There are many who believe that near death experiences (“NDE”) provide evidence of the existence of a spirit-soul and that those who have these close encounters with death have glimpsed another realm. Over at Brain Blogger, Jennifer Gibson discusses some recent studies of NDEs in a post titled “Light at the End of the Tunnel [...]
Tags:altered states of consciousness·American Indians·Asian Indians·Brain Blogger·Buddhist·carbon dioxide·Christian·consciousness·cultural imprinting·cultural patterning·Glenn Roberts·hallucinations·heaven·Hindu·Jennifer Gibson·Jesus·John Owen·Krishna·metaphysical realm·metaphysics·Muslim·NDE·near death experience·pan-human neurology·Siddhartha·soul·spirit·supernatural·The Near Death Experience·Vishnu·Wakan Tanka·Yamdoots·Yamraj
Reuters reports that “specialists” in prayer writing and ritual are doing a booming business in Iran. The whole business — or commodification of prayer — reminds one of the prayer and dispensation trade that existed in the Catholic Church for hundreds of years, and which so incensed Martin Luther:
In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, [...]
Tags:Catholic Church·dispensations·doctrine·Imam·intercession·interpretation·Iran·Islam·Islamic law·legitimacy·magic·Martin Luther·Mullah·Muslim·prayer·prayer sellers·prayer selling·ritual·sharia·Stanley Fish·superstition·supplication
It was with great sadness that I read a recent article in the New York Times documenting the pillaging and destruction of Mesopotamian archaeological sites in Iraq. Although these Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian sites — and previous excavations — receive scant attention outside small groups of antiquities scholars, they are of critical importance to our [...]
Tags:Akkad·Akkadian·anthropomorphic deities·anthropomorphism·Babylon·Babylonian·Christianity·city-states·cosmology·earliest religion·Enlil·heavenly order·Iraq·Islam·Judaic·Judaism·Mesopotamia·Mesopotamian·monotheism·Muslim·polytheism·Samuel Noah Kramer·Sumer·Sumerian·Sumerian pantheon·temples·The Sumerians·Ubaid·Ubaidian·Ur·ziggurats
Whether or not you like Christopher Hitchens, one thing is certain: he can turn an incisive phrase. At his best, Hitchens writes with an acerbic aplomb that can be charming; at his worst, he is downright nasty.
With the latter Hitchens in mind, I have not yet been able to bring myself to read his jeremiad, [...]
Tags:atheism·caliphate·Christopher Hitchens·consumerism·crystals·fundamentalists·Galileo·God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything·Islamic empire·jihad·Khalil Gibran·Laurens van der Post·materialism·Muslim·mysticism·mystics·New Age·Prince Charles·radical Islam·religion·science·sharia·soul·universal soul
While we are on the topic of India, I came across this article in The Hindu discussing the Dalai Lama’s visit to India. This statement really caught my eye:
[Indian] Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that protection of human rights was an intrinsic feature of the Indian civilization, which recognized the world as a family [...]
