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Exploring religion.

Intro

What is religion? There are many different definitions of religion (EGs: Religion [W] or Religion [dictionary.com/...]). Let me try a few cheesey tricks to start defining religion. One easy trick would be to use free association to come up with a list religious keywords and their complement.

faith : reason
spiritual : psychological
supernatural : natural
superstition : real
intuition : experience
magical thinking : scientific method
mysticism : fact
sacret texts : experimentation
ritual : protocol
ceremony : civil action
dogma : chaos/freedom
myth : nonsense
moral : immoral
mortality : immortality
immortality : mortality
after life : death
community : individual
individual : community
creation : evolution
cosmology : the present
holy days : holidays
love : hate
God : Devil or nothing

Obviously it's an imperfect list for several reasons. Dualism isn't everything; People may come up with other opposites; Some things go on both sides; And so on. The list is merely an exercise to think about the topic.

With religion, there is not merely an epistemological issue of your knowledge of the nature of man and the universe, but a component that tells you and your community how to behave. However since the behavioural component is built upon the epistemological one, then it may be said that the epistemological encompasses the behavioural component. The epistemological component is the key.

Non-religious epistemology relies on the following:

1. Empirical evidence. Measurement, observation, and experimentation. Rigorously and openly applied, this is the scientific method.
2. Logic and reasoning and math.
3. Intuition. Feelings and emotions. Inference without knowing how. This not only covers warm and fuzzy feelings but all satori, moments of insight and genius too. This might even be described as spiritual.
4. Citation. This is relying on the words, experiences, etc. of others. This includes heresay, doxa (Greek "common beliefs; popular opinion"), or emdoxa (Greek "sagely beliefs; elder opinion"), literature, mythology, other relgions.

Note the trump order: Citation should be validated by intuition, logic, and evidence. Intuition should be validated by logic and evidence. Logic shoud be validated by evidence.

Note also that non-religious epistemology is essentially "common sense"! Especially when the evidence and logic meshes with your inuition. Science is especially powerful when it gains knowledge that is counter-intuitive.

Religious epistemology relies on non-religious epistemology as well, but common sense can trumped by the mystical or supernatural. In particular, religions tend to inver the order so that mystical citations trump the rest:

1. Mystical citations. Holy scriptures and such.
2. Mystical intuitions. Visitations by angels and such.
3. Logic. Logic twists in order to satisfy the mystical.
4. Evidence. Evidence may be rejected if it doesn't support the mystical.

Religions have used all manner of strong psychological, cultural, aethetic, social, and poltical devices to make their "supernatural" as real as the natural. Religious practices often include the following:

• prayer; meditation; confessions; mantras;
• chanting; hymns; psalms; songs; dancing;
• sacrifice and burning: incense; smoking; food, drink; animals; plants; people;
• rituals; pilgrimages; gatherings; ceremonies;
• holidays; festivals; feasts;
• temples; churches; shrines;
• idols; prayer beads; icons; special clothing;

A religion's "supernatural" aspects are clearly superstititious to those outside of the religion, but to those within the religion, their supernatural aspects are real. I personally do not believe in the supernatural, whether God or gods or demon or ghosts. However given the strong pressures that religions and their communities apply, I can empathise with those who believe. Humans are prone to religion and we love fiction. Voltair said "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him".

Here are is personal view on religion in brief:

• I am pragmatic and secular --not cynical or anti-religious.
• I believe in nature and science. I believe that we are biologically inclined to want to believe. I am a naturalist but I acknowledge emergent experiences, complex experiences, and unexplained experiences that may truthfully feel spiritual. I believe that individuals and groups are at different stages in their own personal spiritual and emotional journeys, so I am generally tolerant and respectful of where people are. I believe that we can benefit from exploring and comparing different religions --and that it is part of our rich human heritage to do so.
• I believe that there are cultural, and social and/or emotional benefits to committing to a non-secular religious system, but I also believe that humanity is very young and that we will have many faiths for a long time yet, thus it would be beneficial for people of different faiths to participate in a broader secular system. I believe that government should be neutral on religion and that religious convictions must be translated into secular and ethical terms when becoming policy.
• I believe that we are individuals and social animals with a sense of self-interests and expanding group-interests. Problems arise when people cannot see or do beyond the interests of themselves or their tribe and move on to the interests of the species and the world. I believe that people will tend to be behaviorally, psychologically, and socially "good".
• I was was born and raised a Catholic Christian, but I am only a nominal Catholic Christian. I believe that there are many who participate in their faith more for cultural, social, and/or emotional reasons than for literal mystical reasons.
• I am an Atheist. (Yes, my mom knows.) I am not evil or immoral. I'm a human being like everyone else.

Distinguishing Religions

Religions are distinguished by several approaches including the following:

• Distinguish religions by the number of deities:
  • Atheists. # of deities = 0. Also classified as non-religious.
  • Monotheists. # of deities = 1.
    • Deists. God created but does not intervene or for all purposes does not exist anymore.
    • Eutheists. God is and is good.
    • Dystheists. God is and is bad.
      • Satanists. God is and has a bad part or bad counter part.
      • Gnostics. God is but most people mistakenly worship demiurges that are not the real God.
      • Maltheists. God is and is bad with other details.
  • Polytheists. # of deities > 1.
    • Animists. Supernatural beings/souls inhabit all objects and beings.
    • Shamanists. Supernatural beings/souls are on the other side of the axis mundi (world axis) and they affect this world. The concept of axis mundi is common amongst nearly all cultures. The axis mundi is often represented with a rope, tree, vine, ladder, staff, tai chi (yin yang) symbol (Unicode x262F (9775): ☯), caduceus (staff with two entwined snakes, Unicode x2624 (9764): ☤).
    • Monolatrists. # of deities > 1, but the worshipper worships only one particular god and this god affects his life.
    • Kathenotheist. # of deities > 1, but the worshipper worships only one particular god at a time and this god affects his life at that time.
    • Suitheists. # of deities >1. The worshipper is himself a god --he may have his own worshippers who may or may not be deities too.
  • Agnostics. # deities = undetermined or indeterminate. There is a spectrum that ranges from truly agnostic to truly gnostic. This concept is frequently abused. There are some claims that we're pretty sure of and can be fairly easily proven. More outrageous claims require stronger proof, not stronger disproof! If I say I can fly, then according to the Gnosticism [W]. See "Atheist, Gnostic, Theist, Agnostic" [http://freethinker.co.uk/2009/09/25/8419/].
  • Other.
    • Henotheists. # of deities = 1 supreme god + other minor deities. In one sense (God + Saints = deities).
    • Pantheistic. Immanent spiritualism, deity, or deities. Richard Dawkins described pantheism as "sexed-up atheism". Humanists and Deists may be described as pantheists. Variants include the following:
      • Immanent spiritualism. May be seen as # of deities = 0. Aka naturalistic spirituality.
      • Immanent deity. May be seen as # of deities = 1. Aka naturalistic monotheism.
      • Immanent deities. May be seen as # of deities = 2+. Aka naturalistic polytheism.
    • Panentheistic. God = immanent + more. That is God also transcends the Universe.
    • Non-theistic. The existence or nature of God or deities isn't an issue.
• Distinguish religions by essence. Where are the borders of religion, metaphysics, and physics?
  • Nihilism. All is nothing. Everything is meaningless, purposeless, valueless.
  • Monoism. All is of one essence, substance, or energy.
    • Materialism = Physicalism. Everything is matter (body, mass, brain, etc.).
    • Idealism. Everything is ideas (spirit, mind, language, etc.).
    • Neutral Monoism. Everything is energy. Sort of moot given that matter = energy via E = mc².
    • Fideism. Faith alone is sufficient because if "faith" were proven, then faith is unnecessary.
    • Nominalism. Universals do not exist, just Individuals. Antonym to Realism.
  • Dualism. Duality may indicate two substances, or a thing with a double nature, or a thing distinct from another thing.
    • Cartesian duality. Mind/Spirit/Idea v Body/Matter. Of course with two substances, you have the problem of "problem of interactionism".
    • Yin Yang. Many things happen to have duality.
    • Realism. Universals (properties, relations, types, or classes) exist independently of any Individuals (objects in programming-speak). Universals were called "forms" or "ideas" in Plato's The Republic. Antonym to Nominalism.
  • Pluralism. There are many kinds of essences.
  • Shunyata (Sanskrit for "emptiness"). Neither nihilism, monoism, dualism, or pluralism. The absence of self. Form = emptiness. Being. Non-duality. "not two, not one". Taoist wu wei ("not doing"), not passivity, but predicate (action, verb) without a subject (noun, doer).
• Distinguish the religious (metaphysical, supernatural) from the non-religious (physical, natural) upon the basis of scientific observation.
  • Empiricism, Rationalism, Positivism, Skepticism, and the Scientific Method. Truth should be determined by { reasoning, observation, factual analysis, a posteriori knowledge ("after the fact"), inductive reasoning (arguments are cogent, conclusion is likely),  etc. }.
    • Humanism. Anthropocentric Rationalists who focus on humans and human activity, as opposed to animals, plants, nature, etc.
  • Most "religions" determine truth by { faith, dogma, a priori knowledge ("before the fact"), deductive reasoning (arguments are binding, conclusion is certain), etc. }.
• Some natural natural groupings of faiths:
  • Abrahamic faiths. EGs: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahai, Druze, Mandaeanism, Sikhism, and Rastafari.
  • Vedic faiths. Indo-Aryan faiths preceding Dharmic faiths.
  • Dharmic faiths have the concept of dharma. EGs: Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

    In dharmic faiths, entities participate in the world in samsara (the cycles of existence) until they they achieve nirvana (a realization of the nature of reality. Related Hindu words: moksha ("liberation") and mukti ("release")) --usually through bodhi (enlightenment)-- and can hence break the cycle of samsara to eventually fully pass away (parinirvana).

    One does or can live by dharma (in Sanskirt) = dhamma (in Pali), which can various meanings such as life/being as it is or life/being as following laws or life/being following the samsara cycle.

    Furthermore, there are three characteristics of existence, aka "Dharma Seals" = ti-lakkhana (in Pali) = tri-laksana (in Sanskrit).

    • Dukka (in Pali) = dukha (in Sanskrit). This is pain, suffering, non-satisfaction, discomfort, stress, etc.
    • Annica (in Pali) = anitya (in Sanskrit) = wúcháng (in Chinese) = mujō  (in Japanese). This is impermanence, flux, change.
    • Anatta (in Pali) = anātman (in Sanskrit). This is the lacking of soul, permanence, self, personality, and self-nature. Later synonym: shunyata (in Sanskrit) = suññatā (in Pali) = emptiness.

  • Indigenous faiths, historical faiths, and faith that try to revive them. Often some form of animism or neo-paganism.
  • Syncretic faiths blend other faiths or consider all faiths to have commonality.
  • Revealed v Non-revealed faiths. Non-revealed faiths have no divine representative.
  • Other faiths.
• Distinguish religions by organizational, institutional, or historical structures. See Major_world_religions [W].
• Typical top religions by population:
  1. Christianity
  2. Islam
  3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist
  4. Hinduism
  5. Chinese traditional religion
  6. Buddhism
  7. Primal indigenous
  8. African Traditional and Diasporic
  9. Sikhism. Between Hinduism and Islam.
  10. Juche. North Korean ideology.
  11. Spiritism.
  12. Judaism
  13. Bahá'í Faith. A syncretic monotheistic religion that believes in the progressive revelation via major prophets including the Abrahamic, Buddha, and Zoroaster.
  14. Jainism
  15. Shinto. "The Way of the gods". Animistic. Kami = divine beings, gods, God, deities, spirits. Amaterasu, the sun-goddess, is the most famous kami and is often represented by a mirror.
  16. Cao Dai. Vietnamese monotheistic.
  17. Zoroastrianism. Persian ancient monotheistic religion.

Links

Links that lead to off-site pages about Religion, Mysticism, and Naturalism.

Mysticism

• Wikipedia
  • Portal:Religion
  • Portal:Spirituality
  • Religious texts [wikisource.org/...]
  • Norse, Ásatrú
    • Asatru
    • List of Norse gods
    • Norse mythology
    • Sources
      • Norse saga
      • Hávamál. '(The Words of the High One), (known also as "The Sayings of Har", or the "High Song of Odin"), a work of Old Norse poetry, is a source document for the study of Norse mythology, being a set of rules for wise living (and survival) purportedly written by Odin. It is both practical and metaphysical in content. The only extant source for this poem is contained within the Codex Regius. An early reference to the poem is by Eyvindr skáldaspillir in Hákonarmál, c. 960. Hávamál consists of a number of poems, which shift in tone and tenor and narrative position. Many modern proponents of Ásatrú place the Havamal at the centre of their religious beliefs.'
      • Poetic Edda.
        • The Poetic Edda, aka Sæmundar Edda; Elder Edda.
        • In addition to the Codex Regius, various editors of the Poetic Edda frequently include a significant number of poems not from the Codex Regis.
        • 'The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. In a wider sense the Poetic Edda includes a number of similar poems from other manuscripts. Along with Snorri's Edda the Poetic Edda is the most important source we have on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. '
      • Younger Edda.
        • The Younger Edda, aka Prose Edda; Snorri's Edda.
        • 'The Prose Edda consists of three distinct sections: the Gylfaginning (c 20 000 words), the Skáldskaparmál (c 50 000 words) and the Háttatal (c 20 000 words).
• Bible
  • Ban The Bible. 'There are no better porn writers than the authors of the Bible. Consider the unbridled eroticism of the Song of Solomon. Or if you want hardcore smut, incest, rape, sexual mutilation, voyeurism, watersports, fornication, adultery, etc., look no further than your family Bible. Christians justify the sex therein as "contextualized" with a "moral message." Wrapping porn in a morality tale is the oldest ploy of smut peddlers. No one reads the endings anyway, but including a moral message salves the conscience of the pious. It's one way to have your..., shall we say "cake," and eat it, too.'
  • Bible.cc. 'Our mission is to increase the visibility and accessibility of the Scriptures online. Our site is designed to get you quickly to the verse, version and site you need. Each of our 31102 Bible Verse Pages is currently titled and formatted with 8 versions listed and direct links to the chapter in 25 versions on 12 separate sites. '
  • BibleGateway.com.
    • 'The Bible Gateway is a tool for reading and researching scripture online -- all in the language or translation of your choice!'
    • They let you download many different versions of the Bible. You can also see whole chapters at a time instead of just individual verses.
  • KingJBible.com. King James Bible
  • New American Bible. I should put references to the Koran and stuff here too.
  • SkepticsAnnotatedBible.com
  • Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse [truluck.com]. By Dr. Rembert S. Truluck.
  • The Interactive Bible [bible.ca]. Are they being weird on purpose?
• Christian
  • AskWhy.co.uk. A Christian doubter.
    • "The Truth about the Jewish Scriptures". 'Full explanation of how the Jewish scriptures were founded by the Persian kings in the fifth century as a political weapon of mass control and its subsequent evolution and elaboration under the Greeks and Maccabees. Nothing supernatural here'
  • Bible-Truths.org. Their content is so insipid that you think its a joke but they aren't joking. How pathetic.
  • Catholic.org.
  • Catholicism.org
  • Chick.com. Most famous for their Christian cartoon booklets.
  • CrossWalk.com. Somewhat commercial.
    • BibleStudyTools.net.
  • godandscience.org
  • Landover Baptist Church [LandoverBaptist.org]. A fairly outrageous but funny site.
  • NewAdvent.org. Catholic studies resource.
    • Catholic Encyclopedia. Slanted but still a resource.
  • Opus Dei - The Unofficial Homepage
  • Sojo.net. 'a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice.'
  • Vatican.va.
  • "What's up with Mormonism?" [straightdope.com/mailbag/mmormon.html]
• Greek. See also Mythology.
  • Greek Mythology [http://messagenet.com/myths/]
  • Greek Mythology [http://www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/greek_myth.html]
  • GreekMythology.com
  • Greek Mythology Link [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/index.html]. 'The Greek Mythology Link is a collection of myths retold by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, published in 1993 (available at Amazon). The GML contains Texts, Images, Tables and Maps. The mythical accounts are based exclusively on ancient sources.'
  • WingedSandals.com [Flash optional]. This is a fun site on Greek mythology.
• Indian, Hindu
  • BuddhaNet.net. 'The original Buddhist information and education network'.
  • ExoticIndia.com. 'the Internet's largest Retail Store for Indian Arts and Crafts.'
    • "Shiva - The Sensuous Yogi"
    • "The Iconographic Genesis of Shiva"
  • IndiaDivine.org
  • US-Hindus.com
• Islam
  • CrescentLife.com
  • Nawawi.org. The Nawawi Foundation 'was born out of a need to provide relevant, meaningful Islamic teachings to America's growing first and second generation Muslims -- teachings firmly rooted in authentic scholarship and taught in a way that is dynamic and applicable to the modern world.'
  • The Noble Qur'an. Or the Koran.
• Mythology
  • God Checker [Godchecker.com]. 'We have more Gods than you can shake a stick at. Godchecker's Mythology Encyclopedia currently features over 2,000 deities.'
  • LivingMyths.com. 'This site explores myths -- symbolic stories which have evolved orally, and which have guided and inspired humanity for thousands of years. We retell and comment on Celtic, Greek, Native American and Chinese mythology, showing that myths are still alive with the power of the collective unconscious. '
  • MythFolklore.net
  • MythWeb.com. Pretty kid friendly.
  • Pantheon.org. Encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and legend.
• Norse, Ásatrú
  • Source texts
    • The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson. Tr. from the original Old Norse text into English by Benjamin Thorpe, and The Younger Eddas Snorre Sturleson. Tr. from the original Old Norse text into English by I.A. Blackwell. Hon. Rasmus B. Anderson, LL. D., editor in chief. J.W. Buel, PH. D., managing editor. Edda Sæmundar. Series: Norroena, the history and romance of northern Europe: A library of supreme classics printed in complete form: Viking edition. London: Norroena Society, 1906. fax.libs.uga.edu/PT7234xE211/
  • Miscellany
    • Asatru-U.org.
      • 'Asatru-U develops and publishes Asatru (Germanic Heathen) courses for different kinds of students; for different levels of rigor and abstraction; and for directed and independent study. We operate loosely under the umbrella of the Reeves Hall of the Frigga's Web Association. Our discussion archives and drafts are on Yahoo! Groups.'
    • FriggasWeb.org.
      • 'Frigga's Web is an organization established to honor the goddess Frigga, one of the deities of the religion called Ásatrú, Heathenism, or Germanic/Teutonic Paganism.'
      • The Nine Noble Virtues For Kidss. 'Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industry, Self-Reliance, and Perseverance'
    • Northvegr Foundation [Northvegr.org]. 'Over 8500 Pages Dedicated to Bringing Knowledge and Understanding of Northern European pre-Christian History, Culture and Spiritual values.'
    • TheTroth.org
      • 'We in the Troth practice the Germanic/Norse religion of Heathenry, commonly referred to as Asatru. We realize that there are many variations, names, and practices in Germanic Heathenry, including Theodism, Irminism, Odinism, and Anglo-Saxon Heathenry. What we all share is a defining personal loyalty to, or Troth with, the Gods and Goddesses of the Northlands. Our Gods are of two tribes: the Æsir, and the Vanir. These Gods are: Odin, Thor, Frigga, Frey, Freya,Tyr, Idunna, and many others. We are deeply proud of our Norse/Germanic religious, cultural, and historical heritage. We welcome all, whatever their religious background, who have heard the call of our Gods, and would like to know more about Germanic/Norse Heathenry. Together, we seek to practice the moral principles followed by our noble predecessors, including: Boldness Truth Honor Troth Self-Rule Hospitality Industry Self-Reliance Steadfastness Equality Strength Wisdom Generosity Family Responsibility'
      • Gods, Goddesses, and Useful Mythic Vocabulary of the Troth
      • What is Asatru?
      • An Introduction to the Troth
      • Rites and Ways of the Troth
• Miscellany
  • Adherents.com. 'a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. The religions of the world are enumerated here.'
  • AltReligion.About.com
  • BeliefNet.com. Their jokes are actually pretty good. Many message boards on a wide array of religions.
    • Belief-O-Matic.
      • A quick 20-question self-quiz about religious beliefs. The result ranks 27 faiths in descending order of agreement with you beliefs.
      • Here are the result of my test [2004-08-06]: '1. Liberal Quakers (100%) 2. Unitarian Universalism (99%) 3. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (97 4. Secular Humanism (89%) 5. Neo-Pagan (85%) 6. Bah´'í Faith (80%) 7. Taoism (75%) 8. Mahayana Buddhism (73%) 9. New Age (72%) 10. Theravada Buddhism (68%) 11. Nontheist (66%) 12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (65%) 13. Reform Judaism (63%) 14. New Thought (58%) 15. Orthodox Quaker (58%) 16. Scientology (53%) 17. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (52%) 18. Sikhism (47%) 19. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (46%) 20. Jainism (41%) 21. Hinduism (38%) 22. Islam (32%) 23. Orthodox Judaism (32%) 24. Jehovah's Witness (26%) 25. Seventh Day Adventist (26%) 26. Eastern Orthodox (23%) 27. Roman Catholic (23%)'
      • It is fascinating that I correlate to Roman Catholicism the least considering that I was raised Catholic.
  • Comparative-Religion.com. 'This site is devoted to bringing to one place on the internet the key books and writings of human spiritual and religious thought. Covering the major world religions of the world, alternative spiritual systems, and ancient mythologies, this is an ever expanding work in the making.'
  • Ealdriht.org. 'Thaet Angelseaxisce Ealdriht or Anglo-Saxon Eldright (as it is called in modern English) is a "tribal" confederation dedicated to the study and practice of the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic tribes that migrated from continental Europe to Great Britain in the fourth through sixth centuries. As such it is related to the modern religious movement known as Asatru and a part of Germanic Heathenry. The Ealdriht is also a form of Þéodisc Geléafa (Theodisc Geleafa or Theodish Belief as some call it); the "belief of the tribe." Two thousand years ago had someone asked a Germanic tribesman what their faith was, they would have explained their religion as the belief of the folk or tribe.'
  • "Faith in the Game" disenchanted.com/dis/technology/game.html]. Comments at metafilter.com/mefi/27903. A game invoking Richard Feynman and reductionism.
  • Mega Religions. Secular ethics will have to be further developed to establish global laws and cooperation.

    Mega Religion	Practitioners (millions)	Notes (Ref: NationalGeographic.com 2002-01)
    Christianity	2,000
    Islam	1,300	83% Sunni, 16% Shiite, 1% Other.
    Hinduism	900
    Buddhism	360

  • Fundies Say The Darndest Things! [fstdt.com]. Funny but terribly sad too. I can understand how children might believe in Santa Claus for a while.
  • Religion-OnLine.org. 'More than 5,200 articles and chapters. Topics include Old and New Testament, Theology, Ethics, History and Sociology of Religion, Communication and Cultural Studies, Pastoral Care, Counseling, Homiletics, Worship, Missions and Religious Education.'
  • ReligiousMovements.lib.virginia.edu. "provides a foundation for understanding how religious groups emerge, grow, stagnate, reinvigorate themselves, and sometimes die."
  • ReligiousTolerance.org. 'Our site mandate: "To promote religious tolerance and freedom. To describe religious faiths in all their diversity. To describe controversial topics from all points of view." Our two mottos: "Study of the world's religions will lead to an understanding of religious diversity. Understanding will lead to inter-religious dialogue. Dialogue will lead to peace among religions. Peace among religions will lead to peace among nations."  "Whenever someone deviates from reality, others usually get hurt."
    • Parallels between the story of Jesus and Osiris-Dionysus
    • Spring Equinox Celebrations
  • Sacred-Texts.com. 'This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, in some cases, in the original language.'
  • SourceryForge.org. A wiki for wikkans! Actually its a wiki for esoteric subjects.
  • Speaking of Faith [SpeakingOfFaith.org]. 'Public radio's national conversation about belief, meaning, ethics, and ideas.'
  • The Great God Hoax. Hehe.
  • "The Major World Religions" [omsakthi.org/religions.html]
  • The Witches' Voice [witchvox.com]
  • TheocracyWatch.org. "The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party"

Naturalism

• Keywords: Age of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, Agnostic, Agnosticism, Atheism, Atheist, Bright, Freethinkers, Humanism, Humanist, Naturalism, Naturalist, Secular, Secularism, Secularist, Antitheism, Antiteistic, Nontheism, Nontheistic, Ignosticism, Irreligion, Irreligious, Skeptic, Skepticism, Empiricism
• Texts. You can find many articles on this topic by different people.
  • Age of Reason (1794). By Thomas Paine.
  • "An Atheist Manifesto" [truthdig.com/dig/item/200512_an_atheist_manifesto]. By Sam Harris.
  • "Freethought Revival"
    • 'Susan Jacoby dissects the history of secularism in the U.S., and argues the time is right for a new secular hero.'
    • Very good. There is clearly a need to define terms (such as freethinker, agnostic, atheist, deist, orthodox, secular, religious, right, etc.) and be aware how they are used or abused in different contexts.
  • Is Religion 'Built Upon Lies'? [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/209/story_20904_1.html]. Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan blogalogue over "faith".
  • "Why I am an atheist" [ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/why_atheist.html]. By Ram Samudrala.
  • Why I am not a Christian (1927). By Bertrand Russell.
  • "The Church of the Non-Believers " [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism_pr.html]. By Gary Wolf.
• Wikipedia
  • Category:Humanism
  • Category:Secularism
  • Atheism
  • Humanist Manifesto
  • List of atheists
  • Parody religion
• Miscellany
  • American Humanist Association [americanhumanist.org]. 'Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.'
  • America's Freethinking Tradition. By PBS.
  • Atheists.org. "the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion."
    • Flashline. Atheist news stories.
  • Atheism.About.com
  • BrightRights.org
  • Camp-Quest.com. 'the first residential summer camp in the history of the United States for the children of Atheists, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists, Humanists, Brights, or whatever other terms might be applied to those who hold to a naturalistic, not supernatural, world view. All children ages 8 to 17 are invited to enroll. '
  • CelebAtheists.com.
  • Das Tao Te Ching von Lao Tse [home.pages.at/onkellotus/TTK/_IndexTTK.html]. The Tao Te Ching in multiple languages, including the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tse in English.
  • Ethical Atheist [ethicalatheist.com]. 'Your Commercial-Free Resource for Atheism, Ethics, Science and Education'
  • Evil Atheist Conspiracy. Humor site on atheism.
    • How to be a Bible Apologist
  • Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF.org]. 'Our national association of nontheists has been working since 1978 to promote freethought and defend the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church.'
  • Humanists.net
  • HumanistStudies.org. "The Institute for Humanist Studies promotes nonreligious perspectives on social, political, and ethical issues and serves as a resource for and about the humanist community".
  • Infidels.org. 'The Secular Web is published by the Internet Infidels, an organization of unpaid volunteers dedicated to the growth and maintenance of the most comprehensive freethought website on the Internet.'
  • http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/home.htm. "Historical Jesus or Jesus Myth: The Jesus Puzzle".
  • PositiveAtheism.org.
  • RichardDawkins.net. By Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion (2006).
  • Secular.org. I hope they don't insist on calling themselves the SCA (Secular Coalition for America) since that will have a lot of branding confusion with the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronisms) of SCA.org.
  • SecularHumanism.org
  • Secular Seasons [secularseasons.org]
  • SecularStudents.org
  • The 50 Most Brilliant Atheists of All Time [http://brainz.org/50-most-brilliant-atheists-all-time/]. Of course they were bound to miss some folks like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov.
  • The Freethinker [freethinker.co.uk]
  • The Brights [the-brights.net].
    • 'The naturalistic worldview is insufficiently expressed within most cultures.'
    • 'A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview, free of supernatural and mystical elements.'
  • Theocracy Watch [theocracywatch.org]. "TheocracyWatch raises awareness about the pervasive role of the Religious Right in the U.S. government. It disseminates information through its website,speakers bureau, powerpoint presentations, CDs -- both audio and PowerPoint -- and DVDs. It also conducts interviews with the media. "
  • World Pantheism [pantheism.net]

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