Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'Axial Age Religions'

Hitchens on Anti-Semitism

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions

Provocative and thoughtful as he usually is, Hitchens opines on anti-semitism for The Atlantic:
There is, probably first and certainly foremost, religious anti-Semitism. Unlike other nations or peoples, Jews were among the witnesses to the alleged lives and preachings of Jesus and Muhammad, and turned away from men they deemed false Messiahs. It is inconceivable that [...]

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“Islam Is Not a Religion”

September 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Civil Religion, Definitions of Religion

So says J.R. Dieckmann, an electrician and writer who runs a website that I will neither name nor link.  He did, however, post this startling proclamation over here, one of the many bizarre and paranoid websites that are making so much fearful noise in American politics.
Decoding Dieckmann’s assertion is easy — what he means is [...]

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Iranian Jews, Zoroastrians & Bahai

August 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions, Recent and New Religions

Over at The Atlantic, Elizabeth Weingarten reports on Iranian Jews in America.  I was surprised to learn there is still a community of Persian Jews in Iran and that so long as they are silent on the issue of Israel, they are free to do as they please.  Iran truly is a fascinating country with [...]

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Koran Burning & Christian History

August 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions

The inaptly named Dove World Outreach Center (an evangelical church) in Gainesville, Florida wants to create a bonfire of Korans but has been denied a permit by the fire marshal.  Incredibly, Gainesville’s “burning ordinance” prohibits the open air torching of books — either some city councilman was worried about global warming or wanted to prevent [...]

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Literacy & Books: Shaping Religious Experience

August 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions

Over at The Atlantic, Heather Horn interviews Andrew Pettegree, who has just written a history of the book titled The Book in the Renaissance.  After pondering the (bright) future of books, they discuss the profound ways in which vernacular books and a literate public forever changed religious experience:
But one mustn’t ignore that the mainstay of [...]

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Theology of Religions v. History of Religions

August 18th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, Evolution and Selection, Neolithic Religions, Shamans and Shamanism

Over at HuffPo Religion, a well meaning Matthew Anderson suggests that all American junior-senior high school students should be required to take a minimum of two classes on world religions so as to be exposed to something other than their parents’ religion.  He supposes that these courses would foster tolerance and lead to a more [...]

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Stone Age Sharia Execution

August 18th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Archaeology and Religion, Axial Age Religions, Morality and Religion

Over at the NYT, Rob Nordlund chillingly reports on the execution by stoning of a young couple in Afghanistan who had fallen in love and eloped.  The details are disgusting:
Mr. Khan said that as a Taliban mullah prepared to read the judgment of a religious court, the lovers, a 25-year-old man named Khayyam and a [...]

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An Unenthused Rinpoche

August 16th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Daily Devolutions, Globalization and Religion, Ritual and Religion

As my readers know, there is no such thing as “Buddhism” — there are multiple kinds of buddhisms, some of which eschew spirits and deities while emphasizing consciousness and compassion, whereas others are highly ritualized and enthusiastically enjoin the supernatural realm of gods and souls.
I was reminded of this the other day while reading Electa [...]

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Christian America and Religious Intolerance

August 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Atheism and Religion, Axial Age Religions, Civil Religion, Emotions and Religion

In an odd article that attempts to situate Anne Rice’s very public proclamation that she is leaving the Catholic Church within the larger context of American Christianity, Los Angeles Times religion reporter William Lobdell makes two apparently contradictory claims:

American Christianity is not well, and there’s evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical [...]

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Morality without God, Buddhism as Religion, and Christian Empire

August 7th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Morality and Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Power and Religion

Incredibly, there are three articles over at HuffPo Religion that I have recently bookmarked for brief discussion here.  There are of course about ten others which reflect the liberal, progressive, ecumenical, and mystical view of religion adhered to by a tiny minority of people, and which will be of interest mostly to the highly educated [...]

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