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Questions tagged [religion]

Use this tag for questions about religious practices. Do not ask questions about religious beliefs, though. Those are off-topic and there is no tag to use.

Religion is a cultural system that creates powerful and long-lasting meaning by establishing symbols that relate humanity to beliefs and values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.

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Did St. Patrick rid Ireland of druids and other pagans?

I've read that the common story about St. Patrick ridding Ireland of "snakes" is actually a reference to ridding Ireland of druids and other pagans. Some sources say that he accomplished this through his preaching of Christian principles, but other…
Kristopher Johnson
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Are half of the donations to Democratic Party from Jewish sources?

I've encountered this claim in a number of sources, both respectable and not, but ultimately seems to stem from an article in Jerusalem Post attributing it to Gil Troy: The reason for such intense scrutiny is the outsize contributions of Jewish…
StasM
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Do 75% of new Muslim converts in the US leave Islam within a few years?

From the Islam-critical site WikiIslam: However, most individuals who convert rarely choose to study Islam objectively before making such an important decision. Instead they choose to be taken in by the propaganda, only to discover that they have…
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Are engineers more religious than average faculty?

Recent Slashdot article: In a forthcoming book, Engineers of Jihad, published by Princeton University Press, Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog provide a new theory explaining why engineers seem unusually prone to become involved in terrorist…
nic
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Did Saddam Hussein have a Quran written in blood?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Quran http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/19/saddam-legacy-quran-iraqi-government "The "Blood Qur'an" is a copy of the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, claimed to have been written in the blood of the former…
Jack V.
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Is the Bible (Christian and Hebrew) the first one to suggest that the Earth is a sphere?

This website claims that the bible is the first to suggest that earth is a sphere way before the Greeks. A literal translation of Job 26:10 is “He described a circle upon the face of the waters, until the day and night come to an end.” A …
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Is the Greek Orthodox church worth 700 billion Euros?

This Wikipedia list puts the Greek Orthodox church's net worth at 700B Euros in 2011 (about 974B USD), above any branch of the Catholic church or other religion. Its source is France 24, but I am not sure whether the 700B estimate is trustworthy.…
Caleb Stanford
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Does religious influence at young age affect later development of general critical faculties?

Does anybody know if there is any study of a link between being religiously influenced at a young age and later general ability for critical thinking? I mean ASIDE from the context of the specific religion to which the child was exposed. Many…
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Is "Islamic fasting" healthy?

I live in a mostly Muslim country (Morocco). Now we are in the month of Ramadan. First, I had to define Ramadan: Is 30 days (or 29) where practicing Muslims can neither eat or drink or having sex, all the day, for example here it starts from 04.00…
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Do 42% of young muslims in France support suicide bombings?

In this youtube video, in the minute 2:20, the narrator gives some absurd-sounding statistics. After claiming that "21% of syrian migrants support ISIS", he says that "22% of young muslim migrants living in germany support suicide bombings". This…
Gabe12
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Is "No Religion" world's fastest growing religion?

This recent article from anonhq.com has been widely shared on Facebook. It claims: A recent global survey conducted by National Geographic shows that the worlds fastest growing religion is not Islam or Christianity, but no religion at all –…
Sakib Arifin
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Did St. Augustine say God was busy preparing hell for people who ask about what was He doing before creation?

Referring to this quote: He was busy creating hell for people who ask such questions. -- St. Augustine(in reply to "What was God doing before creation?") Did St. Augustine actually say that?
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Did Saint Charbel Makhluf's body remain intact for 50 years?

Saint Charbel Makhluf, O.L.M. (or Sharbel Maklouf),[1] (Arabic: مار شربل‎, May 8, 1828 – December 24, 1898) was a Maronite monk and priest from Lebanon. During his life he obtained a wide reputation for holiness and he has been canonized by…
George Chalhoub
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Do ancient Hindu texts predict the future expansion of the Sun?

This article on the Lovearth Network by Linda Johnsen, points out the correspondences between sacred Hindu texts and modern science. One particular section captured my interest greatly (emphasis mine): In fact the Puranas, encyclopedias of yogic…
Anish Ramaswamy
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Does the practice known as MBP cause HSV-1 in infants?

To introduce this question, there is an ongoing lawsuit in NYC about the religous practice of "metzitzah b’peh". From the city's info page about it: Health Department investigations of newborns with herpes virus between 2000 –2011 have shown that…
ike
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