Our religious beliefs inform our mental state. At
least in part. And our mental state informs both our
sense of well-being and our actions. Our religious
beliefs therefore matter. It does not matter that
angel and demons exist. They don't. It matters that
we believe that they do.
What does it mean to be conscious? Can only biological
systems be conscious? And what is subjective experience?
I think consciousness and subjective experience are the
aggregates of coherent interactions of internal
sensory representations of past and future
external events,
and where these representations are sculpted by
so-called meta-reinforcement deep learning.
I present a plausible and non-fantastical
explanation for the alleged miracle of Jesus
walking on water. I rely on: 1. Detailed
analysis of the archaeology, geomorphology
and topography of the Beteiha floodplain across
which the Jordan river meanders, emptying into
the Sea of Galilee. 2. The flow characteristics
of the Jordan river. And, 3. the intentions of
the disciples as they rowed towards the town
of Bethsaida.
When theists exploit the apparent strangeness of
the natural world to help legitimise their beliefs
in unnatural and outdated worldviews and cosmologies,
I become frustrated.
The findings of biology reveal that I-ness is an
emergent property, built on an ongoing vast exchange
of cellular bits-n-pieces in response to chemical and
energetic change. I-ness is not my network of
neurons, nor my gut flora, nor my mitochondria, nor
even my own DNA. I-ness is an emergent everything,
together.
We share a long and deep natural heritage.
We are cosmically unimportant.
We are creatures without divine preference.
We participate in an organic unity with Nature
and the natural world.
And that
is the allure of paganism.
Once as a born-again Christian, I was told to
expect a personal relationship with Jesus. I
would talk to the void before me, bending towards
the light of expectancy for something relatable.
Worship times became mental bending sessions,
hypnotically arching to locate that elusive voice
of Jesus. But the voice never came. So once upon
a later time, I became un-born-again. And now I
stand up straight.
When I was once an Evangelical Christian, Satan and his
demons and the Hell whence they came were real.
Lurking in the shadows of our minds, in the
interstices between us, and upon the words of our
discourse, Satan and his demons were in our midst.
Like a repulsive miasma about to envelop and
absorb us. Until I said no.
Hinduism is broad. A pro-Vedic branch comprises six
orthodox schools. A heterodox branch which includes
Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Charvaka. Hinduism's
ethical principle of nonviolence to all creatures is
more well-developed and better articulated than in my
former religion, Christianity. Not unlike
Christianity's Trinity, many Hindu schools
contemplate a triple deity, Trimurti, with divine
members Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Pentecostalism is a crazy modern phenomenon. Christians
gather en-masse and allow themselves to be swept into
a whirlpool of mass hysteria in which individual
feelings of euphoric bliss are attributed to some
power of their God made manifest in their presence,
as often stated. Lead pastors and musicians carefully
choreograph the emotional scenes, manipulating people
minds so that they may be seduced into believing that
those Godly powers are real. I have seen all this.
Our concepts of divinity have always been shaped by
our understanding of the world around us, beyond us,
and of ourselves in relation to this world. And so
by exploring this
Divine–World–Us
conceptual triad, I offer a new understanding of Divine
which I think coheres with the World
and with Us.
I offer an account of the birth of Jesus,
his life as a Hellenistic Jew, him walking
on water, his crucifixion, and his life
thereafter. The account is more or less
consistent with the disparate biblical
accounts, but which accommodates possible
poetic embellishment by the early Apostolic
writers.
Christianity and Norse paganism share important mythical
themes: a pantheon of gods, multiple existence realms,
intervening humanlike gods, a creation myth, and an
end-of-time myth.
Do religions have any moral right to the claim
that they offer people a moral advantage in life?
Is the imputed legitimacy of religion to make
significant claims on modern morality justified,
irrespective of whether those claims are relative
or absolute in nature?
This study examines the social, political,
and mythical context of nascent Christianity
in the eastern Mediterranean during middle
Classical Antiquity.
The transatlantic slave trade began in the late
15th century and came to an end with the defeat
of the Confederacy in the American Civil War in
1865. Complicity was deep. African leaders,
shippers in Europe and the US, governments,
private landowners, and Protestant Christianity
were all complicit.
Yes. The assurance of a long-term afterlife
bathed in some heavenly bliss sure is seductive.
But should this appeal on its own be enough to
instill belief, no matter how much we wish for it?
More is needed. Christianity claims a wide
philosophical sweep, yet comes with little supporting
evidence, and is not compellingly unique.
The Gods' manifest silence and impalpability
hint at their non-existence. Wisdom, peace,
meaning in life, and empathy are all fully
attainable without the Gods.
Telescopes reveal a reality of breathtaking
magnitude and richness beyond our Earth-bound. So
how is it then that we still embrace
anthropocentric beliefs and what is real and about
how we must behave on Earth without our first looking
out at the cosmic context? Our sense of sublime
self-importance seems arguably misplaced and
tawdry.
