The Epistle (Letter) to the Philippians quick introduction

The Epistle (Letter) to the Philippians is one of the 7 genuine letters of St Paul in the New Testament, although the occasional theologian such as Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860) still rejects it. Paul thanks the Philippians for their support during a time when many Christians didn't trust him, especially because he never met Jesus. He encourages them to remain brave, and with growing divisions between different groups of Christians, each with different beliefs and different texts, wants the Philippians to stay united (1:12-30), reminding them to be humble & obedient (2:1-18). www.humanreligions.info/philippians.html.

The Mistaken Idea of Conveying Divine Truth Through Human Communicators

Spreading divine truth by human inspiration causes confusion, divisions, disagreements, translation errors, slow transmission and limits it to the human ability to express ideas. It's not how a #god who cares about truth and accuracy would convey information. https://www.humanreligions.info/god_to_human.html

Western Muslims

Muslims have "somewhat modern" views in Turkey, Bosnia, Malaysia, the USA, Canada, and throughout Europe which is not much over 6% Muslim. The majority of Western Muslims are liberal, or devout "without embracing fury". There are two systemic risks: extremist outreach programs funded by Saudi Arabia, and the deceitful, divisive and loud-mouthed antics of Western far-right parties and their supporters, who read low-quality sensationalist news sources and feed on anxiety about Islam; together forming a movement that would make cohesion and tolerance impossible. https://www.humanreligions.info/islam_western.html

The Feeble Struggle of Islamic Moderates Against Radicalists

Updated section 2 on the influence of traditionalist and radical influencers on Muslim communities throughout the world, discussing 15 example countries where centrist policies cannot be enacted, for fear of radicalist responses. https://www.humanreligions.info/islam_moderates.html

The overall page contents is:

1. The Majority of Western Muslims are Peaceful and Moderate
2. The Influence of the Traditionalist Islamist Radicals
3. The Influence of Near-Eastern Islam on Western Communities
4. Reversals: The Occasional Efforts of Reforming Rulers

Thales of Miletus

Added section #4 to www.humantruth.info/skepticism.html, to celebrate the Ionian thinker Thales, who, in 600 BCE, is the earliest recognizable skeptical thinker. He correctly predicted an eclipse based on his dedicated observations of the movement of the Earth around the sun. The Greeks placed him amongst the seven greatest thinkers because of his long-term influence on proper, careful and methodical thought.

Christianity Declining

From 2010 to 2020, these countries saw over 10% of their population stop describing themselves as Christian: Australia (-20%), Chile (-18%), Uruguay (-17%), the USA (-14%), Canada (-14%), the UK (-13%), Austria (-12%), Sweden (-12%), Switzerland (-12%), Ireland (-11%), France (-11%) and Belgium (-10%), with Finland and Spain close behind.

The largest increase in Christianity in a country in that period was in Mozambique (+5.0%).

See humanreligions.info/christianity.html section #2 on Worldwide Numbers.

Souls and Mind

On www.humantruth.info/souls.html

Buddhism and Women

As in other world religions, the religious hierarchy in Buddhism is male-dominated, causing ongoing gender discrimination both in monasteries and in wider Buddhist society. Buddhist texts sometimes "equal the worst anti-women polemics of any religion".

https://www.humanreligions.info/buddhism_women.html

Afghanistan's Religious Culture Holds it Back

Added to section #9 of the HTF page on Afghanistan: Tadjbakhsh (2011) argued that Afghanistan cannot be fixed by Western attempts to create top-down democratic institutions nor by the addition of liberal social values: the religious-based culture simply won't allow it. History proved him right. www.humantruth.info/afghanistan.html

Buddhism 's Eightfold Path: Right Speech

Buddhism's Eightfold Path step #3 is Right Speech: it teaches that to be wise, you must avoid lies, slander, promoting division, using abusive language and careless gossip. It should be part of the End-User Licence Agreement for doing anything online. Add as Section #1 to www.humanreligions.info/debating.html, as it predates similar statements in the Bible and the Qur'an.

The Thugs / Thuggae / Thuggees of 13th-19th Century India

The Thuggae were a secret society in India, who dedicated their lives to ritualistically strangling victims as sacrifices to Kali, often in a way that specifically included first gaining their trust and confidance, and sometimes coming together en masse to perform a mass-murder. Parents initiated children into the order. It's not clear when they existed from, but they existed as a organised fraternity by the 13th century; they were eradicated in the 1830s. They believed that the killings kept the world in balance, and the victims and the Thuggae themselves were assured places in the afterlife for the performance.

"The Thuggae" by Vexen Crabtree contents:

1. For Kali, for Balance, for Paradise
2. Timeline (13th-19th century)
3. The Targets

The Mistakes of Evolution

If life was 'designed' and didn't evolve, there would be no dead-ends, mistakes or poor designs in nature. Yet, bad bio-engineering is everywhere. Why does this occur? Evolution can answer, but creationists cannot.

https://www.humantruth.info/evolution_mistakes.html

The Loss of Religious Freedom and Diversity in Egypt

Egypt has a long, fascinating and rich religious history, influencing Europe and Asia. Sumerians and Persians both used Egyptian gods , symbols and clothing styles as military adornments and cultural lore.

In the early 20th century there was a reasonable amount of religious tolerance and freedom. Public squares, coffee shops & al-'Azhar University hosted debates between secularists, Muslims and Coptic Christians. They united when faced with challenges - in particular against the British; even Muslim women would deliver speeches at meetings. But that time in history has ended, and Egypt's strict and intolerant forms of Islam became dominant, organized and powerful.

Sociologists Grim & Finke place Egypt into the worst category of religious persecution, along with just 13 other countries.

https://www.humantruth.info/egypt.html section 11: Statistics on Religion and Beliefs in Egypt.

The Waldenses

Some notes on the Waldenses, a pious Christian Catholic movement that wanted to live simply, preaching, and without the abuses-of-power of the Catholic church. They were violently persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for over 700 years. They still exist in Italy. https://www.humanreligions.info/waldenses.html

Agnosticism

Almost all debates on agnosticism are messy, because there are a few common ways to define what the term means. Here's a summary of the two main kinds of agnosticism and two possible assumed positions (agnostic theists and agnostic atheists). www.humanreligions.info/agnosticism.html

Qu'ranic Abrogation: But the Surahs are Unordered

Updated section 1.2 on abrogation. The rest of the page needs updating and making nicer to read, too.

https://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/islam_untrustworthykoran.html

The Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians

The Epistle of Galatians is one of the genuine letters of St Paul in the Christian Bible, written within Paul's lifetime. It describes his conversion to Christianity (via a vision), and how he didn't actually go meet the disciples in Jerusalem for 3 years after. It's main message is that you don't have to be a Jew to convert to Christianity. Here's a summary and complete text:

1. An Introduction to St Paul's Letters
2. Contradictions Between Acts and Galatians
   1. Who Did Paul Talk To After His Conversion?
   2. Further Issues
3. The 6 chapters of Galatians (149 verses)
   1. Galatians 1 (24 verses) - Paul greets churches in Galatia; there is only one gospel; gospel is from God, not humans; Paul's early life & testimony
   2. Galatians 2 (21 verses)
   3. Galatians 3 (29 verses)
   4. Galatians 4 (31 verses)
   5. Galatians 5 (26 verses)
   6. Galatians 6 (18 verses)