Tag: religion
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@RadioFreeBlood: James Evan Pilato on ‘Hit Men’
Media Monarchy missed July but joins Jack Blood for an awesome August visit to talk about Cecil & Sanger’s Super-Friends, Papal Porn, Amy & Chuck, copycat shooters and payola ‘Hit Men’ + ‘This Day In History’ headlines and more on Radio Free Blood! Download/Subscribe
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Religion and Zen Buddhism in Medieval Japan
from fsmitha.com: After the year 1000, militarized aristocracies were taking over in rural Japan, uncontrolled by any central government. And Buddhist estates had their own armies. There were wars between expanding estates or against the central government in Kyoto, and the wars were accompanied by religious ferment. Many Buddhists were appalled by the violence, including…
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Can ISIS ever be defeated?
from newantisemitism.com: It is with bewilderment, disgust and fear that our global community has become an audience to the bloody carnage inflicted by ISIS within the boundaries of their ever-growing “Caliphate.” On February 17, they set 45 people on fire in Iraq, adding to the gruesome death toll of the last few months. It wasn’t long…
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Why (Almost All) Cosmologists are Atheists
from preposterousuniverse.com: One increasingly hears rumors of a reconciliation between science and religion. In major news magazines as well as at academic conferences, the claim is made that that belief in the success of science in describing the workings of the world is no longer thought to be in conflict with faith in God. I…
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The Occult Roars Back: Its Modern Resurgence
from directionjournal.org: In 1967 Hair exploded like a bomb on the American cultural scene. This hit musical production revealed to the “straight” world that a new world was coming. The Age of Pisces—the era of Christianity, rationalism, and science—would soon be replaced by the Age of Aquarius. This new golden age was to be one…
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Esotericism, Freemasonry, And Confusion In The Lodge
from peopleofshambhala.com: “Esotericism” has come to be a kind of “catch all” phrase for alternative and non-Western spirituality, Freemasonry, the occult, and so on, not least of all as a way of making subjects previously taboo within academia acceptable subjects of research for books and PhD theses. While we will undoubtedly learn more and more about…
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Is Atheism Irrational?
from bigquestionsonline.com: We know well atheistic attempts to explain religion away. Marx, for example, claims that religion is the opiate of the people. Religion, Nietzsche contends, is weakness lying itself into power. According to Freud religion is a defensive illusion created in the face of “the crushingly superior force of nature.” As influential as these…
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Adam & Lilith: Thanatos and Resurrection of the Archetypal Goddess
The idea of the ancient goddess is a theological concept that has given rise to the nature-religious movement in the latter 20th century.
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Five Best: Religious Cults In Antiquity
from wsj.com: Written by Mary Beard: The Greeks and the Irrational. By E.R. Dodds (1951) For me, this was a life-changing book. It starts with an encounter in the British Museum in front of the sculptures from the Parthenon. E.R. Dodds bumps into a young man who is unimpressed—he can’t bear the ancient Greeks, he…
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What Makes Humans Different? Fiction and Cooperation
from smithsonian.com: Yuval Noah Harari has a few unconventional theories about humankind: religion is our greatest invention, and our species itself will evolve into something new within a couple hundred years. A lecturer in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harari is the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, out in the…
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Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion
from edge.org: It might seem obvious to you that contractual societies are good, modern, creative and free, whereas beehive societies reek of feudalism, fascism, and patriarchy. And, as a secular liberal I agree that contractual societies such as those of Western Europe offer the best hope for living peacefully together in our increasingly diverse modern…
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Espionage and Occultism: The True Nature of Secret Societies
from jwmt.org: For as long as the hairless, semi-domesticated Killer Ape has been making war on the tribe next door, there has been espionage; spying, sabotage and subversion, intrigue, double dealing and power grabs, all of which can be considered as varieties of espionage. In their original sense, these activities were simply forms of politics,…
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Ashes, Yarmulkes and the Hijab: Communitas and Religious Symbols
from blogs.scientificamerican.com: Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season for Western Christians—the 40 days (or 46 if you count weekends) leading up to Easter. Last year, I discussed the actions of a local homeless woman, who used the observance to help her connect with passersby: she would say “I went to church…
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The Long Forgotten History of Tolerance for Religions of All Kinds in the Middle East
from historynewsnetwork.org: The Middle East is fertile ground for religions. Its deserts, mountains and marshes have inspired mystics and prophets; its tribes have provided followers and fighters who can form a new prophet’s core following; and older, persecuted religions can find refuge in its impassable topography. Also, although much of that region seems today to…
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Why Bad Science Is Like Bad Religion
from huffingtonpost.com: In both religion and science, some people are dishonest, exploitative, incompetent and exhibit other human failings. My concern here is with the bigger picture. I have been a scientist for more than 40 years, having studied at Cambridge and Harvard. I researched and taught at Cambridge University, was a research fellow of…