As mentioned previously, I have just returned from Syria and during the tour visited Palmyra and the great temple of Baal. For much longer than Christianity has been around people worshiped Baal and made sacrifices to him for better harvests, more sons, success in battle etc. There is the niche, still standing but now empty, …
"Are not the majority of men disappointed with their lot, languishing in quiet desperation in their chains? * A recurring subject in literature for centuries, with echoes of Karl Marx. Epicurus would shrug off such sentiments. He would urge us to be positive, be thankful for our blessings and enjoy food, drink and good company, …
I have just returned from a visit to Syria, about which more later. One of the images I am returning with is an incident in the Sayedah Zeinab Mosque, the shrine of Mohammed’s sister and one of the main pilgrimage sites for Shia pilgrims, an astonishing place of gold and mirror glass and simply hordes …
Americans are reading less and their reading proficiency is declining at troubling rates, reports the National Endowment for the Arts*. This is especially true of children aged 9 and upwards. The percentage of 17 year olds reading every day for fun dropped from 32 in 1984 to 22 in 2004, with average reading scores showing …
According to reports* (is this a spoof?) Catholic priests are so over-worked in Europe and have to take so many communion services that they are tipsy a good part of the time and unfit to drive between their country parish churches. Epicurus would approve. It is better to have them tipsy and merry than to …
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