Montaigne on religion
Man is certainly stark mad. He cannot make a flea, and yet he will be making gods by the dozen.” Michel de Montaigne
Archive of posts filed under the Religion category.
God in their own image
The Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black, the Thracians that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Xenophanes, Fragment 15, 5th Century BC
Organised religion at work.
Almost 18,000 people died in terrorist attacks around the world last year – an increase of 60% from the previous year. Four Islamist groups were responsible for most of the deaths: Isis, Boko Haram, al-Qa’eda and the Taliban. (The Global Terrorism Index) Most of this is done specifically in the name of God and his …
An interesting little insight
“Why does our government let the Saudi royals do what they like with this country. Bad enough that last year Saudi Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz was given a licence to hunt the endangered houbara bustards, a bird on the brink of extinction. Even worse was that instead of killing his allotted 100, he …
Respect must be earned. Is he right?
To The Daily Telegraph Your correspondents who think that one is duty-bound to respect other people’s religious views are mistaken. With religion, as with anything else, respect has to be earned. Many would find it difficult to respect a religion which regards women and gay people as inherently inferior; which believes that any questioning of …
The French Department of Narrow Outlooks
The French government has unveiled new measures to promote both secular values and religious tolerance in its schools. Children will now be taught about the separation of church and state, the differences and similarities between the major religions, and asked to sign a charter banning racist and sexist behaviour, and disrespect “for any religion (sic) …
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Oh, dear! Oh Malley!
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston is head of the commission created to advise Pope Francis on how to tackle clerical sex abuse of minors and make bishops accountable for cover-ups and failure to prevent abuse. “Obviously,” he said, “there has to be consequences and there needs to be procedures that will allow these cases to …
We shouldn’t put up with barbarism
463 cases of female genital mutilation are identified in English hospitals every month. (The Sunday Times) Despite the fact that it is illegal, it has been estimated that over 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK each year, and that 66,000 women in the …
Statistics to ponder
38% of British women believe in God, compared to just 24% of men. 61% of women and 35% of men think there is an afterlife. (1970 British Cohort Study/The Daily Telegraph)
Virginity testing in Indonesia
Human Rights Watch is calling on Indonesia to scrap “virginity tests” given to female police recruits. Apparently, female recruits are subjected to the “two-finger test” to determine if they are virgins. Unsurprisingly, it is described it as painful and traumatic. Senior police officials have claimed the practice has been discontinued. But the test is listed as …
Epicurus redux
All the Gods are dead except the god of war. (Eldridge Cleaver)
The dismal job of the Christian fundamentalist college professor
If you are of Epicurean persuasion you have to have sympathy with the fundamentalist pastors and professors in Christian colleges and churches in America. All their lives they have believed in the literal words of the old testament. They have preached it from the pulpit or have taught it in class (I am not saying …
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A light bulb went off
Howard Becker is a major figure in American sociology (and also a star jazz player) He is the subject of an article in the New Yorker (January 12) by Adam Gopnik. What particularly drew my attention was his contention that “any social group, insider or outsider, ends up by divorcing itself from the group it …
The “fight” for the soul of Islam
The authorities in Egypt have closed down a café in Cairo they claimed was a meeting place for atheists, and (confusingly) a “den of satanic rituals” (that’s what draws me to Epicureanism. Ed.) The closure came days after the government warned of a worrying rise in the number of atheists, to the suspiciously precise figure …
Part of a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Dear Robert, My greatest anguish is beholding what the Israelis are doing to themselves. We saw what apartheid did to the white people, making it possible for them to commit horrendous atrocities. In dehumanising others, they were themselves dehumanised in the process. I saw it in the callousness of young Israeli soldiers at checkpoints when …
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