Weird and Religious
In ancient Mesopotamia, people carried small clay statues of gods in their homes, but if disaster struck they sometimes punished the statue, even throwing it away, as though the god had failed in its duty. The relationship with the divine could be treated like a contract.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1099, Jerusalem in the Levant. Crusader armies captured the city during the First Crusade and killed many Muslim and Jewish inhabitants while seizing holy sites. Leaders described the assault as a sacred duty to liberate Christ’s tomb, forgive sins, and serve God through sanctioned holy war.
Fact
In Taoism, wu wei is an important concept, and Taoism describes it as effortless action or non forcing, where actions arise in balance with circumstances.
Explaining illness
Before biology, disease appeared arbitrary and cruel, for people grew weak, suffered, and died without visible cause. Gods explained illness as judgement, testing, or contamination, and these explanations were emotionally satisfying because they replaced randomness with narrative. Someone was responsible, someone could be appealed to, and someone could be blamed. The cost of this belief was enormous because sufferers were often treated as guilty rather than unlucky, yet the explanation endured precisely because it felt purposeful and restored a sense of meaning in the face of senseless suffering.
Quote of the day
“You can safely assume that you have created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” Anne Lamott.
Ask the right question
If a prophet speaks for god, how can ordinary people reliably distinguish a true prophet from a deluded or manipulative one?
Religious Crooks
Gerald Gardner helped found modern Wicca and positioned himself as a key authority on ancient witchcraft traditions, while critics have argued he blended invention, selective history, and personal leadership in ways that brought him status, influence, and financial benefit through books and initiations.
For more information, google the name.
Almost all of the crooks appearing in this section have their own wikipedia page.
History tells us that wherever fools gathered, there was always a religious crook to take advantage of them. The best way to stop the crooks is not to be a fool.