Weird and Religious
Human sacrifice was part of Aztec religion in Central America, where victims were offered to the sun god to keep the universe functioning. Priests removed the heart while it was still beating and lifted it toward the sky. This was not seen as murder but as a necessary cosmic duty to prevent the world from ending.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
1804, Haiti. During the revolution, violence included killings of French settlers. While largely anti colonial, some rebels drew on Vodou religious elements and spiritual authority, framing struggle as divinely supported liberation from Christian slaveholders and oppressive religious order.
Fact
In Taoism, nature is a major teacher, and Taoism looks to natural processes as models for how life should unfold.
Evolution kills design
The idea of design sits at the centre of religious belief. Life looks complex, therefore it must have been designed. Purpose is assumed because the result appears impressive. This intuition feels powerful but it is wrong. Evolution by natural selection does not merely challenge the claim of design. It renders it unnecessary, incoherent, and obsolete. Once evolution is understood, the designer god is not weakened. He is finished.
Quote of the day
“Gods are fragile things, they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense.” Chapman Cohen.
Ask the right question
If divine law is perfect, why does it require human enforcement with police, courts and punishment?
Religious Crooks
Uriel da Costa style historical critics exist, but a clearer modern example is Paul Mackenzie of Kenya, a preacher who urged followers to starve in order to meet Jesus, leading to mass deaths and investigations into how religious control over believers was used in a closed community setting.
For more information, google the name.
Throughout history and still to this day, there has never been a shortage of religious leaders who were not always following their own spiritual advice.