grace is a key idea, and Christianity describes grace as unearned favour from God rather than something achieved by human effort alone.
The illusion of control
Early humans did not understand bad weather as bad luck or atmospheric physics but as displeasure expressed by higher powers. Drought meant anger, flood meant punishment, and storms meant warning, which gave humans a sense of control because if events had intention behind them, then behaviour mattered. Appeasement became possible, and through rituals, sacrifices, and obedience, people created the feeling that something could be done. The illusion of influence was preferable to helplessness, and although these actions achieved nothing, they reduced anxiety and made existence feel more ordered and less arbitrary.
Quote of the day
“Men would never be superstitious if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune.” Baruch Spinoza.
Ask the right question
Why do religious conversion experiences occur in every religion and point in different directions?
Religious Crooks
Theodore McCarrick was a high ranking Catholic cardinal who was laicised after church investigations concluded he had sexually abused adults and minors, with findings that his senior religious position enabled misconduct over decades.
For more information, google the name.
Every country in the world has its fair share of spiritual crooks.
Religion is supposed to bring morality but it also seem to bring a lot of crooks who take advantage of people.