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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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Do the key Abrahamic holy books claim that their god is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent?

The claim that the Abrahamic god is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent is popular among theologians, practitioners of Abrahamic religions and atheists alike (I am referring to the idea of god, regardless of whether there is a being that fits…
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Was the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake widely ascribed to Benjamin Franklin’s lightning rod?

Andrew Dickinson White’s book “A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom” contains the following anecdote In America the earthquake of 1755 was widely ascribed, especially in Massachusetts, to Franklin's rod. The Rev. Thomas…
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Do church congregations attract sex offenders?

On page 34 of their 2008 report Licensed to Hug: How Child Protection Policies Are Poisoning the Relationship Between the Generations and Damaging the Voluntary Sector, authors Frank Furedi & Jennie Bristow make the following bold claim (emphasis…
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Will the new Royal Adelaide Hospital have a Muslim-only prayer room while other religions share?

This meme is making the rounds: The new Royal Adelaide Hospital will have an exclusive Muslim prayer room, while all other religions will have to use a common area. Share if you think this is a disgrace. Leaving aside whether it would be a…
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Was it harder for Syrian Christians to immigrate to the US than Muslims?

As a justification for his intention to prioritise Christian refugees over Muslim refugees, President Trump said: Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very tough, to get into the United States? If you were a…
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Is this Buddha portrait genuine?

Is this actually a portrait of Buddha, drawn by one of his disciples? Here is a link saying: One of Buddha's disciple draw it secretly, while Buddha was teaching. Yes, Sakyamuni Buddha is Mongoloid race. The original photo stored in British…
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Was there a molecular test of Lanciano and Buenos Aires Eucharistic miracles?

Some roman catholic sources like this March 2012 US Roman Catholic Journal article This Is My Body–This Is My Blood claim there was an investigation performed about the eucharistic miracles in Lanciano (around 700) and Buenos Aires (Google search)…
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Were the Ten Commandments taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead?

This meme image from Pinterest suggests the Old Testament's Ten Commandments were derived from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Does this sound familiar? Do not curse god Do not scorn god Do not abandon your parents Do not defile the wife of a…
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Does the bible explicitly forbide homosexuality?

It's pretty common to hear that the bible condemn homosexuality, I've seen many references to versus. However, there is a good amount of debate as to which verses are actually speaking specifically about homosexuality. My question then, are there…
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Have many Falun Gong practitioners forgone medical treatment and died of treatable causes as a result?

The Chinese government is notably opposed to Falun Gong. In 1999, they were quoted in the Sun Sentinel: the government charged that Falun Gong was responsible for the deaths of 1,400 people -- many of whom died because they had stopped taking…
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Did Martin Luther refer to physicians who assume diseases come from natural causes as "ignorant blockheads" (or the German equivalent)?

I found this quote, attributed to Martin Luther: Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are…
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Is Halal meat healthier to consume?

Traditionally, Muslims only eat meat that has been slaughtered and prepared according to the rules of Halal. Some people claim that leads to meat that is healthier to eat. Halal for Health Halal meat tastes better, is more tender, is healthier and…
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Were snakes an ancient symbol of wisdom, fertility, and immortality?

Here is a quote from The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, with Apocrypha, discussing Genesis 3:1 This characterization of the snake emphasizes his wise craftiness, a characteristic that contrasts with the innocent nakedness of the man and…
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Does Gallup assume people answer honestly in their creationist vs. evolution polls?

A recent Gallup poll claims that 46% of Americans believe : God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the last 10,000 years or so It seems to me possible that, when asked about a matter of faith on a phone survey, people…
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Is this picture and voice recording of Daniel Radcliffe speaking Hebrew authentic?

This 2010 YouTube video purports to show a picture of actor Daniel Radcliffe wearing tefillin and speaking on Israeli radio about it in Hebrew. This picture has been picked up on a number of not-so-credible Orthodox Jewish news sites (such as…
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