[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '
')
What people fear is the same awareness they've had before they were born. Which was nothing. Going back into the great void puts humans in denial of said state.

[GoghGoner]

As I spend this week OTG, I am connecting with the infinite. I have no fear and find only peace in nature.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GoghGoner', 'A')s I spend this week OTG, I am connecting with the infinite. I have no fear and find only peace in nature.

[GoghGoner]

A quark contains a universe? A universe contains a quark? Through all things ever larger and ever smaller, we are all part of the infinite.

Those photos are awesome, Ibon.

NEW THEORY SUGGESTS PEOPLE ARE ATTRACTED TO RELIGION FOR 16 REASONS

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hese basic human needs – which include honor, idealism, curiosity and acceptance – can explain why certain people are attracted to religion, why God images express psychologically opposite qualities, and the relationship between personality and religious experiences.

Previous psychologists tried to explain religion in terms of just one or two overarching psychological needs. The most common reason they cite is that people embrace religion because of a fear of death, as expressed in the saying ‘there are no atheists in foxholes,” Reiss said.

“But religion is multi-faceted – it can’t be reduced to just one or two desires.”

[ralfy]

Religions exist because the human mind is both rational and irrational.

[Keith_McClary]

Martin Luther Playmobil Toy is Fastest-Selling of All Time

[onlooker]

Just resurrecting a dormant thread. My opinion on Religion throughout history is that is has had a pernicious and divisive effect. Having said that I cannot discount the potential it has for good or that belief in God affords me inner peace. Religion can unite us under a banner of awe and humility before the universe and the infinite. I do not know if it can really play a role in a transition from the TUMULTUOUS events to come this century. We must separate our destiny as a species on this planet and our destiny as mortal beings. Yet we can find our "mission" in life this century if we can all agree that our species is worth fighting for and not allowing to become extinct. This does not involve religion in any traditional sense of the word. It involves us all deciding that we are worth it. It involves wishing to live for something other then one's immediate survival or self-gratification. So in that sense the meme or narrative of humans going forward will be the worship of life as opposed to death; survival as opposed to extinction. If we wish to label that a religious belief then so be it.

[Shaved Monkey]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') would not normally opinionate on this subject. However my wife and I have recently befriended an entire family/commune (I mean a GIANT family) of really interesting Creationist Catholics. Like very modern, quite comfortable, very non-nonviolent Amishers. I don't know what to do?

[dinopello]

I'm open to spirituality, but I don't really believe in any one particular story, and I find religions in general fascinating in an anthropological/sociological/psychological sense. There are numerous interesting documentaries and courses online that I could spend a lot of time with. I've been watching this lady for 3 lectures recently. She's pretty interesting although there are better courses.

[aldente]

magnificent pic ibon,

is it true that you guys in Panama build as the French did in Abijan during the 80's?



I have been in Ivory Coast during the end 80's - what about those who claim to have experienced the explosion of the planet Tiamat, adding a number of zeros...

ooh - topic is religion - I am not that far off - in fact - isn't it what it is all about?!

[Keith_McClary]

Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')eligious belief appears to have negative influence on children’s altruism and judgments of others’ actions even as parents see them as ‘more empathetic’
“Overall, our findings ... contradict the commonsense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind towards others,” said the authors of The Negative Association Between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism Across the World, published this week in Current Biology.

“More generally, they call into question whether religion is vital for moral development, supporting the idea that secularisation of moral discourse will not reduce human kindness – in fact, it will do just the opposite.”

Almost 1,200 children, aged between five and 12, in the US, Canada, China, Jordan, Turkey and South Africa participated in the study. Almost 24% were Christian, 43% Muslim, and 27.6% non-religious. The numbers of Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic and other children were too small to be statistically valid.

They were asked to choose stickers and then told there were not enough to go round for all children in their school, to see if they would share. They were also shown film of children pushing and bumping one another to gauge their responses.

The findings “robustly demonstrate that children from households identifying as either of the two major world religions (Christianity and Islam) were less altruistic than children from non-religious households”.

Older children, usually those with a longer exposure to religion, “exhibit[ed] the greatest negative relations”.

The study also found that “religiosity affects children’s punitive tendencies”. Children from religious households “frequently appear to be more judgmental of others’ actions”, it said.

Muslim children judged “interpersonal harm as more mean” than children from Christian families, with non-religious children the least judgmental. Muslim children demanded harsher punishment than those from Christian or non-religious homes.

At the same time, the report said that religious parents were more likely than others to consider their children to be “more empathetic and more sensitive to the plight of others”.
...
The report was “a welcome antidote to the presumption that religion is a prerequisite of morality”, said Keith Porteus Wood of the UK National Secular Society.

“It would be interesting to see further research in this area, but we hope this goes some way to undoing the idea that religious ethics are innately superior to the secular outlook. We suspect that people of all faiths and none share similar ethical principles in their day to day lives, albeit may express them differently depending on their worldview.”

[onlooker]

I do not like religion, I do like spirituality.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'I') do not like religion, I do like spirituality.

[onlooker]

Well actually P, I was referring to more in the past, when people were ultra religious and bowed before the perceived omnipotence of the Vatican and Catholic Church.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'W')ell actually P, I was referring to more in the past, when people were ultra religious and bowed before the perceived omnipotence of the Vatican and Catholic Church.