tag > Religion
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Thinker of the day: Paul Feyerabend (1924 - 1994)
Feyerabend defended the idea that science should be separated from the state in the same way that religion and state are separated in a modern secular society (Against Method (3rd ed.). p. 160.). He envisioned a "free society" in which "all traditions have equal rights and equal access to the centres of power" (Science in a Free Society. p. 9.). According to Feyerabend, science should also be subjected to democratic control: not only should the subjects that are investigated by scientists be determined by popular election, scientific assumptions and conclusions should also be supervised by committees of lay people. He thought that citizens should use their own principles when making decisions about these matters. He rejected the view that science is especially "rational" on the grounds that there is no single common "rational" ingredient that unites all the sciences but excludes other modes of thought (Against Method (3rd ed.). p. 246.).
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Why Trump should trigger NATO’s Article 5 vs. COVID-19 - by Frederick Kempe (Atlanticcouncil)
"If NATO could bend Article 5 to combat a non-state terrorist actor striking the United States, why not also to combat the Chinese-originated COVID-19, which by Friday had infected more than 28,000 individuals and killed more than 1,200 among NATO allies. Given current transatlantic divisions, there is far greater need now than after 9/11 for a symbolic gesture of unity."
Corona: Vatican allows general absolution (vaticannews)
In face of the Corona crisis, the Vatican allows priests in all affected areas to issue general absolution. And it offers coronavirus sufferers and healthcare workers the opportunity to get a complete indulgence.
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Vatican opens secret archive of Pope Pius XII. (DW, 2020)
How much moral responsibility does the Catholic Church have to take on for the Holocaust? Why did the then Pope Pius XII say? nothing significant about the genocide of the Jews? Files that have been blocked so far should now provide information about this.
Escape Aid for Nazis: The Vatican and the Rat Line (DW, 2020)
Fake Passport of Adolf Eichmann Thousands of Nazi criminals fled to South America over the so-called rat line during and after the Second World War - with the help of the Vatican. Now the archives of Pius XII. open. How much did the Pope know?
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Happy Nowruz!
Photo from the Shunie or Omizu-tori Ceremony, derived from Zoroastrianism. Nara, Japan, Silk Road.
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A Mysterious 25,000-Year-Old Structure Built of the Bones of 60 Mammoths (Smithsonian)
The remains of the newly discovered structure. (A. E. Dudin) A jaw-dropping example of Ice Age architecture has been unearthed on Russia’s forest steppe: a huge, circular structure built with the bones of at least 60 woolly mammoths. But exactly why hunter-gatherers enduring the frigid realities of life 25,000 years ago would construct the 40-foot diameter building is a fascinating question. [...] “This project is giving us a real insight into how our human ancestors adapted to climate change, to the harshest parts of the last glacial cycle, and adapted to use the materials that they had around them,” Pryor said. “It’s really a story of survival in the face of adversity.”
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‘Astounding new finds’ suggest ancient empire may be hiding in plain sight (sciencemag)
Teotihuacan was once a bustling, cosmopolitan metropolis, the center of an empire whose reach may have extended 1000 kilometers away to the Maya region.
New evidence from both Teotihuacan and the Maya region has brought the relationship between those two great cultures back into the spotlight—and hints it may have been more contentious than most researchers had thought. Evidence from Maya writing and art suggests Teotihuacan conquered Tikal outright, adding it to what some archaeologists see as a sweeping empire that may have included several Maya cities.
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Jesus' Secret Revelations? Copy of Forbidden Teachings Found in Egypt (2017, livescience)
The oldest known copy of a text claiming to be Jesus' teachings to his brother James has been discovered in an ancient Egyptian trash dump, scattered among piles of fifth-century papyrus, ancient tax receipts and bills of sale for wagons and donkeys. The manuscript is a rare, Greek-language edition of an apocryphal New Testament story called The First Apocalypse of James, that, until now, was thought to only be preserved in the Coptic language. The text was likely written in the fifth or sixth century. Gnostic texts like The First Apocalypse of James were likely banned because of their "different understanding" of what Jesus' importance was, Landau said.
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Mecca has shut down for the first time in history (indiapost) (alt)
St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican City in Italy is deserted. The Pope, supreme Pontiff has cancelled all meetings and engagements in Vatican City. The world is cut off with Rome. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has temporarily banned Umrah pilgrims from all over the world. A day earlier, the Kingdom also restricted its citizens and residents from visiting Makkah. The Holy Kaaba is a deserted place.
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'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries (national geographic)
On the fourth floor of the Museum of the Bible is the most prized possessions: fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient texts that include the oldest known surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible. But now, independent researchers funded by the Museum of the Bible announced that all 16 of the museum’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments are modern forgeries that duped outside collectors, the museum’s founder, and some of the world’s leading biblical scholars.
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Aum Shinrikyo: The intersection of Cult, Bio-Terror, PSI and Madness
"Asahara recruited scientists more actively than he did any other group. His enthousiasm about science undoubtedly was connected with his lust for murderous weapons. But the guru also wished to consider himself a scientist and once declared, "A religion which cannot be scientifically proven is fake." He was especially interested in brainwaves and claimed that by studying them Aum could establish a scientific basis for the stages of spiritual attainment described by past Buddhist saints. With the help of Hideo Murai, his chief scientist, Aum introduced the use of a headset that purportedly contained the guru's brainwaves, which it transmitted to the disciple in a procedure known as the "perfect salvation initiation" (or PSI). The PSI, much revered in Aum, was meant to bring about the desired "cloning" of the guru by means of technology and science. There was also a strong element of science fiction in the PSI and other Aum projects, much of it actively fed by television. What took shape in Aum was a blending of science, occultism, and science fiction, with little distinction between the fictional and the actual." (via)
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Situated on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo along the banks of Osun River, the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a dense forest famous for being the home of the goddess of fertility in Yoruba land. The forest houses shrines, sculpture, art works and the sacred river. There is a festival celebrated in the month of August every year. (See this overview video)
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Israeli Rabbi Says He’s Already Holding Meetings With Messiah (Israel Today)
A recent interview on Israeli radio again featured prominent rabbis explaining that the Messiah is just about to reveal himself. Rabbi Yaakov Zisholtz on Sunday told religious broadcaster Radio 2000 that Rabbi Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky recently told him that he is already in direct contact with the Messiah. To understand why religious Jews are taking this seriously, it’s important to know that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky is considered one of the two top rabbis of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel.
Rabbi Zisholtz began his interview with a warning:
“…the process of redemption is about to start happening very quickly and at a fast pace. It is important that people remain calm and steady to act properly in the right time.
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Role of 'the Preacher' confirmed at CIA waterboarding hearing in Guantánamo (theguardian)
Guantánamo: "Honor bound to defend freedom" In the courtroom of the military commission, the CIA officer was referred to only by three-digit code NZ7, or simply as “the Preacher” – a nickname he was given because of his peculiar way of terrorising detainees. The Preacher “would at random times put one hand on the forehead of a detainee, raise the other high in the air, and in a deep Southern drawl say things like, ‘Can you feel it, son? Can you feel the spirit moving down my arm, into your body?’”
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lololol Future Tao: Online Inner Scripture
“Future Tao” is an ongoing interpretive manuscript of Taoist-informed experimental practices for mind and body cultivation in contemporary times. Initiated by lololol, the manuscript is collectively written and organically evolving, and includes a decentralized program of exercises and techniques shared as a community for inspiring healthy living.
