Category: Religion
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Religious Beliefs
Beliefs are collections of thoughts or ideas we hold to be true. We’re not born with them – all beliefs are learned, many in childhood. Nothing we believe is ever certain. Beliefs are transitory in nature, and millions have died for beliefs that no longer hold water, for instance that the world is flat, heavy…
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People don’t like inconvenient facts getting in the way!
A Brummie friend told me about his upbringing. ‘If I’d been born in Pakistan,’ he said, ‘I’d be a Muslim. If I were from Israel, I’d be a Jew, if from Italy, I’d be a Catholic. When you’re from my part of Birmingham, you’re an Aston Villa supporter. It doesn’t occur to you to be…
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Is religion just a form of placebo?
Our beliefs rule our lives and help to create our experience of life. They influence us whether we are paying attention to them or not and it doesn’t matter if they are true – the effect is the same. An untrue belief has just as powerful an effect as a true belief. The world we…
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Six Steps in the Formation of a Religion
Step One: the charismatic being Most religions can be traced back to a teacher, usually with great charisma, who either appears or claims to have answers to the deeper questions. Often they claim that G-d spoke directly to them and expect their followers to believe it. Step Two: he attracts followers The charismatic one comes…
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Musings in Mostar
Browsing through old photo albums recently reminded me of a holiday in the Balkans several years ago. We took a day trip to Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina, the site of vicious fighting a few years earlier. On the way we stopped briefly at a village (the name of which I didn’t note down at the…