Clipmarks | kwonsu's 'religion' clips

WHY RELIGIONS SOMETIMES PROMOTE HATRED, VIOLENCE, AND G

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:11:55 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu
clipper's remarks: If you have time, read the whole article.

Many, perhaps most, people view their own religion as the only top-down religion in the world.

They believe that their God is the only deity in existence. Their God created humans and the universe, and gave humanity its only valid moral codes.

Knowing that their religion is true and that other religions are in various degrees of error, it can become difficult to extend religious freedom to persons of other faiths.

With the various religions teaching different beliefs and practices, it can be argued that only one faith teaches the truth; perhaps none do. If there are 270 major religions in the world, then -- to a first approximation -- the chances of any one religion being completely true is miniscule. Yet people tenaciously believe in the truth of their faith to the exclusion of all others.

Tags: religion, tolerance

List of unrecognized countries

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:54:11 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Partially recognized states with de facto control over their territory

Republic of China, which governs only Taiwan

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Unrecognized states with de facto control over their territory

Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan

Somaliland (since 1991). Located in northwest Somalia.

Unrecognized states with partial control over their territory

Abkhazia in Georgia

Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka

Transnistria is a de-facto independent country

South Ossetia in Georgia

Partially recognized states largely under military occupation

Western Sahara

Palestine

Internationally administered territory

Kosovo,

Partially unrecognized states

People's Republic of China

Israel

Vatican City -

Tags: unrecognized, countries, politics, separatism, religion, nacionalism

what religion really is

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:27:54 GMT

clipped by: ayame28

Clip Source: www.nmmng.co.uk

You see, E.J., there's the difference between religion and atheism. Religion is nothing but primitive tribalism which sets people at each other's throats when they would otherwise have absolutely no reason to hate each other. It really has nothing to do with morality. It occasionally and accidently aligns with morality, but mostly it is about brainwashing people with "us vs. them" attitudes based on irrational and unquestioning belief

Tags: religion

Sex Among Oriental Women

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:12:51 GMT

clipped by: RutilusLabiae

Clip Source: www.buzzle.com

In traditional communities sex is still a taboo in spite of the phenomenal changes that have struck societies all over the world. The reason is the more the society opens up the more the insecurity it brings to surface.

Since this is a male dominated world the rules are set by males. In western communities the fast paced commercialization ahs taken its toll on the relationships where in dating and sex dating are the outlets for sex search or romance as a substitute for traditional marriage.

In orient this aspect does not have much effect bounded by tradition and strict adherence to religion the sexual liberation has not taken place and women cannot express sexual desires or indulge in sex as way to appease their biological needs.

As a result sexual indulgence among women in the communities is a closed door affair and stealing a quick affair with a wanted male or masturbation or indulging in lesbian sex is common but risky as the consequence of being caught are terrible.

Tags: sex, oriental, women, people, life

U.S. Dept. of Education guidelines: religion in public schools

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 13:19:00 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.clarionledger.com

Teaching about religion:

Public schools may not provide religious instruction, but they may teach about religion, including the Bible or other scripture: the history of religion, comparative religion, the Bible (or other scripture)-as-literature, and the role of religion in the history of the United States and other countries all are permissible public school subjects. Similarly, it is permissible to consider religious influences on art, music, literature and social studies.

Although public schools may teach about religious holidays, including their religious aspects, and may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, schools may not observe holidays as religious events or promote such observance by students.

Tags: school, religion, state, education, people, life

City Where Kissing Must Stop

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:20:00 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Hmm..... that's quite a generation gap, I must say.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

The Times

April 7, 2007

City where the kissing has to stop

More than 100 couples were rounded up by police this week for activities that in Western society would be regarded as innocent. In India, where kissing in public is technically illegal, they were deemed to be in “objectionable positions”. They were taken away in vans, fined up to 1,200 rupees for indulging in “obscene” behaviour and forced to endure the humiliation of calling their parents from behind bars.

Ramesh Dhatrak, 65, said: “We have no objection to them sitting and talking but kissing and other things, of which I cannot speak, are not. They can hire a room. This is India, not England.”

Critics say the outburst of moral policing is evidence of an inherent insecurity among Hindu nationalists and the elder generation about the breakneck speed of social change.

It is a confusing time for modern Indian youth, bombarded by the advertising industry with images of sexual freedom but compelled by social norms to reject them.

Tags: kiss, morals, ethics, religion, hinduism, youth, sex, bombay, india

Dear Lord

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:25:41 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu
clipper's remarks: Some people couldn't see my previous clip

Clip Source: mail.google.com

Dear Lord,

So far today, I am doing all right.

I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or self-indulgent.

I have not whined, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate.
I have charged nothing on my credit card.

But I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and I think I will really need your help then

Tags: humor, pray, religion, life, people

Buddhist Sand Art

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:20:45 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.funmansion.com

Buddhist monks from the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, New York will construct a five-and-a-half foot Medicine Buddha sand mandala in the Ackland's Yager Gallery of Asian Art. On that day, the monks will dismantle the mandala and deposit the sand in a body of water. This process symbolizes the transience of life and the ideal of nonattachment to the material world.

Tags: buddhist, sand art, art, mandala, people, religion, lifestyle

Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:05:41 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: A book by sociologist Mark Regnerus looks at how religion affects teens sexual behaviors. It looks like his results are very counter-intuitive--religious teens are just as sexually active as non-religious ones.

Hat tip to Hugo Schwyzer.

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

Forbidden Fruit tells the definitive story of the sexual values and practices of American teenagers, paying particular attention to how participating in organized religion shapes sexual decision-making. Merging analyses of three national surveys with stories drawn from interviews with over 250 teenagers across America,

Religion can and does matter, Regnerus finds, but religious claims are often swamped by other compelling sexual scripts.

And strikingly, evangelical teens aren't less sexually active than their non-evangelical counterparts, they just tend to feel guiltier about it. In fact, Regnerus finds that few religious teens have internalized or are even able to articulate the sexual ethic taught by their denominations. The only-and largely ineffective-sexual message most religious teens are getting is, "Don't do it until you're married." Ultimately, Regnerus concludes, religion may influence adolescent sexual behavior, but it rarely motivates sexual decision making.

Tags: religion, sex, sociology, research

District gags 14-year-olds after 'gay' indoctrination

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:59:17 GMT

clipped by: joaaron2468
clipper's remarks: Gay Agenda?

Clip Source: www.worldnetdaily.com

District gags 14-year-olds after 'gay' indoctrination

'Confidentiality' promise requires students 'not to tell their parents'

Officials at Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Ill., have ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar, after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents.

"This is unbelievable," said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues for Concerned Women for America. "It's not enough that students at Deerfield High are being exposed to improper and offensive material relative to unhealthy and high-risk homosexual behavior, but they've essentially been told by teachers to lie to their parents about it."

Tags: war, religion, politics, news, internet, education

Quotes from Sitting Bull

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:29:16 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.powersource.com

Now that we are poor, we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die, we die defending our rights.

What white man can say I never stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say that I am a thief.

What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?

God made me an Indian.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.

When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?

Tags: sitting bull, religion, native americans, sioux, people, life

The Sacred Book of the Maya - Creational Story

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:17:09 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.crystalinks.com

Popol Vuh - The Sacred Book of the Maya - Creational Story

The Popol Vuh, preserved in various transcriptions since the 16th century, was lost for many years and rediscovered. A simplified version of the complex text is now available in English and Spanish.

One part of this story recounts the first attempts of the creator, Heart of Sky to create humans. Finally he created the "True People" by constructing them with maize.

They came together in darkness to think and reflect. This is how they came to decide on the right material for the creation of man. . . . Then our Makers Tepew and Q'uk'umatz began discussing the creation of our first mother and father. Their flesh was made of white and yellow corn. The arms and legs of the four men were made of corn meal.

This is a very reasonable explanation since, in essence, it was the cultivation of maize that gave the early Maya culture the means to change from hunters gatherers to their highly advanced civilization.

Tags: popol vuh, religion, maya, spirituality, life, people

Albert Einstein's Quotes

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:25:22 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: rescomp.stanford.edu

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."

"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

"God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

Tags: einstein, quotes, people, life, humor

100 most influential books ever written...

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 07:28:02 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: more than half I had clipped! (limit) For the rest, you may need to visit the site.

Clip Source: thegreatbookslist.com

'100 Most Influential Books Ever Written' by Martin Seymour-Smith

The I Ching

The Old Testament

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer

The Upanishads

The Way and Its Power, Lao-tzu

The Avesta

Analects, Confucius

History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides

Works, Hippocrates

Works, Aristotle

History, Herodotus

The Republic, Plato

Elements, Euclid

The Dhammapada

Aeneid, Virgil

On the Nature of Reality, Lucretius

Allegorical Expositions of the Holy Laws, Philo of Alexandria

Lives, Plutarch

The New Testament

Annals, from the Death of the Divine Augustus, Cornelius Tacitus

The Gospel of Truth

Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Sextus Empiricus

Enneads, Plotinus

Confessions, Augustine of Hippo

The Koran

Guide for the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides

The Kabbalah

Summa Theologicae, Thomas Aquinas

The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri

In Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus

The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli

On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Martin Luther

Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin

On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, Nicolaus Copernicus

Essays, Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Don Quixote, Parts I and II, Miguel de Cervantes

The Harmony of the World, Johannes Kepler

Novum Organum, Francis Bacon

The First Folio [Works], William Shakespeare

Dialogue Concerning Two New Chief World Systems, Galileo Galilei

Discourse on Method, René Descartes

Pensées, Blaise Pascal

Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes

Works, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Ethics, Baruch de Spinoza

Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan

Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Isaac Newton

The Principles of Human Knowledge, George Berkeley

Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke

The New Science, Giambattista Vico

A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume

The Encyclopedia, Denis Diderot, ed.

A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson

Candide, François-Marie de Voltaire

Common Sense, Thomas Paine

An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith

Tags: books, influential, interesting, weightage of words.

Quotes from Leading Evolutionists agains Evolusionism?

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:34:07 GMT

clipped by: kwonsu

Clip Source: www.creationism.org

"Contrary to what most scientists write, the fossil record does not support the Darwinian theory of evolution because it is this theory (there are several) which we use to interpret the fossil record. By doing so we are guilty of circular reasoning if we then say the fossil record supports this theory."

Ronald R. West, PhD (paleoecology and geology) (Assistant Professor of Paleobiology at Kansas State University), "Paleoecology and uniformitarianism". Compass, vol. 45, May 1968, p. 216

"The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way is comparable with the chance that 'a tornado sweeping through a junk yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein'."

Sir Fred Hoyle (English astronomer, Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge University), as quoted in "Hoyle on Evolution". Nature, vol. 294, 12 Nov. 1981, p. 105

"Echoing the criticism made of his father's habilis skulls, he added that Lucy's skull was so incomplete that most of it was 'imagination made of plaster of Paris', thus making it impossible to draw any firm conclusion about what species she belonged to."

Referring to comments made by Richard Leakey (Director of National Museums of Kenya) in The Weekend Australian, 7-8 May 1983, Magazine, p. 3

"The entire hominid collection known today would barely cover a billiard table, ... the collection is so tantalizingly incomplete, and the specimens themselves often so fragmented and inconclusive, that more can be said about what is missing than about what is present. ...but ever since Darwin's work inspired the notion that fossils linking modern man and extinct ancestor would provide the most convincing proof of human evolution, preconceptions have led evidence by the nose in the study of fossil man."

John Reader (photo-journalist and author of "Missing Links"), "Whatever happened to Zinjanthropus?" New Scientist, 26 March 1981, p. 802

Tags: human, evolution, darwin, creationism, religion, people, science