Since we've gotten told to stop talking generally about religion twice in the Homosexuality and Religion thread and were told that, if we want to talk generally about religion, we need to make a new thread, I have made a new thread.
Full disclosure: I am an agnostic atheist and anti-theist, but I'm very interested in theology and religion.
Mod Edit: All right, there are a couple of ground rules here:
- This is not a thread for mindless bashing of religion or of atheism/agnosticism etc. All view points are welcome here. Let's have a civil debate.
- Religion is a volatile subject. Please don't post here if you can't manage a civil discussion with viewpoints you disagree with. There will be no tolerance for people who can't keep the tone light hearted.
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edited 9th Feb '14 1:01:31 PM by Madrugada
Crossposting from the History thread:
Dan Brown (yes, that's right) has donated 300,000 euros to digitize centuries old occult texts.
This was last year so they'll be available this spring i.e. soon.
edited 9th May '17 9:33:14 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Well...Dan Brown doing something good for historical research. That's unexpected.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
Seriously though, good on him. I think it's great that these old texts can be digitized.
The law in the night
If only people who read his works stopped acting like they are based on factual events...
Inter arma enim silent leges
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
I wonder how many will be name dropped in his next book...
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
It would be useful for a boom in interest towards Western esotericism, and inspire new research and scathing corrections on the next book Dan brown writes.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Can anyone recommend a good source for historical occult texts?
There is no single source for these things, you have to know what to look for. Which is why the digitization project is so significant. Otherwise they tend to be spread all over the internet in various forms.
A good place to start looking for relevant information is in fact the Ritman Library. Find something that piques your interest and use Google Fu to find individual texts.
Impossible Gender Forge
I like to consult Sacred Texts. It's got a fair collection. I was having fun reading some of "Clothed in the Sun", by Anna Kingsford. It's a very interesting fusion of what feels like Greek paganism, Gnosticism and Christian mysticism.
For general reading I'd recommend Cornelius Heinrich Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy. They're an interesting read by themselves, but Agrippa takes pains to cite where he gets information from, so you can be lead to a wide variety of other older sources through it. It's one of my personal favorites because of that.
Oh, that's neat.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Anything Golden Dawn-related is worth a read. Their biases are usually pretty obvious. With a link to Yates via Waite, even, for bonus literature points.
Beware of Crowley; headache-inducing metaphors and contradictions incoming, however brilliant in patches. Guy was a professional troll and prime pain, so you have to beat your head against deliberate nonsense and lies well more than half the time. 
Start on his stuff last and keep a clothes peg handy for your nose.
But, he's had a literary and artistic impact, so it's kind of worth yelling in frustration at. :/
edited 10th May '17 2:26:24 AM by Euodiachloris
A rather long article on a schism inside Tibetan Buddhism, specifically the Dalai Lama's sect, the Yellow Hats. Parts theology and politics.
The Dalai Lama and the Shugden Schism
In an article published on December 21, 2016, the website, www.dorjeshugden.com, condemned the Dalai Lama for recklessness at a time when Mongolia was in negotiations for Chinese economic assistance. In a side comment, the article compared Mongolia’s economic crisis to the growing pains attributable to the transition from being “Asia’s next golden child to an awkward binge drinking and debt-ridden teenager with behavioral issues.” After referring to previous Chinese state loans to Mongolia, the article observed that the visit had “dampened the hopes of big brother China coming to Mongolia’s aid again [emphasis added].” The visit had “plunged the Mongolians deeper into despair” because it hindered the prospects of a bail-out by Beijing. The author also claimed that the Dalai Lama showed a selfish indifference to Mongolia’s plight.
This article from a Christian parody news site is amazing:
http://babylonbee.com/news/bee-explains-alt-right/
"The last surviving Confederate Civil War general, William Husky O’Connor, aged 187, was feeling pretty left out of modern-day politics, what with the reduced amount of racism and xenophobia, and he decided to launch a political movement in his hometown of Stonewall, Alabama. Partnering with his local KKK chapter and eventually being joined by 6 or 7 neo-Nazis from the website 4chan, they all united around a bonfire, an American flag, and a few Keystone Lights, and the alt-right movement was born."
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
United Earth
Jephtah burned his daughter for the LORD, because after a victory he swore to burn the first thing he saw when coming back home. This confuses me: The story takes place after Joshua, and I thought God had forbiddden human sacrifices after the whole affair with Abraham. Contradiction? The wikipedia article has a big controversy section spannng centuries, so there's definitely been commentary.
The whole saga of the settlement of Israel is pretty fucking psycho from a modern standpoint, and, apparently, also from a Watsonian POV, as the Mosaic law is violated left and right, often in the name of the LORD, who comes off as a sort of capricious, wrathful trickster mentor figure.
edited 30th Jun '17 8:13:45 AM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I always reconcile that with "Joshua was talking bollocks" or "Moses was about three different guys with differing takes on Yahweh" or "some of the Judges were stubbornly hugging that Golden Calf what Aaron couldn't quite let go of... in the name of the LORD".
Judges were people, too. And, they felt like justifying their massacres.
edited 30th Jun '17 8:41:21 AM by Euodiachloris
United Earth
Well, a literal adaptation of the Bible would make for one Hell of an HBO series.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
The settling of Israel has no historical basis or archaeological support- supposedly these stories were written much later after the fact as a way of preserving national identity after the conquest by the Neo Babylonian empire. As far as I know Temple Judaism evolved from one of several then existing monolatristic religions held by the Canaanites
That and the usual streamlining and combining of different deities, stories etc.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Jumping on a tangent from the Politics thread about what various Christian sects actually know/think about the Bible. I know in some sects church services are more about the sermon and prayer than actual Bible readings but how common is that? And how true is it of sects that would fall into the American fundamentalist categories?
I know Catholicisim has a rotating canon of Bible readings for Mass which, while not the complete book taken all together at least provide a baseline of literacy. (Obviously this was much less the case when all the Masses were in Latin.) I believe the couple times I'd been to a mainline Protestant church there were also some readings.
Figure of Hourai
US politics thread. :P
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A procrastination in of itself
I belvie that most Co E services contain at least one reading from both the New and Old testaments, generally with a combined theme across both readings in my experience. This can range from love and caring to war and how those who oppose the chosen must be fought against in battle.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Figure of Hourai
Never heard anything about the last one in the Co E, I must say.
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In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.
This survey from 2010 might be helpful. Mormons knew the most. And Jews and Atheists knew more than Catholics.
Which Daily Star are we talking about here? The British tabloid, or something else?
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot