Weird and Religious
In parts of medieval Europe, people believed that the Eucharist bread could physically bleed if mistreated. Stories of “bleeding hosts” were taken as miracles and used to reinforce belief in the literal presence of the divine in the ritual.
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 Zoroastrianism, the Avesta is the sacred text collection, and Zoroastrianism preserves hymns and teachings attributed to its prophet Zoroaster.
Stopping questions
Religion has always protected authority by discouraging thought. Questioning rulers became questioning god, and faith trained obedience while doubt was condemned as moral failure. This suppression of intellect was deliberate, not accidental, because a population that values obedience over understanding is easier to govern. Reason threatens power because it asks why, and religion answers that question before it can be asked, forbidding further inquiry. When religious figures appear to challenge authority, the challenge is usually selective and contained. Criticism targets corrupt individuals, not the structure itself. Prophets denounce injustice while preserving the divine hierarchy as the remedy. The problem is never power but insufficient submission to the correct god, and so the system survives unchanged.
Quote of the day
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.” Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ask the right question
If sacred sites are special to god, why do they correspond so closely to places important in local history and politics?
Religious Crooks
Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church and built a global religious and business empire, later convicted of tax offences, with long running allegations that followers were subjected to intense financial pressure tied to religious devotion.
For more information, google the name.
Every country in the world has its fair share of spiritual crooks.
Today we took a look at yet another religious crook but there are hundreds of thousands of them. You could spend a lifetime researching the topic.