Weird and Religious
Some West African traditions include the idea that twins are spiritually powerful. In certain cultures, if a twin dies, a small carved figure is made to represent the lost child. The figure is washed, fed, and carried by the mother as though it were alive.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2003, Iraq after invasion. Insurgent groups including Islamist militants targeted Shia pilgrims and religious gatherings with bombings. Perpetrators justified attacks as jihad against rival Muslim sects and foreign backed authorities, deepening sectarian religious war.
Fact
In Judaism, dietary laws called kashrut regulate food, and Judaism distinguishes between permitted and forbidden animals and prohibits mixing meat and dairy.
Violent domination
Violence aided religion's survival as much as persuasion. Successful religions often spread through conquest, coercion, and law rather than through reasoned agreement. Belief followed armies, not arguments. Temples and churches were raised in lands already conquered, and conversion became an act of submission rather than conviction. The gods of victors displaced those of the defeated, and over generations this erasure was rewritten as revelation rather than domination
Quote of the day
“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says. He is always convinced that it says what he means.” George Bernard Shaw.
Ask the right question
If sacred history is essential, why is archaeological evidence so often unclear or contradictory?
Religious Crooks
Father Divine, leader of the International Peace Mission movement, claimed divine status and attracted donations and property from followers, with detractors arguing that his religious claims underpinned a system that channelled wealth and loyalty to himself.
For more information, google the name.
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.