Weird and Religious
Some Islamic traditions hold that a specific black stone set into the Kaaba in Mecca came down from paradise and was originally white but turned black because it absorbed the sins of humanity. Pilgrims try to kiss or touch it during pilgrimage, not because the stone itself is worshipped, but because it is linked to a sacred story about the beginning of human history.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1692, Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. Government soldiers killed members of Clan MacDonald after a delayed loyalty oath amid sectarian tension. Though political, it was partly justified as enforcing a Protestant settlement and suppressing rebellion associated with Catholic and Jacobite loyalties.
Fact
In Judaism, life cycle events such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death are marked by religious rituals, and Judaism connects these moments to covenant identity.
The expansion of gods
When societies expanded into city-states and empires, their gods expanded with them. Local spirits that once protected villages could not govern vast populations, and pantheons arose to reflect increasingly complex political systems. Gods developed hierarchies, families, and jurisdictions, mirroring the bureaucracies that managed the human world. Divine quarrels mirrored political struggles, and celestial order became an echo of imperial organisation. Religion evolved into a reflection of statecraft projected onto the heavens, its structure familiar precisely because it was copied.
Quote of the day
“The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” George Bernard Shaw.
Ask the right question
Why would a perfect creator design a world that requires constant divine intervention through miracles?
Religious Crooks
Samuel Bateman, a breakaway Mormon fundamentalist leader, claimed prophetic status and controlled a closed religious community, later arrested on serious criminal charges, with authorities alleging that religious authority was used to dominate members and their assets.
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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.