Weird and Religious
Some Islamic traditions hold that a specific black stone set into the Kaaba in Mecca came down from paradise and was originally white but turned black because it absorbed the sins of humanity. Pilgrims try to kiss or touch it during pilgrimage, not because the stone itself is worshipped, but because it is linked to a sacred story about the beginning of human history.
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 Jainism, non possession is encouraged, and Jainism teaches reducing attachment to material goods and limiting desires.
Scriptures age badly
In sacredt texts, moral obscenity is aggressively defended. Slavery is permitted. Women are treated as property. Violence is sanctified. Genocide is justified. Children are punished for the actions of their parents. Dissent is condemned. Obedience is prized over compassion. These are not fringe passages, they are central to the scriptures. When confronted, defenders claim morality was different back then. That admission alone destroys the claim of divine authorship. A timeless moral authority does not age badly but human law does.
Quote of the day
“Faith means not wanting to know what is true.” Friedrich Nietzsche.
Ask the right question
If divine commands define morality, could cruelty become good simply because it is commanded?
Religious Crooks
Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science and promoted spiritual healing through her teachings and books, building a tightly controlled religious publishing structure that critics argued turned theology into a highly profitable, centrally managed enterprise.
For more information, google the name.
That was just a tiny case in a vast ocean of religious crooks.