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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:

How beliefs differ among (and within) various religions

How Christians establish their beliefs and policies

How religion initially developed

Donated essays:

by Allen S. Maller: "The evolution of human spirituality"
by Katie Johnson: "Five Things to Consider When Planning a Memorial"

The Axial Age and its consequences: times of rapid change

Why religion can inspire so much evil as well as good

What causes religiously motivated intolerance, hatred, violence, etc?

What believers think of their own religion, compared to other faiths

The importance of balance among the many dimensions of faith

Can a person be both a Christian and a Muslim?

About God as viewed by many different religions

The Ethics of Reciprocity a.k.a. The Golden Rule

Religious myths and legends

Which is the "true" Christian denomination, according to evangelicals, Mormons, etc.

Which is the "true" religion?

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

Sponsored link.

Key sections:

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

Reducing religion-inspired conflict:

By balancing organized religions' expectations

By removing passages from holy books that promote hatred, violence, etc.

A listing of some of the above passages in the Bible

By proper use of the Golden Rule

By modifying how religion is taught

The menorah incident at Billings, MT

Religion in the news:

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

Religious terms and language:

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

Religious terms with multiple meanings

	Religion
	Witchcraft
	Paganism
	Occult

Use of religious terms in essays and articles

A good example of how not to report religious information

Use of secular terms in writing about "hot" religious topics

horizontal rule

Religious holy days:

Lists of religious festivals, holy days, seasonal days of celebration, etc:

	For each month from 2001 to the present time
	List of religious festivals, ancient and modern
	Important holy days for major religions

Religious and secular calendars:

Calendars from Baha'i to Zoroastrianism

The use of CE and BCE in place of AD and BC

	Background information
	Controversy

Yearly celebrations by Christianity, Judaism, Aboriginal and Neopagan religions at:

	The spring equinox, MAR-21 or so in the Northern Hemisphere
	The summer solstice, JUN-21 or so: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
	The fall equinox, SEP-21 or so
	The winter solstice, DEC-21 or so
	Christmas

American annual observances:

	The National Day of Prayer (NDP)
	*The National Day of Reason* (NDR): An alternative celebration on the same day: Part 1 Part 2**

End of the world & Y2K fears:

	TEOTWAWKI: The End Of The World As We Know It
	Y2K computer problems that never materialized: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
	The 'secret' FBI Megiddo report on religious terrorism
	The Canadian CSIS report on religious terrorism

Church apologies:

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

Misc. topics:

Charitable giving: horror stories and guidance

Financial monitoring of Christian ministries by Ministry Watch

Common misconceptions about religions belief and practice

Sin: how it is viewed in different religions

Can prayer assess the will of God? - a pilot study

Is the Bible inerrant (free of error)?

What is truth?

Exceptions to the Ethic of reciprocity (Golden Rule)

The religious diversity among the crew of the space shuttle Columbia

Essays donated by Susan Humphreys:

How Billings, MT, acted in solidarity against religious bigotry

Minority religious & spiritual pursuits: Witchcraft (Wicca), Paganism, & The Occult

Government vouchers for religious schools

St. Nickolas (a.k.a. Santa)

What the year 2000 presidential candidates believe about religious freedom

The most popular religious topics on the Internet

Names given to the "Holy Land"

Conclusions: where did we come from; where are we going after death, and other really fundamental questions

Other related menus in this site:

	Information about specific religions from Asatru to Zoroastrianism
	Religious Laws
	Spiritual matters
	"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%.

References used:

	Find a faith group that matches your beliefs: See the Belief System Selector by SelectSmart.com staff.
	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."