Weird and Religious
The medieval Catholic practice of selling indulgences promised to reduce time in purgatory in exchange for money or acts. This commercial approach to the afterlife later helped spark the Protestant Reformation.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1984, Amritsar in India. Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple complex to remove Sikh militants, causing heavy casualties and damage to a sacred site. Militants had framed their campaign as defence of Sikh faith and rights, while the state justified action as restoring order.
Fact
In Zoroastrianism, ritual purity is important, and Zoroastrianism includes practices aimed at keeping body and environment free from pollution.
Angry Gods
Anger plays a central role in divine narratives because gods are often portrayed as easily offended and quick to rage. Natural disasters become expressions of displeasure, disease becomes punishment, and death becomes judgement. These stories reflect the human tendency to moralise misfortune, since when something bad happens, the mind searches for blame, and gods provide a convenient target. They turn chaos into consequence and randomness into intention, offering emotional satisfaction in place of understanding. Nature, however, does not punish or forgive; it simply behaves according to causes that have nothing to do with morality.
Quote of the day
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.” Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ask the right question
If moral conscience is from god, why do people feel moral conflict about commands attributed to god in scripture?
Religious Crooks
Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga, built a global yoga movement with spiritual overtones and faced numerous lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and assault, with court judgments and settlements severely damaging his standing.
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.