Religious Extremism and Fundamentalism
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Post No.: 0837   Furrywisepuppy says:   Although religions often promote the highest ethical ideals, they’re also frequently implicated in violence. Even Buddhist monks have sometimes supported violence. Being religiously literate involves taking into consideration the fact that within any … Read More

The Internal Diversity Within Religious Traditions
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Post No.: 0815   Furrywisepuppy says:   In this post, we’re going to expand on Post No.: 0791 in order to start improving our religious literacy…   So the first thing to understand is that religions are internally diverse – … Read More

Improving Our Religious Literacy
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Post No.: 0791   Furrywisepuppy says:   According to a British Victorian colonial conception of religion anyway – the 5 main ‘world religions’ are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.   But each of these religions aren’t monolithic entities. There … Read More

Magic and Misdirection
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Post No.: 0718   Furrywisepuppy says:   Many adults aren’t fooled by magic in the sense of believing that it’s real. However, the more religious or spiritual narrative presentations of magic tricks can convince some that the supernatural realm really … Read More

Faith Healing and Praying for a Divine Intervention
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Post No.: 0690   Furrywisepuppy says:   Faith is like a perfect scam because any scepticism towards it is directly silenced because you’ll be accused of lacking enough of it! In other words, as soon as you question faith itself … Read More

Dysphoric Versus Euphoric Religious Ceremonies
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Post No.: 0657   Fluffystealthkitten says:   Some religious ceremonies, rites or rituals aren’t euphoric or pleasant but cause dysphoric, painful or frightening negative emotions in their participants. There are, or have been, religious practices around the world where devotees … Read More

Psychics, Mediums and Fortune Tellers
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Post No.: 0591   Fluffystealthkitten says:   So-called fortune tellers, spiritual mediums and psychics routinely employ a technique called ‘cold reading’. Without any prior knowledge of a person, they start by spewing out some vague and general guesses that have … Read More

Why Aren’t Some People Religious or Spiritual?
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Post No.: 0571   Furrywisepuppy says:   Why are some populations far less religious than others?   There are contextual reasons, such as one’s sense of security and safety, which stems from factors like living in an affluent area of … Read More

The Evolution from Religious to Secular Institutions
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Post No.: 0551   Furrywisepuppy says:   The belief in an afterlife can provide one with existential security and a sense of immortality, which is comforting. But afterlives can serve a double-duty – you could go to heaven… but you … Read More

Superstitions and Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
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Post No.: 0523   Furrywisepuppy says:   Many of us – even those whom consider ourselves otherwise rational and scientifically-minded – believe in superstitions.   Superstitions are beliefs or behaviours that pertain to claimed supernatural forces acting via specific objects … Read More

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing
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Post No.: 0496   Fluffystealthkitten says:   Successful cultural memes don’t so much survive because they help the individuals who believe in or copy them (although that’d obviously help their transmission) but survive because they benefit the particular meme itself. … Read More

A Supernatural Deterrence to Spur Ingroup Cohesion
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Post No.: 0477   Furrywisepuppy says:   Is religion an effective mechanism for encouraging more moral and pro-social behaviours and for enforcing compliance with the social rules or norms within a group?   Cooperation is the cornerstone for group cohesion … Read More

Our Weak Compared to Strong Moral Evaluations
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Post No.: 0439   Fluffystealthkitten says:   Our ‘weak or non-moral evaluations’ are those evaluations that are highly subjective, such as what pudding, painting or piece of music is best, and we wouldn’t really be bothered if someone else differed … Read More

How to Create a Cult
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Post No.: 0417   Furrywisepuppy says:   This post isn’t really about teaching people how to start a cult(!) Its purpose is learning about and watching out for some of the common signs of cults so that you or someone … Read More

Facts are One Thing, Subjective Values are Another
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Post No.: 0399   Furrywisepuppy says:   Human rights don’t arise from genetic evolution per se – nothing in genetic evolution or ‘survival of the fittest’ even says that people must behave morally. Humans have genetic instincts for both compassion … Read More

Religion for Social Support, Purpose and Meaning
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Post No.: 0387   Furrywisepuppy says:   Religiosity or spirituality is, generally, correlated with better health outcomes, such as lower levels of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, hypertension, emphysema, some cancers, chronic pain and premature death overall. This may be … Read More

Credibility Enhancing and Undermining Displays
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Post No.: 0349   Furrywisepuppy says:   Credibility enhancing displays (CREDs) are behaviours that signal one’s belief in and commitment to something, such as to a religion. Examples that enhance one’s credibility include putting your own money where your mouth … Read More

Is Religiosity in Decline?
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Post No.: 0322   Furrywisepuppy says:   In the industrialised world, religiosity has been on a marked decline, even in the USA. This may be because life has somewhat improved for many people overall over the past several decades, and … Read More

Rituals and Demonstrating Commitment to the Group
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Post No.: 0304   Furrywisepuppy says:   Post No.: 0283 discussed rituals and their personal effects on individuals. In this post, we’ll explore their social effects on groups…   For groups – rituals can bring and bind people together in … Read More

Religious Rituals and Anxiety Relief
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Post No.: 0283   Furrywisepuppy says:   The vast majority of people in the world currently affiliate themselves with a religion, whether they’re actively practising or not. Religion can be broken down into the beliefs (e.g. gods, afterlives, spirits and … Read More

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