- Countries with an official Religion
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U.S. states by religiosity
According to Pew in 2014
- Most religious: Mississippi (89%)
- Most Protestant: Alabama (80%)
- Most Catholic: Rhode Island (42%)
- Most LDS: Utah (55%)
- Most Religious other than Christian: New Jersey (14%)
- Most Godless/Atheistic: Vermont (37%)
- Most Agnostic/Unsure: Vermont (2%)
- Poll: How Americans Feel About Religious Groups (2014)
- My favourite religious music
- The God Gene:
The hypothesis that the gene "VMAT2"
(Vesicular monoamine transporter 2) predisposes humans towards spiritual or mystic experiences,
given that spirituality can be quantified,
and is partially heritable including this VMAT2 gene,
and given that spirituality provides an evolutionary advantage by providing individuals with an innate sense of optimism,
and religious people tend to reproduce more than Godless people.
The 3D views of the average VMAT2 distribution in normal aging brain using 18F-FP(+)-DTBZ. This illustrates the 3D visualization of subcortical VMAT2 binding in different angles. The image was displayed and overlaied on a corresponding CT image.
Religion Family Tree (partial)
An asterisk (*) indicates yet another new prophet and new holy book(s)
Atheism
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Epicurus' trilemma
- If God is unable to prevent evil, then he isn't all-powerful.
- If God is able but unwilling to prevent evil, then he isn't all-good.
- If God is both willing & able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist?
- Rebuttals:
- Implying that you can understand God. In the same way that ants cannot understand humans, we cannot understand God.
- Implying that it's better to be born into perfection rather than overcoming challenges to achieve it via your own strength/story.
- Perhaps in a world of evil, a taste of good is perceived better than if one were surrounded by good.
Christianity
(F)LDS / "Mormons"
- List of LDS wars
- State of Deseret was a provisional US state by settlers from the LDS Church ("Mormons") in Salt Lake City.
- Latter-day Saints (AKA Mormons) are selecting for slightly higher IQ partners (slightly eugenic), political conservatives for slightly lower IQ partners (slightly dysgenic), and everyone else for moreso-lower-IQ partners (dysgenic). Similarly found that conservatives, in general, show a weaker selection against intelligence than do liberals
Judaism
- Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia
- Jewish Contributions
- Ashkenazic Jews' mysterious origins unravelled by scientists thanks to ancient DNA
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Non-Talmudic Judaism:
Non-Talmusic Judaism is to Judaism, as Quranism is to Islam, as Protestantism is to Christianity.
- Karaite Judaism: "characterized by the recognition of the written Torah alone as its supreme authority", "While the religious life of other Jews is governed primarily by the oral law, as embodied in the Talmud, the Karaites reject the Talmud."
- Haymanot Judaism: practiced by the Ethiopian Jews.
- The Jewish fear of intermarriage
Islam
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Islam seems to have 2 alternative paths for males:
- For the successful, wealthy, attractive: Polygny (multiple wives) and procreation
- For all others: Martyrdom / Jihad to receive, in the afterlife, 72 promised wives
- Islam and cats: The domestic cat is a revered animal in Islam. Admired for their cleanliness, cats are considered "the quintessential pet" by Muslims. Thought to be ritually clean, and are thus allowed to enter homes and even mosques, including Masjid al-Haram. There is a belief among some Muslims that cats seek out people who are praying.
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Surah Al-Ma'idah - 82:
You will surely find the most bitter towards the believers to be the Jews and polytheists and the most gracious to be those who call themselves Christian. That is because there are priests and monks among them and because they are not arrogant.
Druze
- An Arab and Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group of ~1 million, primarily in the Middle East, who adhere to the Druze faith. The Druze faith is a secretive theology based on an esoteric interpretation of scripture. It forbids outsiders from converting. Marriage outside the Druze faith is rare & strongly discouraged. Most Druze religious practices are kept secret. It is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic religion based on the teachings of "Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad" and ancient Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. The faith believes in the prophets Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, & "Isma'il ibn Ja'far".
Tibetan Buddhism
- The disappeared 11th Panchen Lama, "Gedhun Choekyi Nyima": 1995 May 14th, The 14th Dalai Lama recognized and announced that then 6-year-old, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was the 11th Panchen Lama, the 2nd highest position in Tibetan Buddhism, responsible for identifying the next Dalai Lama (the highest position). The Chinese government rejected him, and three days after the appointment, the 6-year-old Panchen Lama and his family were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared by the Chinese government. Considered the world's youngest political prisoner, he has never been publicly seen nor heard from since his kidnapping in 1995. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole political party of China, replaced him with "Gyancain Norbu", whom is rejected by everyone except the CCP, and is seen as a political tool to undermine Tibet, and undermine the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
Neo-Paganism
- Germanic Paganism: Includes Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, the Netherlands, and some nearby areas. A pantheon of gods including Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frigg/Frīja, and possibly more.
- Old Norse religion.
Image credits
- Map of state religions by Wikipedia user "Ramichrh" under license CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Visualisation of VMAT2 distribution in brain by Lin K, Weng Y, Hsieh C, Lin W, Wey S, Kung M, Yen T, Lu C, & Hsiao I; under license CC BY 2.5 from their published research titled "Brain Imaging of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter Type 2 in Healthy Aging Subjects by 18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ PET", modified from video to gif format and cropped.