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
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 Taoism, leadership is ideally gentle, and Taoism often presents the best ruler as one who governs lightly and avoids harsh control.
Religious cruelty
Example of religious cruelty include torture during the Inquisition, executions in early modern witch hunts, corporal punishments such as flogging or amputation carried out under religious legal systems, honour killings justified by appeals to religious purity, the burning of alleged heretics and do on. Religion does not invent cruelty. Humans are fully capable of it alone. What religion provides is certainty. It erases hesitation, suppresses doubt, and disguises brutality as virtue. Religious violence is therefore more complete, more enduring, and more resistant to remorse than its secular counterpart.
Quote of the day
“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” Blaise Pascal.
Ask the right question
How did language diversity arise so suddenly in stories like the Tower of Babel without leaving any linguistic or archaeological trace?
Religious Crooks
Roch Thériault led a breakaway religious sect in Canada known as the Ant Hill Kids, presenting extreme spiritual authority while subjecting followers to abuse, forced labour, and total control over their property and income.
For more information, google the name.
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.