Weird and Religious
During the Middle Ages, there were official church debates about how many angels could stand on the point of a needle. While partly exaggerated later, it reflects how abstract speculation about invisible beings was treated as serious intellectual work.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2002, Gujarat, India, Akshardham Temple attack. Islamist militants attacked a Hindu temple complex, killing visitors. Attackers justified the assault as jihad and retaliation linked to broader grievances, portraying Hindu civilians as legitimate targets in a religious struggle.
Fact
In Confucianism, education is highly valued, and Confucianism treats study and reflection as ways to improve character and society.
On being offended
Often, believers are offended by criticism of their religion as if the critic had stabbed them in the back. Offence is not something imposed from outside. It is a reaction rather than an injury. No one possesses the power to offend another person in the same way one has the power to physically harm them. People respond emotionally to ideas, and those responses belong to them. Demanding protection from offence is often a demand to avoid engagement altogether, replacing debate with silence and substituting feeling for reasoning.
Quote of the day
“Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.” Michel de Montaigne.
Ask the right question
Why do creation stories from different religions contradict each other in basic details?
Religious Crooks
José de Luz, associated with Brazilian spiritist healing circles, represents a broader pattern of mediums who charge for spiritual surgery and cures, frequently accused by sceptics and medical authorities of exploiting belief for income under religious cover.
For more information, google the name.
Almost all of the crooks appearing in this section have their own wikipedia page.Every country in the world has its fair share of spiritual crooks.
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.