Weird and Religious
Some Inuit groups traditionally practised name sharing, where a newborn was given the name of a recently deceased person. The child was treated as carrying something of that person’s identity, blurring the line between individual lives.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2003, Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula carried out bombings against residential compounds. The group justified attacks as jihad against Western presence and un-Islamic rulers, promising religious reward for striking perceived enemies of Islam.
Fact
In Sikhism, members of the Khalsa maintain five visible symbols, and Sikhism links these to identity, discipline, and commitment.
Early gods
The earliest gods were not wise, loving, or morally concerned. They were practical. They existed to do things. Rain needed to fall. Crops needed to grow. Enemies needed to be defeated. Children needed to be born. When these outcomes mattered to survival and no reliable control existed, gods were invented to manage them. Each god had a task because human life revolved around tasks that could not be guaranteed. These gods were not guardians of virtue. They were tools of negotiation with a hostile world.
Quote of the day
“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.” Robert M. Pirsig.
Ask the right question
If a god communicates through feelings of peace or conviction, how can those feelings be distinguished from normal psychology?
Religious Crooks
Jim Jones led the Peoples Temple, presenting a mix of Christian and socialist religious themes while building a tightly controlled movement that channelled members’ money and property into the organisation, ending in the Jonestown mass deaths after years of reported financial, psychological, and physical abuse within the group.
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If a real God existed, would he allow crooks to act on his behalf?