Weird and Religious
The ancient Maya performed bloodletting rituals on themselves, including piercing tongues or genitals, because blood was thought to feed the gods and open portals to the spirit world. Pain was treated as a communication tool with the divine.
Religious image of the day.
In the name of religion
2015, Garissa in Kenya. Al Shabaab gunmen attacked a university, killing many students. The attackers separated Muslims from Christians and justified the massacre as jihad, presenting Christians as enemies of Islam and targets in a religious war.
Fact
In Buddhism, rebirth is accepted, with Buddhism describing a continuing process of existence shaped by karma rather than a permanent soul moving from life to life.
Age Does Not Matter
There is nothing sacred about an idea simply because it is old or popular. Age does not confer truth and numbers do not confer accuracy. Religion has been protected by both. It has also benefited from the understandable human reluctance to confront uncomfortable conclusions. Letting go of gods feels like loss because religion tied itself to meaning, morality, and identity. It was a theft, not a gift. Meaning does not vanish when gods do. Morality does not collapse. Identity does not dissolve. What disappears is the illusion that these things were ever supplied from outside humanity.
Quote of the day
“Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions.” Frater Ravus.
Ask the right question
If a religion teaches humility, why do its truth claims often include certainty about the ultimate nature of reality?
Religious Crooks
Marcial Maciel was the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic religious order, and was later found by Vatican investigations to have sexually abused minors and seminarians over many years while using his religious status to avoid scrutiny.
For more information, google the name.
Every country in the world has its fair share of spiritual crooks.
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.