Religious information and data
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General information on religion:
Origins, links, quotes, news, holy days,
myths & legends, doubt, glossary of terms,

See elsewhere in this web site for descriptions of beliefs and practices of specific religious groups

Key individual essays:

bullet How beliefs differ among (and within) various religions
 
bullet How Christians establish their beliefs and policies
 
bullet How religion initially developed
 
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Donated essays:

bullet The Axial Age and its consequences: times of rapid change
 
bullet Why religion can inspire so much evil as well as good
 
bullet What causes religiously motivated intolerance, hatred, violence, etc?
 
bullet What believers think of their own religion, compared to other faiths
 
bullet The importance of balance among the many dimensions of faith
 
bullet Can a person be both a Christian and a Muslim?
 
bullet About God as viewed by many different religions
 
bullet The Ethics of Reciprocity a.k.a. The Golden Rule
 
bullet Religious myths and legends
 
bullet Which is the "true" Christian denomination, according to evangelicals, Mormons, etc.
 
bullet Which is the "true" religion? 

bulletHow public opinion polls lie, either intentionally or by accident: Part 1 Part 2


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Key sections:

bullet

Basic religious data: dozens of essays on religions; numbers of members, practices, trends, policies, abuse, predictions for the future, holy days, etc.
bullet The importance of doubt in religious faith
 
bullet Recommended books on theology, religion and spirituality
 
bullet Links to other religious sites
 
bullet Quotes: religious, philosophical & humorous
 
bullet Glossary of religious terms [A to Z] 
bullet Jewish, Christian & Muslim conflicts over Jerusalem and its Temple Mount

Reducing religion-inspired conflict:

bullet By balancing organized religions' expectations
 
bullet By removing passages from holy books that promote hatred, violence, etc.

bullet A listing of some of the above passages in the Bible
 
bullet By proper use of the Golden Rule
 
bullet By modifying how religion is taught
 
bullet The menorah incident at Billings, MT

Religion in the news:

bullet Today's news: items from various news sources
bullet News of religious intolerance, change, and conflict
bullet News of religious tolerance and spirituality

Religious terms and language:

bullet Differences between Evangelical Christians and others, over meanings of religious words

bullet Religious terms with multiple meanings
bullet Religion
bullet Witchcraft
bullet Paganism
bullet Occult
bullet Use of religious terms in essays and articles

bullet A good example of how not to report religious information
bullet Use of secular terms in writing about "hot" religious topics

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Religious holy days:

bullet Lists of religious festivals, holy days, seasonal days of celebration, etc:
bullet For each month from 2001 to the present time
bullet List of religious festivals, ancient and modern
bullet Important holy days for major religions
bullet Religious and secular calendars:
bullet Calendars from Baha'i to Zoroastrianism

bullet The use of CE and BCE in place of AD and BC
bullet Background information
bullet Controversy
 
bullet Yearly celebrations by Christianity, Judaism, Aboriginal and Neopagan religions at:
bullet The spring equinox, MAR-21 or so in the Northern Hemisphere
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The summer solstice, JUN-21 or so: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3
bullet The fall equinox, SEP-21 or so
bullet The winter solstice, DEC-21 or so
bullet Christmas
 
bullet American annual observances:
bullet The National Day of Prayer (NDP)
bullet The National Day of Reason (NDR): An alternative celebration on the same day: Part 1 Part 2

End of the world & Y2K fears:

bullet TEOTWAWKI: The End Of The World As We Know It
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Y2K computer problems that never materialized: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

bullet The 'secret' FBI Megiddo report on religious terrorism
bullet The Canadian CSIS report on religious terrorism 

Church apologies:

bullet "Remorse that ends sin" A brief essay by the Christian Science Monitor
bullet Roman Catholic apology for past sins and errors issued 2000-MAR-07
bullet Christian apology to Jews and Muslims for the Crusades
bullet Apologies by Canadian denominations for abuse in residential schools

Misc. topics:

bullet Charitable giving: horror stories and guidance

bullet Financial monitoring of Christian ministries by Ministry Watch
  
bullet Common misconceptions about religions belief and practice
 
bullet Sin: how it is viewed in different religions
 
bullet Can prayer assess the will of God? - a pilot study
 
bullet Is the Bible inerrant (free of error)?
 
bullet What is truth?
 
bullet Exceptions to the Ethic of reciprocity (Golden Rule)
 
bullet The religious diversity among the crew of the space shuttle Columbia
 
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Essays donated by Susan Humphreys:

bullet How Billings, MT, acted in solidarity against religious bigotry
 
bullet Minority religious & spiritual pursuits: Witchcraft (Wicca),  Paganism, & The Occult
 
bullet Government vouchers for religious schools
 
bullet St. Nickolas (a.k.a. Santa)
 
bullet What the year 2000 presidential candidates believe about religious freedom
 
bullet The most popular religious topics on the Internet
 
bullet Names given to the "Holy Land"
 
bullet Conclusions: where did we come from; where are we going after death, and other really fundamental questions

Other related menus in this site:

bullet Information about specific religions from Asatru to Zoroastrianism
bullet Religious Laws
bullet Spiritual matters
bullet "Cults" and New Religious Groups

A quiz:

Religious Quiz logo The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a short, 15 question quiz by which you can compare your religious knowledge with a national poll of randomly selected American adults. Only 1% of the population had the correct answer to all 15 questions. See: http://www.pewforum.org/

The original quiz was siven to 3,412 adults who answered only 50% correctly. Jews, Atheists/Agnostics, and Mormons obtained the highest number of correct answers -- over 60%. Frequency of attendance at religious services and gender seemed to make essentially no difference in the results. Participants with increased educational attainment obtained higher scores: post-graduates 68%; high school or less: 40%.

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References used:

bullet Find a faith group that matches your beliefs: See the Belief System Selector by SelectSmart.com staff.
bullet Philip M. Parker, "Religious Cultures of the world," (1997). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store "Over 26,000 statistics are provided for over 70 religious groups covering a number of social, economic, and business variables. A significant review of literature is also included."

Reviewed: 2011-MAY-07
Last updated: 2018-DEC-01
Author: B.A. Robinson

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