Weird and Religious
In parts of Southern Africa, traditional healers called sangomas are believed to be chosen by ancestors through illness or disturbing dreams. Training involves learning to communicate with spirits, interpret bones thrown on the ground, and diagnose spiritual causes of problems.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2002, Gujarat in India. After a train fire, riots and organised attacks killed many people, mostly Muslims, alongside arson and assaults. Participants justified violence as retaliation and protection of Hindu society, invoking religion, honour, and claims of historic grievance.
Fact
In Islam, the global community of believers is called the ummah, and Islam teaches a sense of shared identity and responsibility that goes beyond nationality or ethnicity.
Reality Check
Humans invented gods. They did so to explain what they did not understand, to control what frightened them, and to comfort themselves in the face of death and chaos. That invention grew into something vast and powerful, but size does not turn fiction into fact. The task now is not to reinterpret religion for modern tastes or to rescue it from its contradictions. The task is to recognise it for what it is and to move on.
Quote of the day
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” Benjamin Franklin.
Ask the right question
If religious experience proves a god, which god do the conflicting experiences of people in different religions prove?
Religious Crooks
Robert Tilton is a US prosperity preacher who raised large sums through television appeals, later facing lawsuits and media investigations alleging deceptive fundraising and staged prayer practices.
For more information, google the name.
Almost all of the crooks appearing in this section have their own wikipedia page.
Religion is supposed to bring morality but it also seem to bring a lot of crooks who take advantage of people.