Knowledge

A new page! Free will, elections, sexual consent, and the meaningfulness of life: without information, knowledge and wisdom, nothing has a purpose, and we are open to abuse.

"Knowledge" by Vexen Crabtree (2026)

The contents menu is:

1. To Act Morally or With Free Will, You First Need Knowledge
2. Politics
   1. Elections are Only Legitimate if the Populace Has Access to Reasonably Unbiased Information
   2. Leaders Must Use Experts (a Lesson from the Enlightenment)
   3. Governments Must Use a Rationalist Evidence-Based Approach
   4. Which Countries are Most Modern, With the Best Education and Internet Access?
3. Sexual Consent Requires Understanding of Consequences (Hence: the Age of Consent)
4. Errors in Thinking: Cognitive Errors, Wishful Thinking and Sacred Truths

Human Religions website

I've never had any graphics skills, my very best is 'kind of okay'! I needed a new icon to use specifically for www.humanreligions.info ... so I made this, in MS Word (!!!). About once a month, I say 'I need a graphics person...'.

Hindu Violent Extremism Against Christians in India: The Continuing Legacy of the BJP

Hindu nationalists target Christians in India, as the culmination of a few decades of increasing hate. In Christmas 2007, a hundred churches were damaged and 700 Christian homes destroyed: things have gotten especially bad since the BJP gained power nationally in 2014, with their representatives giving hate speeches (including calling for death to Christians), encouraging the many hundreds of violent incidents recorded each year against Christians. See section 6 of https://www.humanreligions.info/hindu_extremism.html.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is much-loved because it sounds positive and wholesome. But it's a trap, just as Habakkuk's opposite gloom is a trap. Don't fall for it: we can make the world better by behaving better, educating ourselves, embracing human rights, and encouraging others.

www.humanreligions.info/psalm_23.html

The Old Testament Book of Habakkuk

After a long series of prophets promise again and again that god is going to punish the Hebrews' neighbours for their unbelief, the reality of history is that the Chaldeans, after conquering Babylon, continued to spread. In terms of the Hebrews' understanding of their place in God's world, this simply made no sense. This story explains that God empowers the violent, expansionist and immoral Chaldeans, and that God (for no particularly good reason) boosts them against the Hebrews, causing the Chaldeans to occupy and ransack southern Judah.

Habakkuk tries to explain that God is choosing the Chaldeans to damage Judah on purpose, but struggles to find a coherent ethical reason why such bloodshed and violence can be endorsed by a good god, as a collective punishment - especially when the Chaldeans were infamously immoral and ought to be the ones being corrected. It is hard to see what morals or teachings there are in these wars between the Hebrews and their neighbours other than that it pays to be on the winning side, whether or not the winners are Jehovah-fearers.

The contents of "The Book of Habakkuk by Vexen Crabtree (2012) is:

1. The 3 chapters of Habakkuk (56 verses)
   1. Habakkuk 1 (17 verses)
   2. Habakkuk 2 (20 verses)
   3. Habakkuk 3 (19 verses)

Pantheism

Pantheism is a form of theism (god-belief) in which God and the universe are equivalent: be this in either a conscious or automatic sense. The whole system of physical laws, cause and effect, and time itself, are the internal workings of a divine being. www.humanreligions.info/pantheism.html

Why Does Palestine Struggle to Be a Recognized State?

Decade after decade, circumstance, bad luck and the active interference of the #UK, #Israel, others but most of all, the #USA, have prevented #Palestine from being recognized as an Independent State. This page lists those obstacles. https://www.humantruth.info/palestine_statehood.html

The Nizari (Assassins) of the 11th-13th Century

A brief history of the Nizari, who came to be known as the Assassins for their long and effective campaigns of religious-political murders during the 11th-13th Century, attempting to be the ones to usher in paradise on Earth via shifting the balance of powers on Earth. www.humanreligions.info/assassins.html

Trial by Ordeal in Medieval Europe

Added section 6.6: Trials by Ordeal. These torturous and chaotic devices were administered by the Christian Church as a way of calling on God to issue judgement, especially in the 8th-13th centuries. The Church provided a strict framework for their use, and with popular support and Christian King's endorsements, they were used for secular purposes, in a world with no separation between legal systems, religion and the state. www.humanreligions.info/christian_morality.html Only one kind of trial by ordeal is directly described in the Bible; Numbers 5:11-31 has God itself describe how an adultery case should be solved by a priest if there are no witnesses, the wife hides it, and the husband become jealous: by Ordeal of Bitter Water. The woman (of course) must drink water adulterated with ink, alongside a series of ritual steps by the Priest. If she suffers from the water, she is guilty. If she has no symptoms, she is allowed to live and conceive. Ordeals administered by the Christian Church included Ordeal of the Cross, Ordeal of Boiling Water, Ordeal of Red-Hot Iron and Ordeal of Water. In some, innocence is proven if the accused sinks and drowns. The overall results were disfiguration, or cheating, or a rigged test designed to produce the 'right' result by those setting it up. Overall, they were immoral, unreliable to the point of being random, and clearly injust.

11th-13th Century: Christian Superstitions Doom the Norse in Greenland

In full in section 7.1: The Danish Norse who settled in Greenland died of starvation after converting to Christianity and using too many resources to build churches, and allowing prejudice against non-Christians to prevent trade or cultural exchange with the Inuit, who knew how to survive. www.humantruth.info/greenland.html

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)

Russian Disinformation Warfare and Internet Trolling

New page; Russia has been pouring huge streams of misinformation, fake news articles and disruptive spam on social media, trying to spread conspiracy theories, support divisive politicians and create confusion and doubt between citizens and their societies. " Russian Disinformation Warfare and Internet Trolling" by Vexen Crabtree

The contents menu is:

1. Policy
2. An Anti-Western Campaign Designed to Sow Discord
3. Using Disinformation and Funding To Support Divisive Parties
   1. Supporting Far-Right and Divisive Movements in the UK and USA
   2. Supporting Far-Left and Sectarian Movements in Spain (2017)
4. Crimea (2014) and Ukraine (2022)

Honour Killings

A new page, on a sombre topic. When women resist male dominance or the adherence to male norms, in some cultures they are sometimes murdered in the name of family 'honour', a practice almost universally condemned. The UN estimates that 5000 such murders occur annually. "Honour Killings" by Vexen Crabtree

The contents menu is:

1. Example Events That Led to an Honour Killing
2. Terrible Symptoms of Unfettered Male Culture
3. Which Countries are Susceptible
   1. Pakistan
   2. India
   3. Turkey
   4. Syria
   5. Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon
   6. Europe (Historically in strict Catholic places, but now uncommon, and exclusively in immigrant communities)

The Bible Book of 4 Maccabees

4 Maccabees isn't in most Bibles, because Jerome didn't translate its heavy and complex Greek into Latin for the Vulgate, and so it never made mainstream circulation. Only some of the oldest and most ancient Christian churches use it - most notably the Georgian Orthodox Church.

It comments on the 2 Maccabees stories of Eleazor (a scribe) and a woman and her seven sons, who are persecuted and tortured by King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It encourages selfish rationality - you should follow God's Hebrew law, have faith, and control your emotions (that can lead you astray) in order to resist torture, and, get a divine reward at the end.

https://www.humanreligions.info/4_maccabees.html

Violence (Honour Killings) Against Women in Pakistan

An awful new page - "Violence Against Women in Pakistan". Well over 1,000 women each year are murdered in honour killings in Pakistan; usually by their relatives for not adhering to strict conservative modes of fashion, life, love or conduct; avoiding forced marriages is common cause for a father to murder his daughter (or get a younger brother to do it, who therefore only services a short sentance as a minor). These problems are especially bad in rural communities, where a combination of poor education, weak government reach and male-dominated strict Islam mean women have no protections.

The contents menu is:

1. The Scale of the Problem
2. Examples
3. Small Steps Forwards

A Summary of 100 Facebook Feed Posts

My public Facebook page (just called Vexen Crabtree) at www.facebook.com/VexenCrabtree/ has its own News Feed. It, like everyone else's, is full of rubbish. For a while, I have been meaning to quantify precisely how much of it is junk.

I have methodically looked at the first 100 posts on my news feed. Here are the results:

• 15 were from people and pages that I follow (yay).
• 1 was a random source, with a post I was interested in – well done, Facebook algorithm.
• 5 random posts from sources that MIGHT have been interesting, but not really. Nice try, algorithm.
• 74 random stupid meme and image posts that have absolutely no place in my feed, on sports and celebrities and pure rubbish.
• 3 from trash providers (celebrity magazines, gossip columns), no better than clickbait memes.
• 2 truly random ones that looked completely personal and not really designed for the public.

Summary: 79% of my feed is pure rubbish and stupid memes, 15% is from people I follow, and 6% are successful algorithm attempts to find something I might have liked. Of those, attempts only 1% are correct.

Broken down into groups are 20, here is a full list of what I found in those 100 posts. Each line starts with the name of the poster, and ends with the action that I took. For example, 'Hide All' means I selected “Hide All From This Page", as I very frequently do. It makes no difference. The volume of pure, utter trite on Facebook is drowning out every else.

(1) Zesty Supreme entertaining meme. Hide All.
(2) K Elias Photography. Nice photo. Pointless for me. Hide All.
(3) Extra Fabulous Comics. Just a meme. Hide All.
(4) Nightmare Customers and Non Payers: Nonsense meme. Hide All.
(5) A post from Haujobb, who I follow! Yay. Liked & commented.
(6) UK Heritage Frames. Post is a random meme about Monty Python, not even related to 'Frames'. Hide All.
(7) Random: Life Memes. Funny meme. Don't care. I don't want funny memes. Hide All.
(8) Random: SportsJOE.co.uk. I don't care. Hide All.
(9) Haujobb again. Yay. Like & comment.
(10) Random: The Language Nerds. Funny meme or something. Pointless. Hide All.
(11) Dorset Eye. A meme about Reform UK being fascist. True, I'm sure, but I don't want 'Dorset Eye' as a newsfeed. Hide All (a bit sadly).
(12) Hard Images. Pointless meme that I don't even understand. Hide All.
(13) Going Postal Gaming. Stupid meme. Not even related to gaming. Hide All.
(14) Do you even Science, Bro. Stupid meme. I don't want memes. Hide All.
(15) Uncuffed Memes Encore. Stupid meme. Hide all.
(16) Funny Story. Stupid meme. Hide All.
(17) Vintage Britain. A historical photo. History is good, but not in meme format thanks. Hide All.
(18) Arkansas Extreme Metal. Stupid meme. Hide All.
(19) Council Cuisines. Pointless food photo designed to get 'shock' comments. Waste of time. Hide All.
(20) Back to 80s. Random 'on this day' image. Nice and nostalgic, but, I don't use FB for this. Hide All.

First 20 posts: 18 were stupid memes, 2 were posts from people I follow.

(21) Football Funnys. Some try-to-be-funny meme about riots. Football is boring, meme is boring. Hide All.
(22) The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. An awesome bunch of people, doing great work. A post about finances in Eswatini, which is trying to stop misconduct getting in to the press. Important, informational. Liked and commented.
(23) Creatures Cosmos. A photo of 2 random people probably involved in film, raising a glass. Pointless. No information. Hide All.
(24) Moon Night-Core. Stupid meme that makes no sense and isn't about anything I know about. Hide All.
(25) Back to the 80s. Random Terminator meme. Awesome film! Love seeing the cast. But I'm not on FB for memes. I can't Hide All as I've already done it at number (20), so this time it's a X-to-Close (mark as not interesting). This has NO EFFECT, after having done it hundreds of times, my feed is still full of shite.
(26) I Will Go Slightly Out of My Way To Step On A Crunchy-Looking Leaf. Stupid funny image about an upside-down-book. Hide All.
(27) Memeenist. Football meme. Hide All.
(28) The Credible Hulk. They're always posting good informational posts about learning to think better. I follow them already. YAY, a non-random post! Liked.
(29) Sad Comics. Random meme. Hide All.
(30) Pizza Cake Comics. Whateven does that title mean? Stupid meme. Hide All.
(31) Deadpool FC- Ryan's Roaring Reds. Not interested in celebrities. Nor films. Nor memes. Nor football. This post was all 4. Why's this even in my feed? What sense does it make? Hide All.
(32) British Memes. Some meme about biscuits. Hide All.
(33) Descendants of the Moon. Random meme that makes no sense to me. Hide All.
(34) Skeptical Inquirer. Truly powerful and useful magazine, which I follow, and have read for over 20 years. Yay. Like and Commented.
(35) Dwarves, Elves & Men. Lord of the Rings meme. AWESOME films. But I don't go on FB to see random LOTR memes. Hide All.
(36) Britain For All. I follow these. Anti-extremism group. Yay. Post Liked.
(37) British Memes. Already done Hide All above, so this is a X-to-Close-Mark-As-Not-Interested.
(38) Theme Park Worldwide. Random holiday attraction photo from 1935. Don't care. Hide All.
(39) Best Comic. Random animal meme. Pointless, stupid. Hide All.
(40) We Got Talent. Meme of boy playing piano. Inspiring. But just yet more nonsense that I don't want. Hide All.

The previous 20 posts: 4 posts from people I follow (yay), 16 random stupid image posts that have absolutely no place in my feed.

(41) Psychology Love. Random quote meme. Life is NOT reducible to stupid one-liners. Hide All.
(42) Meme Extreme. Hide All.
(43) Psychology Love. Already done Hide-All, so this time X-to-Close.
(44) Dark Secrets Of The Witch. Stupid meme about Twitter, FB and Apple and WiFi. I don't want meme-posters. Hide All.
(45) Dellima. Random photo of children and text about reading books. A meme in text format. At least there is actual text! But still pointless churned-out read-for-inspiration nonsense. Hide All.
(46) Secret Yorkshire. Random cultural photo. I don't want mild-bits-of-random-history in image format. That's not how you learn. Hide All.
(47) IGN. Random promotional meme about Deadpool. Hide All.
(48) Financial Times. Informational current-events. Useful. Good. I don't follow them, but, I also don't object. Faceboko has, on post 48, CORRECTLY located an item I'm interested in from someone I don't follow. Well done, Facebook.
(49) Game Rant. Nostalgic tech photo. Pointless. Hide All.
(50) The Historian's Den. Random history meme. Simplistic stupid nonsense. Hide All.
(51) EUobserver. I follow these. Good news item, informational current events. Liked & Commented.
(52) Paflek. Pretty photo of superwoman. But why is it in my feed? I don't want celebrity-worship nonsense. Hide All.
(53) Star Wars Rocks My World. Film-based memes. Hide All.
(54) Know Your Meme. Hide All.
(55) Awkward Relate. Stupid mime about birthdays. Hide All.
(56) Sgt Scholar. I've seen a few from this poster, normally quite intelligent stuff with decent text commentary. ALMOST done Hide All because FB just shows a large meme. But the attached text is good. Not liking it, but also not hiding.
(57) I will trebuchet this individual into SPACE GULAG. What is this nonsense? Hide All.
(58) Order of the Sith. Film-based memes. Don't want. Hide All.
(59) Britain For All. Post from 3 days ago which I've seen before. I follow these. Not liking (only an average post).
(60) ABU NEIN. A post about the passing of a band member. But I've no idea who any of them are nor what ABU NEIN means. May be related to another band I've liked. But still irrelevent to me. Hide All.

Last 20 posts: 1 post from a random source I was interested in (well done, algorithmn). 2 posts from people I follow. 1 post from a random source that MIGHT have been interesting - it was average. 16 pointless memes on topics I'm not interested in.

(61) The Scientific Atheist. I don't follow these but I see posts sometimes, sometimes clever. They've degenerated largely to memes, but I allow them for now. Not liked, not hidden. Average.
(62) Best Comics. Memes. Hide All.
(63) Sgt Scholar. As above. Intelligence and informative history post.
(64) Old Classic Cartoons. Film-based meme. Hide All.
(65) Introverts are Awesome. Stupid meme. I don't want memes. Hide All.
(66) ESPN. I think this is a US sports channel. Don't want. Hide All.
(67) Animals Are The Best. Animal meme. Not even a good one. Hide All.
(68) Etesh Brayo. Philosophy meme. Philosophy is good, but can't be reduced to one-liner quotes. Don't dumb-down knowledge. Hide All.
(69) The SkepDick. A paraody of the awesome Skep Chic? In this case, a stupid meme. Hide All.
(70) Radio Free Europe. Random Kate Bush photo. She awesome. But I don't want entertainment swamping out everything else. Hide All.
(71) AsWithin SoWithout. Random quote meme. Hide All.
(72) The Economist. I follow these. Great informational post, with info-graphic. The post regularly. Why do so few show up in my feed? Liked.
(73) New Humanist Magazine. Yay, I follow these. Liked & commented.
(74) Game Rant. Random gaming meme. I've already done Hide-All, so this time it's X-to-Close-Mark-Not-Interested. Makes no difference though.
(75) Witty Comics. Stupid funny meme thing. Hide All.
(76) Matthew Schott. A truly random post about him being in Cyprus. Name is completely unknown to me. No idea at all why it's in my feed. Hide All.
(77) Britain For All. Anti-extremist group. Funny post with no content, but, I permit it. Not liked, not hidden. Average.
(78) Rene Stoldt completely random post. He's in Hamburg. FB may FINALLY be running out of random meme-factory-outlets to show me. Maybe, in another 100 hours of Hide-All activity, it will show me more posts from people I follow, and less random rubbish. Hide All.
(79) Entertainment Daily UK. Hide All.
(80) Britain For All. I follow these. Yay. A post about Nigel Farage and Andrew Tate's stupidity. Liked & commented.

Last 20 posts: 4 posts from people I follow. 2 random posts that were more-or-less stuff I was interested in. 14 pointless stupid memes.

(81) Il rock è la miglior musica del mondo. Random music meme. Hide All.
(82) The New York Times. Celebrity athlete post. I'll ignore, as NYT are potentially a good news source. Not liked, not Hide All. Average.
(83) BEHEMOTH! Post from a band I've liked. Liked.
(84) Daily Highlight. Celebrity/film/advert/meme. Don't want anything on those topics. Hide All.
(85) Threshold. Their bio says 'we're here to update you on flight sim'..... what? Why is it here? Hide All.
(86) ͒͠O͒͠n͒͠ Crack ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º Ö́n̈́ Memes. Hide All.
(87) The Brussels Times. I follow these. They post many times a day, so why do I see so little from them, and so much other random rubbish instead? Liked.
(88) Tim Mitchell. Random historical photo about John Cage, who I think is an actor. Don't want celebrity or film memes. Hide All.
(89) CBRPNK. Blade Runner meme. Awesmoe film, full of depth. But I don't want commentary in meme format. Hide All.
(90) Thinking Is Power. A pro-critical-thinking post. Yay! If they post more good stuff, I might follow them. Liked.
(91) ProgPower USA. Pointless funny meme. Not interested. Hide All.
(92) Cinephilia Memes+. Hide All.
(93) The New York Times. Acceptable (see above). Not liked though.
(94) Web Stash. Stupid meme. Hide All.
(95) The Holy Church of Love Island. A celebrity-themed-meme that makes no sense to me. Go away! Hide All.
(96) Council Cuisines..Eat out & takeaways. A food post or meme or something. Can't really tell. Pointless. Hide All.
(97) The Credible Hulk. Yay, I follow this. Liked.
(98) Andrew King utterly random post. Why is this here? Hide All.
(99) OK! Magazine UK. Trash. Hide All.
(100) The far side. Endless comic photos. Hide All.

Final 20 posts: 2 random post that I could be interested in. 3 posts from pages I follow. 15 stupid memes and trash.

What is Skepticism and Its Values?

Skepticism has to overcome not just our natural inclinations and the difficulties we face in analyzing our own thinking errors, but also, groups that resist the very concept of evidence-based rationality.

Powerful USA Christian religious-right groups in the 1980s consistently attempted, and often succeeded, in preventing schools from teaching critical thinking or skepticism. They used legal methods, or if that failed, harassed teachers and used 'parent concern' groups to object to the content.

Link: What is Skepticism and Its Values? on humantruth.info/skepticism.html

Religious Dates in August

Starting with Lammas / Lughnasdh, the Wiccan harvest festival and reflection on the mysteries of nature, the month of August has a smattering of fasts and feasts, including Zoroastrian Fravardigan, the Chinese Qixi Jie / Ch'I Hou Chieh (Herd Boy and Weaving Maid Festival), the Jewish remembrance day of Tisha B'Av, the sentimental Buddhist Hachigatsu O-Bon to honor ancestral spirits, the Baha'i Feast of Asmá' (Names), Zarathustra's Birthday and Jainism's Paryushan Parva (8 days of purification, fasting and seeking forgiveness for mistakes). Wicca. A harvest festival and reflection on the mysteries of nature. https://www.humanreligions.info/august.html

The Old Testament Book of Micah

The Old_Testament book of Micah, from the 8th century BCE, called for a popular revolt against the rich and powerful in Jerusalem and Samaria, who were abusing the poor. The original text, over a few hundred years, had various editors add comments, including the final 2 chapters. Christians took some of the concepts and used them as prophecies of Jesus. 2nd edition of this page: I've rewrote the introduction, expanded ch#1 to include paragraphs on historical authorship, and added two chapters: #2 on the call for violent revolution, and #3, about the leader from Bethlehem. Link: www.humanreligions.info/micah.html.

Religion in Pakistan

New page: "Religion in Pakistan" by Vexen Crabtree. A place that is extremely intolerant of religious beliefs that aren't Sunni Islam, with women, LGBT folk and minorities facing long-term violent and inhumane persecution.

The contents menu is:

1. Adherents and Beliefs
2. Religion is the Overall Cause of Human Rights Problems in Pakistan
3. Religious Violence, Politics and Instability
4. Blasphemy
5. Religious Conflicts Between Pakistan and India

Moving Onwards to 2024

In 2024, I'll continue to use this profile to post religion-related content associated with my websites and the Human Truth Foundation. For my main profiles, check out:

• www.facebook.com/HumanTruthFoundationHTF/ for politics, international commentary, social psychology and world events.

• www.facebook.com/VexenCrabtree for comparative religion, critical thinking and UK-based news.

• twitter.com/Vexen_Crabtree for a full news feed (albeit... very brief!).

• vexen.livejournal.com/ purely for new-page announcements.

• vexen.blogspot.com/ for religion-based content.

And finally, used occasionally for content that has an associated image:

• www.flickr.com/photos/vexen_crabtree/ for informational content and more personal (but still public) photos.

• www.instagram.com/ for informational content.

Blasphemy in Pakistan

A new page! Pakistan's blasphemy laws are infamously strict and unjust, tied to the country's overall culture of intolerance and prejudice, and result in a constant stream of murders, violent attacks and mob violence against anyone accused of saying the wrong religious things. Knowing that the consequences can be life-destroying even when the claims are false, accusations are often made against competitors during feuds or to resolve grudges. Such is the temper in a country that is being dragged backwards into a barbarous theocracy by religionists, amidst a wave of fear. The concept of blasphemy is their primary weapon.

"Blasphemy in Pakistan" by Vexen Crabtree

The contents menu is:

1. Pakistan Has No Freedom of Belief Nor Religious Freedom of Expression
2. The Blasphemy Laws
3. Cases
   1. 2017 - Human Rights Watch Highlighted Cases
   2. 2010 - Asia Bibi, Salman Taseer and Shabaz Bhatti

A list of denominations of Satanism

A new page! Satanic churches, divisions and sects. "A List of Denominations of Satanism"

The contents menu is:

1. Types of Satanism
2. Church of Satan (1966CE)
3. Temple of Set (1975CE)
4. Order of Nine Angels (1980s)
5. First Satanic Church (1999CE)
6. Joy of Satan (2002CE)
7. The Satanic Temple (2013CE)
8. Local and National Variations
9. Defunct Denominations (Church of Satanic Brotherhood, Ordo Templi Satanis)

An introduction to the biblical book of Jonah

An introduction to the biblical book of Jonah.

God punishes Jonah with a storm and has a monstrous fish eat him, until he relents and preaches to the city of Nineveh that it will be destroyed. He didn't want to, because he didn't think it would be destroyed, and he didn't want to be a false prophet. After being bullied into it, God changes his mind, and doesn't destroy Nineveh.

The teachings in the Book of Jonah are that God punishes those who are disobedient and rewards those who are obedient, and if you murder someone at sea then all is well as long as you fear God. Also, if you are in an unequal relationship, it is best to simply do as you are told, else, things will only end up harder for you. It's not the Bible's finest moment.

Historically, the book lacks legitimacy. Nineveh was the capital of the great Assyrian empire and at no point did the events of Jonah 3:5-10 actually occur - not a single trader, traveller, statesman or historian note that the entire population suddenly gave up its old ways and embraced a new religion.

http://www.humanreligions.info/jonah.html.

Religious Days and Festivals in October

A list of religious days and festivals in October - days for the seasons, various saints and gurus, celebrations and finally, samhain / halloween, on www.humanreligions.info/october.html.

The Food Chain and God: The Natural Evil of the World

A new page! "The Food Chain and God".

A good god could, if it wanted to, have designed all life so that it is directly sustained by manna from heaven, with no need for consumption of biological matter. But almost every form of life must by its very nature capture, kill and eat other living beings in order to survive. Without this murderous torment, life is impossible. If not by direct consumption, then, organisms must still acquire biological matter at the expense of others: the competition for food is also a case of living beings being required to outdo each other merely to survive. There is no way to live life along a principal of do no harm.

If life was created, and not simply the result of undirected unconscious evolution, this is surely the worst possible way to have created life. A god could not have created a more vicious cycle if it tried: tying the very existence of life with the necessary killing of other life is the work of an evil genius, not of an all-powerful and all-loving god. Either no god ever instigated life or guided it, or, such a god is monstrously evil.

The contents menu is:

1. The Arms Race: Poisons and Resistance
2. The Despair of Darwin
3. Non-Biological Energy and Balance

What is Fundamentalism?

Fundamentalism is the approach to religion that sees believers embrace an early form of their religion, to consider it beyond criticism and worthy enough to be enforced without having to accommodate modern evidence or logical arguments against it. Fundamentalists of text-based traditions treat a core holy text as infallible and inerrant. Because beliefs are given absolute importance, fundamentalism is often sectarian and intolerant: every doctrinal interpretation results in schism and division.

http://www.humanreligions.info/what_is_fundamentalism.html.

Prayer: Shouldn't Theists Trust the Plan?

I've updated the introduction paragraph to Prayer is Ungodly:

Of all the many courses of action or inaction, a perfect God always picks the best one. This appears to makes prayers ineffectual. If one prays for a friend to miraculously recover from an inoperable brain disease, what will happen? The prayer cannot make a difference, because, God has already picked the best course of action. If the prayer is successful, it's because God was already going to move that way. If it was unsuccessful, then, God has a better plan. To pray for God to act is to doubt that God already knows best.

There's a more dramatic 2nd paragraph.

1. Deliberations from the 18th Century
2. The Christian Bible (1 John 5:14)
3. Praying is Magic
4. Satanism

The Book of Job

I've shortened the introduction to the Book of Job and added a section on dating & authorship. The contents menu of The Book of Job is now:

1. Authorship and Structure
2. God Testing People in The Bible
3. God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?
4. The 42 chapters of Job (1070 verses)
   1. Job 1 (22 verses) - Job was blameless. The LORD allowed Satan to test him. Job's servants and children were killed. He tore his robes and worshipped.
   2. Job 2 (13 verses) - Satan & LORD discuss Job; Satan gives Job skin disease; Job's wife discourages Job; Job stays faithful; Job's friends visit him
   3. Job 3 (26 verses)
   4. Job 4 (21 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Will you become impatient? When did the innocent ever perish? I heard a voice: 'Can a man be more righteous than God?'"
   5. Job 5 (27 verses) - "Who will answer you? Man is born to trouble. As for me, I would seek God. Do not despise his discipline. He wounds, but he binds up."
   6. Job 6 (30 verses) - Job said, "My misery would outweigh the sand of the seas! You have proved no help. Show me how I have been wrong! Would I lie to you?"
   7. Job 7 (21 verses)
   8. Job 8 (22 verses) - Bildad speaks to Job: Job & children must have sinned to cause Job's trouble; tells Job to turn to God; talks about evil people
   9. Job 9 (35 verses)
   10. Job 10 (22 verses)
   11. Job 11 (20 verses) - Zophar said, "Should your babble go unanswered? God exacts less than your guilt deserves! Reach out to him and you will find hope."
   12. Job 12 (25 verses)
   13. Job 13 (28 verses) - "I want to argue my case with God. Be quiet and I will speak. Though he slay me, I will hope in him. God, why do you hide your face?"
   14. Job 14 (22 verses)
   15. Job 15 (35 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Your own mouth condemns you! Why do you turn against God? The wicked will be like a vine stripped of unripe grapes."
   16. Job 16 (22 verses)
   17. Job 17 (16 verses) - Job is desolate. All is woe.
   18. Job 18 (21 verses)
   19. Job 19 (29 verses)
   20. Job 20 (29 verses)
   21. Job 21 (34 verses)
   22. Job 22 (30 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Is not your wickedness great? You withheld bread from the hungry. Is not God high? Submit to him and be at peace."
   23. Job 23 (17 verses) - Job said, "If only I knew where to find God! When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. But he does whatever he pleases."
   24. Job 24 (25 verses) - "The wounded cry out, but God charges no one with wrong. Some rebel against the light; they are exalted a while, and then are gone."
   25. Job 25 (6 verses) - Bildad said, "Dominion and awe belong to God. Who can be righteous before him? Even the stars are not pure in his sight!"
   26. Job 26 (14 verses) - Job said, "How you have helped the weak! Sheol is naked to God. The pillars of heaven tremble. These are the fringes of his ways!"
   27. Job 27 (23 verses)
   28. Job 28 (28 verses)
   29. Job 29 (25 verses)
   30. Job 30 (31 verses)
   31. Job 31 (40 verses) - "Does God not see my ways? Have I lied? Have I refused to help the poor? Have I put my trust in money? Let the Almighty answer me!"
   32. Job 32 (22 verses)
   33. Job 33 (33 verses)
   34. Job 34 (37 verses) - "It is unthinkable that God would do wrong. Can one who hates justice govern? God shows no partiality. Job speaks like the wicked!"
   35. Job 35 (16 verses) - "Even if you are righteous, what do you give to God? He does not answer because of the pride of evil men. You must wait for him!"
   36. Job 36 (33 verses)
   37. Job 37 (24 verses) - "God thunders with his voice. By the breath of God, ice is made. Do you know his wondrous works? He is great in power and justice!"
   38. Job 38 (41 verses)
   39. Job 39 (30 verses) - "Do you mark when the deer is born? Will the wild ox serve you? Do you give the horse his might? Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?"
   40. Job 40 (24 verses) - Job said, "I have no answer." The LORD said, "Will you condemn me? Behold now, Behemoth, which I made. Can anyone pierce his nose?"
   41. Job 41 (34 verses) - "Can you catch Leviathan with a hook? Everything under heaven is mine. His breath sets coals ablaze. He is king over all the proud."
   42. Job 42 (17 verses)

The Maldives

Over 1000 atolls (islands made from raised coral reefs); cultural and civic life has been ruined by strict Islam. A comparison of international statistics, concentrating on Social and Moral issues. The contents of "The Maldives (Republic of Maldives)" by Vexen Crabtree (2013) is:

1. Overview
2. Maldives National and Social Development
3. Maldives's Demographics and Migration
4. Maldives's Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
5. Maldives's Health
6. Maldives's Modernity and Learning
7. National Culture
8. The Natural Environment
9. Economic Inequality and Poverty
10. Religion and Beliefs

Human Rights and Freedom in Taiwan

A new page! "Human Rights and Freedom in Taiwan". Taiwan performs very well in ensuring human rights and freedom compared to most other countries. It does the best in the world at supporting freethought and better than average on supporting personal, civil & economic freedoms, supporting press freedom (one of the best in Asia) and in LGBT equality. In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage.

Statistics covered:

1. Taiwan's Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
2. Human Rights & Tolerance Data Sets
   1. Personal, Civil & Economic Freedom
   2. Press Freedom
   3. Slavery
3. Prejudice Data Sets
   1. LGBT Equality
   2. Freedom of Thought

Religion in India

India is 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 3% Christian. Hinduism has a wildly varied mix of beliefs and practices which date to prehistory. Buddhism and Sikhism both also started in India and in the 1960s, Western spiritualists took home some interpretations of Hindu beliefs: the result was a range of movements which became called the New Age.

But religion in India is no longer peaceful. Intolerant right-wing Hinduism-first parties have instigated a bloody series of mob conflicts with Christian and Muslim communities; causing hundreds of churches and mosques to be destroyed, and a great number killed and displaced.

Incompatibility between Hinduism and Islam lead to the breakoff of Pakistan amidst fighting that saw over a million people lose their lives, and, three subsequent wars and a nuclear arms race, with the disputed territory of Kashmir as the flashpoint. During this cultural and religious conflict, Hindu extremism has become "an impediment to... human rights".

http://www.humanreligions.info/india_religion.html

India

Added to Section #6 tables on India's education statistics compared to the rest of the world: The BJP, a conservative Hindu-first party made popular by its campaigns of hate against minorities, have pursued a policy of establishing astrological departments at universities, despite academia's longstanding aversion due to the overwhelming evidence that astrology is not founded on any kind of reality. In an unequal nation of 1.4 billion people, the funding could have provided for a large number of teachers, covering sorely-needed topics of maths, the sciences and engineering. http://www.humantruth.info/india.html: 6. India's Modernity and Learning. #india #BJPGovernment #BJP

Violent Extremism in Hinduism

Hindu violent extremism is a serious problem, especially in north India; there are thousands of attacks against religious minorities every year. It has become "an impediment to... human rights". Reactions by victims stimulates Hindu mobs to enact further attacks. For example, when the Babri Masjid mosque was destroyed by Hindu activists in 1992, thousands of protesting Muslims lost their lives in a very one-sided series of mob fights. And over Christmas 2007 in one state, a hundred churches were damaged and 700 Christian homes destroyed. Complicit are political parties that use race and religion to divide people and stoke hatred; especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Shiv Sena. Section #3 lists some of the worst cases of mob violence. Link: http://www.humanreligions.info/hindu_extremism.html.

Prayer as Meditation - or as Insult

I've rewritten this page on prayer, removing half of the content and expanding the section on meditation.

What is prayer for? It doesn't change outcomes, because God's plan is perfect and prayer can't change which is the best action for God to take. Prayer doesn't work against individual ailments, nor does it change national outlooks (even on health). So what's the point?

Prayer still has positive uses. It gives us a quiet-time to think slowly, and let ideas and resolutions come to us. It can also create social togetherness and consolidarity, as can all shared rituals. With these advantages, although theists call it "prayer" - others, more accurately, call it meditation, which actually does have some positive results on one's own health.

The contents menu for "Prayer is Pointless, Except as Meditation" by Vexen Crabtree (2023) is now:

1. Prayer Tells God Nothing
2. Praying Doesn't Change What Course of Action it is Best for God to Take
3. Praying is Best Considered Meditation and Introspection
4. Prayer as a Passive Aggressive Activity

Prayer Across the World (Who Prays the Most?)

A new page! "Prayer in World Religion".

Daily prayer is most common in Central America (77%), Africa (75%) and The Caribbean (74%). The least prayerful countries are China (01%), UK (06%), Austria (08%), Switzerland (08%) and Czechia (09%). Does prayer work? All of the larger studies on prayer, and the well-controlled ones, show that prayer has no effect on the world.

The contents menu is:

1. Which Regions of the World Pray the Most and the Least?
2. Which Countries Pray the Most and the Least?
3. Does Prayer Work?
4. In the Theistic Viewpoint, Prayer Can't Change God's Perfect Plan
5. Prayer in Christianity
6. Prayer in Islam

The average immigration rate in Europe is 14%. Of the countries with over 1m population, the highest immigrationrate is Switzerland (29.6%), Austria (19%) and Sweden (17.6%). Ireland is 8th in the list, the UK is 15th. For a full list, see: www.humantruth.info/europe_migration.html by Vexen Crabtree of the Human Truth Foundation.

Buddhism, Confucianism, Humanism, Jainism, Taoism, Raelism, Scientology and other movements are all religious but don't have a belief in god(s). This confuses westerners in particular, who often equate religion with god-belief to such an extent that they can't imagine being religious without it. "Atheist Religions"

The contents menu is:

1. An Introduction to Atheism and Secularism
2. Introductions to Some Atheist Religions
   1. Buddhism is an Atheist Religion
   2. Confucianism
   3. Humanism
   4. Jainism
   5. Taoism / Daoism
   6. UFO Religions
3. Atheist Religions Tend to be Kinder and More Compassionate Than Theist Religions

www.humantruth.info/the_values_of_liberalism.html divides liberal values into three categories (social, political & economic), which together stem from the 17th century Enlightenment. But note that someone who holds liberal ideas in one domain doesn't have to be liberal in another - an individual may be socially liberal but not economically; others may be liberal overall, but not when it comes to politics.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Freedom of Expression

A new page! Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants us the ability to speak freely as long as we don't infringe on other rights. Political extremists and traditional religions have been effective and stalwarts opposition to free speech, enforcing censorship, victimisation and blasphemy laws against those whose opinions they don't want to hear. "Freedom of Expression"

The contents menu is:

1. About Human Rights in General
2. Commentary on Freedom of Speech
3. Limits
4. Opposition to Free Expression
5. Press Freedom Index
6. Blasphemy and Censorship: In Christianity and Islam

Got something to say?

Do you want to contribute an article, or well-referenced opinion piece to the HTF websites on http://www.humantruth.info ? We are looking for content on world events, party politics, democracy, political extremism and violence, and other disruptive events effecting our world. See: http://www.humantruth.info/contribute.html.

Human Rights and Freedom in Ethiopia

The first round of international treaties on human rights began in the 1940s after the founding of the United Nations. For the following few decades, Ethiopia regularly signed and ratified almost all such treaties, except a few. However since 1989, it has signed only two, and, ratified only one.

For full details and statistics, see: Human Rights and Freedom in Ethiopia by Vexen Crabtree.

Another round of updates

• The Peacock vs. the Ostrich - Religious Behaviour and Sexuality: Two additions. (1) In Section 1: Nearly all fundamentalist religious organisations reject human rights, and in particular, reject women's rights and are hostile to homosexuality, transvestitism and any other sexuality that is not traditional and patriarchal. They "typically exclude women from the senior ranks of religious leadership. All or almost all express concern about control of female sexuality". But in history, all these things were the mainstream positions of mainstream Christian churches.

  (2) And in Section "3.2. Scientology": Paul Haggis was a Hollywood screenwriter who left the Church of Scientology after 34 years, in 2008, when the Church's name appeared on a list of organizations supporting Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.

• Is the Christian God Evil? Evidence from Scripture and Nature: I have added comments from the story of Job. Section 1.1 "God Creates Evil Regardless of Human Free Will" notes that evil was done to Job regardless of his free will (i.e., he was described as holy and blameless in the Book of Job chapter 1), and, his children all died as a result of God's test of Job, which was also nothing to do with /their/ free will. In section "1.2. Satan and God are Interchangeable", I note that between Chapter 1 and Chapter 42 of Job, God and Satan's actions and culpability are completely intertwined.

• NEW PAGE: Satan and The Devil in World Religions (The mythology of evil, suffering, death, pain and materialism.). This was actually done in February but I haven't mentioned it!

• NEW PAGE: Wicca - The Rise of a Western Mystery Religion Based on Witchcraft: A Western mystery religion invented and founded by Gerald Gardner in the UK in the 1950s, followed shortly by the very similar Alexandrian Wicca in the 1960s, although the two strands are now very closely intertwined and Wicca is decentralized. Wiccan practices centre on ritual, nature veneration, natural cycles, and magical and spiritual learning. Much of it derived from pseudo-folklore. Its festivals are held on the eight yearly Sabbats. Divinity in Wicca is seen as both male and female (typically as the Horned God and Mother Goddess), as are the general forces of nature which emanate from a complementary male and female principal.

There's more, but I'll share those updates in a different journal rather than let this one have all of the attention!

Five updates on pages on Christianity

1. Iyyobh, in the Jewish Book of Truth - Known to Christians as the Book of Job: I've added a paragraph to the introduction on this page on the theological problems in the story of Job, and 2 sections to this page: (1) God Testing People in The Bible, and (2) God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?

2. Jesus Did Not Exist: I have added a long introductory paragraph, and added multiple quotes from Bart Ehrman and a bit from Karen Armstrong. This page needs a lot of work - there are several important books and authors on this topic that I ought to be mentioning (for example the dry Richard Carrier and the impassioned Acharya S). The parts on the birth of Jesus and on his death will be revamped too at some point.

3. The Book of Revelation: Some notes on authorship and symbolism.

4. The Birth of Jesus and the Christmas Story: Pagan and Unhistorical: I have revamped this page... given it an introduction before the menu, added notes from Prof. Bart Ehrman on historical proofs, and added a few other bits throughout the page.

5. Incest in the Bible: Adam and Eve and Their Children, and Noah and His Family: I've added a note on Warren Steed Jeffs, the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a spin-off from the Mormons).He got himself on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" on account of the scale of his sex crimes within his congregation, including sex with minors and incest. And I've added some paragraphs on the Parsis (Zoroastrians) in Hong Kong, where religious inhibitions against marrying outside causes severe problems with the 100-strong community. Zoroastrianism and its dogmas influenced Judaism, Chritsianity and Islam.

A Few Updates

• Humanism: Added two paragraphs to section "5. The Basis of Humanism's Morals and Charitable Work by Humanists".

• Hinduism: Added some text on the Numbers of Hindus Around the World (section #1). There are 3 countries that are mostly Hindu, Nepal (81%), India (80%) and Mauritius (56%). On average, compared to the rest of the world, those 3 countries have average life expectancy (70yrs), a slower fertility rate (2.25), are much poorer than other countries, and are poor places for gender equality. However, they do well on LGBT rights where the world average is -7.3 but those 3 countries' average score is 0 (zero) (using values derived from my Social and Moral Development Index).

• Faith Schools, Sectarian Education and Segregation: Divisive Religious Behavior: Added Section "5.3: Sneaky Selection Criteria Continues to be Widespread, Making Themselves Look Good at the Expense of the Poor". Religious schools have 10-61% fewer poorer students than other schools, artificially boosting their league table rankings. And added a datum to section "9. Experts are Against Faith Schools": Aside from experts, the British public themselves are highly suspicious of schools that divide children by their religion. In 2005 a poll found that 64% thought that the government should not be funding faith schools at all36, and, many thought that faith schools should be illegal. In 2013 it was reported again that polls reveal "a majority of people in Great Britain are against Government funding of faith schools". (References exist in the text on the page).

• The Christian Institute: A UK Political Lobbying Organisation: Updated section 2.2 on Christian B&B Couple Peter and Hazelmary Bull, as the Christian Institute (UK) continued to fight the latest of their failed anti-gay-rights cases through successive courts. As expected, they lost the case yet again, for the same reasons that they have lost their others.

• Christian Mythology: Adam and Eve, and the Serpent, in the Garden of Eden: I've rewritten the opening paragraph, putting the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden into the context of the multitude of similar Mesopotamian myths, moved a few sections around, and rewritten the section that was called "Reconciling Adam and Eve with Science" and renamed it "Evolution and the Origin of the Species".

A load of updates on religion and Satanism

I've done quite a few updates, here are some of them:

• Prayer to God in Christianity and Islam: It is Useless and Satanic!: I've added a quote from Voltaire (1764) to the section "2. Praying is Against God's Will" and massively expanded section "3. Praying is Magic" with commentary of Justin Barret's investigations into people's choices of prayer in emergency situations. And to section "5. How to Pray in Islam, According to the Qur'an" I've added notes on several more Qur'anic verses, such as Qur'an 3:191, 5:6 and 17:107,110.

• Is God All-Powerful? Can God or Anything Truly Be Omnipotent?: I've added a 6th (important!) item to the list of things that an all-powerful god cannot do: omnipotency is incompatible with benevolence. Responsible for making every aspect of evil and suffering possible and for creating the long chain of cause and effect that results in disasters and influences people to choose wrongly, god is so absolutely responsible for all evil and pain that it renders it an amoral being at best, and at worst, an immoral one. And on that note, I've added Section 2 on The Problem of Evil. On a sociological bent, I've added section "5. The Ineffectiveness of God to Answer Prayers", which is about the way choices of prayers give away the fact that people are saying them more as magic words rather than saying them with the confidence that God itself can change the laws of physics (i.e., a link to the text mentioned in the first update mentioned in this entry!).

And three updates to my Satanism website:

• Misanthropy, Nihilism and Self-Worth: People are Shit, Boring and Stupid: Added two new paragraphs, including: "People attain varying shades of greatness. Some become great and lead humankind forward, successfully encouraging others to shake off their shackles and dogmas, and face the wondrous world with imagination and open-mindedness. Some become great through beauty, acting, entertainment, or other temporal endeavours, and find their egos drag them onwards. Both the humanistic greats and the egotistical greats are prone to thinking themselves better than others, and both can often be found bemoaning the state of the masses. Are you with me, or are you part of the deluded herd? Because of the two types of greatness I mention above, one is formed of breakable china, and the other is formed from rock, upon which we build humankind's greatest scientific, technological and moral victories. When looks and talent fade, who has left the enduring legacy on which others can build? They are the greats, and they are ones who have permission to announce their disgrace at the state of humankind! Follow them, copy them, be inspired by them and read their books!"

• Moojan Momen's 8 Pathways to Religious Experience: Categorizing Satanism: I've added this paragraph to section "1.7. Gnosticism". Momen's use of the word "gnosticism" is a little problematic, as, nearly all gnostic documents discvovered archeologically have been largely Christian affairs, having as a saviour a Christ figure who comes and reveals the necessary secret knowledge, and, being heavily centered on the ways in which the Old Testament god is defeated by the Good News. Momen's category mostly describes what are called mystery religions, rather than gnosticism. For this reason, although in 2007 when I first published this text I stated that there was a 4 out of 5 match between this category and Satanism, I am not revising that to 3 out of 5, due to the poor choice of category title by Moojan Momen. I follow this with a good description of actual Gnosticism.

• Righteous Satan Theologies: When Satan is Good: I've added section "2.3. Classical Gnosticism". Just added a few paragraphs on the Gnostics who were caught occasionally identifying with bad-guys such as Cain, Kresh and Judas. Because it turns out that if the God of this world is actually evil, then, those who oppose that god are in fact the good guys.

Scroll around these updated pages and look for the little "New" graphics as always, which Ziggy will leave in place for ~ 6 months for any new paragraph, quote, or section.

A few updates to some of my pages on religion

A few of these updates I done a few weeks ago, but I've been busy with University work so I'm only just around to posting this.

• Traditional Religions and Abolition of the Slave Trade - I've added a paragraph to section 1. The Early Slave Trade, War and Rejection of Slave Ownership : "Slavery was part of the culture of the entire Mesopotamian area (from which Judaism and Christianity arose) but in Babylon in the era of 1800 BCE, injury to slaves was a punishable offence, although the punishment was only a fine2, slaves were better off than in the surrounding areas. Organized Judaism arose from Babylon, and the God that they described in their holy writings happened to reveal to them laws and guidelines regarding slaves that were eerily similar to those found in the wider Babylonian community. Some use this fact to argue that all the verses regarding slaves are merely cultural artefacts, and not God's word."
  And I have also added half a dozen more verses to the text on the Old Testament and New Testament.

• Islam and the West: Pluralism, Immigration and Danger - Made a few minor updates and added section "4. Violent Fanaticism and Terrorism, Starting With Intolerance" with an example of the way a pro-evolution and pro-women's-choice cleric was forced out of his teaching role in the UK by anti-evolution and anti-women Muslims. The potential scope of what I could put on this page is staggering, so much so that I've chickened out and only made a few minor updates at the moment, due to time constraints.

• Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls - Added some stats to section "5.1. Hidden Secularisation" on American atheists; 4 in 20 of them still call themselves Christian or Jewish, and only 1/4 of them actually call themselves atheist.

And finally,

• Is the Christian God Evil? Evidence from Scripture and Nature - I've added a new section to the bits on the New Testament - "2.3. Jesus and the Crucifixion - A Trick". The whole scheme of the life of Jesus does not add up, and it is very hard to reconcile it with the plans of an all-knowing, good God. The crucifixion makes no sense, except if the God of the Bible is evil. Then the magic tricks are the successful attempts of an evil god to impress us simple mortals.

A few little updates to religion pages

• Monotheism and Free Will: God, Determinism and Fate - added a note on the contradiction between Omnipotence and Free Will (section #2), added a few more verses from Qur'an to the list of determinist verses, and re-ordered the page a little bit.

• Added section Atheism and Secularism #2. Lower-case or Upper-case Atheism? and commentary on the confused opinions of sociologist William Sims Bainbridge.

• The God of the Christian Bible is Evil: Evidence from Scripture and Nature - Added section "4. Sowing Seeds of Confusion - Not the Antics of a Good God" about Biblical statements on dreams, prophecies and the like and how they should be trusted, against the real-life situation that many conflicting religions and beliefs result from such visions. Also, the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11 has God create all the conflicting languages of mankind, because otherwise "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them".

And finally,

• Biblical Christianity Denies Free Will: I've added Matthew 5:45 to the section on predeterminism; although it isn't about salvation, it is at least about justice. The verses say that the sun and the rain afflict both the good and the evil amongst us. Also added a quote to section "4.5. The Church of England" from John William Draper (1881).

And in other news, I'm loving the summer heat even though it makes it harder to do my marathon training - mostly means I'm having to go running a bit later in the day than normal.

A few of these updates I done a month ago! A few are from the last few days:

• I've split my page on zombie films into two pages; Classic Zombie Films: the Slow Undead and Aggressive Zombie Films Where the Undead are Angry and Fast. And I've added reviews of Romero's latest films to the classic page, and a review of Osombie (where Osama Bin Laden comes back from the dead in Afghanistan!).

• Democracy: Its Foundations and Modern Challenges - relaunched this page and moved it to a new domain. I've added several sections, including results of the Press Freedom Index, showing which are the best 25 and worst 25 countries, and added a large section on the Mass Media, largely concentrated on the negative effects on democracy.

• Modern Mass Media: The Bane of Human Cultural Evolution - I've gone through all my notes from "Media Studies: The Basics" by Julian McDougall (2012). Although it was only a relatively light book, it still contained a few paragraphs I've quoted, and other factoids that I've added to this page, and, took the chance to clear up a few bits and make a few minor edits.

And finally:

• Marriage: Its Diversity and Character - Added a quote to section "1. The Diversity of Marriage" - "Pythagoreans taught that marriage is unfavorable to high intellectual development [and] the Pharisees taught that it is sinful for a man to live unmarried beyond his twentieth year" (Stanton 1898). And I've added a chart to section "5.2. The Decline of Religious Marriages".

UK Religion and What Country is the Best in the World?

I've added a few more charts and bits of historical data to "Religion in the United Kingdom: Diversity, Trends and Decline" by Vexen Crabtree (2012). In particular:

• Section 13: Church of England membership 1930-2007
• Section 18: Added data up until 2010 for % Anglican Baptisms of Newborns
• Section 19: Graph of Church of England confirmations 1990-2010
• Section 21: A of total number of deaths in the UK and the % that have a Church of England funeral, between 2001 and 2010

And I've at last been updating "What is the Best Country in the World?: An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2013)... I reset all countries' points and have added a new set of data sets. Some of the latest ones I've added are:

• Three more data sets: (1) the Global Peace Index (2012) which measures militarisation, arms deals and domestic and neighbourly conflicts. (2) The Press Freedom Index which measures media independence of authority, transparency, and criminilsation of opposing view (including imprisonment and murder of journalists). (3) Freedom on the Net index, which measures government intrusion on normal user rights.

Updated a load of pages with notes from Qur'an

I've slowly been getting through my notes on the Qur'an. I've added some stuff to these pages:

• vexen.co.uk/religion/scriptural_debating.html - Scriptural Debating Style: Christians and Muslims Must be Patient and Courteous section 2. Islam: With Courteous Manners and Wisdom; verses like Qur'an 4:140, 4:148, 16:25 and 29:46 in general agree with verses from the Christian Bible on the same subject, although you wouldn't believe it from the behaviour of many of the hot-headed Christians and Muslims!

• vexen.co.uk/religion/christianity_historical.html - Types of Christianity in History: Who Were the First Christians? section 4.2. The Evolution of Religion: The Bad Boys Survive at the Expense of the Nice Ones; the conflict between various forms of Christianity became so legendary that even other religious books try to explain it - Qur'an 5:14-15 asserts that emnity and hatred between Christians is a punishment from God for their "abandoning parts of God's message".

• vexen.co.uk/religion/antisemitism.html - Anti-Semitism: 2000 Years of Christian Love section 11. Islam; I've added the right-hand box that summarizes Qur'an 5:12-13, which says that most Jews are liars.

• humanreligions.info/twelve.html - The Divine Number 12: 12 Gods, 12 Disciples, 12 Tribes and the Zodiac section 3. The 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Disciples of God; added a new paragraph on Qur'an 2:60, 5:12 and 7:160, which records some strange details about the 12 tribes of Israel each having their own river, all stemming from one source.

• vexen.co.uk/religion/christianity_astronomy.html - Christianity v. Astronomy: The Earth Orbits the Sun! section 7. Islam and the Qur'an; Qur'an 13:2-3 contains some of the same errors about basic science as does the Bible, assuming a flat Earth.

A lot of these notes have been appended to other pages because I haven't written enough to 'break out' the sections into their own pages. Everything is still growing!

Synthetically grown meat

I've written a load more on synthetically grown meat; the introductory paragraph reads:

Meat in vats, grown in culture from a chemical source derived from animal genetics, will result in meat being grown more like plants than livestock. Such research aims to massively reduce the land and resources used by meat production, increase the safety and nutritional value of meat, stop animal suffering and prevent the further hunting of endangered species for food. It has even been researched by NASA in 2002, as part of an investigation into food production on long-haul space flights. The Economist newspaper in 2006 hailed it as a future industry. Animal farming as an industry is in distress in the modern world, and is criticized for its heavy use of water and inhumane nature. The potential benefits of growing synthetic meats in a sterile and controlled manner are huge.